Plex grammars applied to the representation of a product family for assembly

In this paper the authors present an application of Plex grammars to the modelling of relevant assembly information for product families expressed by graphs. An extension of the classical Plex grammar, required by specific assembly features, is also proposed. The goal of this research is to build a database allowing a quick validation of a new product we want to insert into an existing assembly system with regard to assembly flexibility. The main idea is to create a bridge between both product design and assembly process design for product families.