1. Introduction
A keyconcernformanufacturingcompaniesisdevelopingthe
ability todesignandproduceavarietyofhighqualityproducts
within shorttimeframes.Quickreleaseofanewproductintothe
market place,aheadofanycompetitors,isacrucialfactorinbeing
able tosecureahigherpercentageofthemarketplaceand
increased profitmargin.Asaresultoftheconsumerdesirefor
variety, batchproductionofproductsisnowmorethenormthan
mass production,whichhasresultedintheneedformanufac-
turers todevelopflexiblemanufacturingpracticestoachievea
rapid turnaroundinproductdevelopment.
A numberoffactorscontributetoanorganization’sabilityto
achieveflexiblemanufacturing,oneofwhichistheuseoffixtures
duringproductioninwhichworkpiecesgothroughanumberof
machiningoperationstoproduce individualpartswhichare
subsequentlyassembledintoproducts. Fixturesareusedtorapidly,
accurately, andsecurelypositionworkpiecesduringmachiningsuch
that allmachinedpartsfallwithinthedesignspecificationsforthat
part. Thisaccuracyfacilitatestheinter-changeabilityofpartsthatis
prevalentinmuchofmodernmanufacturingwheremanydifferent
products featurecommonparts.
The costsassociatedwithfixturingcanaccountfor10–20%of
the totalcostofamanufacturingsystem [1]. Thesecostsrelatenot
only tofixturemanufacture,assembly,andoperation,butalsoto
their design.Hencetherearesignificantbenefitstobereapedby
reducing thedesigncostsassociatedwithfixturingandtwo
approaches havebeenadoptedinpursuitofthisaim.Onehas
concentrated ondevelopingflexiblefixturingsystems,suchasthe
use ofphase-changingmaterialstoholdworkpiecesinplace [2]
and thedevelopmentofcommercialmodularfixturesystems.
However, thesignificantlimitationoftheflexiblefixturingmantra
is thatitdoesnotaddressthedifficultyofdesigningfixtures.To
combat thisproblem,asecondresearchapproachhasbeento
develop computer-aidedfixturedesign(CAFD)systemsthat
support andsimplifythefixturedesignprocessanditisthis
research thatisreviewedwithinthispaper.
Section 2describestheprincipalphasesofandthewide
variety ofrequirementsdrivingthefixturedesignprocess.