Optimal workforce allocation for assembly lines for highly customised low‐volume products

Traditionally, the assembly of large make‐to‐order products has been organised as assembly cells, where the mainly manual assembly is performed by a group of workers. This is a flexible arrangement and thus suitable for variable products. An assembly line facilitates worker specialisation, work standardisation, low investment in equipment, and other benefits. However, line balancing in variable production is difficult. The use of a flexible work force balances the line, but lowers line efficiency. The objective of the present study is to develop a simple and efficient workforce allocation policy in an environment where variable products are assembled by teams of workers on a relatively short line. Since the work is mainly manual, the efficiency of worker utilisation is critical. The research method is empirical experimentation using discrete event simulation. The results show that the proposed use of an expert team of moving workers can be used to recover some of the efficiency lost as a result of processing time variability.