A roadmap for Assembly 4.0: self-configuration of fixed-position assembly islands under Graduation Intelligent Manufacturing System

The layout of fixed-position assembly islands (FPAI) is widely used for producing fragile or bulky products. With the increasing customised demand and unique operation patterns, manufacturing practitioners are facing challenges on flexible and efficient production arrangement to meet customer demand, which lead to inappropriate assembly islands configuration, frequent setups and long waiting times in FPAI. Industry 4.0 comes with the promise of...