A simulation-optimization based heuristic for the online assignment of multi-skilled workers subjected to fatigue in manufacturing systems

Manufacturing systems are often characterized by a stochastic and uncertain behavior in which frequent changes and unpredictable events may occur over time. Moreover, the customers’ demands can sometime evolve drastically along time. In order to cope with such changes in the manufacturing system state, and to optimize given performance criteria, the assignment of multi-skilled workers to the machines in the system can be decided online, in a...