CONCURRENT ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT FOR PRODUCT DESIGN, ASSEMBLY AND RESOURCE PLANNING

The objective of this paper is to summarize the work done by the three above mentioned Institutes to specify future computer-aided tools to be used for the design of flexible manufacturing systems for mechanical and electro-mechanical assemblies.
The specified system is related to the product design improvement at the upper level and to the "optimal" design of the equipment (workshop and cell layout,...) at the lower one.
The paper describes the three main modules of the system:
· the product design for assembly,
· the assembly planner,
· the resource planner.
It shows also the integration of these three modules and how they can be used in a real concurrent engineering environment.