K. Feldmann

A Key Issue in Product Life Cycle: Disassembly

Abstract Incoming environmental legislation is expected to impose recycling activities on industrial and consumer product manufacturers. Disassembly of used products is needed in order to make recycling economically viable in the current state of the art of reprocessing technology, thus avoiding the future high disposal costs. This paper gives an overview of disassembly research at universities, research centers and industrial companies, pointing out ongoing topics and trends for future activities. Among them, major attention has been paid to basic technological development, product design (design for disassembly), process design (selection of disassembly strategy and automation level) and system design (configuration of manual and automated disassembly facilities, design of disassembly tools). It is also shown how the emerging life cycle concept can be fully exploited to develop suitable ways of dealing with information related to environmental protection and resource optimization. A result of the survey is that further development on disassembly of existing products (technology, planning at process and system level) is needed to allow future products to be designed with recycling considerations in mind.

Highly flexible Assembly – Scope and Justification

Abstract To be competitive nowadays it is absolutely necessary for manufacturers to align their products and production with customer demands. This customer-orientation is leading to an increasing number of variants and to shorter product life cycles requiring a high degree of flexibility, low-cost/low-volume manufacturing skills, and short time to market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new rationalization potentials due to technological changes in products and assembly processes. New concepts for flexible automation and alternative strategies for employee-oriented assembly secure a leading position in the world market and open up new potential for additional employment.

Integrated Development of Assembly and Disassembly

Abstract Manufacturers are becoming responsible for the complete life cycle of products. As a consequence they have to industrialize the after sales operations and the deproduction of products at the end of their lives. Industrial disassembly is a successful business of many companies but the main focus is the recycling of materials. Higher added value can be reached by industrialization of disassembly for remanufacturing. To activate the value of used components, new technologies for remanufacturing and analysis are necessary. This include disassembly for repair and reuse of parts and components. One main aspect of this paper is the integration of assembly and disassembly. Objectives, requirements and technical solutions for flexible or hybrid systems and aspects of planing and quality are discussed. The paper gives some perspectives to future research in the field of remanufacturing.

Relevance of Assembly in Global Manufacturing

Abstract Within the framework of entire production assembly plays an exceptional and specific role. In this step of the value adding chain the different components lead to the function determining unit. The globalization of the markets as well as technological innovations increasingly cause a redesign of the arrangement of the value adding chain in the global manufacturing network. Concerning the site selection for assembly plants two major strategies can be distinguished: Assembly follows the market and/or is shifted into regions of low labor costs. The global division of labor is supplementary favored because of new possibilities of telecommunications. A decentralized distribution of the assembly capacities can lead to productivity disadvantages due to the loss of economies of scale. This can in turn be compensated by local production alliances. State and specific problems of global networks in assembly will be analyzed in four relevant product areas.

Development of new concepts and software tools for the optimization of manual assembly systems

Abstract Due to growing numbers of differing products and variants, assembly systems with optimized manual workstations have become an efficient alternative to highly automated but less flexible production systems. Especially in the final stage of the product assembly, the flexibility of human employees enables them to meet the requirements for assembling various products and changing volumes. In order to create highly efficient production systems based on human work, it is necessary to develop innovative concepts for the design and organization of manual assembly structures. Another major issue is the development of software tools allowing the facility planner to simulate and optimize the complete design of the assembly structure such as the material flow or manual workstations, e.g. with respect to ergonomics, before construction. These requirements have led to a comprehensive research framework for manual assembly systems.

Internet based Diagnosis of Assembly Systems

Abstract A high availability is of particular importance for modern assembly systems to ensure the return of the high investment costs. Due to the complexity of the occurring failures and the world-wide use of the systems the manufacturer must provide a global service. Therefore an internetbased diagnosis system was developed, which can be used both for local and for remote diagnosis. The system provides different programs for visualisation and failure diagnosis. These are based on a central knowledge data base that contains all relevant information.

Analytical and Experimental Research on Assembly Systems for Molded Interconnection Devices (3D-MID)

The integration of mechanical and electronic functions into three dimensional circuit boards leads to innovative areas of application and possiblities. This obviously is a topical challenge for development of adapted assembly and soldering processes. To solve these problems, analytical and experimental research work is going on with emphasis on mounting SMDs on inclined planes and solderability on thermoplastic devices. Therefore the alternatives of using industrial robots and enlarged SMD-machines are investigated, with the objective to develop new problem orientated Assembly Systems.

Alternative Placement Systems for Three-Dimensional Circuit Boards

Abstract The three dimensional circuit board technology leads to advantages and new special challenges concerning electronics assembly. Two different placement systems were realized at the FAPS institute. The first concept was developed to extend the limits of a Cartesian Placement System. An advanced module for handling the Molded-Interconnect-Device-Technology (MID) in the working space of a SMD assembling system, as well as the use of a pipette with an additional axis, make the 3-dimensional assembly of components into MID possible. The second concept is a Robot Placement System, which consists of hardware components like a six axis robot, a tool changing system, a transport system, moving feeders and a vision system. A critical point in surface mounted technology is the necessary accuracy in centering the SMD to the pipette and the accurate placement of components. This is realized with the use of vision systems. Thereby, a new strategy for failure compensation was developed. A way to optimize the control structures and kinematic of MID placement systems is the use of modern simulation-based development and test systems, which provide facilities to perform structural analysis, collision detection, cycle time calculation as well as off-line programming capabilities.

Optimization of Set-up Strategies for Operating Automated SMT Assembly Lines

Abstract The state of the art in automation of the assembly of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is very advanced. But since the solutions realised up to low are mainly concentrated on the existing spectrum of standard components the introduction of the new technology of surface mounted devices (SMD) requires new approaches. The lead time for a defined production volume of PCBs with SME is decisively influenced by the choice of the set-up status of the assembly systems or assembly lines involved. The paper describes an approach to minimize the lead time by developing an optimization strategy for the initial set-up and subsequent changes in set-up of the components.

Direct Soldering of Electronic Components on Molded Devices

Abstract Using the great potential of the three–dimensional Molded Interconnect Devices (3–D MID) necessitates the adaption of the conventional soldering methods in electronic assembly. The different characteristics of the soldering technologies determine the suitability of various engineering thermoplastics as substrate material. So several investigations on application of different thermoplastic materials have been carried out. Furthermore the geometric design of the molded carriers and the impact on the temperature distribution on the board during the soldering process will be discussed and the possibilities and the limitations of conventional soldering equipment will be shown.