Title: Optimisation of stochastic assembly line for balancing under high variability

Authors: Krishna K. Krishnan; Abdulaziz T. Almaktoom; Prakhash Udayakumar

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260, USA ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260, USA ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260, USA

Abstract: An ideal manufacturing system is characterised by deterministic task times, 100% machine availability and on-time delivery. In a real time production scenario an ideal system does not exist due to the presence of variability. Most line balancing approaches assume deterministic task times while ignoring the impact of task time variability on system performance measures. However, in manufacturing systems such as aircraft assembly, ship building and custom job shops which are characterised by high variability in task times, large number of tasks assigned to a workstation and strict task precedence relationship, traditional assembly line balancing techniques may not be effective. In addition to balancing the task times, it is also important to balance the risk of delay. In this research, a novel heuristic optimisation approach for highly variable task times is presented. Results indicate that the method increases throughput while balancing the risk of delays at each station.

Keywords: assembly line balancing; ALB; stochastic modelling; single model assembly lines; simulation; heuristic optimisation; high variability; delay risks; task times; throughput.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2016.075205

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2016 Vol.22 No.4, pp.440 - 465

Received: 23 Apr 2014
Accepted: 14 Jul 2014
Published online: 08 Mar 2016 *

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