Line Balancing, Operation Management

Assignment Help:
#What do you understand by “line balancing”? What happens if balance doesn’t exist?uestion..

Related Discussions:- Line Balancing

Explain what is the maximum possible output per week, An assembly line with...

An assembly line with 7 tasks is to be balanced. The longest task is 8 minutes, the shortest task is 2 minutes, and the sum of the task times is 53 minutes. The line will operate f

Explain importance of team preparation, • Prepare a 3 to 5 page paper discu...

• Prepare a 3 to 5 page paper discussing what conclusions you can reach on the importance of team preparation and member selection to the "Define" stage, and eventual success of Si

Compute annual holding cost plus the annual ordering cost, The current orde...

The current order quantity for Paul's Pasta Pinwheels is 200 boxes. The order cost is $4 per order, the holding cost is $0.40 per box per year, and the annual demand is 500 boxes p

Describe costco''s inventory before it is sold, The following table shows f...

The following table shows financial data for Costco and wal mart: CostcoInventories: $3,643Sales (net): $48106COGS: $41651 Wal Mart:Inventories: $29447Sales (net): $286103COG

Explain how would you measure customer profitability, How would you measure...

How would you measure customer profitability? What approach would you use in maximizing customer lifetime value? Explain

Limitations of e-business, Limitations of E-Business 1.      Problems ...

Limitations of E-Business 1.      Problems relating to the security of the data  2.      Limitations of bandwidth (speed of data transmission)  3.      Standardisation o

Explain what are the three elements that require integration, What are the ...

What are the three elements that require integration to be successful in operations and supply chain management?

Why might a probabilistic estimate, Why might a probabilistic estimate of t...

Why might a probabilistic estimate of the project completion time base solely on the variance of the critical path be misleading? Under what circumstances would it be acceptable?

Behaviour while a person ethic is somewhat questionable, Which of the follo...

Which of the following statement is correct/1. Deep acting and surface acting are two terms reflecting ways of behaviour when a person ethic is somewhat questionable/2. Deep acting

Define what are the advantages of financing via the internet, In the What w...

In the What would you do section of your text in section 9, Pam Marrone of AgraQuest, Inc. tapped into Internet sources when she needed additional financing. Be specific and suppor

Daina

2/12/2013 7:08:07 AM

Line Balancing
- Line: an assembly line composed of various work stations, at which particular operations are performed.

- To work efficiently, with no work pile-ups between stations, the line must be balanced, for example work must get through each workstation in roughly similar amount of time.
Goals:
1. To meet production goals,
2. Maximize output.

General Approaches to Line Balancing Technique
1. Estimating number of operators for a specific number of stations,
2. Work element sharing: grouping “activities” each work elements into “stations” or jobs performed by a single person (occasionally multiple people work in concert at a single station or machine)

Diana

2/12/2013 7:09:42 AM

Write your Aim – It only applies to assembly lines. It aims at minimizing the idle time along the line by dividing work equally among members. Tasks are grouped in such a way that they have equal time requirement.

When is line Balancing is Done

· When the line is initially set-up

· When the changes are made in process / desired output rate

Difficulty associated with LB – Not feasible to combine certain activities

Necessity of line balancing – In absence of line balancing, it might create morale problem for workers at slower station who work continuously

(Draw Precedence Diagram)

Cycle Time = Longest time at the any of the work element OR (Operating Time / Desired Output Rate)

CT = 1 min

(In Question, it may be given as 480 units per 8-hour day, Hence CT = 8*60 min per day / 480 units per day = 1 minute per cycle)

Theoretical Minimum number of workstations, Nmin = Sum of time at all WS / CT = (0.1+1.0+0.7+0.5+0.2) / 1.0 = 2.5 = 3 Workstations

Rules in Assigning task

1. Choose new WS if

a. All preceding tasks are completed

b. Task Time is less than or equal to Time Remaining

2. Always first assign the task with greatest task time to a workstation, in case there is a choice between work elements. In case task time is same, choose the element having greatest number of followers.

3. For every new WS, always start with cycle time

WS


Time Remaining


Eligible


Assign Task


Revised Time remaining


WS Idle Time

1


1.0


A,C


C(0.7)


0.3 (1.0-0.7)




0.3


A


A(0.1)


0.2


0.2

2


1.0


B


B(1.0)


0


0

3


1.0


D


D(0.5)


0.5




0.5


E


E(0.2)


0.3


0.3

Total Idle time = 0.2 + 0.3 = 0.5 minutes

Balance Delay in % (% of idle time on assembly line) = Total idle time * 100/ (Actual No of WS * Cycle Time)

=0.5*100/(3*1) = 16.7%

Line efficiency = 100% - Balance delay% = 83.3%

Other considerations in line-balancing

1. Technical considerations –

a. Skill requirement of different tasks - If the skill requirements of tasks are quite different, it may not be feasible to place the tasks in the same workstation

b. Incompatible tasks - If the tasks themselves are incompatible (example – Use of fire and flammable liquids), it may not be feasible even to place them in stations that are near to each other

2. Variable tasks by human –

a. Reasons for variation are Fatigue, boredom and failure to concentrate on the task at hand.

b. Absenteeism can also affect the balance

Other approaches to achieve smooth flow of production

1. Make parallel workstations – They increase the workflow and provide flexibility

2. Cross-train workers / Dynamic line balancing – It helps workers perform more than 1 task. In case they are idle, they can assist other workers who are temporarily over-burdened

3. Mixed model line - Design a line to handle more than 1 product on the same line. The different products are similar in many ways and hence, the process applied on them is also samemessage here..

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd