Evaluation of Alternative Line Configurations in Apparel Industry using Simulation

Abstract

Creating a smooth work flow in apparel industry, which is usually done by using line balancing algorithms, is a diverse and complicated task. Line balancing in apparel manufacturing deals with allocating the resources such as workers and machinery to the assembly line so that the precedence relations are satisfied and the sum of task times at any workstation does not exceed cycle time. Effective line balancing algorithms, which take into consideration the stochastic nature of apparel production, help to accurately estimate the throughput of production lines. Our aims in this study were to suggest a heuristic algorithm for line balancing and to evaluate its effectiveness under different line configurations using simulation.