Extensions of the dynamic programming method in the deterministic and stochastic assembly-line balancing problems

The dynamic programming method which minimizes the number of stations for a given cycle time is extended here to solve two variants of the assembly-line balancing problem. The extended method minimizes cycle time for a given number of stations or, more generally, computes all nondominated pairs of cycle time and number of stations. The method is also applied to the stochastic case where minimizing critical cycle time, the number of stations and maximizing confidence level is desired.