Solving the car sequencing problem via Branch & Bound

In a mixed-model assembly line, varying models of the same basic product are to be produced in a facultative sequence. This results to a short-term planning problem where a sequence of models is sought which minimizes station overloads. In practice - e.g. the final assembly of cars - special sequencing rules are enforced which restrict the number of models possessing a certain optional feature k to r(k) within a subsequence Of s(k) successive models. This problem is known as car sequencing. So far, employed solution techniques stem mainly from the field of Logic and Constraint Logic Programming. In this work, a special Branch & Bound algorithm is developed, which exploits the problem structure in order to reduce combinatorial complexity. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.