A multi-manned assembly line balancing problem with classified teams: a new approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Yilmaz ◽  
Mustafa Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Test Problems ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Line Test ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem ◽  
First Time

Purpose – Within team-oriented approaches, tasks are assigned to teams before being assigned to workstations as a reality of industry. So it becomes clear, which workers assemble which tasks. Design/methodology/approach – Team numbers of the assembly line can increase with the number of tasks, but at the same time, due to physical situations of the stations, there will be limitations of maximum working team numbers in a station. For this purpose, heuristic assembly line balancing (ALB) procedure is used and mathematical model is developed for the problem. Findings – Well-known assembly line test problems widely used in the literature are solved to indicate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach in practice. Originality/value – This paper draws attention to ALB problem in which workers have been assigned to teams in advance due to the need for specialized skills or equipment on the line for the first time.

An immune genetic algorithm for simple assembly line balancing problem of type 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-ye Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Immune Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem ◽  
Simple Assembly ◽  
First Time

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop an immune genetic algorithm (IGA) to solve the simple assembly line balancing problem of type 1 (SALBP-1). The objective is to minimize the number of workstations and workstation load for a given cycle time of the assembly line. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops a new solution method for SALBP-1, and a user-defined function named ψ(·) is proposed to convert all the individuals to satisfy the precedence relationships during the operation of IGA. Findings Computational experiments suggest that the proposed method is efficient. Originality/value An IGA is proposed to solve the SALBP-1 for the first time.

Multi-manned assembly line balancing problem with balanced load density

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Yilmaz ◽  
Mustafa Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Assembly Lines ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Balance Task ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem ◽  
First Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is balancing multi-manned assembly lines with load-balancing constraints in addition to conventional ones Most research works about the multi-manned assembly line balancing problems are focused on the conventional industrial measures that minimize total number of workers, number of multi-manned workstations or both. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a remedial constraint for the model to balance task load density for each worker in workstations. Findings – Comparisons between the proposed mathematical model and the existing multi-manned mathematical model show a quite promising better task load density performance for the proposed approach. Originality/value – In this paper, a mathematical model that combines the minimization of multi-manned stations, worker numbers and difference of task load density of workers is proposed for the first time.

Parallel two-sided assembly line balancing with tools and tasks sharing

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-846
Author(s):  
Ashish Yadav ◽  
Ramawatar Kulhary ◽  
Rupesh Nishad ◽  
Sunil Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Solution Procedure ◽  
Performance Measure ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Benchmark Problems ◽  
Test Problems ◽  
Assembly Lines ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem

Purpose Parallel two-sided assembly lines are usually designed to produce large-sized products such as trucks and buses. In parallel two-sided assembly lines, both left and right sides of the line are used for manufacturing one or more products on two or more assembly lines located parallel to each other. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new mathematical model for the parallel two-sided assembly line balancing problem that helps to evaluate and validate the balancing operations of the machines such as removal of tools and fixtures and reallocating the operators. Design/methodology/approach The proposed approach is explained with the help of an example problem. In all, 22 test problems are formed using the benchmark problems P9, P12, P16 and P24. The results obtained are compared among approaches of the task(s) shared, tool(s) shared and both tool(s) and task(s) shared for effect on efficiency as the performance measure. The solution presented here follows the exact solution procedure that is solved by Lingo 16 solver. Findings Based on the experiments, line efficiency decreases when only tools are shared and increases when only tasks are shared. Results indicate that by sharing tasks and tools together, better line efficiency is obtained with less cost of tools and fixtures. Practical implications According to the industrial aspect, the result of the study can be beneficial for assembly of the products, where tools and tasks are shared between parallel workstations of two or more parallel lines. Originality/value According to the author’s best knowledge, this paper is the first to address the tools and tasks sharing between any pair of parallel workstations.

Assembly line design considering line balancing and part feeding

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Nourmohammadi ◽  
Hamidreza Eskandari
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Decision Problems ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Test Problems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Line Design ◽  
Part Feeding

Purpose This paper aims to optimize the configuration of assembly lines (ALs) considering the two long-term decision problems within the line balancing and part feeding (PF) contexts, when the supermarket concept is applied in PF. Design/methodology/approach To this purpose, a bi-level mathematical model is proposed to deal with the assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) and supermarket location problem (SLP) during the strategic decision-making phase of ALs’ configuration. The proposed model is applied on the known test problems taken from the ALBP literature to verify its performance. Findings The computational results verify that when the proposed structure is applied, the resulting AL configurations are optimized from both ALBP and SLP considerations in terms of the number of stations and line efficiency as well as supermarket transportation and installation costs. Originality/value No study has yet dealt with the long-term decision problem of configuring ALs considering both ALBP and SLP. Also, this study validates the effect of the ALBP on the SLP solutions as two long-term interrelated decision problems.

Robust optimization of resource-constrained assembly line balancing problems with uncertain operation times

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenrui Jin ◽  
Zhaoxu He ◽  
Qiong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Algorithm ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Whale Optimization Algorithm ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Whale Optimization ◽  
Minmax Regret ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem

PurposeDue to the market trend of low-volume and high-variety, the manufacturing industry is paying close attention to improve the ability to hedge against variability. Therefore, in this paper the assembly line with limited resources is balanced in a robust way that has good performance under all possible scenarios. The proposed model allows decision makers to minimize a posteriori regret of the selected choice and hedge against the high cost caused by variability.Design/methodology/approachA generalized resource-constrained assembly line balancing problem (GRCALBP) with an interval data of task times is modeled and the objective is to find an assignment of tasks and resources to the workstations such that the maximum regret among all the possible scenarios is minimized. To properly solve the problem, the regret evaluation, an exact solution method and an enhanced meta-heuristic algorithm, Whale Optimization Algorithm, are proposed and analyzed. A problem-specific coding scheme and search mechanisms are incorporated.FindingsTheory analysis and computational experiments are conducted to evaluated the proposed methods and their superiority. Satisfactory results show that the constraint generation technique-based exact method can efficiently solve instances of moderate size to optimality, and the performance of WOA is enhanced due to the modified searching strategy.Originality/valueFor the first time a minmax regret model is considered in a resource-constrained assembly line balancing problem. The traditional Whale Optimization Algorithm is modified to overcome the inferior capability and applied in discrete and constrained assembly line balancing problems.

Mixed-model multi-manned assembly line balancing problem: a mathematical model and a simulated annealing approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdolreza Roshani ◽  
Farnaz Ghazi Nezami
Keyword(s):  
Simulated Annealing ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mip Model ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem

Purpose This paper aims to study a generalized type of mixed-model assembly line with multi-manned workstations where multiple workers simultaneously perform different tasks on the same product. This special kind of assembly line is usually utilized to assemble different models of large products, such as buses and trucks, on the same production line. Design/methodology/approach To solve the mixed-model multi-manned assembly line balancing problem optimally, a new mixed-integer-programming (MIP) model is presented. The proposed MIP model is nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP)-hard, and as a result, a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm is developed to find the optimal or near-optimal solution in a small amount of computation time. Findings The performance of the proposed algorithm is examined for several test problems in terms of solution quality and running time. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has a satisfactory performance from computational time efficiency and solution accuracy. Originality/value This research is the very first study that minimizes the number of workers and workstations simultaneously, with a higher priority set for the number of workers, in a mixed-model multi-manned assembly line setting using a novel MIP model and an SA algorithm.

An Effective Grouping Evolution Strategy Algorithm Enhanced with Heuristic Methods for Assembly Line Balancing Problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (03) ◽  
pp. 487-509
Author(s):  
Mazyar Ghadiri Nejad ◽  
Ali Husseinzadeh Kashan
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Group Structure ◽  
Heuristic Method ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Evolution Strategy ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Test Problems ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem ◽  
Positional Weight

Assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) is an allocation of given tasks to the workstations in a way that the number of workstations or the idle times of workstations get minimized. ALBP is a well-known problem in mass-production systems with high production volume and low diversity. In division and grouping allocation problems like ALBP, metaheuristic algorithms based on group structure, i.e. grouping genetic algorithm, are more efficient. The aim of this study is developing a new solution procedure to minimize the number of workstations for a given cycle time based on grouping evolution strategy. A modification of the ranked positional weight method is proposed to construct the initial solution, and a new heuristic method based on a modified version of the COMSOAL method is provided to tighten the solution after performing the mutation operator. Different strategies based on line efficiency and line smoothness indexes are considered to select the best result and transfer it to the next generation. Moreover, to evaluate the performance of proposed algorithms, some well-known standard test problems are utilized. Computational results indicate that the proposed solution algorithm performs efficiently and can obtain the optimal global solution in most of the high dimensional problems.

scholarly journals Assembly line balancing problem

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masood Fathi ◽  
Dalila Benedita Machado Martins Fontes ◽  
Matias Urenda Moris ◽  
Morteza Ghobakhloo
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Fitness Function ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Solution Methods ◽  
Reliable Performance ◽  
Constructive Heuristics ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem

Purpose The purpose of this study is to first investigate the efficiency of the most commonly used performance measures for minimizing the number of workstations (NWs) in approaches addressing simple assembly line balancing problem (SALBP) for both straight and U-shaped line, and second to provide a comparative evaluation of 20 constructive heuristics to find solutions to the SALBP-1. Design/methodology/approach A total of 200 problems are solved by 20 different constructive heuristics for both straight and U-shaped assembly line. Moreover, several comparisons have been made to evaluate the performance of constructive heuristics. Findings Minimizing the smoothness index is not necessarily equivalent to minimizing the NWs; therefore, it should not be used as the fitness function in approaches addressing the SALBP-1. Line efficiency and the idle time are indeed reliable performance measures for minimizing the NWs. The most promising heuristics for straight and U-shaped line configurations for SALBP-1 are also ranked and introduced. Practical implications Results are expected to help scholars and industrial practitioners to better design effective solution methods for having the most balanced assembly line. This study will further help with choosing the most proper heuristic with regard to the problem specifications and line configuration. Originality/value There is limited research assessing the efficiency of the common objectives for SALBP-1. This study is among the first to prove that minimizing the workload smoothness is not equivalent to minimizing the NWs in SALBP-1 studies. This work is also one of the first attempts for evaluating the constructive heuristics for both straight and U-shaped line configurations.

A multiple rule-based genetic algorithm for cost-oriented stochastic assembly line balancing problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahad Foroughi ◽  
Hadi Gökçen
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing Problem ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Stochastic Assembly

Purpose This research aims to address the cost-oriented stochastic assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) and propose a chance-constrained programming model. Design/methodology/approach The cost-oriented stochastic ALBP is solved for small- to medium-sized problems. Owing to the non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP)-hardness problem, a multiple rule-based genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed for large-scale problems. Findings The experimental results show that the proposed GA has superior performance and efficiency compared to the global optimum solutions obtained by the IBM ILOG CPLEX optimization software. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, only one study has discussed the cost-oriented stochastic ALBP using the new concept of cost. Owing to the NP-hard nature of the problem, it was necessary to develop a heuristic or meta-heuristic algorithm for large data sets; this research paper contributes to filling this gap.

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