TY - JOUR
T1 - Minimising utility work and utility worker transfers for a mixed-model assembly line
AU - Cevikcan, Emre
AU - Durmusoglu, M. Bulent
PY - 2011/12/1
Y1 - 2011/12/1
N2 - Mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs) are types of production lines that are able to respond to diversified costumers' demand for a variety of models without holding large inventories. The effective utilisation of a mixed-model assembly line requires the determination of the assembly sequence for different models. In this paper, two objectives are considered in a sequential manner, namely minimising: (i) total utility work, which means work from an additional worker to assist an operator for completion of an assembly task; and (ii) utility worker transfer which states the move of a utility worker to a different segment of the assembly line. First, due to the NP-hard nature of the problem, three heuristic methods are proposed with the aim of minimising total utility work. Then, the solutions which are obtained from the heuristics are improved in terms of the total number of utility worker transfers via a local search based method. Furthermore, the solution approach was applied in a real life mixed model tractor assembly line. Results validated the effectiveness of sequencing approach in terms of solution quality.
AB - Mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs) are types of production lines that are able to respond to diversified costumers' demand for a variety of models without holding large inventories. The effective utilisation of a mixed-model assembly line requires the determination of the assembly sequence for different models. In this paper, two objectives are considered in a sequential manner, namely minimising: (i) total utility work, which means work from an additional worker to assist an operator for completion of an assembly task; and (ii) utility worker transfer which states the move of a utility worker to a different segment of the assembly line. First, due to the NP-hard nature of the problem, three heuristic methods are proposed with the aim of minimising total utility work. Then, the solutions which are obtained from the heuristics are improved in terms of the total number of utility worker transfers via a local search based method. Furthermore, the solution approach was applied in a real life mixed model tractor assembly line. Results validated the effectiveness of sequencing approach in terms of solution quality.
KW - Heuristics
KW - Mixed-model assembly line
KW - Sequencing
KW - Worker transfer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855786580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00207543.2010.537385
DO - 10.1080/00207543.2010.537385
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84855786580
SN - 0020-7543
VL - 49
SP - 7293
EP - 7314
JO - International Journal of Production Research
JF - International Journal of Production Research
IS - 24
ER -