ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews many computer assembly planners that have been developed in the past for mechanical products. The techniques used for their development are classified into four categories: algorithmic, integrated interactive/algorithmic, knowledge-based, and case-based. Planning of production processes, whether they are forming, machining, or joining processes, is an important engineering activity in a manufacturing system. The major difficulties come from the incompleteness of design models for process planning, the vastness of process planning knowledge, and the uniqueness of each manufacturing system. The chapter presents a computer-aided assembly planner developed specifically for aircraft frame assemblies. This planner is different from previous planners in assembly model representation, planning algorithms, and plan representation. Most of the studies and the computer assembly planners developed are restricted to the determination of assembly sequence. The algorithmic approach organizes planning knowledge in the form of algorithms, which are, in turn, implemented using a procedural language like C or a functional language like CommonLisp.
