A Systematic Literature Review on the Developments in the Field of Flexible and Fully Automated Assembly Stations Within the Automotive Sector

In today’s automotive assembly systems, automation is widely implemented to improve assembly time, costs, and quality. In accordance, the respective design of the fully automated assembly stations focuses on high performance and the maximum possible output, thus restricting the system’s flexibility. In consequence, inefficiencies manifest themselves in case the assembly system can neither properly adapt to sudden changes in the assembly system (e. g. the product mix, the product design, or the assembly process) nor satisfy demand changes from internal or external factors (e. g. market demands). This paper provides a systematic literature review on the flexibility of automated assembly systems laying a specific focus on design concepts and design variants, in order to fulfill today’s flexibility requirements. As a result, the three major streams for improving the flexibility of fully automated assembly stations have been identified as incorporating flexibility in assembly systems, flexible systems design, and automation potential. Applications of the findings indicate that in order to increase the flexibility of automatic assembly, the design of fully automated assembly stations should include a focus on operations-, and structural flexibility as well as the flexibility horizons. In consequence, by increasing the flexibility of automatic assembly systems, the efficiency would increase.