State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing

Abstract The assembly line balancing problem arises and has to be solved when an assembly line has to be configured or redesigned. It consists of distributing the total workload for manufacturing any unit of the product to be assembled among the work stations along the line. The so-called simple assembly line balancing problem (SALBP), a basic version of the general problem, has attracted attention of researchers and practitioners of operations research for almost half a century. In this paper, we give an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of SALBP research with a special emphasis on recent outstanding and guiding contributions to the field.

[1]  Michael J. Magazine,et al.  Assembly line balancing as generalized bin packing , 1982, Oper. Res. Lett..

[2]  Alain Delchambre,et al.  A genetic algorithm for bin packing and line balancing , 1992, Proceedings 1992 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[3]  Fred M. Tonge.  Assembly Line Balancing Using Probabilistic Combinations of Heuristics , 1965 .

[4]  E. M. Dar-El,et al.  Must---A Multiple Solutions Technique for Balancing Single Model Assembly Lines , 1979 .

[5]  Wolfgang Kürsten,et al.  Synergetische Merger, Co-Insurance und Shareholder Value, oder: Wer profitiert von "wertschaffenden" Fusionen? , 2003 .

[6]  Heiner Klenke,et al.  Ablaufplanung bei Fließfertigung , 1977 .

[7]  Armin Scholl,et al.  SALOME: A Bidirectional Branch-and-Bound Procedure for Assembly Line Balancing , 1997, INFORMS J. Comput..

[8]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Bison: A fast hybrid procedure for exactly solving the one-dimensional bin packing problem , 1997, Comput. Oper. Res..

[9]  Subhash C. Sarin,et al.  A survey of the assembly line balancing procedures , 1998 .

[10]  Emanuel Falkenauer.  A Grouping Genetic Algorithm for Line Balancing with Resource Dependent Task Times , 1997, ICONIP.

[11]  Roger V. Johnson.  Assembly line balancing algorithms: computation comparisons , 1981 .

[12]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  Branch-and-bound algorithms for the multi-product assembly line balancing problem , 1989 .

[13]  Norman A. Schofield,et al.  Assembly line balancing and the application of computer techniques , 1980 .

[14]  William V. Gehrlein,et al.  Balancing Single Model Assembly Lines: Comments on A Paper by E. M. Dar-El (Mansoor) , 1978 .

[15]  E. L. Lawler.  Efficient implementation of dynamic programming algorithms for sequencing problems : (preprint) , 1979 .

[16]  Thomas R. Hoffman.  Eureka: a hybrid system for assembly line balancing , 1992 .

[17]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Computing lower bounds by destructive improvement: An application to resource-constrained project scheduling , 1999, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[18]  Ulrich Derigs,et al.  Operations Research Proceedings 1994 , 1995 .

[19]  Stefan Bock.  Modelle und verteilte Algorithmen zur Planung getakteter Fließlinien , 2000 .

[20]  J. Driscoll,et al.  The definition of assembly line balancing difficulty and evaluation of balance solution quality , 2001 .

[21]  Joaquín Bautista,et al.  Ant Algorithms for Assembly Line Balancing , 2002, Ant Algorithms.

[22]  Sándor P. Fekete,et al.  New classes of fast lower bounds for bin packing problems , 2001, Math. Program..

[23]  Carlos Andrés,et al.  Tabu search algorithms for an industrial multi-product and multi-objective assembly line balancing problem, with reduction of the task dispersion , 2002, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[24]  Soumen Ghosh,et al.  A comprehensive literature review and analysis of the design, balancing and scheduling of assembly systems , 1989 .

[25]  Ilker Baybars,et al.  An efficient heuristic method for the simple assembly line balancing problem , 1986 .

[26]  V. V. Vinod,et al.  A genetic algorithm for assembly line balancing , 1996 .

[27]  A. Delchambre,et al.  Hybrid assembly line design and user's preferences , 2002 .

[28]  Jack Byrd,et al.  A Trainable Heuristic Procedure for the Assembly Line Balancing Problem , 1976 .

[29]  Uwe Cantner,et al.  Cooperation and specialization in German technology regions , 2004 .

[30]  L. Trotter,et al.  On Capacitated Vehicle Routing ∗ , 1998 .

[31]  Krzysztof Fleszar,et al.  An enumerative heuristic and reduction methods for the assembly line balancing problem , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[32]  Wilbert E. Wilhelm,et al.  A Branch and Cut Approach for Workload Smoothing on Assembly Lines , 1997, INFORMS J. Comput..

[33]  Albrecht Heinrici,et al.  A Comparison between Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search with an Example from the Production Planning , 1994 .

[34]  Matthew J. Saltzman,et al.  A two-process implicit enumeration algorithm for the simple assembly line balancing problem , 1987 .

[35]  Roland Helm,et al.  Wissensmanagement und Kundenbeziehungen in internationalen Dienstleistungsunternehmen , 2003 .

[36]  Roland Helm,et al.  Controlling contractual exchange risks in R&D interfirm cooperation: an empirical study , 2004 .

[37]  Francis J. Nourie,et al.  Finding optimal line balances with OptPack , 1991, Oper. Res. Lett..

[38]  C Merengo,et al.  Balancing and sequencing manual mixed-model assembly lines , 1999 .

[39]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Kapazitätsorientierte Leistungsabstimmung in der Fließfertigung , 1995 .

[40]  Gregory Levitin,et al.  Genetic algorithm for assembly line balancing , 1995 .

[41]  George L. Nemhauser,et al.  An Algorithm for the Line Balancing Problem , 1964 .

[42]  I. Nishikawa,et al.  Line balancing using a genetic evolution model , 1995 .

[43]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Bestellmengenplanung im zeitlich offenen Entscheidungsfeld , 2003 .

[44]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  Capacitated Vehicle Routing on Trees , 1991, Oper. Res..

[45]  J. Krueger,et al.  On the Dynamics of the U.S. Manufacturing Productivity Distribution , 2003 .

[46]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Planung im Spannungsfeld zwischen Informationsdynamik und zeitlichen Interdependenzen , 2003 .

[47]  José Fernando Gonçalves,et al.  A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Assembly Line Balancing , 2002, J. Heuristics.

[48]  S. G. Ponnambalam,et al.  A Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm for Solving Assembly Line Balancing Problem , 2000 .

[49]  Loren Paul Rees,et al.  Assembly Line Balancing Using Genetic Algorithms with Heuristic‐Generated Initial Populations and Multiple Evaluation Criteria* , 1994 .

[50]  Wolfgang Kürsten,et al.  Grenzen und Reformbedarfe der Sicherheitsäquivalentmethode in der (traditionellen) Unternehmensbewertung - Erwiderung auf die Anmerkungen von Ralf Diedrich und Jörg Wiese in der ZfBF , 2003 .

[51]  Roger V. Johnson.  Note: microcomputer performance of “FABLE” on Hoffmann's data sets , 1993 .

[52]  Stefan Bock,et al.  A New Distributed Fault-Tolerant Algorithm for the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problem , 1998 .

[53]  Wen-Chyuan Chiang,et al.  The application of a tabu search metaheuristic to the assembly line balancing problem , 1998, Ann. Oper. Res..

[54]  Ihsan Sabuncuoglu,et al.  Assembly line balancing using genetic algorithms , 2000, J. Intell. Manuf..

[55]  A. L. Arcus,et al.  COMSOAL: a computer method of sequencing operations for assembly lines , 1965 .

[56]  Ram Rachamadugu,et al.  Designing paced assembly lines with fixed number of stations , 1997 .

[57]  Francis J. Nourie,et al.  Microcomputer performance of OptPack on Hoffmann's data sets: comparison with EUREKA and FABLE , 1996 .

[58]  Frederick Easton,et al.  Improved network based algorithms for the assembly line balancing problem , 1989 .

[59]  Thomas R. Hoffmann.  Response to Note on Microcomputer Performance of “FABLE” on Hoffmann's Data Sets , 1993 .

[60]  William V. Gehrlein,et al.  A comparative evaluation of heuristic line balancing techniques , 1986 .

[61]  E. Balas.  An Additive Algorithm for Solving Linear Programs with Zero-One Variables , 1965 .

[62]  R. C. Carlson,et al.  Designing a Production Line to Maximize Profit , 1985 .

[63]  Arno Sprecher,et al.  Dynamic search tree decomposition for balancing assembly lines by parallel search , 2003 .

[64]  Roland Helm,et al.  Externe Qualitätskontrolle und Qualitätssignale in der Wirtschaftsprüfung: Eine empirische Evaluierung des Nutzens für Mandanten , 2003 .

[65]  M. Held,et al.  Assembly-Line Balancing---Dynamic Programming with Precedence Constraints , 1963 .

[66]  Paolo Toth,et al.  Knapsack Problems: Algorithms and Computer Implementations , 1990 .

[67]  Roland Helm,et al.  Die Wissens-Scorecard als Basis eines anwendungsorientierten Ansatzes des Wissensmanagement , 2003 .

[68]  Yeongho Kim,et al.  Two-sided assembly line balancing: A genetic algorithm approach , 2000 .

[69]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Balancing assembly lines effectively - A computational comparison , 1999, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[70]  Patrick R. McMullen,et al.  Using simulated annealing to solve a multiobjective assembly line balancing problem with parallel workstations , 1998 .

[71]  Ram Rachamadugu,et al.  Improving the equality of workload assignments in assembly lines , 1991 .

[72]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[73]  Roger L. Wainwright,et al.  Applying genetic algorithms to the U-shaped assembly line balancing problem , 1998, 1998 IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation Proceedings. IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (Cat. No.98TH8360).

[74]  Simone Martin,et al.  Effizienzwirkungen - Ein Vergleich des Einsatzes von Leih- und Stammarbeitern , 2003 .

[75]  Fred W. Glover,et al.  A Hybrid Improvement Heuristic for the One-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem , 2004, J. Heuristics.

[76]  Armin Scholl,et al.  A note on "An exact method for cost-oriented assembly line balancing" , 2005 .

[77]  Alexander Bockmayr,et al.  Solving Assembly Line Balancing Problems by Combining IP and CP , 2001, ArXiv.

[78]  Fred M. Tonge,et al.  Summary of a Heuristic Line Balancing Procedure , 1960 .

[79]  Thomas R. Hoffmann,et al.  Assembly line balancing: a set of challenging problems , 1990 .

[80]  Steven T. Hackman,et al.  Fast, Effective Algorithms for Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problems , 1989, Oper. Res..

[81]  Uwe Cantner,et al.  Innovationssystem und Gründungsgeschehen in Jena: Erste Erkenntnisse einer Unternehmensbefragung , 2003 .

[82]  Willy Herroelen,et al.  Assembly line balancing by resource-constrained project scheduling : a critical appraisal , 1997 .

[83]  A. Sprecher.  A competitive branch-and-bound algorithm for the simple assembly line balancing problem , 1999 .

[84]  Ulrich Derigs,et al.  Selected papers of the Symposium on Operations Research : Jena, September 3-5, 1997. SOR'97 , 1998 .

[85]  Michael C. Ferris,et al.  Genetic Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization: The Assemble Line Balancing Problem , 1994, INFORMS J. Comput..

[86]  C. McDiarmid.  SIMULATED ANNEALING AND BOLTZMANN MACHINES A Stochastic Approach to Combinatorial Optimization and Neural Computing , 1991 .

[87]  A. Delchambre,et al.  Applying the equal piles problem to balance assembly lines , 1999, Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE International Symposium on Assembly and Task Planning (ISATP'99) (Cat. No.99TH8470).

[88]  Fayez F. Boctor,et al.  A Multiple-rule Heuristic for Assembly Line Balancing , 1995 .

[89]  Emanuel Falkenauer,et al.  A hybrid grouping genetic algorithm for bin packing , 1996, J. Heuristics.

[90]  Patrick R. McMullen,et al.  Using Ant Techniques to Solve the Assembly Line Balancing Problem , 2003 .

[91]  Simone Martin,et al.  Leiharbeitnehmer und Stammarbeitnehmer als Konkurrenten in Turnieren , 2003 .

[92]  J. Betts,et al.  A method for assembly line balancing , 1989 .

[93]  Roland Helm,et al.  Empirical Evaluation of Preference Elicitation Techniques from Marketing and Decision Analysis , 2003 .

[94]  Peter A. Pinto,et al.  A heuristic network procedure for the assembly line balancing problem , 1978 .

[95]  Avraham Shtub,et al.  A methodology for the selection of assembly systems , 1989 .

[96]  Zeger Degraeve,et al.  An linear programming based lower bound for the simple assembly line balancing problem , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[97]  Linus Schrage,et al.  Dynamic Programming Solution of Sequencing Problems with Precedence Constraints , 1978, Oper. Res..

[98]  Armin Scholl.  Ein B-&-B-Verfahren zur Abstimmung von Einprodukt-Fließbändern bei gegebener Stationsanzahl , 1993 .

[99]  Willy Herroelen,et al.  An optimal procedure for the single-model deterministic assembly line balancing problem , 1979 .

[100]  C. L. Moodie,et al.  A HEURISTIC METHOD OF ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING FOR ASSUMPTIONS OF CONSTANTOR VARIABLE WORK ELEMENT TIMES , 1964 .

[101]  Joaquín Bautista,et al.  Local search heuristics for the assembly line balancing problem with incompatibilities between tasks , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[102]  Angel B. Ruiz,et al.  Balancing assembly lines with tabu search , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[103]  James H. Patterson,et al.  An Integer Programming Algorithm with Network Cuts for Solving the Assembly Line Balancing Problem , 1984 .

[104]  Robert McNaughton,et al.  Scheduling with Deadlines and Loss Functions , 1959 .

[105]  Roger V. Johnson,et al.  Optimally balancing large assembly lines with `FABLE' , 1988 .

[106]  Jens J. Krüger,et al.  Productivity dynamics beyond-the-mean in U.S. manufacturing industries: An application of quantile regression , 2003 .

[107]  James R. Jackson,et al.  A Computing Procedure for a Line Balancing Problem , 1956 .

[108]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Dynamische Bestellmengenplanung für verderbliche Luxusgüter , 2003 .

[109]  Ilker Baybars,et al.  A survey of exact algorithms for the simple assembly line balancing , 1986 .

[110]  Brahim Rekiek,et al.  A multiple objective grouping genetic algorithm for assembly line design , 2001, J. Intell. Manuf..

[111]  Armin Scholl,et al.  A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[112]  Brahim Rekiek,et al.  State of art of optimization methods for assembly line design , 2002, Annu. Rev. Control..

[113]  Thomas R. Hoffmann.  Assembly Line Balancing with a Precedence Matrix , 1963 .

[114]  W. Wilhelm,et al.  Assembly System Design: a Branch and Cut Approach , 1998 .

[115]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Data of assembly line balancing problems , 1995 .

[116]  G M Buxey,et al.  Production Flow Line System Design–A Review , 1973 .

[117]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Maximizing the production rate in simple assembly line balancing -- A branch and bound procedure , 1996 .

[118]  William V. Gehrlein,et al.  Sequencing for Assembly Lines with Integer Task Times , 1975 .

[119]  Edward P. C. Kao,et al.  On Dynamic Programming Methods for Assembly Line Balancing , 1982, Oper. Res..

[120]  Roland Helm,et al.  Intangible Ressourcen, strategische Ziele und Management interner Wissenspotenziale , 2003 .

[121]  Duminda Thilakawardana.  An efficient genetic algorithm application in assembly line balancing. , 2002 .

[122]  Reinhard Haupt,et al.  Hochschule und Hochtechnologie: Jenaer Forschungspartnerschaften im Spiegel der Patentstatistik , 2003 .

[123]  Armin Scholl,et al.  PROGRESS: Optimally solving the generalized resource-constrained project scheduling problem , 2000, Math. Methods Oper. Res..

[124]  S. Sahu,et al.  Stochastic assembly line balancing using simulated annealing , 1994 .

[125]  A. Raouf,et al.  A new heuristic approach to assembly line balancing , 1980 .

[126]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Simple assembly line balancing—Heuristic approaches , 1997, J. Heuristics.

[127]  W. Wilhelm,et al.  A family of hierarchical models for the design of deterministic assembly systems , 1997 .