Absenteeism among manual workers is, without doubt, one of the most significant factors to affect the functioning of assembly lines in developed markets. That high levels of absenteeism have negative repercussions on the quality and costs of operations is a widely held view. According to the...

We investigate the problem of balancing assembly lines with heterogeneous workers while considering job rotation schedules. This problem typically occurs in assembly lines in sheltered work centers for disabled. We propose a hybrid algorithm that uses a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) to select...

We address the problem of sequencing jobs, each of which is characterized by one of a large number of possible combinations of customer-specified options, on a paced assembly line. These problems arise frequently in the automotive industry. One job must be launched into the system at equal time...

Purpose – Aims to discuss how impedance‐controlled parallel robots can effectively perform industrial assembly tasks. Design/methodology/approach – A new purely translational parallel robot has been designed to fulfil the requirements of industrial assembly tasks. The kinematic and dynamic...

Purpose – Moving production lines are widely used in many manufacturing factories, such as automotive and general industries. However, industrial robots are hardly used to perform any tasks on the moving production lines. One of the main reasons is that it is difficult for conventional...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, study and quantify the effects of lighting on yield and productivity in manual electronics assembly (MEA) and inspection as a limiting work design criterion. The study also examines the potential interactions among lighting option, workers'...