A Novel MCDM-based Approach for Disassembly Line Balancing Problem

With the progress of industrial technology and frequent product upgrading, products are eliminated more quickly than ever before. The recovery, recycling, and refabricating of end-of-life (EOL) products are attracting more attention. Disassembly is essential to recycle and refabricate EOL products, and a disassembly line is an effective way to accomplish it. A disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP) is conducted to streamlining the disassembly process. In this paper, a novel heuristic approach combining the fuzzy set theory, grey fuzzy integral relational analysis, and a fast ranking heuristic approach is proposed to solve the DLBP. Based on the characteristics of the DLBP, an innovative MCDM method based on fuzzy set theory, grey relational analysis (GRA), and Choquet fuzzy integral is proposed to determine the optimum disassembly sequences. A fast ranking heuristic algorithm (FPCR) considering precedence and cycle time is used to assign the disassembly tasks subject to the rank derived from MCDM. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example and the results show its efficacy in solving the DLBP.