Level Scheduling under limitedResequencing Flexibility

A mixed-model assembly line requires the solution of a short-term sequencing prob-lem, which decides on the succession of different models launched down the line.A famous solution approach stemming from the Toyota Production System is theso-called Level Scheduling (LS), which aims to distribute the part consumption in-duced by a model sequence evenly over the planning horizon. LS attracted a multi-tude of different researchers, who, however, invariably treat initial sequence planningwhere all degrees of freedom in assigning models to production cycles exist. In thereal-world, conicting objectives and restrictions of preceding production stages, i.e.,body and paint shop, simultaneously need to be considered and perturbations of aninitial sequence will regularly occur, so that the sequencing problem often becomesa re-sequencing problem. Here, a given model sequence is to be reshued with thehelp of re-sequencing buers (denoted as pull-o tables). This paper shows how toadopt famous solution approaches for alternative LS problems, namely the Product-Rate-Variation (PRV) and the Output-Rate-Variation (ORV) problem, if the (re-)assignment of models to cycles is restricted by the given number of pull-o tables.Furthermore, the eect of increasing re-sequencing exibility is investigated, so thatthe practitioner receives decision support for buer dimensioning, and the ability ofthe PRV in reasonably approximating the more detailed ORV in a re-sequencing en-vironment is tested....