A hybrid tabu search method for assembly line balancing

A new hybrid tabu search (HTS) method for solving assembly line balancing problems is proposed in this paper. The tabu search (TS) method is combined with the genetic algorithm (GA) to identify and provide solutions for assembly line balancing problems. With the proposed HTS method, the TS method can well address the number of tasks assigned for each workstation, while the GA can also assign the sequence of tasks for each workstation according to precedence constraints. In this paper, four single-model assembly line balancing problems from literature are tested against the proposed method. From the simulation results compared with the conventional method, it was found that the proposed HTS method is capable of producing solutions superior to the conventional method. It can be concluded that the HTS method is an alternative potential algorithm to solve assembly line balancing problems.