Assembly Line Reconfiguration Under Disturbances: An Evolutionary Approach to Decision Making

Considering the disturbances affect all production lines, this article describes a response mechanism to determine adjustments that conserve or improve profit. The modifications of the product force us to eliminate some tasks and to incorporate others, at the same time as a certain production speed must be satisfied. In order to satisfy these new conditions, the possible positions of each work element are analyzed until we are able to select an appropriate configuration that fulfills a certain goal. In this new configuration the company decides if the changes are to be carried out, after evaluating the cost of relocation of tools, devices, and materials. This focus has two advantages: first, a quick evaluation of many configurations and second, an identification of better configurations. The mechanism in question has been applied successfully in an automotive plant.