Two stage ant coordination mechanisms for sequencing problem in mixed model assembly lines

Abstract

The minimization of material usage rates variation in the mixed model assembly lines (MMAL) is one of the major optimal problems to effectively execute Just-in-Time (JIT) production. In this paper we present a novel approach with two stage ant coordination mechanism (2S-ACM) to optimize the sequence of mixed product models. In the 2S-ACM approach, the elements in MMAL sequencing problem are transferred to different functional agents, and these agents simulate the ant foraging behaviour to coordination with each other and find the near optimal solutions. The computational results show that the 2S-ACM approach outperforms the other two stage heuristic method and one stage heuristic method in minimizing material usage rates variation and general sacrifice some CPU time in an accepted range. Therefore, the 2S-ACM approach can be used as one of effective approaches for solving sequencing problem in MMAL. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.