Method and apparatus for assigning assemblies to component fitting lines

An apparatus for assigning assemblies to component fitting lines for fitting the assemblies with components, having:

• a unit for ascertaining an expected production time for each assembly type of the assemblies to be fitted with components and for each component fitting line taking into consideration the respective cycle time for the assembly type on the component fitting line and the expected number of items to be produced per assembly type, wherein the actual number of items to be produced can arise according to a previously determinable probability distribution, wherein the sum of these expected total production times must not exceed the maximum utilization level of the respective component fitting line over time for the set of assemblies that is assigned to a line, wherein the possible assignments of assemblies to component fitting lines can be limited by the existing infrastructure and/or by user-defined presets and wherein the component variance is determinable as the sum of the numbers of component types needed on the component fitting lines in order to achieve a minimum component variance for prescribed maximum utilization levels over time per component fitting line, and
• a unit for computing the assignment of the assemblies to the component fitting lines for the given presets by means of integer linear programming, wherein the computation of the assignment is effected such that for the probability distributions for the sum of the expected production times per component fitting line that result from the cited probability distributions for the numbers of items, the differences from the respective expected value of these resultant probability distributions are limitable by a prescribable maximum threshold value.