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A dynamic programming based heuristic for the assembly line balancing problem

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  • Bautista, Joaquín
  • Pereira, Jordi

Abstract

The simple assembly line balancing problem is the simplification of a real problem associated to the assignment of the elementary tasks required for assembly of a product in an assembly line. This problem has been extensively studied in the literature for more than half a century. The present work proposes a new procedure to solve the problem we call Bounded Dynamic Programming. This use of the term Bounded is associated not only with the use of bounds to reduce the state space but also to the reduction of such space based on heuristics. This procedure is capable of obtaining an optimal solution rate of 267 out of 269 instances, which have been used in previous works, thus obtaining the best-known performance for the problem. These results are an improvement from any previous procedure found in the literature even when using smaller computing times.

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  • Bautista, Joaquín & Pereira, Jordi, 2009. "A dynamic programming based heuristic for the assembly line balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(3), pages 787-794, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:194:y:2009:i:3:p:787-794
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    Cited by:

    1. Boysen, Nils & Schulze, Philipp & Scholl, Armin, 2022. "Assembly line balancing: What happened in the last fifteen years?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(3), pages 797-814.
    2. Pereira, Jordi & Álvarez-Miranda, Eduardo, 2018. "An exact approach for the robust assembly line balancing problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 85-98.
    3. Vilà, Mariona & Pereira, Jordi, 2013. "An enumeration procedure for the assembly line balancing problem based on branching by non-decreasing idle time," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(1), pages 106-113.
    4. Pereira, Jordi, 2016. "Procedures for the bin packing problem with precedence constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 250(3), pages 794-806.
    5. Battaïa, Olga & Dolgui, Alexandre, 2013. "A taxonomy of line balancing problems and their solutionapproaches," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 259-277.
    6. Pape, Tom, 2015. "Heuristics and lower bounds for the simple assembly line balancing problem type 1: Overview, computational tests and improvements," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 32-42.
    7. E. C. Sewell & S. H. Jacobson, 2012. "A Branch, Bound, and Remember Algorithm for the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problem," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 433-442, August.
    8. Jordi Pereira & Mariona Vilà, 2016. "A new model for supply chain network design with integrated assembly line balancing decisions," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(9), pages 2653-2669, May.
    9. D. E. Ighravwe & S. A. Oke & K. A. Adebiyi, 2017. "Preventive maintenance task balancing with spare parts optimisation via big-bang big-crunch algorithm," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 8(2), pages 811-822, November.
    10. Hamta, Nima & Fatemi Ghomi, S.M.T. & Jolai, F. & Akbarpour Shirazi, M., 2013. "A hybrid PSO algorithm for a multi-objective assembly line balancing problem with flexible operation times, sequence-dependent setup times and learning effect," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 99-111.
    11. Sternatz, Johannes, 2014. "Enhanced multi-Hoffmann heuristic for efficiently solving real-world assembly line balancing problems in automotive industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(3), pages 740-754.
    12. Bautista, Joaquín & Pereira, Jordi, 2011. "Procedures for the Time and Space constrained Assembly Line Balancing Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 473-481, August.
    13. Michels, Adalberto Sato & Lopes, Thiago Cantos & Magatão, Leandro, 2020. "An exact method with decomposition techniques and combinatorial Benders’ cuts for the type-2 multi-manned assembly line balancing problem," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 7(C).
    14. Raphael Kramer & Mauro Dell’Amico & Manuel Iori, 2017. "A batching-move iterated local search algorithm for the bin packing problem with generalized precedence constraints," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(21), pages 6288-6304, November.
    15. Eduardo Álvarez-Miranda & Jordi Pereira & Harold Torrez-Meruvia & Mariona Vilà, 2021. "A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problem with a Fixed Number of Workstations," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(17), pages 1-19, September.
    16. Bautista, Joaquín & Cano, Alberto, 2011. "Solving mixed model sequencing problem in assembly lines with serial workstations with work overload minimisation and interruption rules," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(3), pages 495-513, May.
    17. Morrison, David R. & Sewell, Edward C. & Jacobson, Sheldon H., 2014. "An application of the branch, bound, and remember algorithm to a new simple assembly line balancing dataset," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(2), pages 403-409.
    18. Michels, Adalberto Sato & Lopes, Thiago Cantos & Sikora, Celso Gustavo Stall & Magatão, Leandro, 2019. "A Benders’ decomposition algorithm with combinatorial cuts for the multi-manned assembly line balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 796-808.
    19. Daniel Leitold & Agnes Vathy-Fogarassy & Janos Abonyi, 2019. "Empirical working time distribution-based line balancing with integrated simulated annealing and dynamic programming," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 27(2), pages 455-473, June.

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