Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect
Available online atonline
Available www.sciencedirect.com
at www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000
Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000
ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect
Procedia CIRP 00 (2017)
Procedia 000–000
CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

30th CIRP Design Conference 2020

30th CIRP Design Conference 2020
Conceptual
Conceptual design
design ofCIRP
28thof
intelligent
intelligent reconfigurable
reconfigurable
Design Conference,
welding
welding
May 2018, Nantes,
fixture
fixture for
France for rail
rail car
car
manufacturing industry
manufacturing industry
A new methodology* to analyzea the functional a and physical
a architecture of
*Seloane, WT.a, Mpofu, K.a, Ramatsetse B.I.a,
existing products for an assembly
Seloane, oriented
WT. , Mpofu,
Modungwa, Dbb product family identification
K. , Ramatsetse B.I. ,
Modungwa, D
Paul Stief *, Jean-Yves Dantan, AlainStaatsartillirie
Etienne, Ali Pretoria
SiadatWest,
a*,a
a*,a
Tshwane
Universityof Technology, Department of Industrial Engineering, Road, South Africa
Tshwane Universityof Technology,
b Department
Council of of Industrial
Scientific and IndustrialEngineering, Staatsartillirie
Research, Pretoria, Road,
South Africa Pretoria West, South Africa
b
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa
École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, LCFC EA 4495, 4 Rue Augustin Fresnel, Metz 57078, France
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +2721 850 2981; Fax: +27-12-382-2433. E-mail address: [email protected]
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +2721 850 2981; Fax: +27-12-382-2433. E-mail address: [email protected]
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 3 87 37 54 30; E-mail address: [email protected]

Abstract
Abstract
Abstract
Dedicated welding fixtures are used in the railcar manufacturing industry to fix and stabilise the welded components during the welding
Dedicated welding fixtures are used in the railcar manufacturing industry to fix and stabilise the welded components during the welding
assembly process in order to achieve the highest possible accuracy and repeatability of connected components. Utilisation of dedicated welding
Inassembly
today’sinprocess
fixtures business in order to achieve
a railcarenvironment,
manufacturing
the highest
the trend
industrytowardspossible product
leadsmore
accuracyvariety
to high production
and repeatability of connected
and customization
setup,
components.
is unbroken.
high manufacturing costs,Due
Utilisation
lowto quality
of dedicated
this development,
standards and the welding
need of
storage
fixtures
agile in a railcar manufacturing industryemerged
leads totohigh production setup, high and
manufacturing costs, To
lowdesign
quality standards and storage
difficulties. Furthermore, because of lack of ability to disassemble, traditional welding fixtures cost a fortune in storage costs. In orderproduction
and reconfigurable production systems cope with various products product families. and optimize to reduce
difficulties.
systems Furthermore,
as well as to choosebecause
themeetof lack of
optimal abilitymatches,
product to disassemble,
product traditionalmethods
welding are
fixtures cost a fortunemostin storage
of the costs. Inmethods
order to aim
reduce
cost, increase productivity and the market demands, there is aanalysis
growing requirement needed.
for theIndeed,
tools to be flexible, known
reconfigurable to
and re-
cost, increase
analyze a productproductivity
or one and meet
product family the
onmarket
the demands,
physical level. there is a growing
Different product requirement
families, for themay
however, tools to be
differ flexible,
largely in reconfigurable
terms of the number andandre-
constructible. This paper presents the conceptual designs of the intelligent reconfigurable welding fixtures aimed to address the current
constructible.
nature This paper presents
of components. the conceptual
an efficientdesigns of theand intelligent reconfigurable weldingfamily
fixtures aimed to address the current
problems encountered Thisby thefactrailcar
impedes manufacturing comparison
industry when choice of
utilizing appropriate
dedicated product
fixtures. Three design combinations
concepts forof the
the production
Intelligent
problems
system. encountered
A new methodology by the railcar
is proposed manufacturing
to were
analyze industry
existing using when
products utilizing
in view Aided dedicated
of theirDesign fixtures.
functional Three
and called
physical design concepts
architecture.Weight of
The aimtheisIntelligent
to cluster
Reconfigurable Welding Fixture (IRWF) generated Computer (CAD) Unigraphics. design matrix
Reconfigurable
these products in Welding
newcriteria Fixture
assembly (IRWF) werefamilies
generated for using Computer of Aided Design (CAD) called Unigraphics. ofWeight design matrix
concept evaluation wasoriented product
used to select the most suitable the concept
optimization
based onexisting assembly
functional lines
requirements and the as
such creation future reconfigurable
reconfigurability, intelligence,
concept evaluation
assembly criteria
onwas usedFlowto select thethe
most suitable conceptofbased on functional requirements such subassemblies
as reconfigurability, intelligence,
assembly,systems. Based
manufacturability Datum
and maintenance Chain, physical
ability. Concept structure the products
3 was selected becauseis it
analyzed.
satisfiedFunctional are identified,
most of the functional requirements ofand
the
assembly,
aIRWF. manufacturability and maintenance ability. Concept 3 was selected because it satisfied most
functional analysis is performed. Moreover, a hybrid functional and physical architecture graph (HyFPAG) is the output which depictsof the functional requirements of the
the
IRWF.
similarity between product families by providing design support to both, production system planners and product designers. An illustrative
example
2020 of
© 2017 Thea Authors.
nail-clipper is used by
Published to explain
Elsevierthe proposed methodology. An industrial case study on two product families of steering columns of
B.V.
B.V.
© 2017
thyssenkruppThe Authors. Published bycarried
Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientificgive
This is an Presta
open accessFrance is
article then
under the CC out to
BY-NC-ND a first industrial
license
committee 3rdevaluation of the proposed approach.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
of the CIRP Conference on BioManufacturing 2017.
©Peer-review under responsibility
2017 The Authors. Published byofElsevier
the scientific
B.V. committee of the CIRP 3rd CIRP Conference
Design Conferenceon BioManufacturing
2020 2017.
Peer-review under responsibility
Keywords: Ergonomics; Adjustable,of the scientific committee of the 28th CIRP Design Conference 2018.
Productivity
Keywords: Ergonomics; Adjustable, Productivity
Keywords: Assembly; Design method; Family identification
1. Introduction final products due to the inconsistency of the manufacturing
1. Introduction final products due to the inconsistency of the manufacturing
systems [2].
systems [2].
The increasing market demands have been attracting The increasing demand for rapid production, and
The increasing market demands have been attracting ofThe
1.significant
Introduction increasing
the product rangeofdemand
and product for rapidmanufactured
characteristics production, and
attention in the research environment. interchangeability families in the and/or railcar
significant attention in the research environment. assembled interchangeability
in this of product
system. In this families
context, the in challenge
main the railcar in
Furthermore, the increasing demand for new methods of manufacturing environment requires the application of the
Furthermore,
Due to the fast
the increasing demand in
development for the
new domain
methods of of modelling
manufacturingand environment
analysis is now requires
not thetoapplication
only cope with of the
single
automating assembly processes is driven by unpredictable, next generation manufacturing systems were tools can be
automating assembly
communication anprocesses is driven of by unpredictable, next generation manufacturing systems were toolsfamilies,
can be
frequent marketand changes ongoing
and the trend
application digitization
of just in time and products, a limited
reconfigurable, product
flexible andrange or existing
interchangeable. product
frequent market
digitalization, changes andenterprises
manufacturing the applicationare of just
facing in time but
important reconfigurable,
also to be flexible
able to and interchangeable.
analyze and to compare products to define
production techniques. The market changes includes rapid
production intechniques.
challenges today’s The market
market changes includes
environments: a rapid new product families. It can be observed that classical existing
continuing
introduction of new products, changes in product demand, etc. Manufacturing systems (MS) are classified based on the
introduction
tendency of new
towards products,
reduction of changes in product demand,
product development times andetc. product
Manufacturing are systems (MS) are classified based on the
[1]. method families
of operation. regrouped in function
These classes of clients
of assembly or features.
systems are
[1].
shortened product lifecycles. In addition, there is an increasing method ofassembly
However, operation. Theseproduct
classesfamilies
of assembly systems are
Dedicated Manufacturing Systems (DMS) are currently dedicated assembly systems, flexible assembly systemsfind.
oriented are hardly to and
Dedicated
demand of Manufacturing
customization, being Systems
at the (DMS)
same time arein currently
a global dedicated
On the assembly
product systems,
family level, flexible
productsassembly
differ systems
mainly in and
two
utilized in the railcar manufacturing environment during reconfigurable assembly systems [3].The paradigm of
utilized in with
competition the competitors
railcar manufacturing
all these
over the environment Thistoduring
world.leads trend, reconfigurable assembly systems [3].The paradigm of
welding assembly. The use of systems high main characteristics:
assembly (i) the number
systems is shown in Fig1. of components and (ii) the
welding
which is assembly.
inducing The development
the use of these from systemsmacroleadsto tomicro
high type
assembly
of systems is(e.g.
components shown in Fig1. electrical, electronical).
mechanical,
manufacturing cost, longer lead-time and poor quality of the
manufacturing
markets, resultscost, longer lead-time
in diminished lot sizesanddue poortoquality
augmentingof the Classical methodologies considering mainly single products
product varieties (high-volume to low-volume production) [1]. or solitary, already existing product families analyze the
To cope with this augmenting variety as well as to be able to product structure on a physical level (components level) which
identify possible optimization potentials
2212-8271 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. in the existing causes difficulties regarding an efficient definition and
2212-8271 ©under
production
Peer-review 2017responsibility
system,The it
Authors. Published
is important
of tobyhave
Elsevier
the scientific B.V.of the
a precise
committee knowledge comparison
3rd CIRP Conference of different
on BioManufacturing 2017.product families. Addressing this
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd CIRP Conference on BioManufacturing 2017.
2212-8271 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an©open
2212-8271 2017access article Published
The Authors. under theby CC BY-NC-ND
Elsevier B.V. license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
Peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility of scientific
of the the scientific committee
committee of the of theCIRP
28th CIRP Design
Design Conference
Conference 2020
2018.
10.1016/j.procir.2020.02.217
 584 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
2 Seloane WT / Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

will be employed for the assembly operation. According to [8]

DAS are based on fixed automation and produce a company’s
core products or parts at high-volume. Product variety is
impossible to produce with DMS and due to this factors DMS
are irrelevant in modern manufacturing.
Fig. 1. Paradigm of assembly systems DMS are dedicated for serial production with large batch
sizes, high productivity and limited flexibility. Furthermore
dedicated assembly systems have been identified as simple
Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), Dedicated operations with few degrees of freedom and simple
Manufacturing Systems (DMS), Cellular Manufacturing alternatives. Each station is dedicated to one assembly
Systems (CMS) and Reconfigurable-Manufacturing Systems operation [9].
(RMS) are the Next Generation Manufacturing Systems
(NGMSs) deigned to meet the increasing market demand and The use of DMS leads to high manufacturing cost and longer
rapid market changes. RMS evolved from the transition of lead-time and poor quality of the final products due to the
DMS, FMS and CMS. High flexibility, dynamic, market inconsistency of the manufacturing systems. In addition
demand, increasing customization, high-quality products, DMSs are devoted to produce one specific product at a high
flexible batches and short product life cycles are among the rate with a low cost. Manufacturing a new product with the
key factors driving the transition from the DMS to NGMs [4]. same system is impossible.

Globalization has created a new landscape for industry, one

of fierce competition, short windows of market opportunity, 2.2 Development trends in flexible assembly systems
and frequent changes in product demand. This change
presents both a threat and an opportunity. To capitalize on the FAS are emerging in several industries for decreasing
opportunity, industry needs to possess manufacturing systems product life cycles and an increasing number of variants. In
that can produce a wide range of products within a product addition flexibility provides high output rates at low cost for
family. That range must meet the requirements of multiple reasons of economy [10].FAS consist of computer
countries and various cultures, not just one regional market. numerically controlled (CNC) machines and other
programmable automation and can produce a variety of
The next section of this paper investigates the various products on the same system. The production rate of FASs is
developments and drawbacks in DAS, FAS and RAS very favourable compared with their DAS counterparts.
followed by part family classification, generation of Furthermore FMS comprise different machines/equipment
conceptual designs of the IRWF and selection of optimal interconnected by transport systems. The assembly system is a
concept. workstation in comparison to the entire manufacturing system
and it is controlled by an integrated computer controlled
system. The assembly workstation handles variety of work
2. State of the art review on manufacturing systems part configurations from various workstations for convenient
access during loading and unloading of work parts to the
Assembly systems are manufacturing systems were various assembly station [11].
components are assembled into one product assembly. Guilio [12] generated FAS with the maximum degree of
Furthermore assembly system is an integral part of every flexibility. The system was able to handle a wide variety of
manufacturing system that relates and controls all the parts, processing different models simultaneously and
activities of the manufacturing system [5]. Assembly is an performing frequent changeovers without setup times.
essential part of the total manufacturing process. Assembly
costs are typically 25% to 50% of the total cost of FMSs can deal with the market variations, but they are not
manufacturing. The percentage of work involved in assembly reactive enough. The range of flexibility is defined at the
operations ranges from 20% to 60% [6]. According to system installation and any modification that is not previously
Elmaraghy [7] the assembly system has to continually align planned could be impossible or very expensive. In addition,
itself with the demand volatility, product design variations the products manufactured with FMS are expensive because
and management strategy. Due to these factors, the assembly all the components that support the flexibility are installed in
system faces a number of challenges which lead to evolution the beginning and the customer has to pay for the over
or a change of paradigm from one system structure to another. flexibility.

2.3 Development trends in reconfigurable assembly systems

2.1 Development trends in dedicated assembly systems
RASs are key component of an RMS. RAS are systems
DAS comprises of dedicated assembly equipment with designed at the outset for rapid change in structure, as well as
human operators. The sections of the system are linked in hardware and software components, in order to quickly
together by transfer line technology and fixed tooling. The adjust product capacity and functionality within a part family
assembly machines are arranged in the order in which they
 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593 585
Seloane WT/ Procedia CIRP 00 (2020) 000–000 3

in response to sudden changes in the market or regulatory

requirements.
The reviewed literature on RAS assembly systems addresses
RAS embraces the best qualities of both DAS and FAS the market demands and frequent market changes which is
systems A reconfigurable assembly system typically includes enhanced by its ability to change in structure as well as
a variety of sub-assembly stations with reconfigurable hardware for a specific part family. However RAS doesn’t
assembly machines (reconfigurable assembly fixtures and address the incorporation of the intelligence features that will
reprogrammable robots) [13]. further enhance the quicker time to market, improved quality
RAS consists of the modules such as industrial robots and and increased productivity. In addition the intelligent part
family feature recognition that is synchronised with
flexible fixtures. These modules are flexible themselves to
programmable logic control for automated reconfiguration
meet different requirements at the machine or tool level. On
with the robotic welder to increase the efficiency of RAS is
the other hand, RAS is modular; the system modules can be
not addressed.
added or removed based on the capacity requirement. The
implementation of the two concepts in an RAS enhanced Table 1: Comparison among the features of the existing
system capability to meet the changes and uncertainties [14]. manufacturing systems [19].

RAS includes adaptable material handling systems, a gantry Features DMS FMS CMS RMS
robot, a wireless automated guided vehicle and a collection of Cost per part Low Reasonable Medium Medium
Demand Stable Variable Stable Variable
receivers and transmitters in communication with the vehicle Flexibility No General General Customised
[15]. Reconfigurable assembly cell is normally composed of Machine structure Fixed Fixed Fixed Changeable
two main sub-systems: the feeder system and the assembly Product family No No Yes Yes
system. While the assembly part it is often designed by Productivity Very high Low High High
System structure Fixed Changeable Fixed Changeable
replacing automatic machines with programmable robotic Variety No Wide Wide High
systems [16] more attention must be paid to feeder systems. A
reconfigurable conveyor allows quick rearrangement to alter The 3D presentations of the dedicated welding fixtures
process flow, adding or bypassing assembly stations
currently used in the railcar manufacturing environment are
according to the desired product. It also allows for serial–
depicted in Fig.2. The welding process using dedicated
parallel configurations to balance the assembly line flow as
welding fixtures is time consuming and inconsistent. Fig. 2 (a)
necessary to ensure even throughput. Another feature that
influences reconfigurability is system configuration [17]. shows a welding fixture assembly for (a) Duct of cable
Naveen et al [18] development Reconfigurable automatic assembly, (b) Equipped connectors support , (c) BO tube
feeding system which is capable of feeding cylindrical parts. assembly and (d) Ferrule respectively .
The feeder was designed to feed the parts with various
orientation.The comparison among the features of the existing
manufacturing systems is presented in Table 1 [19].

(a) (b)
Advantages Limitations
Fixed Not flexible
Single part No scalable
Low cost Long term
High volumes Poor quality
Not responsive
(c) (d)

Fig.2. Analysis of existing working conditions and postures of the welders

RMSs have been envisaged as manufacturing paradigms to

3. Part families face these challenges. The foundation of RMS lies on the
premise of group technology. It attempts to evolve a
Manufacturing organizations are forced to compete in methodology for RMS cell formation; composition of part
product varieties and speed to market as well as in price.
586 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
4 Seloane WT / Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

families and subsequently recognition of operation groups restrictions must be considered during the design of the RWF.
[20]. The respective part family with mass and material of the
According to [21], appropriate formation of product families component assemblies is shown in Table 2. The conceptual
for RMS is of a great importance for a cost-effective and designs of the RWF were designed around these parts.
productive manufacturing. Furthermore, in RMS, similar
products are grouped together into groups or families of
products in which a customized system configuration is
3.1. Evaluation of the existing welding workstations
designed for each product family. Similarity in terms of
common components is one example for a similarity criterion
The existing dedicated welding stations are part of a project
that was used to form families of products.
developed by Gibela and its contractors. Representative
welding workstations from local steel fabricating company
Product families with similar features were selected and the
were selected and surveyed for the study. Table 2 presents the
design of the reconfigurable welding fixture will revolve
part family classification of parts.
around such parts.
The intelligent welding fixture concepts were designed with a
degree of flexibility and intelligence part recognition during Table 2: Part family classification
welding operation of part families. The conceptual design
framework is presented in Fig. 3.
Part Image Dimensions Material Total
name (mm) Mass(kg)

Tube 276 x 165 x 100 Stainless 2.4

assembly Steel 304

Tube 332 x 232 x 55 Stainless 1.6

assembly Steel 304

Support 208 x 100 x 63 Stainless 0.739

Fig. 3. Stages of welding workstation design Bracket Steel 304

Support
Bracket 200 x 100 x 76 Stainless 0.738
 Design Considerations Steel 304

The design consideration include the following; degree of

freedom from robot, Intelligence and reconfigurability, AO 250 x 28x 11 Stainless 0.392
Bracket Steel 304
maintenanceability, durability, and manufacturability.

 Review of existing welding Fixture design BO 245 x 76 x 40 Stainless 0.459

Bracket Steel 304
The review of existing welding fixture was conducted to
gain an insight and access limitations.
3.2. Concept generation phase
 Conceptual design
The respective concepts were designed for the part family
Three conceptual RWF designs were carried out to address shown in Table 2.
the problems faced by the rail manufacturing industry.

 Optimal Concept selection Concept 1: Reconfigurable Welding Fixture

The optimal concept that enhances both the 4th industrial
Concept design one was designed to accommodate two parts
revolution thinking the definition of RMS and its principle
on top and four parts at the bottom. The reconfiguration of the
was selected using various concept selection methodologies.
fixture is obtained by using the electric motor to switch or to
provide orientation to the required product family. These
fixture design utilise electro magnets and manual toggle
The major factor to be considered in the development of clamps to locate and clamp components. The use of manual
concepts for the reconfigurable welding fixture (RWF) is toggle clamps increases the setup time of the fixture. The
reconfigurability. The reconfigurability of the fixture to fixture doesn’t provide full access of the part to the welding
accommodate various rail car manufacturing components robots. Welding operation cannot be performed on areas were
within a same part family is critical. Furthermore, factors such toggle clamps are positioned as this may cause robot to fixture
as intelligence, assembly and dis assembly, manufacturability, collision. Aluminium extruded profiled were used to construct
durability, maintenanceability and welding robot movement
 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593 587
Seloane WT/ Procedia CIRP 00 (2020) 000–000 5

the fixture frame. The 3D presentations of the fixture design  Pneumatic cylinders and toggle clamps
concepts are shown from Fig. 4.
The idea of the workstation came from the need to create a Double action pneumatic cylinders with a clamping capacity
modern workspace which focuses on better concentration of of 800 Kpa is used to hold the clamp the respective part
the welders and good posture while working mainly on train families during welding operation. The data sheets for the
parts. The drawback of this workstation is that it is static in pneumatic cylinder and the pneumatic toggle clamps are
height and it cannot be adjusted to suit different workers presented in Table 3.
currently.
Table 3: Data sheet for the cylinders

Concept 2: Reconfigurable Welding fixture

Attribute Value
Concept two was also designed to accommodate six railcar
manufacturing components. The reconfiguration on the Manufacturer Series C85
concept is achieved by sliding the clamping block inwards Action Double
and outwards. Once the clamping block movement is defined,
Bore 20mm
the grub screws are used to keep the block in position. Both
electro magnets and manual toggle clamps are used to clamp Stroke 80mm
the component during welding. The 3D representations of the Maximum Operating Pressure 8 Bar
conceptual fixture design are depicted from Fig. 4.
Cushioning Type Rubber
Dimensions Dia 28 x 206mm
Concept 3: Intelligent Reconfigurable Welding Fixture Weight 183g
Maximum Operating Temperature +200°C
The fixture design for this concept uses both pneumatic
cylinder and electromagnets to locate and clamp components
during welding operation. Pneumatic toggle clamps are also
utilised to hold various part families during welding process.
The fixture was designed to accommodate six various
components from the railcar manufacturing industry at three
stations. Proximity sensors were fitted on the fixture to
identify components and to control the stroke of both
pneumatic toggle clamps and pneumatic cylinders. The fixture
was controlled from a control panel fitted with Programmable
Logic Control (PLC). The schematic images of the fixture
design are shown from Fig. 4.

 Heat resistance proximity sensors

A Concepts 3 of the IRWF is incorporated with heat

resistance inductive proximity sensors (steel face) for the
intelligent systems to enhance effective coordination,
monitoring and control. The sensors are positioned at each
station to detect the presence of parts and to control motion of
the pneumatic cylinder. According to [22] steel face proximity
sensors are designed to survive in a very harsh and hostile
environment. Furthermore, the sensor has the following
features: One piece stainless steel housing, Weld slag resistant
Round corner housing and Heat resistance. The proximity
sensors detect part availability on each fixture station and a
signal is send to the PLC.
588 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
6 Seloane WT / Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

3.1. Methodology for concept selection

CONCEPT ONE

Top part family

Electric motor

Electro Magnets
Bottom part family

CONCEPT TWO

`` Electro Magnets
Manual toggle clamp Electro magnets

Grub screws

Pneumatic toggle clamp

CONCEPT THREE

Clamping block

Pneumatic cylinder

Proximity sensors

Fig. 4. Various conceptual designs of the assembly fixture

 Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593 589

Table 4: Pneumatic toggle clamps data sheet metallic material that is hard, rigid, heat resistant, strong and
Attributes Value light in weight (about a fifth of the weight of steel and half the
Weight 1.4 kg weight of aluminium). It is also a good electrical insulator. It
Stroke 40mm is exceptionally resistant to weathering, much more so than
Make Pneumatic-Spanner GN890-360-SP3-M most other plastics, and it has been used for components in
Clamping force 1500 N outdoor and marine environments for many decades without
corroding or degrading. Furthermore, Tufnol material is
 Electro magnets resistant to wear in applications involving friction, and can be
lubricated with water as well as oil or other conventional
An electromagnet is a magnet that works with electricity. It lubricants. The use of Tufnol inserts will also prevent heat
can be switched on and off. The coils are nearly always made transfer to the cylinder during welding process.
of copper wire because copper is such an excellent electrical
conductor Phospor bronze inserts was used on moving parts to reduce
wear. This material is used in situations where resistance to
 Intelligent fixture materials fatigue, wear, and chemical corrosion are required (e.g., a
ship's propellers in a marine environment). Phosphor bronze is
The base of the fixture was manufactured from Aluminium an alloy of copper with 0.5–11% of tin and 0.01–0.35%
6082 T6. Aluminium is very light in weight with good phosphorus. The tin increases the corrosion resistance and
mechanical properties. The fixture locating insert (Fig 4) is strength of the alloy. The phosphorus increases the wear
manufactured from Tufnol material. TUFNOL is a non- resistance and stiffness of the alloy [23].

Table 5: Selection of the optimal concept

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

Functional requirement % weight Score Weight Score Weight Score Weight
Score score score
Reconfigurability 25 3 0.75 3.5 0.86 4.5 1.125
Intelligence 20 2.3 0.46 3.0 0.60 5 1.0
Assembly & Disassembly 15 3.25 0.48 3.5 0.53 3.25 0.49
Manufacturability 15 3.33 0.49 3.33 0.49 4 0.60
Maintanance ability 20 3.0 0.60 3.33 0.66 4.66 0.93
Total 100 14.88 2.78 16.66 3.14 21.41 4.145
Ranking 3rd 2nd 1st
Decision No No Yes

4.6 Summary of each concept and functional requirements The incorporation of the manual toggle clamps on the fixture
design will require the operator to manually clamp the
 Concept 1 components.

Concept 1 of the RWF utilises electro magnets and manual  Concept 2

toggle clamps to clamp and hold the components during
welding operation. The reconfiguration on this fixture design This fixture was also designed to accommodate six part
is achieved by using the electric motor to orientate either the families. The reconfiguration on this fixture is achieved by
family on top or bottom depending on the market demands. utilising electro magnets and guide slides. The clamping

2212-8271 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd CIRP Conference on BioManufacturing 2017.
 590 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
8 Seloane WT / Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

block forward and backward stroke is controlled by the slide Not necessary Poor 1
rail and locked in position using grub screw. The fixture also
uses manual toggle clamp to hold the components during
welding operation. The operation of this fixture relies entirely 5. Functional requirements of the assembly system
on the operator. The electro magnets for clamping are
5.1. Reconfigurability
activated using the PLC and the manual toggle clamps are
used to clamp the welded parts.
Reconfigurability is one of the design factors that is
considered in the design and selection of the concepts. This is
 Concept 3
done by checking if the concepts developed for the fixture
satisfy the characteristics of reconfigurability. According to
The fixture design for concept 3 utilises electro magnets,
[12] the following are the key characteristics of
pneumatic cylinders and toggle clamps. The fixture is
Reconfigurable Manufacturing systems:
designed to be fully automated and intelligent. Proximity part
detection sensors were fitted at each station to detect the
 Modularity (MOD) of the hardware and software system
presence of parts. The fixture was also designed to
accommodate part family of six components at three stations. components.
The reconfiguration of this fixture is obtained by using the  Integrability (INT) as the system components for
pneumatic cylinder and toggle clamps to accommodate the integration of new technology to the existing technology.
respective part families. The intelligence on this fixture is  Convertibility (CON) as for the fast changeover and
obtained by using part detection sensors which send a signal adaptability of the system for future products.
to PLC once part is detected, the PLC then moves the  Diagnosability (DIA) as fast identification of the sources
pneumatic cylinder in position to clamp the part, proximity
of errors in the system for quality and reliability.
sensors are also installed to control the movement of the both
the cylinder and toggle clamps. In addition, the fixture offers  Customization(CUS) as the capability and flexibility to
automated pneumatic cylinders and toggle clamps, which are match specific applications.
controlled via the program stored in the PLC during welding  Scalability(SCA) as the system capacity.
operation.

5. Concept selection

The selection of the optimal concepts that meets the The ranking of concepts based on reconfigurability is
important functional requirements such reconfigurability, shown in Table 7.
intelligence, ease of assembly, maintainability and
manufacturability is of great importance to meet the Table 7: Functional requirements and concept rating
requirement customer demands. Weighted decision matrix score
was used to select the optimal concept. Both the features and
functional requirements of the respective concepts were Dc Required Functions Constant % Score
evaluated to obtain a unique assessment. The functions 1 Reconfigurability 5 25
required from the RWF based on design criteria (DC) are;
reconfigurability, intelligence, assembly and disassembly, 2 Intelligence 4 20
manufacturability, and maintanaceability. The functions and 3 Assembly and 3 15
features required from the RWF is analysed and evaluated to Disassembly
develop a percentage weight score. The functions are ranked
based on five levels. Similarly, the concepts are rated on a 4 Manufacturability 3 15
level score ranging from very good, good, average, fair and 5 Maintenanceability 4 20
poor with the same score as the function ranking. The concept
rating and functional requirements ratings is shown in Table 6
and 7. 5.2. Intelligence
Table 6: Rating of concepts The incorporation of intelligent features on RWF is of great
Ranking of Rating of concepts Scores importance. The intelligence is required for automatic part
Function family recognition and for synchronisation of events during
welding. The intelligent features are automatic part
Very important Very Good 5 recognition (PR), automated clamping systems (CS) and
automated reconfiguration (AR). The fixture design is fully
Important Good 4
automated and controlled via a programmable logic control
Very necessary Average 3 (PLC) Each fixture station is fitted with part detection sensors
for detecting the parts during loading, once the part is loaded
Necessary Fair 2 the PLC activate the relevant clamping systems to clamp and
 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593 591
Seloane WT/ Procedia CIRP 00 (2020) 000–000 9

the part. The Robotic welder synchronized with the fixture The ranking of concepts based on manufacturability are
provides automated welding command at each station. The discussed.
operator will only press cycle start. The welding program as
well as the program for the automated clamping and un 5.5. Maintanaceability
clamping of the parts will be stored in the PLC.
The ease of maintenance on the IRWF is of great
5.3. Assembly and Disassembly importance. The fixture must be designed with material that
are rigid, heat resistant, and strong to reduce the maintenance
The respective factors considered under assembly and cost. Furthermore wear resistance material must be used on
disassembling of the IRWF are: Easy of assembly (EA) and moving parts to increase the life span of the fixture. Factors
ease of disassembly(ED), Changeability of fixture that were considered under maintenance are wear resistance
components (FC), Changing cylinders and toggle clamps material (WR), Heat resistance material (HR) and ease of
(CC). The ranking of concepts based on assembly and maintenance (EM) for the respective fixture designs.
disassembly are discussed.
The appropriate selection of design concepts has a strong
5.4. Manufacturability influence on product cost, durability, robustness and
functionality. Effective tools to identify good design concepts
The factors considered under this section, is the are critical [24]. The strength and weakness of each concept
manufacturability manufacturing ability of the fixture (MA) can be examined by comparison with the functional
and its components materials, material and machining cost requirements [25].
(MC) and the interchangeability of fixture components (EC).

The respective concept comparisons with each functional requirement are shown in Fig. 5 and the selection of the optimal
concept is presented in Table 5.

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

Reconfigurability Intelligence Assembly Manufacturability Maintananceability

Fig. 5. Concept comparison with each functional requirement

6. Results Discussion demands but they are not reactive enough to meet the ever
increasing market demands. Furthermore RAS are designed to
The review of various state of the art assembly systems such meet the frequent market demands due to its ability to change
as DAS, FAS and RAS shows that more work still needs to be in system structure as well as hardware components, however
done on assembly systems to further enhance the efficiency these systems are lacking behind in enhancing the 4th
and productivity of assembly systems. DAS are aimed at industrial evolution. The incorporation of the intelligence in
producing one product assembly at high production rate, RAS to further enhance their efficiency in adapting to the new
manufacturing other product assembly with this system is frequent market changes is still an area of concern. Due to
impossible, FAS can deal with the fluctuating market above mentioned factors the development of IRWF that
592 Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593
10 Seloane WT / Procedia CIRP 00 (2017) 000–000

enhances the 4th industrial revolution was necessary to further Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
improve the productivity and efficiency of assembly systems. Philosophy at the University of Windsor; 23-34
The various conceptual designs of the IRWF is presented and
[4] Kumar, A, Optimal choice of machine tool for a machining job in CAE
discussed. The respective concepts were then analysed based environment, Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, School of Engineering and
on functional requirement using weight decision matrix to Design, Brunel University, West London, 2010
determine the best optimal concept. The IRWFs uses state of
the art electro magnets to clamp components The IRWF [5] Michalos, G., Kaltsoukalas, K., Aivaliotis, P., Sipsas, P., Sardelis, A. &
concept 3 was selected as the final concept for evaluation due Chryssolouris, G. 2014. Design and simulation of assembly systems with
to its ability to satisfy the specified functional requirements. mobile robots. CIRP Annals-Manufacturing Technology, 63(1):181-184.
Functional requirements that were taken in to consideration
[6] Kalpakjian, S. (2010) Manufacturing Technology Fundamentals, New
during the development of the welding fixture designs were, York: Addisson-Wesley.
intelligence, reconfigurability, assembly and
maintenanceability. Concept 3 aligns to the definition of the [7] ELMARAGHY, H.A. 2009. Reconfigurable process plans for responsive
reconfigurable machine tooling because of its state of the air manufacturing systems. In: Digital enterprise technology. Springer:35-44.
electro magnets, pneumatic cylinders and proximity sensors
for part detection. Furthermore Concept 3 is fully automatic [8] Gwangwava, N , 2014: Design of novel bending press tools using
reconfigurable manufacturing principles. Thesis submitted in partial
and able to synchronise with the robotic welder.
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology in
industrial Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology.
7. Conclusion and future work
[9] Mohammad, K.U. & Lastra, J.L.M. 2011. Assembly Line Balancing and
The conceptual design of the intelligent reconfigurable Sequencing, Assembly Line - Theory and Practice. Croatia: Published by
welding fixture that defines the RMS and its principle was InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia; ISBN: 978-953-307-995-
0.
developed. Furthermore, an intelligent fixture design that
[10] Bakker OJ, Papastathis TN, Ratchev SM, Popov AA, 2013: Recent
enhances the 4th industrial thinking was established. Precise Research on Flexible Fixtures for Manufacturing Processes, Recent Pat
welding assembly with less scrap rate, improved versatility to Mech Eng; 6(2): 107-121.
meet frequent market changes was achieved with this
intelligent fixture design. The development of IRWF [11] Horvath, Š., Ruzarovsky, R. & Velisek, K. 2010. Flexible Assembly
improved quality of parts products, setup time and production System Generation By CAD and Pps Systems. Machine Design, 50th
cost. The room for mistake when utilising the IRWF is Anniversary of the Faculty of Technical Sciences Novi Sad, ISSN 1821-
1259.:269-272.
minimal. Full synchronization of the IRWF with the robotic
welder reduced the setup time was achieved. The involvement [12] Giulio Rosati, Maurizio Faccio, Andrea Carli and Aldo Rossi, 2013:
of the human operator when using the IRWF is minimal. Fully flexible assembly systems (F-FAS): a new concept in flexible
automation.doi: 10.1108/01445151311294603
More work need to be done on the development of an
automatic components feeder to feed parts onto the IRWF. [13] OlabanjI, MO, 2015. Development of a Reconfigurable Assembly
System For The Assembly Of Press Brakes. Thesis submitted in partial
The development of the automated part feeder is of utmost
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology in
importance to further increase the productivity and improve industrial Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology.
quality.
[14] Wang GX, Huang SH, Shang XW, Yan Y, Du JJ. Formation of part
family for reconfigurable manufacturing systems considering bypassing
Acknowledgements moves and idle machines. J Manuf Syst 2016; 41:1209.
[15] Gola, A. & Świć, A. 2012. Directions of Manufacturing Systems
Evolution from the Flexiblity Level Point of View, R. Innovations in
Acknowledgements are expressed to Manufacturing Management and Production Engineering, Oficyna Wyd. Polskiego
Engineering and Related Services SETA (MerSETA), Towarzystwa Zarządzania Produkcją, Opole:226-238.
National Research Foundation (NRF), Gibela Rail Transport
Consortium (GRTC), Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), [16] Manzini, R., Gamberi, M., Regattier, A. and Persona, A. (2014)
‘Framework for designing a flexible cellular assembly system’, Vol. 42,
and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) for financial No. 17, pp.3505–3528.
assistance to execute the study.

References [17] Abderrahmane, B., Mohammed, D. & Lyes, B. 2012. Design of

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems: Optimal Machines Selection
[1] Koren, Y. Globalization and manufacturing paradigms. (2010): The Using Non Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II).:
global manufacturing revolution: Product-Process-Business integration Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers &
and reconfigurable systems; Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Industrial Engineering.

[2] Hongbo Zhang, Lianyu Zheng, Xiwei Chen, Haiji Huang, 2016: A Novel [18] Naveen A M, V A Girish: Design of Welding Fixture for Head End Sub-
Reconfigurable Assembly Jig Based on Stable Agile Joints and Adaptive Assembly of Motor Case. International journal of Scientific& Technology
Positioning-Clamping Bolts. 6th CIRP Conference on Assembly research volume 3, ISSUE 6, June 2014 ISSN 2277-8616.
Technologies and Systems (CATS).

[3] Badrous, S.N.S. 2011. Complexity of products and their assembly [19] Koren Y and Shpitalni M, (2011), Design of reconfigurable
systems. PhD, A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate manufacturing systes. Journal of Manufacturing Systems,
Studies through Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering in doi:10.16/j.jmsy.2011.01.001.
 Seloane WT/ Procedia CIRP 00 (2020) 000–000 11
Seloane, WT. et al. / Procedia CIRP 91 (2020) 583–593 593

[20] Kamal, Khanna, Rakesh, Kumar, 2017: Part Family and Operations
Group Formation for RMS Using Bond Energy Algorithm: International
Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) ISSN: 2319-8613.

[21] Mohamed Kashkoush, Hoda ElMaraghy, 2014: Product family

formation for reconfigurable assembly systems, Variety Management in
Manufacturing. Proceedings of the 47th CIRP Conference on
Manufacturing Systems, Procedia CIRP 17, 302

[22] Himes, J, 2013 Inductive proximity sensors for welding applications

(Online).Available from http://www.fabricatingandmetalworking.com/20
13/12/inductive-proximity-sensors-for-welding-applications [Accessed
23/09/2019].

[23] B.S.Yilbas, S.S. Akhar, C. Karatas . Laser Nitriding of surface of

phosphate bronze. International journal for advanced manufacturing
technology 2013: 65:1553-1565, DOI 1D.1007/S00170-0.12-4279-9.

[24] K.T. Ulrich, and S.D. Eppinger, Product Design and Development 2nd
ed., McGraw-Hill, New York,2010.

[25] XIAO, A., PARK, S.S. & FREIHEIT, T. 2011. A comparison of concept
selection in concept scoring and axiomatic design methods. Proceedings
of the Canadian Engineering Education Association: 1-10.