Manufacturing Product Structure for Automated Assembly Sequencing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer-aided design (CAD) models do not provide clear instructions on how parts should be grouped or assembled, leading to time-consuming and labor-intensive processes for manufacturing complex products like aircraft, as they only offer visualization without specifying the correct order or connections between parts.
Innovation Solution
A product manufacturing system with a product manager that identifies an engineering product structure, creates a manufacturing product and process structure, including a build sequence and groupings of parts, to facilitate the assembly of products by providing clear manufacturing information and connections between parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If computer-aided design models are used to create product designs, then design visualization and engineering information are improved, but manufacturing instruction generation becomes time-consuming and labor-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables the CAD model to automatically generate manufacturing instructions through rule-based processing. The product structure model self-generates assembly sequences, process operations, and work instructions without requiring manual intervention from engineers, thus resolving the contradiction between maintaining complete design information and reducing instruction creation time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of creating manufacturing instructions with an automated computer-based system. The system uses algorithms to automatically extract assembly sequences and process information from the CAD model, substituting human labor with computational processing to eliminate time loss while preserving design information
2Ease of manufacture
If engineers manually create manufacturing processes from CAD models, then manufacturing instructions can be generated, but the process becomes labor-intensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system automates the entire manufacturing instruction generation process through rule-based algorithms that automatically interpret CAD models and generate assembly sequences, process operations, and work instructions. This eliminates the need for manual engineering analysis and reduces complexity by replacing human cognitive processes with automated computational rules
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the necessary manufacturing information from the comprehensive CAD model, separating assembly sequences and process operations from other design data. This extraction process simplifies the manufacturing instruction generation by focusing only on relevant geometric and topological information needed for assembly planning
3Manufacturing precision
If detailed assembly sequences and process information are included in manufacturing instructions, then assembly precision is improved, but the complexity of creating these instructions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the CAD model's assembly structure before generating manufacturing instructions. By pre-processing the product structure model to identify assembly hierarchies, connections, and geometric relationships, the system prepares all necessary information in advance, ensuring manufacturing precision while reducing the complexity of the actual instruction generation process
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the manufacturing instruction generation into distinct automated components: assembly sequence generation, process operation creation, and work instruction formulation. Each segment is handled by specialized algorithms that process specific aspects of the CAD model independently, reducing overall complexity while maintaining detailed assembly precision through systematic breakdown of the generation task
Data Source
AI summary
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for managing a product. An engineering product structure for the product is identified. The engineering product structure comprises parts for the product. A manufacturing product and process structure is created using the engineering product structure, wherein the manufacturing product and process structure comprises the parts and manufacturing information for connecting the parts to each other to form the product.