Statistical Modeling of Defect Propensity in Manual Assembly as Applied to Automotive Electrical Connectors

Assembly represents a significant fraction of overall manufacturing time and total manufacturing cost in the automotive industry. With increasing product complexity and variety, humans remain a cost effective solution to meet the needs of flexible manufacturing systems. This element necessitates a better understanding of the human role in manufacturing complexity. Presented herein is a framework for enumerating assembly variables correlated with the potential for quality defects, presented in the design, process, and human factors domain. A case study is offered that illustrates a method to identify variables and their effect on assembly quality for a manual assembly process.