Balancing and scheduling mixed-model U-shaped production lines

The production line considered in this paper is a U-shaped, mixed-model, asynchronous line where assembly and fabrication tasks are performed to produce a variety of different discrete products or models in a just-in-time (JIT) environment. Two important problems occur routinely with these lines. The first is the assignment of tasks to stations on the line-the line balancing problem-and the second is the selection of the sequence in which …