Parallel U-shaped assembly line balancing with adaptive MOEA/D hybridized with BBO

ABSTRACT

The mixed-model line balancing problem of a parallel U-shaped assembly line (PUAL) is addressed in this paper. Four objectives (so-called many objectives) conflicting in nature were concurrently optimized to minimize the (i) task unrelatedness, (ii) different workloads between workstations, (iii) number of stations and (iv) number of workstations. The solution technique adopts the recently emerged and innovative concept of multi-objective evolutionary optimization based on decomposition (MOEA/D), which partitions the fundamental problem into several scalar optimization subproblems and then optimizes them simultaneously. To further strengthen the algorithm, the platform of the MOEA/D was hybridized with the biogeography-based optimization (BBO) algorithm and the adaptive mechanism was also embedded, namely AMOEA/D-BBO. The performances in Pareto sense of AMOEA/D-BBO were evaluated on various problem sizes in comparison with the MOEA/D-BBO, MOEA/D and BBO algorithms. The experimental results demonstrated that AMOEA/D-BBO outperforms the other algorithms in terms of the convergence rate and spread.

KEYWORDS:

• Parallel U-shaped line balancing
• many-objective optimization
• evolutionary optimization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Parames Chutima

Parames Chutima is a full professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Chulalongkorn University, another M.Eng. in Industrial Engineering & Management from Asian Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham. His research activities comprise assembly line balancing, scheduling, airline pairing and rostering, lean six sigma, and quality and productivity improvement. He has published ten books and around three hundred scientific papers.

Pennapat Jirachai

Pennapat Jirachai received her M.Eng. degree in Department of Industrial Engineering from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and B.Eng. degree in Department of Food Engineering from Kasetsart University. Her research interests include quality engineering, line balancing and innovation management.