الفهرس 
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Abstract
”AN INVESTIGATION ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING
PROBLEM USING COMPUTERu
Research into the problems of assembly line system
design has increased in the last few years which reflects
the importance of assembly line as a production system.
The Assembly Line Balancing Problem is basically
to back work elements into statio~ along the line,
while obeying precedence constraints on the order in
which the work elements can be executed, in such a way that
the load on each operator is evenly balanced and there
is as little idle time as possible. Whenever the Assembly
Line Balancing Problem becomes complex specially with
current situations in modern industry, computers offer
the only effective tool for balancing the assembly line.
This thesis reviewed the problem thoroughly by surveying
the available up-to-date literature. Then the problem
is defined and mathematically formulated.
Two methods are proposed, designed and developed to
handle the problem. The first method incorporates a
deterministic algorithm, while the second treats the
problem on stochastic basis - 11 -
The deterministic method is designed using the
ranked positional weight technique as a weighing
system. The method adopts an efficient slack policy
which is capable to distribute the slack time even1y
among stations. A backtracking mechanism is embodied
into the method to improve solutions attained. An
immediate partial solution test is also included to
check the progress of partial solution towards the final
one. The method is operated in two directions namely
the forward balance and the reserve balance. In both
cases the procedure is run by fixing the number of
stations and trying to balance the line with the minimum
possible cycle time. The above features are well suited
to give a high credit to the method in order to be
capable to derive practical feasible solutions.
The second method deals with stochastic assembly
lines. Accoraingly, the variable element times, and
their expected incompletion are being considered. Dis-
tribution of element times is usually considered normal.
The unfinished products (incompletion~ have been handled
in the field line by taking them off the line and completing
them entirely on modular assembly bases.
A procedure which depends on the precedence matrix,
has been adopted in order to assign elements to stations.
The assignment procedure consists of three list namely