Sequencing of multi-level mixed-model assembly systems for Just-in-Time manufacturing

Effective assembly sequence is essential to production smoothing for Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing. In this paper, a heuristic is developed for determining effective assembly sequences for mixed-model assembly lines that produce products with different part requirements in a JIT manufacturing environment. The objective is to maintain a constant rate of usage for every part consumed by the line. A numerical example is used to illustrate the procedure of the heuristic. The performance of the heuristic is then examined by using randomly generated test problems. In addition, the heuristic developed is modified to solve the assembly sequencing problem considered in Toyota.