Genetic Algorithm for Balancing and Sequencing in Mixed-model U-lines
This paper presents a new method that can efficiently solve the integrated problem of line balancing and model sequencing in mixed-model U-lines (MMULs). Balancing and sequencing problems are important for an efficient use of MMULs and are tightly related with each other. However, in almost all the existing researches on mixed-model production lines, the two problems have been considered separately. A genetic algorithm for balancing and sequencing in mixed-model U line is proposed. A presentation method and genetic operators are proposed. Extensive experiments are carried out to analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm. The computational results show that the proposed algorithm is promising in solution quality.