<p>Assembly, the process of integrating parts and components into usable products, is a critical industrial process to achieve finished goods. Driven by market demographics and technological advancements, industrial assembly has evolved through several phases, i.e., craftsmanship, bench assembly, assembly lines, and flexible assembly cells. Despite the significant advancement of automation technologies in other manufacturing activities, humans are still considered vital for assembly operations due to the complexity and variety of tasks involved. As a result, assembly operations are impacted by human errors, low production volumes, and high labor costs. Emerging technologies such as collaborative robots, additive manufacturing, digital twins, and generative AI can form a new shape of assembly systems. This study introduces the concept of Intelligent Reconfigurable &amp; Repurposable Adaptive Assembly (IRRAA), which aligns modular human–robot teams with lean principles for assembly cells. A framework for developing such modular human–robot collaboration (HRC) systems is proposed, with digital twins to design and operate IRRAA systems. An industrial assembly use case is presented to illustrate the potential of this approach. This IRRAA framework offers a path to enhanced automation while maintaining flexibility, marking a significant step toward the future of adaptive assembly cells. IRRAA’s key components and a scalable framework for its development is presented. This study lays the groundwork for a new manufacturing paradigm driven by human–robot teams, digital twins, modularization, and generative AI.</p>