APPINT algorithm for decision-making based on information integration in the assembly of personalized products

The assembly of personalized products with high fluctuations in demand is imposed by the production paradigm of personalized products. This opens the problem of managing the assembly system. Decision-making should be based on available information from the assembly process. To contribute to better management of the assembly of personalized products, the APPINT (APPlicable and INTeractive) algorithm and the workstation complexity indicator (WCI) are developed in this research. Besides, the information integration framework based on the developed algorithm and indicator is proposed, to track real information from the assembly process and to use it for decision-making. The APPINT algorithm describes an assembly system considering several crucial aspects that affect productivity such as material flows, the precedence and duration of assembly tasks, workstation layout, worker schedules and their available time. Also, it enables the optimization of mentioned aspects. The workstation complexity indicator is used to show the distribution of complexity loads on workstations and its impact on assembly productivity. A specially designed APPINT algorithm based on the theory of graphs and linear programming, together with a complexity indicator, gives the result of optimization problems within the given constraints of the observed system. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework for information integration, the case study was made in the real environment.