A Novel Algorithm for Solving the Assembly Line Balancing Type I Problem

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ismail ◽  
Sayed Kaes Hossain ◽  
Ola Rashwan
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Oriented Graph ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Type I ◽  
Modeling Approach ◽  
Solution Algorithms ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Backward Tracking

This paper presents a new modeling approach called Progressive Modeling (PM) and demonstrates it by solving the Assembly Line Balancing Type I Problem. PM introduces some new concepts that make the modeling process of large-scale complex industrial problems more systematic and their solution algorithms much faster and easily maintained. In the context of SALBP-I, PM introduces a component model to deploy the problem logic and its solution algorithm into several interacting components. The problem is represented as an object-oriented graph G (V, E, W) of vertices, edges, and workstations which enables problem solutions to start anywhere. The novel representation relaxes the only forward and backward tracking approach used in the assembly line balancing literature. A set of well-reported problems in the literature are reported and solved. The paper concludes by demonstrating the efficiency of the new modeling approach and future extensions.

Assembly Line Re-Balancing Using Ranked Positional Weight Technique and Longest Operating Time Technique: A Comparative Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 824 ◽  
pp. 568-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph O. Edokpia ◽  
F.U. Owu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Operating Time ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Positional Weight

Assembly line balancing is an attractive means of mass manufacturing and large-scale serial production systems. Traditionally, assembly lines are arranged in straight single-model lines and the problem is known as Simple Assembly Line balancing problem (SALBP). In this study, two heuristic assembly line balancing techniques known as the Ranked Positional Weight Technique, and the longest operational time technique, were applied to solve the problem of single-model line balancing problem in an assembling company with the aim of comparing the efficiencies of the application of the two algorithms. By using both methods, different restrictions were taken into consideration and two different lines balancing results were obtained. From the results obtained, Longest Operating Time Technique has higher line efficiency (85.16%) as compared to Ranked positional weight technique (79.28%) and it is easy to apply. The LOT technique gave the minimum number of workstations (27) as compared to the RPW technique (29); however the line efficiency and the number of workstation of the existing line are 74.67% and 31 respectively. This implies that the LOT technique has a better reduction in operating cost.

A novel discrete particle swarm algorithm for assembly line balancing problems

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianping Dou ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Xia Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Particle Swarm ◽  
Assembly Line Balancing ◽  
Line Balancing ◽  
Particle Swarm Algorithm ◽  
Type I ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Discrete Particle ◽  
Comparative Results

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a feasible sequence-oriented new discrete particle swarm optimization (NDPSO) algorithm with novel particles’ updating mechanism for solving simple assembly line balancing problems (SALBPs). Design/methodology/approach In the NDPSO, a task-oriented representation is adopted to solve type I and type II SALBPs, and a particle directly represents a feasible task sequence (FTS) as a permutation. Then, the particle (permutation) is updated as a whole using the geometric crossover based on the edit distance with swaps for two permutations. Furthermore, the fragment mutation with adaptive mutation probability is incorporated into the NDPSO to improve exploration ability. Findings Case study illustrates the effectiveness of the NDPSO. Comparative results between the NDPSO and existing real-encoded PSO (CPSO) and direct discrete PSO (DDPSO) against benchmark instances of type I SALBP and type II SALBP show promising higher performance of the proposed NDPSO. Originality/value A novel particles’ updating mechanism for FTS-encoded particle is proposed to solve the SALBPs. The comparative results indicate that updating of FTS as a whole seems superior to existing updating of FTS by fragment with respect to exploration ability for solving SALBPs. The novel particles’ updating mechanism is also applicable to generalized assembly line balancing problems.

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