Migrating from manual to automated assembly of a product family : procedural guidelines and a case study

Abstract

A challenge that is often faced by product manufacturers is that of migration from a manual to an automated production system. The need to embark on this migration may develop from a number of different scenarios. Typical triggers for the automation of a manual production process include a need to increase competitiveness (by reducing labour costs and increasing labour productivity), a need to meet higher quality demands from the customer, an increased awareness of health and safety issues leading to the need to move human workers away from hazardous tasks, and a need to improve production efficiency parameters (e.g. reduce manufacturing lead time, improve production capacity, improve production flexibility and agility). The general strategic and/or technical aspects pertaining to the implementation of automation have been widely addressed in the literature (e.g. Asfahl, 1992; Chan & Abhary, 1996; Groover, 2001; Säfsten et al., 2007). In this work the focus is on the compilation and application of a number of standard design tools and of production system evaluation tools to facilitate and support the migration to an automated production system, in a scenario that involves a certain degree of product variety. The results are presented in the form of a set of recommended procedural guidelines for the development of a conceptual solution to the migration process, and the implementation of the guidelines in a real industrial case study.