Final assembly sequencing for just-in-time manufacturing

Efficient sequencing of a mix of end-products in a final assembly shop is particularly well suited for a pull manufacturing environment, such as just-in-time (JIT). Since each product imposes different requirements on the feeder shops, in terms of parts’ production, the feeder shops are driven by the sequence of final assembly. The authors developed a mathematical model and an algorithm for the final-assembly sequencing (FAS) problem. The present model links the FAS problem to smoothing the work-in-process levels of parts in the feeder shops. The authors designed an efficient local search procedure, based on selective pairwise interchanges, to solve a lexicographic minimax formulation of the FAS problem. Extensive testing revealed that the algorithm consistently provided excellent results in a tractable running time.