Scribd
Upload
23 views

Lesson 8 Line Balancing

Uploaded by

Angelica Whayne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
23 views

Lesson 8 Line Balancing

Uploaded by

Angelica Whayne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 30

Design Product Layouts:

Line Balancing

Line balancing is the process of assigning


tasks to workstations in such a way that the
workstations have approximately
equal time requirements.

6-1
GOAL OF LINE BALANCING
• To obtain task groupings that represent
approximately equal time requirements.
• This minimizes the idle time along the line and
results in a high utilization of labor and
equipment.
• Lines that are perfectly balanced will have a
smooth flow of work as activities along the
line are synchronized to achieve maximum
utilization of labor and equipment
Major obstacles to attaining a
perfectly balanced line
• It may not be feasible to combine
certain activities into the same bundle,
either because of differences in
equipment requirements or because the
activities are not compatible.
• Differences among elemental task
lengths cannot always be overcome by
grouping tasks.
• The required technological sequence
may prohibit otherwise desirable task
combinations.

Scrubbing Rinsing Drying


2mins 4mins 2mins
How does a manager decide
how many stations to use?
Cycle Time

Cycle time is the maximum time


allowed at each workstation to
complete its set of tasks on a unit.

Maximum cycle time is given by the summation of the task times.

Minimum cycle time is given by the longest of the task times.

6-6
Maximum cycle time is given by the summation
of the task times.

.1 min. .7min. 1.0min .5min .2min

max. cycle time - .1+.7+1+.5+.2= 2.5 mins.

Minimum cycle time is given by the longest of


the task times.
The minimum cycle time would apply if
there were five workstations

• The maximum cycle time would apply if


all tasks were performed at a single
workstation
As a general rule, the cycle time is determined by
the desired output. If the cycle time does not fall
between the maximum and minimum bounds, the
desired output rate must be revised.
Determine Maximum Output

OT
Output rate =
CT

OT  operating time per day

D = desired output rate

OT
CT = cycle time =
6-10
D
A very useful tool in line balancing is a
precedence diagram. A diagram that shows
elemental tasks and their precedence
requirements.
Precedence Diagram
Figure 6.11

Precedence diagram: Tool used in line balancing to display


elemental tasks and sequence requirements
0.1 min. 1.0 min.
A Simple Precedence
a b Diagram

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

6-12
Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required

(  t)
N=
CT

 t = sum of task time


What is the minimum number of
workstations for the previous precedence
diagram? (assume minimum cycle time)
6-13
2.5 mins
N=  2 .5  3
1 min

 t = 2.5 mins
Example 1: Assembly
Line Balancing
• Arrange tasks shown in Figure 6.11 into
three workstations.
– Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
– Assign tasks in order of the most number of
followers

– There is another rule called the order of


greatest positional weight

6-15
Example 1 Solution

Revised
Time Assign Time Station
Workstation Remaining Eligible Task Remaining Idle Time
1 1.0 a, c a 0.9
0.9 c c 0.2
0.2 none – 0.2
2 1.0 b b 0.0 0.0
3 1.0 d d 0.5
0.5 e e 0.3 0.3
0.3 – – 0.5

6-16
Calculate Percent Idle Time

Idle time per cycle


% idletime = * 100%
(N)(CT)

Efficiency = 100% – Percent idle time

What’s the % idle time and efficiency for the above


example?

6-17
0.5
Percent idle time = *100%  16.7%
(3)(1.0)

Efficiency = 100% - 16.7% = 83.3%


SEATWORK
• Draw a precedence diagram.
• Assuming an eight-hour workday, compute the
cycle time needed to obtain an output of 400
units per day.
• Determine the minimum number of
workstations required.
• Assign tasks to workstations using this rule:
Assign tasks according to greatest number of
following tasks. Incase of a tie, use the
tiebreaker of assigning task with the longest
processing time first.
Task Immediate Task Time
follower (in minutes)
a b 0.2
b e 0.2
c d 0.8
d f 0.6
e f 0.3
f g 1
g h 0.4
h end 0.3
Line Balancing Rules
Some Heuristic (intuitive) Rules:

• Assign tasks in order of most following


tasks.
– Count the number of tasks that follow
• Assign tasks in order of greatest positional
weight.
– Positional weight is the sum of each task’s time
and the times of all following tasks.

6-21
Example
A manager wants to assign workstations in such
a manner that hourly output is 4 units.
Working time is 56 minutes per hour. What is
the cycle time?

Cycle time = operating time/output rate


= 14 mins.
Example

Numbers above
the circles indicate
task times

What is the positional weight for each task?


A= 3+2+4+9+5 = 23 E = 4+9+5 = 18
B= 2+4+9+5 = 20 F = 5+6+4+9+5 = 29
C= 9+5 + 4 =18 G= 6 + 4 + 9 + 5 = 24
D= 7+4+9+5 = 25 H = 14
Task - Task time
F = 5
D = 7
G = 6
A = 3
B = 2
C = 4
E = 4
H = 9
I = 5

Assign the tasks above to workstations in the order of greatest


positional weight.

Steps:
1) Arrange the task in the decreasing order of positional weights.
2) Find out the number of workstations

# of workstations = sum of task times/cycle time = 45/14 = 3.2 =4


Task - Task time
F = 5
D = 7
G = 6
A = 3
B = 2
C = 4
E = 4
H = 9
I = 5

11
Percent idle time = *100%  19.64%
(4)(14)
Homework
A shop wants an hourly output of 33.33 units
per hour. The working time is 60 minutes per
hour. Assign the tasks using the rules:

a) In the order of greatest positional weight.


Homework

Operating time 60 minutes per hour


CT    1.80 minutes per unit
Desired output 33 .33 units per hour
a. First, find the positional weights for each task.

Task Number of following Positional


tasks Weight
A 7 6
B 6 4.6
C 2 1.6
D 2 2.2
E 2 2.3
F 1 1.0
G 1 1.5
H 0 0.5
Feasible
Work Time
Task Task Time tasks
Station Remaining
Remaining
I A 1.4 0.4 –
II B 0.5 1.3 C, D, E
E 0.8 0.5 –
III D 0.7 1.1 C
C 0.6 0.5 F
F 0.5 0 –
IV G 1.0 0.8 H
H 0.5 0.3 –
Bottleneck Workstation
30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr.
1 min. 1 min. 2 min. 1 min.

Bottleneck
Theoretically, the line should be able to
produce at 60 units per hour.

But the 3rd station has a task time of 2 mins,


therefore limiting the output to 30 units per
hour.

6-30

You might also like