ON CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNING MODELS TO ASSEMBLY LINES

Abstract

SUMMARY The advantages of progressive assembly of products have been evident to industry for many years. The problem addressed in this paper is to assign models to several mixed model lines so as to minimize the assembly costs associated with each line. Criteria are developed which represent costs affected by mixed model assembly. These include balance delay, learning, and a type of inefficiency introduced in this paper called sequence delay. When the criteria are combined, the result is a quantitative measurement of assignment effectiveness in terms of predicted mixed model assembly costs. Typical applications are given demonstrating the consequences of the criteria and their scope of utilization. In addition, a heuristic procedure for assigning models to lines is given. Through an actual example, the applicability of the procedure is demonstrated. The solution, while not optimal, yields assembly costs significantly lower than costs resulting from a large group of randomly generated assignments.