Solving the accessibility windows assembly line problem level 1 and variant 1 (AWALBP-L1-1) with precedence constraints

Abstract

Assembly line balancing problems (ALBPs) are among the most studied combinatorial optimization problems due to their relevance in many production systems. In particular, the accessibility windows ALBP (AWALBP) may arise when the workpieces are larger than the workstations, which implies that at a given instant the workstations have access to only a portion of the workpieces. Thus, the cycle is split into forward steps and stationary stages. The workpieces advance during the forward steps and the tasks are processed during the stationary stages. Several studies have dealt with the AWALBP assuming that there are no precedence relationships between tasks. However, this assumption is not always appropriate. In this work we solve the first level of AWALBP (AWALBP-L1) considering the existence of precedence relationships. Specifically, this work deals with variant 1 (AWALBP-L1-1), in which each task can be performed at only one workstation and, therefore, only the stationary stages and the starting instants in which the tasks are performed have to be decided. We design a solution procedure that includes pre-processing procedures, a matheuristic and a mixed integer linear programming model. An extensive computational experiment is carried out to evaluate its performance.