Line Balance Ratio (LBR)

Lean Manufacturing Explained - LME

 Definition of Terms
• Cycle time- the time it takes to a complete the process from the first task to last
task
• Pitch time – the longest cycle time in the production line
• reference to the available time
• WIP –work in progress, products that are being or waiting to be processed
usually between processes or production lines
• UPH –unit per hour
• Bottleneck – a constraint in the production system which has the lowest capacity
/ longest cycle time which determines the maximum throughput. Bottleneck
prevents smooth flow of products, creates inventory build-up and idle time. In
worst condition results to delay in deliveries due to capacity issues.
Smooth flow Restricted flow
“100% LBR” “Low LBR”

bottleneck
 Line Balance Ratio (LBR)

• measures the evenness of operators’ work load and

processes across the production line
• ideal LBR is 100%, target is 90%
• As known as Work load balance, Line of Balance
(LOB) or simply Line Balance,

Sum of all process cycle time

LBR = Pitch time x total no. of processes
x 100%
 Goal of Line Balancing
 To improve efficiency by
-by eliminating bottleneck process, reduce the pitch time and
increase capacity

To Eliminate idle time, WIP and lessen operators’ fatigue

-by redistributing operators’ work loads and processes
 Sample LBR Computation (Ideal 100%)
Operators  Mary Rose Aisa Yhun Rica Kenneth

INPUT OUTPUT
Process Process Process Process Process
A B C D E
Work Station 
45 sec 45 sec 45 sec 45 sec 45 sec
Cycle Time 

45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 225
LBR = x 100% = x 100% = 100%
45 x 5 225
Sample LBR Computation (Before 80.8%)

BOTTLENECK WIP

INPUT Process OUTPUT

Process Process Process
A B C D
Work Station 
Cycle Time  32 sec 46 sec 34 sec 37 sec

40 + 35 + 52 + 39 + 44 210
LBR = x 100% = x 100% = 80.8%
52 x 5 260

38 46 42
Sample LBR Computation (After 91.2%)
Operators  Khints AJ Jomary Kath Ronald

INPUT OUTPUT
Process Process Process Process Process
A B C D E
Work Station 
Cycle Time  40 sec 38 sec 46 sec 42 sec 44sec

40 + 38 + 46 + 42 + 44 210
LBR = x 100% = x 100% = 91.2%
46 x 5 230

A B C D E
 Summary of Improvement
LBR BEFORE LBR AFTER
Process A 40 40
Process B 35 38
Process C 52 46
Process D 39 42
Process E 44 44

sum of all process cycle time 210 210

pitch time x total no. of processes 260 230
LBR 80.8% 91.3% 10.5% inc. in LBR
UPH (3600/PITCH TIME) 69 78 9.0 inc. in UPH
INCREASE IN UPH - 13.0%

PER 8-HR SHIFT CAPACITY 554 626

INCREASE IN CAPACITY - 72 inc. in CAPA equivalent to 1-hr of production