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LINE BALANCING

Manufacturing Process Layout

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A Product Layout

In

Out

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Designing Product Layouts

• Objective
• Balance the assembly line
• Line balancing
• tries to equalize the amount of work at each
workstation
• Precedence requirements
• physical restrictions on the order in which operations
are performed
• Cycle time
• maximum amount of time a product is allowed to
spend at each workstation

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Terminology used in Assembly

Line Balancing
• Cycle time
– The maximum time allowed at each
workstation to complete its set of tasks on a
unit
– Cycle time also establishes the output rate of
a line

Or Cycle Time = Total available production time /

Total no. of units to be produced

How Many Workstations are Needed?

• The required number of workstations is a
function of
– Desired output rate
– Our ability to combine tasks into a
workstation
• Theoretical minimum number of stations

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Lead Time

• Lead time: Cycle Time x No. of Work stations

Cycle Time Example

production time available

Cd = desired units of output

(8 hours x 60 minutes / hour)

Cd = (120 units)
480
Cd = 120 = 4 minutes

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Flow Time vs Cycle Time

• Cycle time = max time spent at any station
• Flow time = time to complete all stations

1 2 3
4 minutes 4 minutes 4 minutes

Flow time = 4 + 4 + 4 = 12 minutes

Cycle time = max (4, 4, 4) = 4 minutes

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Measuring Effectiveness
• Balance delay (percentage of idle time)
– Percentage of idle time of a line

• Efficiency
– Percentage of busy time of a line

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Efficiency of Line and Balance Delay

Efficiency Min# of workstations
j j

∑t
i=1
i ∑t
i=1
i

E= nCa
N= Cd
where
ti = completion time for element i
j = number of work elements
n = actual number of workstations
Ca = actual cycle time
Cd = desired cycle time
j
Balance delay
total idle time of line = nCa -
∑t
i=1
i

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Line Balancing
Line balancing
The process of assigning tasks to workstations in
such a way that the workstations have
approximately equal time requirements
Goal:
Obtain task grouping that represent approximately
equal time requirements since this minimizes idle time
along the line and results in a high utilization of
equipment and labor
Why is line balancing important?
1. It allows us to use labor and equipment more efficiently.
2. To avoid fairness issues that arise when one workstation must
work harder than another.

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Line Balancing Procedure

1. Draw and label a precedence diagram
2. Calculate desired cycle time required for line
3. Calculate theoretical minimum number of workstations
4. Group elements into workstations, recognizing cycle
time and precedence constraints
5. Calculate efficiency of line
6. Determine if theoretical minimum number of
workstations or an acceptable efficiency level has been
reached. If not, go back to step 4.

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Precedence Diagram
• Precedence diagram
– A diagram that shows elemental tasks and their precedence
requirements

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Line Balancing
Work Element Precedence Time (Min)
A Press out sheet of fruit — 0.1
B Cut into strips A 0.2
C Outline fun shapes A 0.4
D Roll up and package B, C 0.3

0.2
B

0.1 A D 0.3

C
0.4

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Line Balancing
Work Element Precedence Time (Min)
A Press out sheet of fruit — 0.1
B Cut into strips A 0.2
C Outline fun shapes A 0.4
D Roll up and package B, C 0.3

5 x 8 x hours x 60 minutes / hour 2400

Cd = = = 0.4 minute
6,000 units 6000

0.1 + 0.2 + 0.3 + 0.4 1.0

N= = = 2.5 3 workstations
0.4 0.4

Note: Considering production for 5 days (8 hours/day and 120 units/day)

Cd = Cycle time and N = No. of work stations

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Line Balancing
Remaining Remaining
Workstation Element Time Elements
1 A 0.3 B, C
B 0.1 C, D
2 C 0.0 D
3 D 0.1 none

0.2
B Cd = 0.4
0.3 N = 2.5

0.1 A D

C
0.4

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Line Balancing

Work Work Work

station 1 station 2 station 3
Cd = 0.4
N = 2.5
A, B C D
0.3 0.4 0.3
minute minute minute

0.1 + 0.2 + 0.3 + 0.4 1.0

E= = = 0.833 = 83.3%
3(0.4) 1.2

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Hybrid Layouts

• Cellular layouts
• group dissimilar machines into work centers (called cells) that
process families of parts with similar shapes or processing
requirements
• Production flow analysis (PFA)
• reorders part routing matrices to identify families of parts with
similar processing requirements
• Flexible manufacturing system
• automated machining and material handling systems which can
produce an enormous variety of items
• Mixed-model assembly line
• processes more than one product model in one line

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Cellular Layouts
1. Identify families of parts with similar flow paths
2. Group machines into cells based on part
families
3. Arrange cells so material movement is
minimized
4. Locate large shared machines at point of use

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Parts Families

A family of A family of related

similar parts grocery items

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Original Process Layout

Assembly

4 6 7 9

5 8

2 10 12

1 3 11

A B C Raw materials

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Part Routing Matrix

Machines
Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
D x x x x x
E x x x
F x x x
G x x x x
H x x x

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Revised Cellular Layout

Assembly

8 10 9 12

11
4 Cell 1 Cell 2 6 Cell 3
7

2 1 3 5

A B C
Raw materials

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Cellular Layouts
• Advantages
• Reduced material handling
and transit time
• Reduced setup time
• Reduced work-in- process
inventory
• Better use of human
resources
• Easier to control
• Easier to automate
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• Disadvantages
• Inadequate part families
• Poorly balanced cells
• Expanded training and
scheduling of workers
• Increased capital
investment
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Automated Manufacturing Cell

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Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS)

• Consists of
• programmable machine tools
• automated tool changing
• automated material handling system
• controlled by computer network
• Combines flexibility with efficiency
• Layouts differ based on
• variety of parts the system can process
• size of parts processed
• average processing time required for part completion

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Fully-Implemented FMS

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Mixed Model Assembly Lines

• Produce multiple models in any order on one
assembly line
• Factors in mixed model lines
• Line balancing
• U-shaped lines
• Flexible workforce
• Model sequencing

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