Assignment on Line Balancing and its Objectives

By Kushagra Oberoi 21003171 M-2 group (M.E)

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)

Applications

In the continuous manufacturing industries such as automotives, electronics or assembly operations. The lines are associated with product layout, where components of products are refined or assembled as they passed through work centers, and finally become a completed product. A designated number of work elements are performed at each work center.

Objective

To minimize the total amount of unassigned or idle times at the work station To eliminate bottlenecks, ensuring a smoother flow of production. To determine the optimal number of work stations and operations in each station. To maintain the morale of workers since the work content of the different workers will not be of great difference

Objectives

To maximize the manpower utilization by minimizing the idle times of the operators. To minimize intermediate stock or work-inprogress (zero inventory or just-in-time concept). To improve the quality and productivity of the assembled products To reduce waste of production and delay.

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

Steps For Line Balancing

Construct the precedence diagram if not given Determine the cycle time required Determine the theoretical minimum number of work stations required. This is done by adding up all the task times and dividing the total by the cycle time Select either the Kilbridge & Wester method or the Rank Positional Weights Method to allocate task elements to each work station.

Steps

Each work station should not exceed the cycle time determined earlier. Use a table, setting out the work stations from left to right. Use the Longest Operation Time (LOT) rule; select the task with the longest operation time next. Consider adding to the station any task whose time fits within the remaining time for that station Ensure that the sequencing is in order, even for the task elements in each station. Precedence relationships may interfere with assigning two tasks to the same workstation.

Steps..

Ensure that the restrictions or constraints for the flow line are adhered to. Analyze the balanced flow line to improve efficiency and to reduce idle times. An efficient balance will minimize the amount of idle time. Calculate the idle times, and hence the balancing loss (balancing delay) or line efficiency