On Dynamic Programming Methods for Assembly Line Balancing

Two dynamic programming approaches for treating sequencing problems—one proposed by Schrage and Baker and the other by Lawler—are discussed in the context of an assembly line balancing problem. A variant of the Schrage-Baker method is proposed to extend its range of applicability. The three approaches are compared using randomly generated test problems. We find that Lawler's “reaching”-based approach is superior to the other two “pulling”-based alternatives in both time and storage requirements. Based on the empirical results, we present time and space estimates for solving problems of different sizes and order strengths, and discuss the relative merits of the three procedures.