An interesting empirical result in the assembly line literature states that
slightly unbalanced assembly lines (in the format of a bowl - with central
stations less loaded than the external ones) present higher throughputs than
perfectly balanced ones. This effect is known as the bowl phenomenon. In this
study, we analyze the presence of this phenomenon in assembly lines with
heterogeneous workers (most of them, workers with disabilities). For this
purpose, we modify an existing model for the assembly line worker assignment
and balancing problem in order to generate configurations exhibiting the
desired format. These configurations are implemented in a stochastic simulation
model and the obtained results are analyzed. The findings obtained here confirm
the existence of the bowl phenomenon in such situations and contributes to
deepen our knowledge in this empirical phenomenon
