Heuristics comparison for u-shaped assembly line balancing in the apparel factory

Abstract

In recent year, many industries have adopted a Just-in-time (JIT) approach to manufacturing. One of the
important changes resulting from JIT implementation is the replacement of the traditional straight lines with Ushaped
assembly lines. The important characteristic of these new configurations is that multiskilled workers
perform various tasks of different stations along the production line. This research is to improve the assembly
line balancing in apparel factory in case study of T-shirt style 53287. The efficiency of production line was
55.48%, the factory balanced line with the traditional method in straight line. Then, the u-shaped assembly
line balancing problem (UALBP) is to be performed instead of straight line. By using the heuristics of
Maximum Task Time, Minimum Task Time, Maximum Ranked Positional Weight (RPWmax) and Greedy
Randomized to determine the optimal solutions related to the number of stations and line efficiency. The
results indicate that two heuristics have given the good solution which have produced by the use of
Maximum Task Time and Greedy Randomized. The minimum number of stations have reduced from 17
stations to 11 stations in UALB and the line efficiency was increased from 55.48% to 85.75%. The U-line
configuration frequently improves the line efficiency and has fewer work stations compared to the traditional
lines.