A VNS algorithm for a disassembly cell formation problem with demand variability

A disassembly cell formation problem with demand variability is addressed in this paper under a reconfigurable approach. The reconfigurable approach allows the cells to be rearranged periodically to deal with demand variability in a multi-period planning horizon. We present a first mathematical programming model for this new problem as well as a solution method based on the variable neighbourhood search (VNS) methodology. Computational results on a set of random instances show the convenience of the proposed algorithm to reach near optimal solutions in short computing times. When compared with the solutions found by CPLEX after 5 hrs of CPU time, on average our proposed algorithm obtained solutions improved by 7.96%. When our VNS solution is provided to CPLEX as the starting solution, these are improved by 2.75% on average. The comparison shows that our heuristic algorithms reach high quality solutions in very short computing times. [Received 5 October 2011; Revised 3 March 2012; Revised 11 May 2012; Accepted 12 May 2012]