INME 333
Facility Planning and Design –
CHAPTER 3 – Line Balancing
Dr. Ramzi FAYAD
Fall Semester Dr Ramzi FAYAD INME 333 – Facility Planning & Design
Department of Industrial Engineering
Line Balancing
Achieving Line Balances in Product Layout, for high volume activities on
moving conveyors, procedure for analyzing line balancing problems involves:
Balancing is the appointment of sequential work activities into work stations
in an effort to gain a high utilization of labor and equipment facilities and to
minimize idle time.
Work activities must be subdivided or grouped so that there is an efficient,
fair balance of work content for each work.
Determining the number of stations and the time available at each station.
Grouping the individual tasks into amounts of work at each station.
Evaluating the efficiency of the grouping.
Fall Semester Dr Ramzi FAYAD INME 333 – Facility Planning & Design
Department of Industrial Engineering 2
Line Balancing
Sample, if conveyor speed is 4 m/minute and units are place at 4 meter
intervals output rate is one unit/minute.
To achieve a 2 units/minute output, either double the conveyor speed or
use a 2-meter spacing on the conveyor rather than 4 meters. In either case,
time per unit available at each work station would be cut in half. To half a
minute per unit.
total time available / period TT
Cycle Time
total output required / period output
C, cycle time, length of time a unit is available at each workstations. Length
of time between completed units coming off the line.
Eff B
output of task times
t
input of stations time CT
4 meters spacing
Belt speed of
4m/min
Output Rate =
1unit/min
WorkStation A WorkStation B
Fall Semester Dr Ramzi FAYAD INME 333 – Facility Planning & Design
Department of Industrial Engineering 3
Line Balancing
Sample, an electric appliance
assembly area is as shown in the
figure below, with potential work
stations A through F. The tasks that
must be done, along with their
respective times, are indicated in
the precedence diagram. The
machine scan is automatic and can
come anytime after task 2, the
manufacture desires an output of
367 units per 8 hour day and stops .4
the line for 20-minute break in the 2
middle of morning and afternoon. .3
3.4
Group the assembly line tasks into 1.1 5
.5 7 .3
appropriate work stations, and 1 .7
3
compute the balance efficiency. 9 10
.8
.4
1.2 8
6
4
Fall Semester Dr Ramzi FAYAD INME 333 – Facility Planning & Design
Department of Industrial Engineering 4
Line Balancing
Exercise Eight, The assembly line whose activities are shown in
Figure above desires an output of 24 units per 4-hour shift
including 2 breaks of 20 minutes each and a downtime of 8
minutes. The tasks that must be done, along with their
respective times are indicated in the precedence table. Group
the assembly line tasks into appropriate work stations and
compute the balance efficiency. Find the theoretical minimum Time Immediate
Work Element
number of stations. (second) Predecessors
Task Must Follow this
Task Performance Time A 40 None
Task
B 80 A
Exercise Ten, a company is setting up an assembly line to C 30 D, E, F
produce 192 units per 8-hour per shift. The following table D 25 B
identifies the work elements, times, and immediate E 20 B
predecessors. F 15 B
a) What is the desired cycle time in seconds G 120 A
b) What is the theoretical minimum number of stations H 145 G
I 130 H
c) What are the efficiency and balance delay of the solution
J 115 C, I
found?
Fall Semester Dr Ramzi FAYAD INME 333 – Facility Planning & Design
Department of Industrial Engineering
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