Stochastic analysis of a U-shaped production line with multiple workers

Nakade, Koichi; Ohno, Katsuhisa

doi:10.1016/s0360-8352(97)00243-x

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…This includes the research work of Bischak (1996), Nakade and Ohno (1997), Ohno and Nakade (1997) and Nakade and Ohno (2003). Most of the attention of this research work was given to the performance comparison between serial production lines and to the analysis of cycle time, including waiting time and the effect of workers allocations on system performance.…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction and analysis impact of operational design of a manual assembly system with walking workers on performance

Al‐Zuheri

Luong

Xing

2013

International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing

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Manual assembly lines, with workers travelling with the work along the line to perform all required tasks, are an example of assembly systems which have greater flexibility over traditional systems due to an improved response to product demand variability. Implementing assembly systems in this way is difficult, especially when operational design reflects an incomplete understanding of how workers can best perform within the system. Different operational designs for such systems have a profound impact on the performance of the system in terms of productivity and ergonomics. This paper analyses the performance of walking worker assembly line (WWAL) in different operational designs. A mathematical model was developed, which considers the effects of a number of operational design variables. An industrial case study is presented here to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results indicate that WWAL can be designed to improve performance, flexibility and labour costs by approaching productivity and ergonomics collaboratively. The results obtained by the model prediction were compared with computer simulation results. Comparison validated the accuracy of the proposed model. The model provides partial characterisations of the optimal design of WWAL and can be used to develop heuristics for local or global optimisation.

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Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction and analysis impact of operational design of a manual assembly system with walking workers on performance

Al‐Zuheri

Luong

Xing

2013

International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing

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“…In the U-type assembly line literature, there are a number of test problems used by several researchers (Scholl and Klein, 1999 classify these problems into three data sets: Talbot et al, 1986;Hoffmann, 1990Hoffmann, , 1992Scholl, 1993). These data sets are available at: Wee-mag (75 tasks, C = 28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,45,46,47,49,50,52,54,56);…”

Section: Cycle Time (C) Task Processing Times (T) and Number Of Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant colony optimization for the single model U-type assembly line balancing problem

Sabuncuoğlu

Erel

Alp

2009

International Journal of Production Economics

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The assembly line is a production line in which units move continuously through a sequence of stations. The assembly line balancing problem is the allocation of tasks to an ordered sequence of stations subject to the precedence constraints with the objective of minimizing the number of stations. In a U-line the line is configured into a U-shape topology.In this research, a new heuristic, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) meta-heuristic, and its variants are proposed for the single model U-type assembly line balancing problem (UALBP). We develop a number of algorithms that can be grouped as:(i) direct methods, (ii) modified methods and (iii) methods in which ACO approach is augmented with some metaheuristic.We also construct an extensive experimental study and compare the performance of the proposed algorithms against the procedures reported in the literature. Ayrıca kapsamlı bir deneysel çalışma yapılmış ve önerilen algoritmaların performansı literatürdeki diğer metodlarla karşılaştırılmıştır.Anahtar sözcükler: U-tipi montaj hattı dengelenmesi problemi, Karınca KolonisiOptimizasyonu meta-sezgiseli.iv

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“…In the type 2 line balancing problem, we are given a sequence and must find the minimum cycle time C. Both of these problems are NP-hard. Nakade and Ohno [22,23] give important results on what may be described as a type 2 U-line balancing problem. Given:…”

Section: An Important Related Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gryga [5] describes and gives a diagram of a U-line at Allen-Bradley that assembles adjustable-frequency motors. Cross [3] describes Wijngaard [20], Miltenburg [18], Urban [35], Sparling [32], and Nakade and Ohno [23]. All of these papers assume that the time to complete tasks is deterministic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The stochastic U‐line balancing problem

Guerriero

Miltenburg

2002

Naval Research Logistics

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A U-line arranges tasks around a U-shaped production line and organizes them into stations that can cross from one side of the line to the other. In addition to improving visibility and communication between operators on the line, which facilitates problem-solving and quality improvement, U-lines can reduce the total number of operators required on the line and make rebalancing the line easier compared to the traditional, straight production line. This paper studies the (type 1) U-line balancing problem when task completion times are stochastic. Stochastic completion times occur when differences between operators cause completion times to vary somewhat and when machine processing times vary. A recursive algorithm is presented for finding the optimal solution when completion times have any distribution function. An equivalent shortest path network is also presented. An improvement for the special case of normally distributed task completion times is given. A computational study to determine the characteristics of instances that can be solved by the algorithms shows that they are able to solve instances of practical size (like the 114 Japanese and U.S. U-lines studied in a literature review paper).

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Stochastic analysis of a U-shaped production line with multiple workers

Cited by 18 publications

References 2 publications

Prediction and analysis impact of operational design of a manual assembly system with walking workers on performance

Prediction and analysis impact of operational design of a manual assembly system with walking workers on performance

Ant colony optimization for the single model U-type assembly line balancing problem

The stochastic U‐line balancing problem

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