A generalized approach for serial or parallel line balancing

Abstract

This paper describes a generalized heuristic to balance an assembly line where the task times may be smaller or greater than the specified cycle time. The tasks are primarily assigned to different stages by choosing different stage cycle times so as to have the stage idleness within the specified limit. Later, the line is further balanced and the stage idleness is smoothed by trading and transferring the tasks, or crashing the worst stages. The line is then balanced by adjusting the manpower at different stages. Several proofs and models have been formulated regarding the generalization of paralleling to serial line balance, some design aspects of manpower utilization, the superiority rule of strategic policy for choosing stage cycle times, etc. The balance is chosen through cost optimization.