Assembly Sequence Planning: A Review

Background: Assembly Sequence Planning (ASP) is an important stage in the process of product design and manufacturing. A reasonable assembly sequence can reduce the complexity of assembly operations, reduce the number of tools and fixtures, improve assembly efficiency, reduce assembly time, and reduce assembly costs. Methods: The purpose of this paper is to review the objective function, constraint conditions, and the solving methods of the ASP. Conclusion: The research methods can be roughly divided into three categories: graph-based method, knowledge-based method, and artificial intelligence algorithm. The advantages and disadvantages of the three methods are compared. Finally, future research is discussed, which could provide a reference for the ASP.