Equipment selection and task assignment for multiproduct assembly system design

A multiproduct assembly system produces a family of similar products, whre the assembly of each product entails an ordered set of tasks. An assembly system consists of a sequence of workstations. For each workstation, the authors assign a subset of the assembly tasks to be performed at the workstation and select the type of assembly equipment or resource to be used by the workstation. The assembly of each product requires a visit to each workstation in the fixed sequence. The problem of system design is to find the system that is capable to producing all the products in the desired volumes at minimum cost. The system cost includes the fixed capital costs for the assembly equipment and tools and the variable operating costs for the various workstations. The authors present and illustrate an optimization procedure that assigns tasks to workstations and selects assembly equipment for each workstation.