A mathematical model for reconstructing the conventional assembly system

In the dynamic and complex market environment, the conventional conveyor assembly line can no longer meet customers' demands effectively. The way of dismantling the conventional conveyor assembly line and redesigning a flexible manufacturing system has been attracting an increasing amount of attention both in the academics and production practices. Such an advanced manufacturing system simultaneously achieves flexibility and efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the problem of how to dismantle the conveyor assembly line into assembly cells. A comprehensive mathematical model incorporating two problems of how many assembly cells should be established and how many workers should be assigned to each assembly cell is developed. Then, an industrial case is discussed and the computational result is compared to that due to Kaku's model. The computational performance shows that the proposed model is effective and practical in resolving the problem of how to reconstruct the conventional assembly system.