A new approach for rebalancing of U-lines with stochastic task times using ant colony optimisation algorithm

作者：Celik Erkan^*; Kara Yakup; Atasagun Yakup

来源：International Journal of Production Research, 2014, 52(24): 7262-7275.

DOI：10.1080/00207543.2014.917768

• ant colony optimisation algorithm
• U-lines
• stochastic task times
• rebalancing

In real world, line balancing involves existing lines in existing factories and the line typically needs to be rebalanced rather than balanced. Rebalancing of a U-line can be defined as a changeover process from its initial configuration to a new configuration for a while due to the reasons such as demand variations, changes in product design and changes in task times, etc. This study defines U-line rebalancing problem with stochastic task times and proposes a solution procedure based on ant colony optimisation. The objective of the proposed algorithm is to minimise total cost of rebalancing which is the sum of task transposition costs, workstation opening/closing costs and operating costs of workstations for a particular planning horizon. A comprehensive experiment is conducted to generate problem instances and to compare rebalancing costs of U-lines by means of several factors. A total of 6600 rebalancing solutions are obtained and several comparisons are performed.

• 出版日期2014-12-17