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Scheduling in-house transport vehicles to feed parts to automotive assembly lines

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  • Emde, Simon
  • Gendreau, Michel

Abstract

Due to exorbitant product variety, very limited space, and other factors, organizing efficient and timely deliveries of parts and subassemblies to final assembly within the factory is one of the most pressing problems of modern mixed-model assembly production. Many automobile producers have implemented the so-called “supermarket” concept to transfer material to the assembly line frequently and in small lots. Supermarkets are decentralized logistics areas on the shop floor where parts are intermediately stored for nearby assembly cells, to be ferried there by small transport vehicles (called tow trains or tuggers). This paper tackles the operational problem of drawing up schedules for these tow trains, such that the assembly line never starves for parts while also minimizing in-process inventory, thus satisfying just-in-time goals. We prove strong NP-completeness of the problem and present exact and heuristic solution methods. In a computational study, the procedures are shown to perform very well, solving realistic instances to (near-)optimality in a matter of minutes, clearly outperforming the simple cyclic schedules commonly used in industrial practice. We also provide some managerial insight into the right degree of automation for such a part feeding system.

Suggested Citation

  • Emde, Simon & Gendreau, Michel, 2017. "Scheduling in-house transport vehicles to feed parts to automotive assembly lines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 260(1), pages 255-267.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:260:y:2017:i:1:p:255-267
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2016.12.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Boysen, Nils & Emde, Simon & Hoeck, Michael & Kauderer, Markus, 2015. "Part logistics in the automotive industry: Decision problems, literature review and research agenda," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(1), pages 107-120.
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    9. Emde, Simon & Boysen, Nils, 2012. "Optimally locating in-house logistics areas to facilitate JIT-supply of mixed-model assembly lines," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 393-402.
    10. Emde, Simon & Boysen, Nils, 2012. "Optimally locating in-house logistics areas to facilitate JIT-supply of mixed-model assembly lines," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 79445, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    11. Emde, Simon & Boysen, Nils, 2012. "Optimally routing and scheduling tow trains for JIT-supply of mixed-model assembly lines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 287-299.
    12. Battini, Daria & Boysen, Nils & Emde, Simon, 2013. "Just-in-Time supermarkets for part supply in the automobile industry," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 79438, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    13. Daria Battini & Nils Boysen & Simon Emde, 2013. "Just-in-Time supermarkets for part supply in the automobile industry," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 209-217, July.
    14. Emde, Simon, 2016. "Scheduling the replenishment of just-in-time supermarkets in assembly plants," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 82249, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
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    Cited by:

    1. Diefenbach, Heiko & Emde, Simon & Glock, Christoph H., 2020. "Loading tow trains ergonomically for just-in-time part supply," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 325-344.
    2. Chen, Wanying (Amanda) & De Koster, René B.M. & Gong, Yeming, 2021. "Performance evaluation of automated medicine delivery systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    3. Diefenbach, Heiko & Emde, Simon & Glock, Christoph H., 2023. "Multi-depot electric vehicle scheduling in in-plant production logistics considering non-linear charging models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 828-848.
    4. Nesrin Ada & Yigit Kazancoglu & Muruvvet Deniz Sezer & Cigdem Ede-Senturk & Idil Ozer & Mangey Ram, 2021. "Analyzing Barriers of Circular Food Supply Chains and Proposing Industry 4.0 Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-29, June.
    5. Jiang, Min & Leung, K.H. & Lyu, Zhongyuan & Huang, George Q., 2020. "Picking-replenishment synchronization for robotic forward-reserve warehouses," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. C. Briand & Y. He & S. U. Ngueveu, 2018. "Energy-efficient planning for supplying assembly lines with vehicles," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 7(4), pages 387-414, December.
    7. Emilio Moretti & Elena Tappia & Martina Mauri & Marco Melacini, 2022. "A performance model for mobile robot-based part feeding systems to supermarkets," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 580-613, September.
    8. Simon Emde & Michael Schneider, 2018. "Just-In-Time Vehicle Routing for In-House Part Feeding to Assembly Lines," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(3), pages 657-672, June.
    9. Masood Fathi & Amir Nourmohammadi & Morteza Ghobakhloo & Milad Yousefi, 2020. "Production Sustainability via Supermarket Location Optimization in Assembly Lines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Simon Emde & Lukas Polten, 2019. "Sequencing assembly lines to facilitate synchronized just-in-time part supply," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 607-621, December.
    11. Jianling Chen & Kun Wang & Yihai Huang, 2021. "An integrated inbound logistics mode with intelligent scheduling of milk-run collection, drop and pull delivery and LNG vehicles," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 32(8), pages 2257-2265, December.

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