Discrete Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm for Disassembly Line Balancing Problems by Considering Human Worker’s Learning Effect

The recycling of discarded products is an integral part of resource utilization. A disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP) concerns the recycling and remanufacturing process of end-of-life (EOL) products. Disassembly time is affected by many factors, e.g., the precedence relationships among disassembly tasks, and the skills and learning abilities of disassembly workers. In this paper, we use Petri nets to specify a disassembly process and establish a mixed integer programming model to describe DLBP that considers the learning effect of human workers. We then propose a discrete fruit fly optimization algorithm to solve the proposed problem. By comparing its experimental results with other intelligent optimization algorithms’, its efficiency is verified.