IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v34y1988i2p240-253.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimally Balancing Large Assembly Lines with "Fable"

Author

Listed:
  • Roger V. Johnson

    (School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109)

Abstract

A new algorithm for optimally balancing assembly lines is formulated and tested. Named "FABLE," it obtains proven optimal solutions for ten 1000 task lines, which each possess the computationally favorable conditions of an average of at least 6 tasks per work station and a small number of between-task precedence requirements, in less than 20 seconds of IBM 3033U CPU time for each problem. FABLE also performs very favorably on a benchmark group of 64 test problems drawn from the literature, which are of up to 111 tasks each. FABLE finds and proves an optimal solution to the 64 problems in a total of 3.16 seconds of IBM 3090 CPU time. FABLE is a `laser' type, depth-first, branch-and-bound algorithm, with logic designed for very fast achievement of feasibility, ensuring a feasible solution to any line of 1000 or even more tasks. It utilizes new and existing dominance rules and bound arguments. A total of 549 problems of various characteristics are solved to determine conditions under which FABLE performs most and least favorably. Performance is sensitive to average number of tasks per work station, number of between-task precedence requirements (measured by `order strength'), and the total number of tasks per problem. A heuristic variant of FABLE is also described.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger V. Johnson, 1988. "Optimally Balancing Large Assembly Lines with "Fable"," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 240-253, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:34:y:1988:i:2:p:240-253
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.34.2.240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.34.2.240
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.34.2.240?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:34:y:1988:i:2:p:240-253. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.