Mixed Model Line Balancing with Smoothed Station Assignments

The general practice in mixed model assembly line balancing is to assign work to stations in a manner that each station has an equal amount of work on a daily or shift basis. This paper shows how a modification to mixed model line balancing algorithms can be used so that the stations are loaded more consistently on a model by model basis as well. In addition, the modification now allows mixed model line balancing to become a plausible tool for batched assembly line processes. The procedure is general in nature and is applicable to most line balancing algorithms.