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

Discuss regarding the interval estimate, Increasing the size of the samples...

Increasing the size of the samples in a study to estimate the difference between two population means will increase the level of confidence that a decision maker can have regarding

Differences between a team and a work group, Question: (a) "Teams defin...

Question: (a) "Teams definitely are forms of work groups, but not all work groups are teams". Work groups function on three levels: Dependent level, Independent level and Inter

Compute expected value for the add assembly line option, Howard Weiss, Inc....

Howard Weiss, Inc., is considering building a sensitive new airport scanning device.His managers believe that there is a probability of 0.40 that the ATR Co. will come out with a c

Explain quality metrics, A variety of organizational culture characteristic...

A variety of organizational culture characteristics make project success more likely. The characteristics include: A. Sufficient funding B. Feasible schedule C. Respect fo

Explain how often do you think very favourable, How often do you think very...

How often do you think very favourable, intermediate, or very unfavourable situations occur to leaders in real life? Based on Fiedler's theory

Describe your rationale beneficial to a single franchise, "Firehouse Subs",...

"Firehouse Subs", determine which of the THREE OPTIONS executives are considering would be most beneficial to a single franchise owner. Explain your rationale.

Describe the pivot initiative at midwest bank, Complete the case study The ...

Complete the case study The PIVOT Initiative at Midwest Bank, Part I, starting on page 358. On the basis of the information: • Prepare a 3 to 5 page paper discussing what conclusio

Explain research and industrial engineering, What future for Operations ...

What future for Operations Research/Industrial Engineering? In your own words, answer the following questions in an essay: What is this presentation about? What does th

What are the qualities you believe are important in a leader, Name three qu...

Name three qualities you believe are important in a leader. Elaborate on each of those qualities. Do you think a leader today has to be more aware of their ethical behaviours than

Explain what are liquidity ratios, Now let's continue our discussion about ...

Now let's continue our discussion about the financial aspects of owning your own business that are part of, by considering the idea of "ratio analysis". In considering "financial r

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