Feasibility of an assembly line layout automatic configuration based on a KBE approach

Design of assembly lines is a knowledge intensive process relying significantly on experience of designers and engineers, lessons learned and complex sets of rules. This complicated design process is associated with high costs, long lead times and high probability of risks and reworks. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) and knowledge representation techniques are considered to be a successful way to tackle this design problem. This paper presents a methodology to support the configuration of assembly lines, mitigating risks and costs by introducing a best practice for global production systems provider companies. A set of system engineering rules is extracted from interviews and domain best practices and knowledge about product domain and design process is formalized. These rules will be implemented in a user-friendly platform allowing the design of first phase line layout by taking the defined system requirements (e.g. cycle time) as input. Then, the KBE approach is extended to a specific case study taken from the powertrain sector. Here, the collected knowledge on an assembly line and its design process is presented.