Abstract: For the purpose of solving mixed-model assembly line balancing problem (MMALBP), MMALBP is transformed into a single-model assembly line balancing problem with a combined precedence diagram. A hybrid behavior ant colony optimization with pheromone summation rules for MMALBP is proposed. The proposed algorithm makes use of the trail information which is deposited between the task and the task selected position, and pheromone summation rules are adopted. Hybrid search mechanism, which comprehensively considers utilization, exploration and random search, are adopted. Global pheromone trail update and local pheromone trail update are considered. The heuristic information is set to the position weight for tasks of MMALBP, which collaboratively considers the operation time of assembly task and the number of follow-up tasks. Finally, example verification is carried out, and which indicates the validity of the proposed algorithm.

Key words: Ant colony optimization, Heuristic approach, Mixed-model assembly line balancing