Abstract
Worker assignment is a relatively new problem in assembly lines that typically is encountered in situations in which the workforce is heterogeneous. The optimal assignment of a heterogeneous workforce is known as the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem (ALWABP). This problem is different from the well-known simple assembly line balancing problem concerning the task execution times, and it varies according to the assigned worker. Minimal work has been reported in worker assignment in two-sided assembly lines. This research studies worker assignment and line balancing in two-sided assembly lines with an objective of minimizing the cycle time (TALWABP). A mixed-integer programming model is developed, and CPLEX solver is used to solve the small-size problems. An improved migrating birds optimization algorithm is employed to deal with the large-size problems due to the NP-hard nature of the problem. The proposed algorithm utilizes a restart mechanism to avoid being trapped in the local optima. The solutions obtained using the proposed algorithms are compared with well-known metaheuristic algorithms such as artificial bee colony and simulated annealing. Comparative study and statistical analysis indicate that the proposed algorithm can achieve the optimal solutions for small-size problems, and it shows superior performance over benchmark algorithms for large-size problems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akyol SD, Baykasoğlu A (2016) A multiple-rule based constructive randomized search algorithm for solving assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. J Intell Manuf 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-016-1262-6
Al_Janabi S (2018) Smart system to create an optimal higher education environment using IDA and IOTs. Int J Comput Appl. https://doi.org/10.1080/1206212X.2018.1512460
Al-Janabi S, Alwan E (2017) Soft mathematical system to solve black box problem through development the FARB based on hyperbolic and polynomial functions. In: 2017 10th international conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE). IEEE, pp 37–42
Al_Janabi S, Al_Shourbaji I, Salman MA (2018) Assessing the suitability of soft computing approaches for forest fires prediction. Appl Comput Inform 14:214–224
Amin F, Fahmi A, Abdullah S (2018) Dealer using a new trapezoidal cubic hesitant fuzzy TOPSIS method and application to group decision-making program. Soft Comput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3476-3
Bartholdi JJ (1993) Balancing two-sided assembly lines: a case study. Int J Prod Res 31:2447–2461. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207549308956868
Baykasoglu A, Dereli T (2008) Two-sided assembly line balancing using an ant-colony-based heuristic. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 36:582–588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-006-0861-3
Blum C, Miralles C (2011) On solving the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem via beam search. Comput Oper Res 38:328–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2010.05.008
Borba L, Ritt M (2014) A heuristic and a branch-and-bound algorithm for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. Comput Oper Res 45:87–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2013.12.002
Boysen N, Fliedner M, Scholl A (2007) A classification of assembly line balancing problems. Eur J Oper Res 183:674–693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2006.10.010
Chaves AA, Miralles C, Lorena LAN (2007) Clustering search approach for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. In: Proceedings of the 37th international conference on computers and industrial engineering, Alexandria, Egypt, pp 1469–1478
Chaves AA, Lorena LAN, Miralles C (2009) Hybrid metaheuristic for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. In: Blesa MJ, Blum C, Di Gaspero L, Roli A, Sampels M, Schaerf A (eds) Hybrid metaheuristics: 6th International Workshop, HM 2009, Udine, Italy, 16–17 October 2009. Proceedings. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04918-7_1
Chica M, Cordón Ó, Damas S, Bautista J (2015) Interactive preferences in multiobjective ant colony optimisation for assembly line balancing. Soft Comput 19:2891–2903
Dolgui A, Kovalev S, Kovalyov MY, Malyutin S, Soukhal A (2018) Optimal workforce assignment to operations of a paced assembly line. Eur J Oper Res 264:200–211
Duman E, Uysal M, Alkaya AF (2012) Migrating birds optimization: a new metaheuristic approach and its performance on quadratic assignment problem. Inf Sci 217:65–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2012.06.032
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Ali A (2017a) Precursor selection for sol–gel synthesis of titanium carbide nanopowders by a new cubic fuzzy multi-attribute group decision-making model. J Intell Syst 1:2. https://doi.org/10.1515/jisys-2017-0083
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Siddiqui N (2017b) Aggregation operators on triangular cubic fuzzy numbers and its application to multi-criteria decision making problems. J Intell Fuzzy Syst 33(6):3323–3337
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Ahmed R, Ali A (2018a) Triangular cubic linguistic hesitant fuzzy aggregation operators and their application in group decision making. J Intell Fuzzy Syst 34:2401–2416
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Ali A (2018b) Weighted average rating (war) method for solving group decision making problem using triangular cubic fuzzy hybrid aggregation (tcfha). Punjab Univ J Math 50:23–34
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Ali A, Ahmad Khan W (2018c) Some geometric operators with triangular cubic linguistic hesitant fuzzy number and their application in group decision-making. J Intell Fuzzy Syst 35:2485–2499
Fahmi A, Abdullah S, Amin F, Khan MSA (2018d) Trapezoidal cubic fuzzy number Einstein hybrid weighted averaging operators and its application to decision making. Soft Comput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3242-6
Fahmi A, Amin F, Abdullah S, Ali A (2018e) Cubic fuzzy Einstein aggregation operators and its application to decision-making. Int J Syst Sci 49:2385–2397
Fattahi P, Samoei P, Zandieh M (2016) Simultaneous multi-skilled worker assignment and mixed-model two-sided assembly line balancing. Int J Eng Trans B Appl 29:211
Gao L, Pan Q-K (2016) A shuffled multi-swarm micro-migrating birds optimizer for a multi-resource-constrained flexible job shop scheduling problem. Inf Sci 372:655–676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2016.08.046
Janardhanan MN, Li Z, Nielsen P, Tang Q (2018) Artificial bee colony algorithms for two-sided assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. In: Omatu S, Rodríguez S, Villarrubia G, Faria P, Sitek P, Prieto J (eds) Distributed computing and artificial intelligence, 14th International Conference. Springer, Cham, pp 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62410-5_2
Kim YK, Song WS, Kim JH (2009) A mathematical model and a genetic algorithm for two-sided assembly line balancing. Comput Oper Res 36:853–865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2007.11.003
Kucukkoc I, Zhang DZ (2014) Mathematical model and agent based solution approach for the simultaneous balancing and sequencing of mixed-model parallel two-sided assembly lines. Int J Prod Econ 158:314–333
Lee TO, Kim Y, Kim YK (2001) Two-sided assembly line balancing to maximize work relatedness and slackness. Comput Ind Eng 40:273–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-8352(01)00029-8
Li Z, Janardhanan MN, Tang Q, Nielsen P (2016a) Co-evolutionary particle swarm optimization algorithm for two-sided robotic assembly line balancing problem. Adv Mech Eng 8:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1687814016667907
Li Z, Tang Q, Zhang L (2016b) Minimizing energy consumption and cycle time in two-sided robotic assembly line systems using restarted simulated annealing algorithm. J Clean Prod 135:508–522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.131
Li Z, Tang Q, Zhang L (2016c) Minimizing the cycle time in two-sided assembly lines with assignment restrictions: improvements and a simple algorithm. Math Probl Eng. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/4536426
Miralles C, García-Sabater JP, Andrés C, Cardos M (2007) Advantages of assembly lines in sheltered work centres for disabled. A case study. Int J Prod Econ 110:187–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2007.02.023
Miralles C, García-Sabater JP, Andrés C, Cardós M (2008) Branch and bound procedures for solving the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem: application to sheltered work centres for disabled. Discrete Appl Math 156:352–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dam.2005.12.012
Moreira MCO, Ritt M, Costa AM, Chaves AA (2012) Simple heuristics for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. J Heuristics 18:505–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10732-012-9195-5
Moreira MCO, Cordeau J-F, Costa AM, Laporte G (2015a) Robust assembly line balancing with heterogeneous workers. Comput Ind Eng 88:254–263
Moreira MCO, Miralles C, Costa AM (2015b) Model and heuristics for the assembly line worker integration and balancing problem. Comput Oper Res 54:64–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2014.08.021
Moreira MCO, Pastor R, Costa AM, Miralles C (2017) The multi-objective assembly line worker integration and balancing problem of type-2. Comput Oper Res 82:114–125
Mutlu Ö, Polat O, Supciller AA (2013) An iterative genetic algorithm for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem of type-II. Comput Oper Res 40:418–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2012.07.010
Oksuz MK, Buyukozkan K, Satoglu SI (2017) U-shaped assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem: a mathematical model and two meta-heuristics. Comput Ind Eng 112:246–263
Özbakır L, Tapkan P (2011) Bee colony intelligence in zone constrained two-sided assembly line balancing problem. Expert Syst Appl 38:11947–11957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2011.03.089
Özcan U (2010) Balancing stochastic two-sided assembly lines: a chance-constrained, piecewise-linear, mixed integer program and a simulated annealing algorithm. Eur J Oper Res 205:81–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2009.11.033
Özcan U, Toklu B (2008) A tabu search algorithm for two-sided assembly line balancing. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 43:822–829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-008-1753-5
Özcan U, Toklu B (2009) Balancing of mixed-model two-sided assembly lines. Comput Ind Eng 57:217–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2008.11.012
Patel A, Al-Janabi S, AlShourbaji I, Pedersen J (2015) A novel methodology towards a trusted environment in mashup web applications. Comput Secur 49:107–122
Polat O, Kalayci CB, Mutlu Ö, Gupta SM (2016) A two-phase variable neighbourhood search algorithm for assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem type-II: an industrial case study. Int J Prod Res 54:722–741. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2015.1055344
Purnomo HD, Wee H-M, Rau H (2013) Two-sided assembly lines balancing with assignment restrictions. Math Comput Model 57:189–199
Ramezanian R, Ezzatpanah A (2015) Modeling and solving multi-objective mixed-model assembly line balancing and worker assignment problem. Comput Ind Eng 87:74–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2015.04.017
Ritt M, Costa AM, Miralles C (2016) The assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem with stochastic worker availability. Int J Prod Res 54:907–922. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2015.1108534
Roshani A, Giglio D (2017) Simulated annealing algorithms for the multi-manned assembly line balancing problem: minimising cycle time. Int J Prod Res 55:2731–2751
Scholl A, Becker C (2006) State-of-the-art exact and heuristic solution procedures for simple assembly line balancing. Eur J Oper Res 168:666–693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2004.07.022
Sungur B, Yavuz Y (2015) Assembly line balancing with hierarchical worker assignment. J Manuf Syst 37:290–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2014.08.004
Tang QH, Li ZX, Zhang LP, Floudas CA, Cao XJ (2015) Effective hybrid teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm for balancing two-sided assembly lines with multiple constraints. Chin J Mech Eng 28:1067–1079. https://doi.org/10.3901/Cjme.2015.0630.084
Tang Q, Li Z, Zhang L (2016) An effective discrete artificial bee colony algorithm with idle time reduction techniques for two-sided assembly line balancing problem of type-II. Comput Ind Eng 97:146–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2016.05.004
Tang Q, Li Z, Zhang L, Zhang C (2017) Balancing stochastic two-sided assembly line with multiple constraints using hybrid teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm. Comput Oper Res 82:102–113
Tuncel G, Aydin D (2014) Two-sided assembly line balancing using teaching–learning based optimization algorithm. Comput Ind Eng 74:291–299
Vilà M, Pereira J (2014) A branch-and-bound algorithm for assembly line worker assignment and balancing problems. Comput Oper Res 44:105–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2013.10.016
Yuan B, Zhang C, Shao X (2015) A late acceptance hill-climbing algorithm for balancing two-sided assembly lines with multiple constraints. J Intell Manuf 26:159–168. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-013-0770-x
Zacharia PT, Nearchou AC (2016) A population-based algorithm for the bi-objective assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. Eng Appl Artif Intell 49:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2015.11.007
Zhang B, Pan Q-k, Gao L, Zhang X-l, Sang H-y, Li J-q (2017) An effective modified migrating birds optimization for hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with lot streaming. Appl Soft Comput 52:14–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2016.12.021
Zhong Y-g, Ai B (2017) A modified ant colony optimization algorithm for multi-objective assembly line balancing. Soft Comput 21:6881–6894
Acknowledgements
This research is partially supported by National Science Foundation of China under grant 61803287 and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under grant 2018M642928.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Communicated by V. Loia.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Janardhanan, M.N., Li, Z. & Nielsen, P. Model and migrating birds optimization algorithm for two-sided assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. Soft Comput 23, 11263–11276 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-03684-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-03684-8