An Entropy-based Mathematical Formulation for Straight Assembly Line Balancing Problem

This paper focuses on formulating a typical simple assembly line balancing problem. A new objective function based on a nonlinear entropy function is considered for the simple assembly line balancing problem for the first time. This objective function force the stations to have more similar total task processing time, so that the workers of the stations will have similar work load. Using a bounded variable approach, the nonlinear objective function is converted to an approximated linear objective function. Finally, efficiency of the linearized formulation of the entropy-based assembly line balancing problem is tested by a numerical example.