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In order to be more competitive, aerospace industries have to continually improve product's cost, quality and cycle time. One way to perform all three at once is to manage product's variations, as variations are responsible for waste, rework and delay. There are only three ways to reduce product's variation: improve manufacturing capability, improve assembly capabilities and manage assembly sequence. Generally, variation reduction programs tackle only manufacturing capabilities. Unfortunately this solution is by far the most expensive one. We propose in this article to reduce variation first by selecting best assembly sequences or eliminating assembly tools and only after if there is no other way by reducing manufacturing capabilities. With this aim, we have defined an assembly analysis method. This method studies for each assembly sequence how variations are flowed from part to part through the assembly joints.

Assembly research comprises the definitive description of how parts interact during assembly (called Part Mating Science), the collection of part mating processes into systems that assemble products, and the integration of this process into the factory as a whole. Products can be assembled by four techniques: manual labor, special purpose machines, programmable systems, or hybrids of the above. Each system includes material handling, parts feeding, assembly, inspection, and may include manufacturing. Issues of design include technology, part mating, product system design tools, and economics.