Generation of Assembly Sequences with k-ary Operations

A new methodology is presented to generate all of the assembly sequences with any predetermined line configuration wherein
k

₁

, K

₂

,..., k_N
parts, or subassemblies, are to be assembled at stations 1, 2,...,
N
, respectively. The methodology extends the renders current approaches in sequence generation for a binary assembly process applicable to a
k
-ary assembly process by considering: (i) multiple joints between two parts or subassemblies; and (ii) mutual blocking among several parts or subassemblies. This methodology is based upon proposed k-piece graph and k-piece mixed graph approaches for the assemblies, the former without and the latter with assembly precedence relationship. With the k-piece graph and k-piece mixed graph approaches, all of the feasible subassemblies can be identified, and all of the sequences for a predetermined assembly line configuration are iteratively generated. A case study is presented to illustrate the advantages of the presented method over the state-of-the-art approaches in assembly sequence generation.