This paper presents a nonlinear mixed-integer programming model to minimize the stoppage cost of mixed-model assembly lines. Nowadays, most manufacturing firms employ this type of line due to the increasing varieties of products in their attempts to quickly respond to diversified customer demands. Advancement of new technologies, competitiveness, diversification of products, and large customer ...

The design of an interface unit is described, in which RS232 serial data is converted to latched parallel data on 22 independent lines. The data direction of each line is programmable through the serial port. Two picocontrollers are employed in a parallel processing mode to give the required number of I/O pins, and data on the shared serial line is coded to separate data streams to the individu...

Demand trends towards mass customization drive the need for increasingly productive and flexible assembly operations. Walking-worker lines can present advantages over fixed-worker systems. This article presents a multiproduct parallel walking-worker line with shared automated stations, evaluates its operational performance compared to semiautomated manual lines. Simulation models were used set ...

This research addresses the mixed-model assembly line (MMAL) by considering various constraints. In MMALs, several types of products which their similarity is so high are made on an assembly line. As a consequence, it is possible to assemble and make several types of products simultaneously without spending any additional time. The proposed multi-objective model considers the balancing and sequ...

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) may involve all parts of the body, and have been a worldwide problem. Employed women are two to five times more likely to report such problems, and assembly lines suspected to induce more WMSDs because of high rate of repetitive motions. Methods: The aim of this study to determine the prevalence of WMSDs in women workers of an automobi...

This paper considers a two-stage assembly flow shop problem (TAFSP) where m machines are in the first stage and an assembly machine is in the second stage. The objective is to minimize a weighted sum of earliness and tardiness time for n available jobs. JIT seeks to identify and eliminate waste components including over production, waiting time, transportation, inventory, movement and defective...