Balancing and sequencing mixed-model assembly lines with disabled workers

Author(s)

Pamela Michele Candida Cortez

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC/SB)
• Defense date: 2012-03-09

Examining board members

Alysson Machado Costa; Cristobal Javier Miralles Insa; Vitória Maria Miranda Pureza

• Advisor: Alysson Machado Costa

Abstract

This study addresses the Mixed Assembly Line and Worker Assignment Balancing Problem, which generalizes two classical problems in the assembly line literature: the Mixed Assembly Line Balancing Problem (MALBP) and the Assembly Line Worker Assignment and Balacing Problem (ALWABP). The MALBP has been considered particularly important in the last two decades, when, in the context of more competitive scenarios, there is a growing need of producing customized products in large scale. On the other hand, the ALWABP is of interest in Sheltered Work centers for the Disabled (SWD). In this situation, we must consider each worker individual abilities, which results in task duration times that are dependent on the workers selected for their execution. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no effort to solve these problems jointly. We propose linear models for both balancing and sequencing multimodels assembly lines commonly found in SWD. Lower and upper bounds and also heuristic methods are proposed and discussed for the sequencing problem. The results obtained by computational experiments suggest the heuristic methods can efficiently solve the MALWABP (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/03154-0 - Balancing mixed-model assembly lines with disabled workers
• Grantee: Pâmela Michele Cândida Cortez
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master