A branch, bound, and remember algorithm for the simple assembly line balancing problem

We present a new exact algorithm for the assembly line balancing problem. The algorithm finds and verifies the optimal solution for every problem in the combined benchmarks of Hoffmann, Talbot, and Scholl in less than one-half second per problem, on average, including one problem that has remained open for over 10 years. The previous best-known algorithm is able to solve 257 of the 269 benchmarks. The new algorithm is based on a branch-and-bound method that uses memory to eliminate redundant subproblems.