New models for the two-sided assembly line balancing problem

Abstract

In this paper, we are interested in the two-sided assembly line balancing problem. This type of configuration is typically used to produce large-size high-volume products such as those in the automotive industry. We consider the minimisation of the line cycle time. We propose two mathematical models for this problem: a mixed integer linear programming model and a constraint programming model. A comparative study shows the efficiency of our models and the complementary between linear programming and constraint programming. The study also indicates that the density of precedence relations between the tasks determines the instances' hardness.