Variety-Driven Assembly System Layout Design by Design Structure Matrix Clustering Analysis

Mass customization has been well recognized as an effective means of providing product variety while keeping mass production efficiency. As a critical aspect of fulfilling mass customization, assembly system design is facing the challenge of handling high product and process variety. This paper presents a variety-driven clustering method for assembly system layout design. Key issues include variety modeling and modularization of assembly process flows. Based on the minimization process of total coordination cost, the cluster analysis is formulated using the design structure matrix (DSM). A case study of automobile connector assembly system design is reported to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of DSM clustering analysis for dealing with product and process variety.