Improved Computer Methods for Sequencing Operations for U-Shaped Assembly Lines

U-shaped lines are considered to have a number of advantages over traditional lines. COMSOAL is a recurrent procedure for assembly lines balancing, and it stands for computer method for sequencing operations for assembly lines. In this paper, an improved U-COMSOAL is proposed to solve some problems of COMSOAL, the random picking part of the COMSOAL method is substituted by a ranked positional weight method, and takes both the predecessors and successors of the tasks into the account. Finally, a comparison of between the improved method and a classical method suggested by O. F. Baykoc was done, which illustrate the efficiency of U-COMSOAL.