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Assembly Line Balancing with Resource Dependent Task Times *
Author(s) -
Faaland Bruce H.,
Klastorin Theodore D.,
Schmitt Thomas G.,
Shtub Avraham
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5915.1992.tb00393.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , shortest path problem , computer science , heuristic , mathematical optimization , computation , assembly line , path (computing) , production line , set (abstract data type) , resource (disambiguation) , work (physics) , line (geometry) , quality (philosophy) , operations research , algorithm , mathematics , graph , theoretical computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , computer network , philosophy , geometry , epistemology , programming language , systems engineering
Paced assembly lines are widely used in repetitive manufacturing applications. Most previous research on the design of paced lines has assumed that each task along the line can be performed by only one worker (or a fixed number of workers). In many cases, however, task duration times may be reduced by increasing the number of workers or changing the equipment assigned to work stations. Thus, the problem becomes one of assigning resource alternatives (e.g., workers and/or equipment) and tasks to work stations to minimize total cost for a desired production rate. For this problem, we present three procedures. The first formulates the problem as a shortest path problem and guarantees optimality. The second and third are heuristic adaptations of the shortest path procedure that are capable of solving large problems. The procedures are compared in terms of solution quality and computation time on a set of 128 randomly generated problems for which optimal solutions could be found. Our simulation results indicate that the choice of procedure depends on problem complexity and resource costs.