A tabu search algorithm for the cost-oriented multi-manned assembly line balancing problem

Multi-manned assembly line balancing problems (MALBPs) can be usually found in plants producing large-sized high-volume products such as automobiles and trucks. In this paper, a cost-oriented version of MALBPs, namely, CMALBP, is addressed. This class of problems may arise in final assembly lines of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Production Research
Main Authors: Abdolreza Roshani, Davide Giglio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Iran University of Science & Technology 2020-06-01
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Online Access:http://ijiepr.iust.ac.ir/article-1-1052-en.html
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Summary:Multi-manned assembly line balancing problems (MALBPs) can be usually found in plants producing large-sized high-volume products such as automobiles and trucks. In this paper, a cost-oriented version of MALBPs, namely, CMALBP, is addressed. This class of problems may arise in final assembly lines of products in which the manufacturing process is very labor-intensive. Since CMALBP is NP-Hard, a heuristic approach based on a tabu search algorithm is developed to solve the problem. The proposed algorithm uses two neighborhood generation mechanisms, namely swap and mutation, that effectively collaborate with each other to build new feasible solutions; moreover, two separate tabu lists (associated with the two generation mechanisms) are used to check if moving to a new generated neighbor solution is forbidden or allowed. To examine the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, some experimental instances are collected from the literature and solved. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed tabu search approach.
ISSN:2008-4889
2345-363X