Designing proactive assembly systems – Criteria and interaction between Automation, Information, and Competence

Paper in proceeding, 2009

Increasing customisation of products results in decreasing production batch sizes, especially in the final assembly. Industry must therefore increase their capability to handle smaller batches as well as radically decrease set up time between different product groups and new products. This paper suggests the need for further development, primarily addressing time parameters in dynamically changing assembly systems. We propose proactivity as a vital characteristic of semi-automated assembly systems, to increase fulfilment of customer demands and decrease non value-adding tasks. In proactive assembly systems, the full and complementary potential of human operators and technical systems is utilised. Criteria for proactivity in assembly systems are reviewed from automation, information, and competence perspectives.