The Research of Using Ant Colony Algorithm in Solving Sequencing Problem of Mixed Model Assembly Lines with Multi-objectives

Mixed model assembly lines (MMAL) sequencing problem is a typical NP-hard problem. It's important to search for an optimal sequence to maximize the efficiency of production lines. Therefore this work proposes a new mathematic programming model for measuring the efficiency of MMAL. A modified ant colony algorithm (MACA) is developed to determine a sequence which optimizes the objective function with elitist strategy. The experimental results indicate the applicability of the proposed objective function and availability of the algorithm in solving this problem.