Framework to Redesign Products with Focus on Design for Assembly Meaning: A PBL Case Study

Abstract

In many companies and especially in companies producing small series of products, manual assembly is highly needed for its flexibility. Complexity of manual assembly tasks is increasing in these companies and operators need to be supported. A framework was developed to facilitate designers to design for assembly meaning, a product design approach that aims to improve the intuitiveness of the assembly process and tries to lower the need for procedural instructions. In this paper, a project based learning (PBL) case study was used to assess the framework. In this study, twenty-eight students redesigned six light fixtured based on the analysis of the assembly process and in close cooperation with the company. The results of a survey taken from the students showed that the framework was valued by many students within a PBL setting. Moreover the solutions designed by the students to foster a more intuitive assembly were valuable, mostly feasible and showing a variety of solutions. The added value of offering a framework to design for meaning in assembly and to implement this in a PBL setting with access to a company, operators, products and prototyping facilities was also illustrated. The framework, method and tools are all discussed within the context of project based learning.