A Method to Solve the Assembly Line Parts Feeding Problem Based on Variable Route

Recently, the combination of supermarket and tow train can be adopted by more and more automobile producers for parts feeding. This paper focuses on the Assembly Line Parts Feeding Problem (ALPFP), a single tow train, which delivers parts from a supermarket to the workstations' buffer in a mixed-model assembly line, of routing, scheduling, and loading problem to minimize number of tours, routes lengths, and line-side inventory holding costs. In order to enable a reliable part feeding in line with the JIT-principle, the tow train with wagons starts from the supermarket, runs between any two destinations of line-side parts buffer unloading the parts, and finally returns to the supermarket before shortage. In this paper, a new mixed integer mathematical model from nonlinearity to linearity which can get exact solution paves the way for the study.