A comparative evaluation of heuristic line balancing techniques
Management Science
A survey of exact algorithms for the simple assembly line balancing problem
Management Science
Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
A MIP approach for balancing transfer line with complex industrial constraints
Computers and Industrial Engineering
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
The optimal logical layout design for a type of machining transfer lines is addressed. Such transfer lines are made of many machine-tools (workstations) located in sequence. On each workstation there are several spindle-heads. A spindle-head does not execute a single operation but a block of machining operations; all operations of a block are executed simultaneously (in parallel). Spindle-heads of the same workstation are activated sequentially in a fixed order. The transfer line design problem considered in the paper consists of finding the best partition in blocks and workstations of the set of all operations to be executed on the line. The objective is to minimize the number of spindle-heads and workstations (i.e. transfer line investment cost). An optimal decision must satisfy a desired productivity rate (cycle time) as well as precedence and compatibility constraints for machining operations. A heuristic algorithm is proposed: it is based on the COMSOAL technique and a backtracking approach. Results from computer testing are reported.