Assembly Line

Assembly lines are a special case of product

layout. In general sense , the term assembly line refers to progressive assembly linked by some material handling devices .
The classic example is Henry Fords auto chassis line.
Before the moving assembly line was introduced in 1913, each

chassis was assembled by one worker and required 12.5 hours. Once the new technology was installed, this time was reduced to 93 minutes

Characteristics of Assembly Line

Important differences among line types : Material handling device Belt , roller conveyer
overhead crane
Line configuration U-shape , straight , branching Pacing Mechanical , human Product mix- One product or multiple products. Workstations characteristics Workers may sit , stand ,walk with the line, etc. Length of the line : Few or many workers.

Key Concept
The most common assembly line is a moving conveyer that passes a series of workstations in a uniform time interval called the cycle time (which is also the time between successive units coming off the end of the line). The work performed at each station is made up of many bits of work , termed task, elements or work units.

Contd.
The total work to be performed at a workstation at a workstation is equal to the sum of the tasks assigned to workstations. The assembly line balancing problem is one of assigning all tasks to a series of workstations so that each workstations has no more than can be done in their cycle time. The unassigned time (idle) across all workstations is minimised .The problem is complicated by the relationships among tasks imposed by product design and process technologies . This is called PRECEDENCE RELATIONSHIP which specifies the order in which the tasks must be performed in the assembly process.

Assembly Line Balancing Line balancing:

Precedence Requirement :Physical restriction on the order in which operations are performed on the assembly line. Work element : Jobs that are broken down into their smallest portions, called work elements. Normally work elements are designed such that only one worker can perform the task at one work station Cycle time : cycle time is the time between completed items rolling off the assembly line

Steps for Assembly Line Balancing

1. 2.

3.

4.

Draw the precedence diagram Determine the required cycle time (c) C=(Production time/day) /Output per day (in units) Determine the theoretical no of work stations Nt = Sum of the task times/cycle time Select a rule which tasks are to be assigned to work stations and a secondary rule to break the ties.

5. 6.

Efficiency = Sum of the tasks times/[ actual no of workstations x Cycle time ] Balance delay =1-Efficiency

Precedence Diagram
Figure 6.10

Precedence diagram: Tool used in line balancing to

0.1 min. 1.0 min.

display elemental tasks and sequence requirements

a c
0.7 min.

b d
0.5 min.

A Simple Precedence Diagram

e
0.2 min.

Example 1: Assembly Line Balancing

Arrange tasks shown in Figure 6.10 into three

workstations.

Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute Assign tasks in order of the most number of followers

Example 1 Solution
Revised Time Remaining
0.9 0.2

Workstation
1

Time Remaining
1.0 0.9 0.2 1.0 1.0 0.5 0.3

Eligible
a, c c none b d e -

Assign Task
a c b d e -

Station Idle Time

0.2
0.0 0.5 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.5

2 3

Line Balancing
available work time Cycle time demand
number of theoretical workstations, N T task times / cycle time

output total task time efficiency = input ( N A stations) cycle time

10 Chapter 5: Transformation System Design

Line Balancing Example

Task Time Required Precedes A 2.2 min. B, C, D B 3.4 E C 1.7 E D 4.1 F E 2.7 F F 3.3 G G 2.6 --

Line Balancing Example continued

Company operates one shift per day Available time per shift is 450 minutes

Demand is 100 units/day

12

Chapter 5: Transformation System Design

Precedence Diagram
B E A C

13

Chapter 5: Transformation System Design

Calculations
cycle time = 450/75 = 6 minutes/part NT = 20/6 = 3.33 = 4 stations

Task Assignment
Time Station Avail. 1 6.0 3.8 0.4 2 6.0 1.9 0.2 Elig. Tasks A C,D C,D C E Will Task Idle Fit? Assign. Time A B -D C -0.2 0.4 -C,D C --

B,C,D B,C

Task Assignment continued

Time Elig. Station Avail. Tasks 3 6.0 3.3 4 6.0 E F G Will Fit? E F G Task Idle Assign. Time E F G 0.0 3.4

Line Balancing Solution

Station 3 Station 1 B E A C Station 2 D F

Station 4 G

Efficiency
efficiency = 20/(4*6) = 83.3%

Assembly for contact breaker

No. 1 Task assigned A: Contact Breaker Assembly; take molding half and clean burrs etc. B;install contacts C: Install springs D: install plastic levers on molding half E:Installcontacts F: Install springs G : Install plastic levers etc on molding Half H: Close with other molding half I : Assemble all the above components J : Insert rivets K : Rivet the sandwich units Predece ssor None Task time /unit (Hrs) 0.010

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A B A,C A B A,C G H I J

0.020 0.020 0.040 0.020 0.020 0.040 0.050 0.008 0.040 0.098