Evaluation of assembly sequences in an assembly-oriented design environment

To ensure that the best assembly sequence has been generated for a given design, it is necessary to use evaluation metrics. Most sequence generation systems fail to do this, offering only differing levels of validation criteria. Studies have also shown that sequence evaluation is hardly ever considered in industry. Design for assembly includes measures that evaluate assembly sequences, but design geometry is also included. However, it is found that geometry-independent measures are difficult to define. After detailed consideration of these issues, this paper offers some suggestions for future approaches to sequence evaluation.