Fast, Effective Algorithms for Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problems

A simple, fast and effective heuristic for the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Type I problem (minimizing the number of workstations) is proposed. A fast and effective branch-and-bound algorithm, which incorporates this heuristic for use in bounding, is developed. The algorithm introduces heuristic fathoming as a technique for reducing the size of the branch-and-bound tree. Methods to solve the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Type II problem (maximizing the production rate) are also described. Upper bounds on all heuristics for both problems are provided.