Optimal mixed-model sequencing for balanced assembly lines

This paper describes an algorithm for solving optimally, the mixed-model sequencing problem when assembly line stations are balanced for each model. An optimal sequence is obtained with the minimization of the overall assembly line length for zero station idle time.The algorithm incorporates two basic steps. The first involves a search procedure that generates all cycle sequences; i.e. sequences having identical ‘start’ and ‘finish’ positions and whose work content can be executed within a defined station length. The second step uses integer programming (IP) to determine the number and combination of the various cycle sequences, such that the production demand is satisfied.     

Monitoring antitobacco sentiment among community leaders

Two public health objectives, one methodological and the other substantive, are realized in the present study. First, average survey ratings are replaced by negated mean cumulative logits (MCLs), which have the advantage of interitem commensuration. Second, these negated MCLs improve the analysis of two Florida tobacco control surveys of community leaders. Because of their common logit metric, negated MCLs for different item types are compared on their expressed antitobacco sentiment. They are also averaged to construct a precise indicator of overall sentiment. These results show that in 1998 and 1999, community leaders were most averse to selling to minors, kids buying cigarettes, and restaurant and workplace smoking. The latter aversion anticipated voters' overwhelming support of the 2002 Florida constitutional amendment prohibiting smoking in restaurants and workplaces. The authors hope that this analysis for antitobacco programs will improve other substance-abuse monitoring with surveys whose items are yet unwritten.