A Memetic Algorithm for Multi-Criteria Sequencing Problem for a Mixed-Model Assembly Line in a JIT Production System

This paper presents a new mathematical model of mixed-model assembly lines (MMAL) to find the best sequences of product models in a just-in-time (JIT) production system. The objective is to minimize three criteria with their importance weights: (i) total utility work cost, (ii) total production rate variation cost, and (iii) total setup cost. Due to its NP-hardness, a memetic algorithm (MA) is proposed and its performance is compared with the Lingo 6 software. To validate the proposed model, a number of test problems are solved to verify the good ability of the proposed MA in terms of the solution quality and computational time. The results reveal that the MA finds promising results, especially in the case of large-sized problems.