The assembly state vector: a new approach to the generation of assembly sequences

Assembly sequence representation, generation and evaluation has been the focus of a great deal of research effort in recent years. Much of that work has sought methods to automatically derive assembly sequence information from geometric based CAD models. The work presented in this paper is based upon an alternative strategy that endeavours to reflect the way in which multi-disciplinary concurrent engineering teams operate by providing a tool that marries detailed (micro) planning with broader (macro) planning. The paper describes an approach, termed the assembly state vector, that enables assembly sequences to be easily coded and evaluated as required by the user.