Double Assembly Line Balancing Algorithms on Real-world Instances of Producing Digital Rice Cookers and Digital Hot Pots

This paper considers actual assembly line balancing problem’s instances of producing digital rice cookers and digital hot pots by a well-known Japanese manufacturer. To efficiently solve these instances, this paper proposes four assembly line balancing algorithms. Each proposed algorithm arranges the given work elements into the workstations by using the original precedence diagram as well as the reversed precedence diagram, through a particular simple heuristic. For any instance, each proposed algorithm thus provides two solutions, i.e., a solution for the instance with the original precedence diagram and a solution for the same instance with the reversed precedence diagram. The solution for the reversed precedence diagram is then modified to be usable for the original precedence diagram.  The final solution of each proposed algorithm is the best solution between the two given solutions.