855
Views
105
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Task-failure-driven rebalancing of disassembly lines

&
Pages 4955-4976 | Received 09 Dec 2009, Accepted 05 Aug 2011, Published online: 17 Oct 2011
 

Abstract

Many reverse-logistics systems that collect and reprocess end-of-life products require a disassembly stage. The variability of incoming products and the extent of damage, which is more likely to occur during disassembly than assembly, create significant uncertainty in disassembly tasks, namely the possibility of failed tasks. Such failures may lead to some successor tasks being infeasible, which changes the work content of downstream stations. To improve the profitability of such a disassembly line, a mixed-integer-programming-based, predictive-reactive approach is proposed. In the first step, a predictive balance is created and then, in the second step, given a task failure, the tasks of the disassembled product with that task failure are re-selected and re-assigned to the stations (i.e. the line is rebalanced). In the second step, the objective function models both the profit obtained from the disassembled product and the possible increase in any station's workload beyond the predictive cycle time. Since this rebalancing approach affects the work content of stations, a discrete-event simulation study is also carried out to analyse and compare the performance of disassembly lines for optimally found line balances (predictive and reactive). The results show that, with the proposed approach, 24–32% of the monetary throughput lost due to not taking corrective action can be recovered.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the three anonymous referees and the Editor for their detailed and constructive comments in improving this manuscript.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.