Abstract
This paper presents Decision Support Systems for worker flexibility in a chassis assembly line. Worker flexibility is the most fundamental type among the various types of flexibility which have been presented in the literature. Worker flexibility, such as might be achieved through worker cross-training, enables workers to operate more than one type of operation without any loss in productivity. However, worker cross-training necessitates high costs as well as time, especially in an assembly line requiring high skill. The DSS for worker flexibility has two major functions : Physical performance analysis and choice analysis. The first makes clear, through physical performance analysis, how the manufacturing performance is affected by a design parameter such as worker flexibility while varying the worker assignment rules and sequence rules for scheduling. Loss due to tardiness, unbalance in workload among workers, average flow time of jobs, the required time for training, etc., are used as the manufacturing performance measures. The degree of worker cross-training as the design parameter is represented by the worker efficient matrix. The second is to guide for selecting workers and operations for training or setting the worker flexibility index, if managers can, on the basis of the physical performance analysis results, and provides a ranking, performance, or acceptable limit in terms of their contribution or improvement to the assembly line. An example of the prototype DSS is also presented from the above-mentioned viewpoint.
