IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v46y2000i3p421-435.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Synchronous Unpaced Flow Lines with Worker Differences and Overtime Cost

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth H. Doerr

    (University of Miami, School of Business Administration, Department of Management, Coral Gables, Florida 33124)

  • Theodore D. Klastorin

    (University of Washington School of Business, Department of Management Science, Box 353200, Seattle, Washington 98195-3200)

  • Michael J. Magazine

    (University of Cincinnati School of Business Administration, Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221)

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the design of a synchronous, unpaced flow line where workers operate at different skill levels and overtime is used, if necessary, to meet a daily production quota. The line is unpaced in the sense that items only move to the next workstation when all workers on the line have completed their respective tasks. The design problem in this case is to assign both workers and tasks to workstations to minimize the expected sum of regular and overtime costs. To solve this problem, we develop an optimization algorithm for smaller problems and a heuristic algorithm for larger problems, which we use to investigate the sensitivity of total expected cost to changes in the price of overtime, hiring practices, worker differences, and the overall amount of work time variability. Based on an extensive computational analysis, we found that (1) planned overtime is frequently beneficial, (2) more workers should be hired as worker variability increases, and (3) increases in overtime costs frequently yield a relatively lower percentage increase in total expected cost. Other managerial implications are discussed in the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth H. Doerr & Theodore D. Klastorin & Michael J. Magazine, 2000. "Synchronous Unpaced Flow Lines with Worker Differences and Overtime Cost," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 421-435, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:3:p:421-435
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.3.421.12064
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.3.421.12064
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.46.3.421.12064?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. F. Brian Talbot & James H. Patterson, 1984. "An Integer Programming Algorithm with Network Cuts for Solving the Assembly Line Balancing Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 85-99, January.
    2. Robert L. Carraway, 1989. "A Dynamic Programming Approach to Stochastic Assembly Line Balancing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 459-471, April.
    3. Steven T. Hackman & Michael J. Magazine & T. S. Wee, 1989. "Fast, Effective Algorithms for Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 37(6), pages 916-924, December.
    4. Anthony A. Mastor, 1970. "An Experimental Investigation and Comparative Evaluation of Production Line Balancing Techniques," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(11), pages 728-746, July.
    5. Fred N. Silverman & John C. Carter, 1986. "A Cost-Based Methodology for Stochastic Line Balancing with Intermittent Line Stoppages," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 455-463, April.
    6. James R. Jackson, 1956. "A Computing Procedure for a Line Balancing Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 261-271, April.
    7. E. H. Bowman, 1960. "Assembly-Line Balancing by Linear Programming," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 385-389, June.
    8. Edward P. C. Kao, 1976. "A Preference Order Dynamic Program for Stochastic Assembly Line Balancing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(10), pages 1097-1104, June.
    9. Emmanuel Fernández-Gaucherand & Sanjay Jain & Hau L. Lee & Ambar G. Rao & M. R. Rao, 1995. "Improving Productivity by Periodic Performance Evaluation: A Bayesian Stochastic Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(10), pages 1669-1678, October.
    10. John J. Bartholdi & Donald D. Eisenstein, 1996. "A Production Line that Balances Itself," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 21-34, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lopes, Thiago Cantos & Michels, Adalberto Sato & Sikora, Celso Gustavo Stall & Molina, Rafael Gobbi & Magatão, Leandro, 2018. "Balancing and cyclically sequencing synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid unpaced assembly lines," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 216-224.
    2. Chiang, Wen-Chyuan & Urban, Timothy L., 2006. "The stochastic U-line balancing problem: A heuristic procedure," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(3), pages 1767-1781, December.
    3. Urban, Timothy L. & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan, 2006. "An optimal piecewise-linear program for the U-line balancing problem with stochastic task times," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 771-782, February.
    4. Waldherr, Stefan & Knust, Sigrid & Briskorn, Dirk, 2017. "Synchronous flow shop problems: How much can we gain by leaving machines idle?," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 15-24.
    5. C. Weiß & S. Waldherr & S. Knust & N. V. Shakhlevich, 2017. "Open Shop Scheduling with Synchronization," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 557-581, December.
    6. Urban, Timothy L. & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan, 2016. "Designing energy-efficient serial production lines: The unpaced synchronous line-balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(3), pages 789-801.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte, 2008. "A versatile algorithm for assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(1), pages 39-56, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Amen, Matthias, 2006. "Cost-oriented assembly line balancing: Model formulations, solution difficulty, upper and lower bounds," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 747-770, February.
    4. Scholl, Armin & Becker, Christian, 2006. "State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 666-693, February.
    5. Urban, Timothy L. & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan, 2016. "Designing energy-efficient serial production lines: The unpaced synchronous line-balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(3), pages 789-801.
    6. Bukchin, Yossi & Raviv, Tal, 2018. "Constraint programming for solving various assembly line balancing problems," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 57-68.
    7. Sprecher, Arno, 2000. "SALBLIB: Challenging instances for assembly line balancing," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 526, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    8. Becker, Christian & Scholl, Armin, 2006. "A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 694-715, February.
    9. Franco Guerriero & John Miltenburg, 2003. "The stochastic U‐line balancing problem," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(1), pages 31-57, February.
    10. Urban, Timothy L. & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan, 2006. "An optimal piecewise-linear program for the U-line balancing problem with stochastic task times," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 771-782, February.
    11. Marcus Ritt & Alysson M. Costa & Cristóbal Miralles, 2016. "The assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem with stochastic worker availability," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(3), pages 907-922, February.
    12. Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte & Scholl, Armin, 2007. "A classification of assembly line balancing problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(2), pages 674-693, December.
    13. Klein, Robert & Scholl, Armin, 1996. "Maximizing the production rate in simple assembly line balancing -- A branch and bound procedure," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 367-385, June.
    14. Chiang, Wen-Chyuan & Urban, Timothy L., 2006. "The stochastic U-line balancing problem: A heuristic procedure," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(3), pages 1767-1781, December.
    15. Schulze, Philipp & Scholl, Armin & Walter, Rico, 2024. "R-SALSA: A branch, bound, and remember algorithm for the workload smoothing problem on simple assembly lines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 312(1), pages 38-55.
    16. Diefenbach, Johannes & Stolletz, Raik, 2022. "Stochastic assembly line balancing: General bounds and reliability-based branch-and-bound algorithm," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(2), pages 589-605.
    17. Hassan Zohali & Bahman Naderi & Vahid Roshanaei, 2022. "Solving the Type-2 Assembly Line Balancing with Setups Using Logic-Based Benders Decomposition," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 315-332, January.
    18. Wen-Chyuan Chiang & Timothy L. Urban & Chunyong Luo, 2016. "Balancing stochastic two-sided assembly lines," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(20), pages 6232-6250, October.
    19. Scholl, Armin & Klein, Robert, 1999. "Balancing assembly lines effectively - A computational comparison," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 50-58, April.
    20. Amen, Matthias, 2001. "Heuristic methods for cost-oriented assembly line balancing: A comparison on solution quality and computing time," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 255-264, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:3:p:421-435. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.