In recent year, many manufactures have adopted a Just-intime(JIT) approach to manufacturing. One of theimportant changes resulting from JIT implementation isthe replacement of the traditional straight lines with Ushapedproduction lines. The important characteristic ofthese new configurations is that multiskilled workersperform various tasks of different stations along theproduction line. This feature allows assigning tasks bothfrom the beginning and the end of the precedence diagramto the same stations. On the other hand, the problem ofassigning tasks on a U-line configuration is more complexthan the straight line due to the much larger search space.This paper addresses the U-shaped assembly linebalancing problem type I (UALBP-1; the number ofworkstations is minimized for a given cycle time) usingheuristic methods. To measure performance of theheuristics, they are applied to solve a large number ofbenchmark problems. The results are compared with theoptimal solutions obtained from the previous publishedresearch. The computational results indicate that themaximum task time rule is able to identify better solutionsand performs quite effectively. Finally, conclusion andfuture research are also presented in this paper.