COMSOAL: a computer method of sequencing operations for assembly lines

SUMMARY COMSOAL, an acronym for a computer Method of Sequencing Operations for Assembly Lines, is a method of balancing large complex machine-paced assembly lines. Basically, by means of a high-speed digital computer, sampled data is used for Monte-Carlo simulation of the proposed designs. COMSOAL originated in an industrial operations research project and is in use at some factories of the Chrysler Corporation in an early form. The latest version, described here, awaits implementation in the factory situation. First, the problem is analyzed in simple form and two solutions are offered, with several results, arising from applications to situations with up to 1000 tasks. The analysis is then extended and solutions to the complex form, which includes eight typical additional constraints, mixed production and stochastic considerations, are presented