Model of spine configuration assembly line design for a Product family

A Product family usually consists of common subassemblies and variant subassemblies which expose a modular product structure. This paper presents a model of spine configuration assembly line that is designed to connect some sub-assembly lines as the modular structure. Based on such structure, the approach of designing the assembly line takes benefit from the commonality of components and assembly operations to reduce complexity of variants assembly processes. The proposed model is formulated in linear and non-linear programming formulations that minimize total cost of assembly line operation. Example data problem is used to show the application of the model and yields spine assembly lines configuration of a product family.