IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/tprsxx/v55y2017i20p5958-5975.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Balancing of mixed-model parallel U-shaped assembly lines considering model sequences

Author

Listed:
  • Ibrahim Kucukkoc
  • David Z. Zhang

Abstract

As a consequence of increasing interests in customised products, mixed-model lines have become the most significant components of today’s manufacturing systems to meet surging consumer demand. Also, U-shaped assembly lines have been shown as the intelligent way of producing homogeneous products in large quantities by reducing the workforce need thanks to the crossover workstations. As an innovative idea, we address the mixed-model parallel U-shaped assembly line design which combines the flexibility of mixed-model lines with the efficiency of U-shaped lines and parallel lines. The multi-line stations utilised in between two adjacent lines provide extra efficiency with the opportunity of assigning tasks into workstations in different combinations. The new line configuration is defined and characterised in details and its advantages are explained. A heuristic solution approach is proposed for solving the problem. The proposed approach considers the model sequences on the lines and seeks efficient balancing solutions for their different combinations. An explanatory example is also provided to show the sophisticated structure of the studied problem and explain the running mechanism of the proposed approach. The results of the experimental tests and their statistical analysis indicated that the proposed line design requires fewer number of workstations in comparison with independently balanced mixed-model U-lines.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahim Kucukkoc & David Z. Zhang, 2017. "Balancing of mixed-model parallel U-shaped assembly lines considering model sequences," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(20), pages 5958-5975, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:20:p:5958-5975
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2017.1312586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00207543.2017.1312586
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00207543.2017.1312586?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nick T. Thomopoulos, 1967. "Line Balancing-Sequencing for Mixed-Model Assembly," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 59-75, October.
    2. G. J. Miltenburg & J. Wijngaard, 1994. "The U-line Line Balancing Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(10), pages 1378-1388, October.
    3. Fred M. Tonge, 1960. "Summary of a Heuristic Line Balancing Procedure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 21-42, October.
    4. Sabuncuoglu, Ihsan & Erel, Erdal & Alp, Arda, 2009. "Ant colony optimization for the single model U-type assembly line balancing problem," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 287-300, August.
    5. Kim, Yeo Keun & Kim, Jae Yun & Kim, Yeongho, 2006. "An endosymbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the integration of balancing and sequencing in mixed-model U-lines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 838-852, February.
    6. 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.
    7. Kucukkoc, Ibrahim & Zhang, David Z., 2014. "Mathematical model and agent based solution approach for the simultaneous balancing and sequencing of mixed-model parallel two-sided assembly lines," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 314-333.
    8. Timothy L. Urban, 1998. "Note. Optimal Balancing of U-Shaped Assembly Lines," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(5), pages 738-741, May.
    9. Miltenburg, John, 2001. "U-shaped production lines: A review of theory and practice," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 201-214, April.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. Karim Aroui & Gülgün Alpan & Yannick Frein, 2017. "Minimising work overload in mixed-model assembly lines with different types of operators: a case study from the truck industry," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(21), pages 6305-6326, November.

    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. Agpak, Kursad & Gokcen, Hadi, 2007. "A chance-constrained approach to stochastic line balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(3), pages 1098-1115, August.
    2. Emel Kızılkaya Aydoğan & Yılmaz Delice & Uğur Özcan & Cevriye Gencer & Özkan Bali, 2019. "Balancing stochastic U-lines using particle swarm optimization," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 97-111, January.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Aase, Gerald R. & Olson, John R. & Schniederjans, Marc J., 2004. "U-shaped assembly line layouts and their impact on labor productivity: An experimental study," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(3), pages 698-711, August.
    6. Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte & Scholl, Armin, 2009. "Sequencing mixed-model assembly lines: Survey, classification and model critique," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 349-373, January.
    7. Kucukkoc, Ibrahim & Zhang, David Z., 2014. "Mathematical model and agent based solution approach for the simultaneous balancing and sequencing of mixed-model parallel two-sided assembly lines," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 314-333.
    8. Sabuncuoglu, Ihsan & Erel, Erdal & Alp, Arda, 2009. "Ant colony optimization for the single model U-type assembly line balancing problem," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 287-300, August.
    9. Jayaswal, Sachin & Agarwal, Prashant, 2013. "Balancing U-Shaped Assembly Lines with Resource Dependent Task Times: A Simulated Annealing Approach," IIMA Working Papers WP2013-11-06, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    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. Gokcen, Hadi & Ag[caron]pak, Kursad, 2006. "A goal programming approach to simple U-line balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(2), pages 577-585, June.
    12. Gokcen, Hadi & Agpak, Kursad & Benzer, Recep, 2006. "Balancing of parallel assembly lines," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 600-609, October.
    13. Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte & Scholl, Armin, 2008. "Assembly line balancing: Which model to use when," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 509-528, February.
    14. Masood Fathi & María Jesús à lvarez & Victoria Rodríguez, 2016. "A new heuristic-based bi-objective simulated annealing method for U-shaped assembly line balancing," European Journal of Industrial Engineering, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(2), pages 145-169.
    15. 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.
    16. Kara, Yakup & Paksoy, Turan & Chang, Ching-Ter, 2009. "Binary fuzzy goal programming approach to single model straight and U-shaped assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 335-347, June.
    17. Ibrahim Kucukkoc & Kadir Buyukozkan & Sule Itir Satoglu & David Z. Zhang, 2019. "A mathematical model and artificial bee colony algorithm for the lexicographic bottleneck mixed-model assembly line balancing problem," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 30(8), pages 2913-2925, December.
    18. M. H. Alavidoost & M. H. Fazel Zarandi & Mosahar Tarimoradi & Yaser Nemati, 2017. "Modified genetic algorithm for simple straight and U-shaped assembly line balancing with fuzzy processing times," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 313-336, February.
    19. Bukchin, Yossi & Raviv, Tal, 2018. "Constraint programming for solving various assembly line balancing problems," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 57-68.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:20:p:5958-5975. 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 Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TPRS20 .

    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.