PRODUCTION PLANNING – Line

Balancing (Part 2)
More Line Balancing Calculation

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Line Balancing..
Purpose is to minimize the number
of people and/or machines on an
assembly line that is required to
produce a given number of units

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–2

Solved Problem 2
A company is setting up an assembly line to produce 192 units
per 8-hour shift. The following table identifies the work
elements, times, and immediate predecessors:
Work Element Time (sec) Immediate Predecessor(s)

A None
40

B A
80

C D, E, F
30

D B
25

E B
20

F B
15

G A
120

H G
145
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–3
Solved Problem 2

a. What is the desired cycle time (in seconds)?

b. What is the theoretical minimum number of stations?
c. Use trial and error to work out a solution, and show your
solution on a precedence diagram.
d. What are the efficiency and balance delay of the solution
found?

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–4

Solved Problem 2

a. What is the desired cycle time (in seconds)?

SOLUTION
a. Calculating the desired output rate ( r = Throughput
rate/hr) and cycle-time (c = 1/Throughput rate), we get

192 units
r=
8 hours

ct = 1 = 8 hours
(3,600 sec/hr) = 150 sec/unit
r 192 units

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–5

Solved Problem 2

b. The sum of the work-element times is 720 seconds, so

t 720 sec/unit
TM = = = 4.8 or 5 stations
ct 150 sec/unit-station

which may or may not be achievable.

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–6

 Solved Problem 2
c. The precedence diagram is shown in Figure 1. Each row in
the following table shows work elements assigned to each
of the five workstations in the proposed solution.
Work Immediate
Element Predecessor(s)
D A None
25 B A
C D, E, F
D B
B E C
E B
80 20 30 F B
G A
F J
A H G
15 115 I H
40 G J C, I
120
H I

145 130

Figure 1 – Precedence Diagram

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7–7

Solved Problem 2 D
25

B E C
80 20 30
J

A F 115
• Prioritize task in order of largest number of
following task 40 G 15 I
• Prioritize task in order of longest task time H
120 130
145

Work No. of following Work No. of following

Element task Element task
A 9
B 5 A 9
C 1 B 5
D 2 G 3
E 2 D,E,F,H 2
F 2 I,C 1
G 3 J 0
H 2
I 1
J 0

7–8
 Work No. of following D
Element task
25

B E C
A 9
B 5 80 20 30
J
G 3 F 115
A
D,E,F,H 2
40 G 15 I
I,C 1 H
120 130
J 0 145

Work-Element Cumulative Idle Time

Station Candidate(s) Choice
Time (sec) Time (sec) (c= 150 sec)

A
S1 A 40 40 150-40= 110
B B 80 120 110- 80= 30
25
D,E,F D 145 30-25 = 5
S2 E,F,G,H G 120 120 150-120= 30
E 140
E,F 20 30-20 = 10
F,H
S3 H 145 145 150-145= 5
S4 F F 15 15 150-15 = 135
I,C 130
I 145 135-130= 5
C
S5 C 30 30 150-30 = 120
J J 115 145 120-115= 5

7–9
 Work No. of following D
Element task
25

B E C
A 9
B 5 80 20 30
J
G 3 F 115
A
D,E,F,H 2
40 G 15 I
I,C 1 H
120 130
J 0 145

Idle Time
Work-Element Cumulative
Station Candidate(s) Choice
Time (sec) Time (sec) (c= 150 sec)

S1 A A 40 40 150-40= 110
B B 80 120 110-80 = 30
D,E,F.H D 25 145 30-25 = 5
S2 E,F,G.H G 120 120 150-120 = 30
E
E,F 20 140 30-20 =10
F,H
S3 H 145 145 150-145 = 5
S4 F F 15 15 150-15 = 135
I,C I 130 145 135-130= 5
C
S5 C 30 30 150-30 = 120
J J 115 145 120-115= 5
7 – 10
Solved Problem 2 D
25

B E C
80 20 30
J

A F 115

40 G 15 I
H
120 130
145

Idle Time
Work-Element Cumulative
Station Candidate(s) Choice
Time (sec) Time (sec) (c= 150 sec)

S1 A A 40 40 150-40= 110
B B 80 120 110-80 = 30
D,E,F. D 25 145 30-25 = 5
S2 E,F,G.H G 120 120 150-120 = 30
E
E,F 20 140 30-20 =10
F,H
S3 H 145 145 150-145 = 5
S4 F F 15 15 150-15 = 135
I,C I 130 145 135-130= 5
C
S5 C 30 30 150-30 = 120
J J 115 145 120-115= 5
7 – 11
Solved Problem 2
d. Calculating the efficiency,
We know that sum of the work-element times (t) is 720 sec,
cycle time (c) is 150 sec, number of stations (n) is 5, therefore

t 720 sec/unit
Efficiency (%) = nct (100) =
5(150 sec/unit)

= 96%

Thus, the balance delay is only 4 percent (100%–96%).

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