A comparison of heuristic algorithms for cost-oriented assembly line balancing

Two new heuristic algorithms for solving cost-oriented assembly line balancing problems -the Wage-Rate-Method (WR) and the Wage-Rate-Smoothing-Method (WRS) — are presented and compared with two known heuristics — the Positional-Weight-Method (PW) and the Positional-Weight-Wage-Rate-Difference-Method (PWWD) with respect to their solution qualities. Firstly, the heuristics are outlined and their computational effort is stated. Then, a theoretical worst-case bound for the solution quality is given and the results of an extensive performance study are reported. In the study the heuristics were investigated with respect to their solution quality by solving randomly generated line balancing problems and problems from literature. It can be concluded that PWWD and WRS are generally superior to PW and WR.