Title: Flow shop operator scheduling through constraint satisfaction and constraint optimisation techniques

Authors: Gilles Neubert, Matteo M. Savino

Addresses: Laboratoire LIESP – School of Management, 51-53 cours Fauriel, 42000 Saint-Etienne, France. ' Department of Engineering – University of Sannio, Piazza Roma, 21 – 82100 Benevento, Italy

Abstract: Workers scheduling in not highly automated production lines is an important task, especially when in a production line the number of operators is less than the number of workstations. Finding an optimal distribution plan can increase the line throughput, managing the workforce and the workload in a better way. This work focuses on the operator-scheduling problem for an electromechanical assembly line. Workforce distribution on the workstations has been made with a centralised scheduling based on a mathematical model which, through constraint optimisation principles, is able to find the optimal distribution of workforce optimising fundamental parameters, such as man-hours, throughput, makespan and work in process.

Keywords: operator scheduling; constraint optimisation problem; COP; constraint satisfaction problem; CSP; workforce distribution; flow shop scheduling; electromechanical assembly; mathematical modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2009.025185

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.5/6, pp.549 - 568

Published online: 16 May 2009 *

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