Intelligent navigation of assembly activities based on real-time manufacturing information

To improve the transparency and real-time optimization of assembly process, the basic assembly unit-assembly station was taken as the research object to propose an intelligent navigation method driven by real-time information. Combining with Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology, three services included real-time assembly operating guidance, collaborative manufacturing between assembly stations and real-time optimization of task queue were designed to provide navigation for assembly station. Real-time assembly operating guidance service was used to monitor the status of the materials and Work In Progress (WIP) items and provide operation details and instructions of the executed assembly activities. Collaborative manufacturing service between assembly stations was responsible for transmitting and sharing the collaborative assembly information among the stations. In the real-time optimization of task queue service, a heuristic method was designed to re-queue the tasks of the assembly station by minimizing total weighted earliness and tardiness based on the real-time execution information. A case study was given to verify the presented method and navigation services.