A survey on assembly lines and its types

Abstract

Assembly lines are useful for mass production of standard as well as customized products. Line balancing is an important issue, in this regard an optimal or near optimal balance can provide a fruitful savings in the initial cost and also in the running cost of such production systems. A survey of different problems in different types of assembly lines and some of the critical and on going research areas are highlighted here. The provided research information is momentous for the research community in assembly line area to proceed further in the presented issues of assembly lines.

Key words： assembly lines; line balancing; survey

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by MOST (the Ministry of Science & Technology of China) under the grants No.2012AA040909, 2012BAH08F04, and 2013AA040206, and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No.51035001 and 71271156).

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