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Article
Publication date: 2 August 2019

Mehmet Pinarbasi, Hacı Mehmet Alakas and Mustafa Yuzukirmizi

Main constraints for an assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) are cycle time/number of stations and task precedence relations. However, due to the technological and…

Abstract

Purpose

Main constraints for an assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) are cycle time/number of stations and task precedence relations. However, due to the technological and organizational limitations, several other restrictions can be encountered in real production systems. These restrictions are called as assignment restrictions and can be task assignment, station, resource and distance limitations. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effects of these restrictions on ALBP using constraint programming (CP) model.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel CP model is proposed and compared to mixed-integer programming (MIP) as a benchmark. The objective is to minimize the cycle time for a given number of stations. The authors also provide explicit anthology of the assignment restriction effects on line efficiency, the solution quality and the computation time.

Findings

The proposed approach is verified with the literature test instances and a real-life problem from a furniture manufacturing company. Computational experiments show that, despite the fact that additional assignment restrictions are problematic in mathematical solutions, CP is a versatile exact solution alternative in modelling and the solution quality.

Practical implications

Assembly line is a popular manufacturing system in the making of standardized high volume products. The problem of assembly line balancing is a crucial challenge in these settings and consists of assigning tasks to the stations by optimizing one or more objectives. Type-2 AR-ALBP is a specific case with the objective function of minimizing the cycle time for a given number of stations. It further assumes assignment restrictions that can be confronted due to the technological limitations or the strategic decisions of the company management. This is especially encountered in rebalancing lines.

Originality/value

Several solution approaches such as mathematical modelling, heuristic and meta-heuristic are proposed to solve the ALBP in the literature. In this study, a new approach has been presented using CP. Efficient models are developed for Type-2 ALBP with several assignment restrictions. Previous studies have not considered the problem to the presented extent. Furthermore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is the first study that solves ALBP with assignment restrictions using CP.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 39 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing and Special Equipment, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2633-6596

Article
Publication date: 30 December 2020

P. Gunasekar, S. Manigandan and Praveen Kumar T.R.

The rise in demand and high utilization of fuel causes severe environmental threat for the nations on the globe. Rapid burning potential of hydrogen produces enormous amount of…

1165

Abstract

Purpose

The rise in demand and high utilization of fuel causes severe environmental threat for the nations on the globe. Rapid burning potential of hydrogen produces enormous amount of thrust, and it is mainly owing to wide flame range and less onset of ignition.

Design/methodology/approach

The significant contribution of hydrogen as fuel has been explored by several researchers around the globe recently to use in aviation sector owing to its eco-friendly nature. Hydrogen is a safe and clean fuel, and it can be generated from several sources. The effects of addition on hydrogen on gas turbine on combustion characteristics and emission concentration level on atmosphere have been reviewed in this paper.

Findings

Incorporation of hydrogen is effective reducing nitrous oxide emission, high calorific value and flame less combustion. Addition of hydrogen to higher proportions enhances the combustion performance, minimizing the setbacks of conventional fuel and meets the specified standards on emission.

Originality/value

From the literature review, the comparative study on hydrogen with other fuel is explained. This paper concludes that addition of hydrogen in fuel enhances the performance of combustion on gas turbine engine along with significant reduction in emission levels.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 93 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

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