Combining heuristic procedures and simulation models for balancing a PC camera assembly line

In this paper, a mixed-model PC camera assembly line balancing case study is presented. The aim of the study is to establish different line configurations, for varying levels of demand. In the first stage of the study, a heuristic procedure previously developed by some of the authors, based on the simulated annealing meta-heuristic, is used to derive line configurations with a minimum number of workstations and a smooth workload balance between and within the workstations. In the second stage, the solutions provided by the heuristic are used as an input to discrete event simulation models in which certain manufacturing parameters that analytical procedures have difficulty to accommodate, namely, stochastic times, machine breakdowns, rework, etc. are introduced. These simulation models derive different performance measures (e.g. flow times and resources utilization) that provide operational support and help fine-tune the line configurations.