Assembly line balancing and group working
Assembly line balancing and group working: a heuristic procedure for workers' groups operating on the same product and workstation
In this paper, we examine an assembly line balancing problem that differs from the conventional one in the sense that there are multi-manned workstations, where workers' groups simultaneously perform different assembly works on the same product and workstation. This situation requires that the product is of sufficient size, as for example in the automotive industry, so that the workers do not block each other during the assembly work. The proposed approach here results in shorter physical line length and production space utilization improvement, because the same number of workers can be allocated to fewer workstations. Moreover, the total effectiveness of the assembly line, in terms of idle time and production output rate, remains the same. A heuristic assembly line balancing procedure is thus developed and illustrated. Finally, experimental results of a real-life automobile assembly plant case and well-known problems from the literature indicate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach in practice.
[1] Ghosh S, Gagnon RJ. A Comprehensive literature review and analysis of the design, balancing and scheduling of assembly systems. International Journal of Production Research 1989;27:637-70.
2
[2] Johnson RV. Balancing assembly lines for teams and workgroups. International Journal of Production Research 1991;29:1205-14.
3
[3] Bukchin J, Masin M. Multi-objective design of team oriented assembly systems. European Journal of Operations Research 2004;156:326-52.
4
[4] Becker B, Scholl A. A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing, European Journal of Operational Research, doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.023, in press, [corrected proof, available online 11 September 2004].
5
[5] Engstrom T. Intra-group work patterns in final assembly of motor vehicles. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 1994;14:101-13.
6
[6] Psoinos D, Georgiadis P, Koskosidis D, Asteriadis T, Dimitriadis S. Organising the production line of military jeep-type vehicles (Mercedes 240 GD) of Hellenic Vehicles Industry S.A. (EL.B.O.). Research report, Industrial Management Division, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 1987 [in Greek].
7
[7] Engstrom T, Jonsson D, Johansson B. Alternatives to line assembly: some Swedish examples. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 1996;17:235-45.
8
I Baybars, A survey of exact algorithms for the simple assembly line balancing problem, Management Science, v.32 n.8, p.900-932, Aug.1986
9
[9] Scholl A, Becker B. State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing. European Journal of Operational Research, doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.022, in press [corrected proof, available online 30 December 2004].
10
F B Talbot , J H Paterson , W V Gehrlein, A comparative evaluation of heuristic line balancing techniques, Management Science, v.32 n.4, p.430-454, April 1986
11
[11] Scholl A. Balancing and sequencing of assembly lines. Physica Verlag: Heidelberg; 1999.
12
[12] Baxey GM. Assembly line balancing with multiple stations. Management Science 1974;20:1010-21.
13
[13] Akagi F, Osaki H, Kikuchi S. A method for assembly line balancing with more than one worker in each station. International Journal of Production Research 1983;21:755-70.
14
[14] Pinto PA, Dannenbring DG, Khumawala BM. Branch and bound and heuristic procedures for assembly line balancing with paralleling of stations. International Journal of Production Research 1981;19:565-76.
15
[15] Bartholdi JJ. Balancing two-sided assembly lines: a case study. International Journal of Production Research 1993;31: 2447-61.
16
[16] Hoffmann TR. Assembly line balancing with a precedence matrix. Management Science 1963;9:551-62.
17
[17] Dimitriadis S, Georgiadis P. Assembly line balancing with smoothed workstation assignments. Yugoslav Journal of Operations Research 1995;5:259-70.
18
[18] Scholl A, Klein R. Balancing assembly lines effectively--a computational comparison. European Journal of Operational Research 1999;114:50-8.
19
[19] Hu TC. Parallel sequencing and assembly line problems. Operations Research 1961;9:841-8.
20
[20] Cheng TCE, Sin CCS. A state of the art review of parallel machine scheduling research. European Journal of Operational Research 1990;47:271-92.
21
[21] Baker KR. Introduction to sequencing and scheduling. New York: Wiley; 1974.
22
[22] Talbot FB, Patterson JH. An integer programming algorithm with network cuts solving the assembly line balancing problem. Management Science 1984;30:85-9.
23
[23] Fleszar K, Hindi KS. An enumerative heuristic and reduction methods for the assembly line balancing problem. European Journal of Operational Research 2001;145:606-20.
In this paper, we examine an assembly line balancing problem that differs from the conventional one in the sense that there are multi-manned workstations, where workers' groups simultaneously perform different assembly works on the same product and workstation. This situation requires that the product is of sufficient size, as for example in the automotive industry, so that the workers do not block each other during the assembly work. The proposed approach here results in shorter physical line length and production space utilization improvement, because the same number of workers can be allocated to fewer workstations. Moreover, the total effectiveness of the assembly line, in terms of idle time and production output rate, remains the same. A heuristic assembly line balancing procedure is thus developed and illustrated. Finally, experimental results of a real-life automobile assembly plant case and well-known problems from the literature indicate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach in practice.
[1] Ghosh S, Gagnon RJ. A Comprehensive literature review and analysis of the design, balancing and scheduling of assembly systems. International Journal of Production Research 1989;27:637-70.
2
[2] Johnson RV. Balancing assembly lines for teams and workgroups. International Journal of Production Research 1991;29:1205-14.
3
[3] Bukchin J, Masin M. Multi-objective design of team oriented assembly systems. European Journal of Operations Research 2004;156:326-52.
4
[4] Becker B, Scholl A. A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing, European Journal of Operational Research, doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.023, in press, [corrected proof, available online 11 September 2004].
5
[5] Engstrom T. Intra-group work patterns in final assembly of motor vehicles. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 1994;14:101-13.
6
[6] Psoinos D, Georgiadis P, Koskosidis D, Asteriadis T, Dimitriadis S. Organising the production line of military jeep-type vehicles (Mercedes 240 GD) of Hellenic Vehicles Industry S.A. (EL.B.O.). Research report, Industrial Management Division, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 1987 [in Greek].
7
[7] Engstrom T, Jonsson D, Johansson B. Alternatives to line assembly: some Swedish examples. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 1996;17:235-45.
8
I Baybars, A survey of exact algorithms for the simple assembly line balancing problem, Management Science, v.32 n.8, p.900-932, Aug.1986
9
[9] Scholl A, Becker B. State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing. European Journal of Operational Research, doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.022, in press [corrected proof, available online 30 December 2004].
10
F B Talbot , J H Paterson , W V Gehrlein, A comparative evaluation of heuristic line balancing techniques, Management Science, v.32 n.4, p.430-454, April 1986
11
[11] Scholl A. Balancing and sequencing of assembly lines. Physica Verlag: Heidelberg; 1999.
12
[12] Baxey GM. Assembly line balancing with multiple stations. Management Science 1974;20:1010-21.
13
[13] Akagi F, Osaki H, Kikuchi S. A method for assembly line balancing with more than one worker in each station. International Journal of Production Research 1983;21:755-70.
14
[14] Pinto PA, Dannenbring DG, Khumawala BM. Branch and bound and heuristic procedures for assembly line balancing with paralleling of stations. International Journal of Production Research 1981;19:565-76.
15
[15] Bartholdi JJ. Balancing two-sided assembly lines: a case study. International Journal of Production Research 1993;31: 2447-61.
16
[16] Hoffmann TR. Assembly line balancing with a precedence matrix. Management Science 1963;9:551-62.
17
[17] Dimitriadis S, Georgiadis P. Assembly line balancing with smoothed workstation assignments. Yugoslav Journal of Operations Research 1995;5:259-70.
18
[18] Scholl A, Klein R. Balancing assembly lines effectively--a computational comparison. European Journal of Operational Research 1999;114:50-8.
19
[19] Hu TC. Parallel sequencing and assembly line problems. Operations Research 1961;9:841-8.
20
[20] Cheng TCE, Sin CCS. A state of the art review of parallel machine scheduling research. European Journal of Operational Research 1990;47:271-92.
21
[21] Baker KR. Introduction to sequencing and scheduling. New York: Wiley; 1974.
22
[22] Talbot FB, Patterson JH. An integer programming algorithm with network cuts solving the assembly line balancing problem. Management Science 1984;30:85-9.
23
[23] Fleszar K, Hindi KS. An enumerative heuristic and reduction methods for the assembly line balancing problem. European Journal of Operational Research 2001;145:606-20.
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