Reconfigurable handling systems as an enabler for large components in mass customized production

Manufacturing companies today are exposed to increasingly dynamic market requirements. Particularly in high-wage countries, there is also a clear trend toward standing out from global competitors by means of product differentiation. At the same time, however, prices have to remain competitive. As a consequence, many companies choose a mass customization strategy to reconcile individualized products with advantages of the economies of scale. So far, this aim is mainly reached in the consumer goods sector by flexible production systems with a high degree of automation. The approach presented here is capable of transferring the benefits of mass customization to large products with lower production quantities such as aircraft by means of a highly reconfigurable automated handling system. Instead of manual operations or specific jigs and fixtures for each component, the new system is characterized by supporting large work pieces at several distributed points by multiple robotic arms. The individual robots are simple in design and very lightweight so that they can be easily switched in order to reconfigure the assembly system for different tasks. The development does not only comprise hardware construction, but also new methods for programming, commissioning and control of cooperating handling devices in a modular and reconfigurable system layout.