The book deals with two main decision problems which arise when flow-line production systems are installed and operated. The assembly line balancing problem consists of partitioning the work, necessary to assemble the product(s), among different stations of an assembly line. If several models of a product are jointly processed on a line, this medium-term problem is connected with the short-term problem of determining an operating sequence of the models. In Part I balancing and sequencing problems are discussed, classified, and arranged within a hierarchical planning system. In the present second edition special emphasis is given to u-shaped assembly lines which are important components of modern just-in-time production systems. Part II is concerned with exact and heuristic procedures for solving those decision problems. For each problem type considered, a survey of existing procedures is given and new efficient solution methods are developed. Comprehensive numerical investigations showing the effectiveness of the new methods and their superiority over existing approaches are reported.

This book has resulted from the activities of IFAC TC 5.2 “Manufacturing Modelling for Management and Control”. The book offers an introduction and advanced techniques of scheduling applications to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 systems for larger audience. This book uncovers fundamental principles and recent developments in the theory and application of scheduling methodology to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0. The purpose of this book is to present recent developments in scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 and to systemize these developments in new taxonomies and methodological principles to shape this new research domain. This book addresses the needs of both researchers and practitioners to uncover the challenges and opportunities of scheduling techniques’ applications to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0. For the first time, it comprehensively conceptualizes scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 systems as a new research domain. The chapters of the book are written by the leading international experts and utilize methods of operations research, industrial engineering and computer science. Such a multi-disciplinary combination is unique and comprehensively deciphers major problem taxonomies, methodologies, and applications to scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

Network models are critical tools in business, management, science and industry. “Network Models and Optimization” presents an insightful, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of multiple objective genetic algorithms to network optimization problems in many disciplines, such as engineering, computer science, operations research, transportation, telecommunication, and manufacturing. The book extensively covers algorithms and applications, including shortest path problems, minimum cost flow problems, maximum flow problems, minimum spanning tree problems, traveling salesman and postman problems, location-allocation problems, project scheduling problems, multistage-based scheduling problems, logistics network problems, communication network problem, and network models in assembly line balancing problems, and airline fleet assignment problems. The book can be used both as a student textbook and as a professional reference for practitioners who use network optimization methods to model and solve problems.

​Assembly Line Planning and Control describes the basic fundamentals of assembly lines for single model lines, mixed model make-to-stock lines, mixed model make-to-order lines and for one-station assembly. The book shows how to select the quantity of units to schedule for a shift duration, compute the number of operators needed on a line, set the conveyor speed, coordinate the main line with sub-assembly lines, assign the work elements to the operators on the line, sequence the models down the line, sequence the jobs down the line, calculate the part and component requirements for a line and for each station, determine the replenish needs of the parts and components from the suppliers, compute the similarity between the models being produced and show applications, use learning curves to estimate time and costs of assembly, and measure the efficiency of the line. The material is timeless and the book will never become obsolete. The author presents solutions with easy-to-understand numerical examples that can be applied to real-life applications.​

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Web Society, ICPCA/SWS 2013, held in Vina de Mar, Chile, in December 2013. The 56 revised full papers presented together with 29 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 156 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on infrastructure and devices; service and solution; data and knowledge; as well as community.

It is dealt with two main decision problems which arise when flow-line production systems are installed and operated. The assembly line balancing problem consists of partitioning the work, necessary to assemble the product(s), among different stations of an assembly line. If several models of a product are jointly processed on a line, this medium-term problem is connected with the short-term problem of determining an operating sequence of the models. In Part I balancing and sequencing problems are discussed, classified, and arranged within a hierarchical planning system. In the second edition special emphasis is given to u-shaped assembly lines which are important components of modern just-in-time production systems. Part II is concerned with exact and heuristic procedures for solving those decision problems. For each problem type considered, a survey of existing procedures is given and new efficient solution methods are developed. Comprehensive numerical investigations are reported.

Efficient assembly line design is a problem of considerable industrial importance. Assembly Line Design will be bought by technical personnel working in design, planning and production departments in industry as well as managers in industry who want to learn more about concurrent engineering. This book will also be purchased by researchers and postgraduate students in mechanical, manufacturing or micro-engineering.

These proceedings represent trends in Product Development concerning industrial vendors and scientific research aspects. Coverage includes the following topics are covered: Design Theory, Product Design, Requirements, Collaborative Engineering, Complex Design, Mechatronics, Reverse Engineering, Virtual Prototyping, CAE, KBE and PLM. The papers presented in this book show that answers can only be composed out of a variety of solutions where psychological, economical and technical research results are taken into account.

Metaheuristics support managers in decision-making with robust tools that provide high-quality solutions to important applications in business, engineering, economics, and science in reasonable time frames, but finding exact solutions in these applications still poses a real challenge. However, because of advances in the fields of mathematical optimization and metaheuristics, major efforts have been made on their interface regarding efficient hybridization. This edited book will provide a survey of the state of the art in this field by providing some invited reviews by well-known specialists as well as refereed papers from the second Matheuristics workshop to be held in Bertinoro, Italy, June 2008. Papers will explore mathematical programming techniques in metaheuristics frameworks, and especially focus on the latest developments in Mixed Integer Programming in solving real-world problems.

Industry has grown to recognize the value of disassembly processes across a wide range of products. Increasing legislation that may soon require mandatory recycling of many post-consumed goods and a desire to develop more environmentally benign end-of-life processes has fueled research into this concept. Traditionally, disassembly has been viewed a