Selection of assembly sequences and balancing workloads in a flexible assembly line

An optimal allocation of production resources in a flexible assembly line is considered along with selection of assembly sequences for a mix of product types. The problem objective is to balance station workloads and station-to-station product movements. A two-level approach is proposed in which feasible assembly sequences are generated at the, upper level and optimal sequences along with operation assignments are determined at the lower level. A multistage heuristics is proposed for solving the upper level problem and a tabu search heuristic is developed for the lower level problem. A simple numerical example is included to illustrate the approach proposed and results of computational experiments with the tabu search heuristic are reported.