Balancing and scheduling human-robot collaborated assembly lines with layout and objective consideration

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cie.2023.109775
• Publication Date: 2023-11-30T12:41:32Z
• Authors: Amir Nourmohammadi; Masood Fathi; Amos H.C. Ng
• Keywords: Assembly line; Production line

The recent Industry 4.0 trend, followed by the technological advancement of collaborative robots, has urged many industries to shift towards new types assembly lines with human-robot collaboration (HRC). This type manufacturing line, in which human skill is supported robot agility, demands an integrated balancing and scheduling tasks operators among stations. study attempts deal these joint problems straight U-shaped while considering different objectives, namely, number stations (Type-1), cycle time (Type-2), cost stations, operators, energy consumption (Type-rw). latter often arises real world, where multiple humans robots skills levels can perform collaboratively or parallel at Additionally, practical constraints, namely tool changes, zoning, requirements, are considered Type-rw. Accordingly, mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) models for layouts proposed efficient lower upper bounds each objective. computational results validate efficiency MILP model bounded objectives addressing application case test problem sizes. In addition, analysis shows that layout offers greater flexibility than leading more solutions JIT production, particularly objective Type-2 Type-rw Type-1. Moreover, featuring a high HRC level further enhance achievement desired compared no limited HRC.