System and method for joining workpieces to form an article

A method for fitting a workpiece to a workstation fixture having at least one adjustable locator, wherein the workpiece has at least one physical feature, the position of which is correlated to a collection of assembly data, the method comprising:

• placing the workpieces in the workstation;
• obtaining measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one physical feature of the workpiece;
• obtaining measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one adjustable locator;
• using a processor to ingest and utilize the collection of assembly data and the measurement data to define and store in memory at least one ordered pair correlating the at least one physical feature and the at least one adjustable locator;
• using the processor to define and store in memory, for the at least one ordered pair, a test vector that connects the position of the at least one physical feature and the position of the at least one adjustable locator, where the test vector has vector components represented as variables stored in memory;
• using the processor to computationally discover a best fit for adjusting the position of the at least one adjustable locator to register with the at least one physical feature by applying to the test vector a computational optimization process that seeks to minimize the length of the test vector to thereby generate a digital shim vector;
• causing the adjustable locator to physically move according to the digital shim vector to the calculated best fit position;
• and
• storing the digital shim vector in association with the collection of assembly data.