Assembly Line Balancing
Dr. Dileep S. More Operations Management Group IIM Calcutta
Objectives
• Understand the concept of assembly line balancing • Study a general procedure to balance the line • Study advantages of line balancing
Introduction
• The first movable assembly line was created by Ford to manufacture the Ford Model T • Ford installed a capstan and a thick cable to move the cars between assembly stations
Ford’s assembly line concept
A Line with Multi Operators
A
2 minutes per unit
B
3 minutes per unit
C
5 minutes per unit
D
1 minutes per unit
E
4 minutes per unit
Process Cycle Time = Throughput Rate = Process Capacity = Overall Process Utilization =
A Line with Single Operator
A
2 minutes per unit
B
3 minutes per unit
C
5 minutes per unit
D
1 minutes per unit
E
4 minutes per unit
Process Cycle Time = Throughput Rate = Process Capacity = Overall Process Utilization =
Line Balancing
Workstation-1 Workstation-2 Workstation-3
A
2 minutes per unit
B
3 minutes per unit
C
5 minutes per unit
D
1 minutes per unit
E
4 minutes per unit
Process Cycle Time = Throughput Rate = Process Capacity = Overall Process Utilization =
The objective of Line Balancing problem is to decide on the allocation of the activities to various Work stations, so as to achieve a desired out put rate, to maximize the line efficiency without violating the precedence constraints.
Line Balancing- Nomenclature
• Task: A necessary step to be performed • Workstations: The specific manufacturing or assembly stations defined to perform specific tasks. • Precedence Diagram: The relationships among tasks imposed by the product design and production method
2 A 1 B 1 G 1.4 H C 3.25 D 1.2 E .5 F 1
Line Balancing- Nomenclature
• Actual Cycle time of line (Ca)
2 A 1 B 1 G 1.4 H C 3.25 D 1.2 E .5 F 1
Maximum number of workstations = Cycle time = Minimum number of workstations =