Robust Concurrent Design of Product Families and Assembly Systems

Abstract

While robust optimization techniques have been found useful for the modeling of uncertainties in a wide range of fields, their application to concurrent engineering optimization models have been limited. This research introduces new integer, non-linear programs for the robust concurrent design of product families and their corresponding assembly systems. The models introduced involve the application of interval and ellipsoidal uncertainty functions to the solution of the latter problem. A new, exhaustive search algorithm for the determination of exact solutions to the models is also introduced. The implementation of the model is demonstrated with an example.