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Workload balancing and manufacturing complexity levelling in mixed-model assembly lines

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  • Luiza Zeltzer
  • El-Houssaine Aghezzaf
  • Veronique Limère

Abstract

To effectively react and meet the current ever growing demand for individualised motor vehicles, built to customer specific requirements, automotive industry has accelerated its transition towards mass-customisation. As a result, the number of new model introductions has drastically increased over the past three decades. To cope with this intensified customisation, the current automotive assembly platforms are designed to assemble a wide range of relatively different models, and are turned into mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs). This implies that the set of tasks to be performed on each workstation is no longer stable but varies highly with the model-mix. As a consequence, the manufacturing complexity increases at the workstations and throughout the whole assembly system. This paper proposes a method to monitor manufacturing complexity at each workstation while the MMAL is being balanced. An entropy-based quantitative measure of complexity, which incorporates the variability of each task duration, is developed. This measure is used to monitor the manufacturing complexity level at each workstation. An integrated mixed-line balancing and complexity monitoring heuristic is proposed, to determine workload balance solutions, in which manufacturing complexity is levelled throughout the workstations composing the line. This procedure is tested on a real data-set provided by an automotive manufacturer. The results are reported and thoroughly discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Luiza Zeltzer & El-Houssaine Aghezzaf & Veronique Limère, 2017. "Workload balancing and manufacturing complexity levelling in mixed-model assembly lines," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(10), pages 2829-2844, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:10:p:2829-2844
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2016.1213452
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    Cited by:

    1. Jesús F. Lampón, 2023. "Efficiency in design and production to achieve sustainable development challenges in the automobile industry: Modular electric vehicle platforms," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 26-38, February.
    2. García-Villoria, Alberto & Corominas, Albert & Nadal, Adrià & Pastor, Rafael, 2018. "Solving the accessibility windows assembly line problem level 1 and variant 1 (AWALBP-L1-1) with precedence constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(3), pages 882-895.
    3. Pontes, Lara & Neves, Carlos & Subramanian, Anand & Battarra, Maria, 2024. "The maximum length car sequencing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 316(2), pages 707-717.
    4. Battaïa, Olga & Dolgui, Alexandre, 2022. "Hybridizations in line balancing problems: A comprehensive review on new trends and formulations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).

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