Chapter 2: Line Balancing

IE 5511 Human Factors Professor Hayes

Line Balancing
Line:

an assembly line composed of several work stations, at which specific operations are performed. To work effectively, with no work pile-ups between stations, the line must be balanced, e.g. work must get through each workstation in roughly the same amount of time.

Line Balancing
Goals:

To meet production goals, Maximize output.

Common Approaches to Line Balancing: 1. Estimating the number of operators for a given number of stations, 2. Work element sharing: grouping activities per work elements into stations or jobs performed by a single person (some times multiple people work in concert at a single station or machine)

Estimating the number of operators

In

a perfectly balanced line, all operations at all station would take identical time. Efficiency would be 100 % However, this rarely happens!!
100 % efficiency is rarely achievable, A more reasonable goal is 95 % efficiency.

(However, even that may not be achievable depending on the nature of the operations).

Estimating the number of Operators

To achieve a given rate of production, R, Standard Minutes: N operators are needed (total). Time it actually takes
to complete an operation on average

(1)
Number of Operators Needed

N = R x AM = R x SM E

Desired Efficiency Rate of Production (expressed as fraction) Allowed Minutes: total time between pieces (e.g. AM = time of slowest operation)

Procedure for Determining the Number of Operators needed to meet production goals.
Assumptions.

You have already determined:

the number of workstations, their sequence the operations that will be performed at each one.

Goals.

To:

Meet production goals given to you by your management, Balance the workload between stations by putting more

workers at the slower stations, Reduce idle time

Procedure: Estimating the Number of Operators

Givens: Production goal, operation sequence. Step 0: (Prior to the analysis) Perform time studies for each operation using experienced operators in order to obtain standard times (SM).
Step

1: Convert the production rate, R, into the same time units as your standard times. Step 2: (optional) Estimate the total number of operators for the line using Equation (1) (see previous
slides)

Step

3: Estimate the number of operators needed for each operation, Step 4: Identify the slowest operation given the number of operators computed in previous step, Step 5: Test: have you met the production goal? Step 6: Adjust. Add more operators, negotiate to reduce the production goal, or try additional methods.

Example: Estimating the Number of Operators

Givens:
Production goal: 700 units/day where 1 day =

8 hours. Operation sequence: Op1, Op2, Op3, Op4, Op5, Op6, Op7, Op8.
Step

0: (Prior to the analysis) Perform time studies for each operation using experienced operators in order to obtain standard times in minutes (SM).

Example: Estimating the Number of Operators

Step

1: Convert the production rate, R, into the same time units as your standard times. The standard times, SM, have been expressed in minutes, while R is in days, so: R = 700 units/day = 1.458 units/min 480 min/day Also compute the desired cycle time (rate at which units exit line) cycle time = 1 = 0.685 min/unit R

Example: Estimating the Number of Operators

Step

2: (optional) Estimate the total number of operators, N, required to meet production goal, using Equation (1) :

Example: Estimating the Number of Operators

Step

3: Estimate the number of operators needed for each operation, Step 4: Identify the slowest operation given the number of operators computed in previous step, Step 5: Test: have you met the production goal?

Number of operators needed for each operation to achieve production goals

Cycle time = 1/R

Calculate reduced cycle times at each station when using multiple operators
SM / Number of Operators

New cycle time at station when using multiple operators

Calculate reduced cycle times at each station when using multiple operators
SM / Number of Operators

New cycle time at station when using multiple operators

Your production line will only be as fast as your slowest worker. Does this line meet the desired cycle time (0.685)?

Work Element Sharing

A

line can sometimes be balanced with less cost by rearranging the sub-work elements (e.g. activities composing a work element) For example, by giving activities from the busiest element to elements with idle time.

Properties of Work Elements

What

is a work element? How big should a work element be?

Work Element Assemble items in box Load Styrofoam block Load book

Sub-work elements

Sub-sub work elements

Grasp block

Move block to box

Orient Block

Release Block

Work Element Properties

Work

elements can be represented at various levels of abstraction or detail elements can almost always be subdivided into smaller elements. appropriate representation depends on the task and situation.

Work

The

Work Element Sharing: GEs Line Balancing

A Procedure for Assigning Work Elements to Stations
Given:
Precedence graph Production goal (e.g. 300 units per shift) Shift duration (e.g. 450 minutes) Number of workstations (e.g. 6 workstations)

Decided how to assign elements to workstations so as to meet production goals without violating precedence constraints!

A Precedence Graph for Assembly Operations

The graph should only contain necessary orderings. Any unnecessary constraints make it harder to achieve efficiency.

Precedence relations: 1 = y is before x

Compute positional weighs, Record immediate predecessors, Sort from biggest positional weight

The Final Assembly Line

A streamlined version:
Station 3 Station 1 (05) (00) (01) (02) (03) (08) Station 2 (04) Station 4 (07) (09) (10) Station 6 (06)

Station 5

A stream-lined version of the Assembly line

(05) (00) (01) (02) (08) (03) (04) (07) (09) (10) (06)