Solving real car sequencing problems with ant colony optimization

• Published in: European journal of operational research Vol. 174; no. 3; pp. 1427 - 1448
• Main Authors: Gagné, Caroline, Gravel, Marc, Price, Wilson L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-11-2006; Elsevier; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Series: European Journal of Operational Research
• Subjects: Ant colony optimization; Applied sciences; Assembly lines; Automobile industry; Car sequencing problem; Exact sciences and technology; Flows in networks. Combinatorial problems; Heuristic; Integer linear programming; Mathematical models; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Optimization; Sequential scheduling; Studies; Car sequencing problem; Integer linear programming; Ant colony optimization; Integer programming; Assembly line; Multiobjective programming; Linear programming; Swarm intelligence; Scheduling
• ISSN: 0377-2217; 1872-6860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2005.02.063

An automobile assembly line is usually configured as three successive shops in which the body is constructed, painted, and then assembled together with all component parts into a finished vehicle. However, many published production sequencing models ignore the first two shops and base their results only on the requirements and constraints of the assembly shop. In this article, we propose to more closely follow the actual industrial structure. We therefore first propose a single objective mathematical model for scheduling the paint and assembly shops. We then propose an ACO metaheuristic for solving a multiple-objective formulation. Data provided by
Groupe Renault show that the proposed approach offers better solutions than those of current practice.