INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION TO AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS

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INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION

Automation has many facets, both in the service industry and in manufacturing. In order to provide an in-depth treatment of the concepts and methods of automation, we have concentrated in this chapter on assembly and robotics. Industrially produced, finished products consist mainly of several individual parts manufactured, for the most part, at different times and in different places. Assembly tasks thus result from the requirement of putting together individual parts, dimensionless substances, and sub- assemblies into assemblies or final products of higher complexity in a given quantity or within a given unit of time. Assembly thus represents a cross-section of all the problems in the production engineering field, very different activities and assembly processes being performed in the individual branches of industry.

Assembly is ‘‘the process by which the various parts and subassemblies are brought together to form a complete assembly or product, using an assembly method either in a batch process or in a continuous process’’ (Turner 1993). VDI Guideline 2860 defines assembly as ‘‘the sum of all proc- esses needed to build together geometrically determined bodies. A dimensionless substance (e.g. slip materials and lubricants, adhesives, etc.) can be applied additionally.’’

The production system in a company can be divided into different subsystems. The assembly area is linked to the other subsystems by the material and information flow (see Figure 1).

Assembly is concerned with bringing together individual parts, components, or dimensionless substances into complex components or final products. DIN 8593 differentiates the following five main functional sections:

1. Supply

2. Adjustment

3. Inspection

4. Assembly work

5. Help functions

The composition of these activities varies greatly, depending on the industry and product. The structure of assembly systems is based on different organization types, depending on the batch size, the product, and the projected turnover. Assembly is divided into:

• Point assembly (often called site assembly)

• Workshop assembly

• Group assembly

• Line assembly

The evaluated scope for automation is expressed by this list in ascending order.

This chapter provides a general overview of the assembly field. Special emphasis is given to the selection and design of the appropriate assembly approach, assembly design, and assembly techniques.Automation and Robotics-0112

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