ASSEMBLY LINE

BALANCING
KOUSHIK S V-11P624
MANIVANNAN V -11P629
SIBI VISHVAK-11P643
VIGNESH D-11P648

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

The assignment of tasks to work stations

along an assembly line in such a way as to
achieve the same or close to same working
times at each work station.

The goal is to create a smooth,continuous

flow of products through the assembly line for
maximum productivity and minimum idle time
at each work station.

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

Assigning each task to a workstation within
an assembly line in order to meet the required
production rate and to achieve a minimum
amount of idle time.
Line balancing is the procedure in which tasks
along the assembly line are assigned to work
station so each has approximately same
amount of work.
In production line,workstations and work
centers are arranged in a sequence of task to
be done along a straight or curved line.

CAFETERIA LINE
Station 1
Trays, Plates, Utensils
Station 2
Appetizers
Station 3
Entrees
Station 4
Desserts
Station 5
Cashier

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

GOALS
Number

of workstations needed.
Type of task to be assigned to each
workstation.
To know the minimum number of
workers,tools and machines that can be
used to provide the required amount of
capacity.

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

OBJECTIVES
Assigning

a task to each workstation in

such a way that there is only a little idle
time.
Increased efficiency.
Increased productivity
Low cost manufacturing.
Potential increase in costs.

TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO
PRODUCTION LINE ANALYSIS
TASKS:All the elements of the work.
TASK PRECEDENCE:The sequence in which
tasks are performed.
TASK TIMES: Time required by a well-trained
worker or unattended machine to perform a
task.This is usually expressed inn minutes.
CYCLE TIME: The time expressed in minutes
between two simultaneous products coming off
the end of a production line.

CONTINUED
PRODUCTIVE TIME PER HOUR: The average
number of minutes a workstation in an hour.
WORKSTATION:A physical area where a worker
performs a particular set of task in a production
line.
WORKCENTRE: A small group of identical
workstations,where each workstation performs
the same set of task.
NUMBER OF WORKSTATIONS WORKING:The
amount of workdone at a work centre expressed
in number of work stations.

CONTINUED
MINIMUM NUMBER OF WORKSTATIONS:The
least number of workstations that provides the
required production.
ACTUAL NUMBER OF WORKSTATIONS:This is
the total number of workstations required on the
entire production line.It is calculated as the next
higher integer of the number of workstation
working.
UTILISATION:The percentage of time a
production line is working.

LINE BALANCING PROCEDURE

1.

Determination of tasks that must be performed

to complete one unit of a product.

2.

Determining the order or sequence of

performing the whole set of tasks.
Drawing precedence diagram. In this flowchart
circles represents task and joining arrows
represents precedence.
Estimation of task time.
Calculation of cycle time.
Determination of minimum number of
workstation required.
Use of heuristics to assign a task.

3.

4.
5.
6.

7.

COMPUTERISED LINE BALANCING

Line balancing by hand becomes unwieldy as the

problems grow in size.

There are software packages that will balance

large lines quickly. IBM's COMSOAL (Computer
Method for Sequencing Operations for Assembly
Lines) and GE's ASYBL (Assembly Line
Configuration Program) can assign hundreds of
work elements to workstations on an assembly
line.

CONTINUED

They use various heuristics, to balance the line at

an acceptable level of efficiency.

The POM for Windows software lets the user

select from five different heuristics: ranked
positional weight, longest operation time, shortest
operation time, most number of following tasks,
and least number of following tasks. These
heuristics specify the order in which work
elements are considered for allocation to
workstations.

UNBALANCED LINE

Zzz

Zzz

!?

10 sec
40 sec

15 sec

15 sec

Overproduction!

High work load in some stages (Overburden)

Maximizes wastes (over-processing, inventory, waiting, rework,
transportation, motion)
High variation
Restrict one piece flow
Maximizes Idle time
Poor efficiency

BALANCED LINE

25 sec

25 sec

20 sec

15 sec

Promotes one piece flow

Avoids excessive work load in some stages (overburden)
Minimizes wastes (over-processing, inventory, waiting, rework)
Reduces variation
Increased Efficiency
Minimizes Idle time

INDIVIDUAL TASK TIMES

These are set well in advance by industrial

engineers and time & motion specialists.

They are called standard task times and consist

of normal time to perform a particular task and
extra time allowances for fatigue, personal needs,
and unavoidable, but recurring delays.

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

CONCEPTS

Station
1

Station
2

Station
3

TO
WAREHOUSE

The Assembly Line

If the cycle time were 10 minutes,each station would hand its WIP to the next at the end of
10 minutes.

PERFECTLY BALANCED
ASSEMBLY LINE

NOT PERFECTLY BALANCED

ASSEMBLY LINE

PROBLEM STATEMENT
A firm wants to
produce 160 units for
each
8-hour
day
production
on
an
assembly line.
Nine separate tasks
are
needed
to
complete the product.
Assume
no break
time.

Develop the assembly line!!

TASK

PREDECESSOR

STANDARD

TIME
A

none

60

80

none

30

40

B,D

40

none

50

100

D,G

70

E,H

30
= 500
seconds

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A network showing the sequential relationships

among all tasks to be performed on the assembly
line, together with their respective standard times.

An optional, useful tool for avoiding precedence

relationship violations when assigning tasks to
work stations, without benefit of the computer.

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

THE CYCLE TIME FORMULA

Total Available Daily Production Time
Daily Production Quota
28,800 Seconds
160 Units
( FROM THE PROBLEM )

= 180 Seconds

MINIMUM NUMBER OF WORK

STATIONS
Total Task Time Per Unit of Product
The Cycle Time
500 Seconds
180 Seconds

= 2.77 3.00

FRACTIONS ARE ALWAYS ROUNDED UP

( i.e. 2.01 becomes 3.00 )

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

LINE BALANCING HEURISTICS

There are two types of heuristics used for line
balancing:
Incremental utilisation heuristic
Longest task time heuristic

INCREMENTAL UTILISATION
HEURISTIC

Tasks are added to each workstation in order of

task precedence one at a time until utilization is
100 percent or is observed to fall.

Used when one or more task time is equal to or

greater than the cycle time.

LONGEST TASK TIME HEURISTIC

Add tasks to a workstation one at a time in the
order of task precedence.
If a choice must be made between two or more
tasks, the one with the longest task time is added.
This has the effect of assigning as quickly as
possible the tasks that are the most difficult to fit
into a station.
Tasks with shorter times are then saved for finetuning the solution.

CONDITIONS
It can be used only when each and every task
time is less than or equal to the cycle time.
There can be no duplicate work stations.

1.
2.

.If

each and every task time is less than or equal

to the cycle time, and if the primary focus of the
analysis of production lines is minimizing the
number of workstations and the amount of tools
and equipment required, then this heuristic would
be appropriate.

STEPS IN LONGEST TASK TIME

HEURISTIC
1.
2.

3.

4.

Lei i = I. where i is the number of the workstation being formed.

Make a list of all the tasks that are to be assigned to a workstation.
Have to satisfy the following conditions
a. It cannot have been previously assigned to this or any
previous workstation.
b. Its immediate predecessors must have been assigned to this
or a previous workstation.
c. The sum of its task time and all other times of tasks are
already assigned to work station must be less than or equal to the
cycle time . If no such tasks are found. Go to step 4.
Assign the from the list with the longest task time to the
workstation. Go back to the step 2.
Close the assignment of tasks to Workstation i. This can occur in
two ways. If there are no tasks on the list for the work station but
there are still tasks to be assigned, set i=i+1 and go back to step 2.
If there are no more tasks, the procedure is completed.

PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM LEGEND

CANDIDATES FOR THE NEXT
TASK ASSIGNMENT
( SHOWN IN RED )

NON-CANDIDATE
AN ASSIGNED TASK
TASKS
( SHOWN WITH X)
( SHOWN IN BLUE )

X
X
X
D
D
D

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A

60

80

1st TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 1

30

40

40

50

100

70

30

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A
( 60 sec )

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A

60

80

30

40

40

50

100

70

30

2nd TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 1

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A
( 60 sec )
TASK B
( 80 sec )

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

30

40

40

50

100

70

30

A
60

B
80

3rd TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 1

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

30

40

40

50

100

70

30

A
60

B
80

1st TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 2

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

TASK F
( 50 sec )

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

30

40

40

50

100

70

30

A
60

B
80

2nd TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 2

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle
Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A ( 60 sec ) TASK F ( 50 sec)

TASK B ( 80 sec ) TASK G (100 sec)
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

30
seconds

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

30

40

40

A
60

50

B
80

1st TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 3

100

70

30

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle Time

Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

180

180

180

540

seconds

seconds

seconds

secon
ds

Station
1

Station
2

Station
3

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

TASK F (50 sec)

TASK G (100 sec)

10
seconds

30
seconds

TASK D
( 40 sec )

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A
60

C
30

50

B
80

2nd TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 3

40

40

100

70

30

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle Time

180

180

180

seconds seconds seconds seconds

Station Station Station

1
2
3
Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

540

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

TASK F (50 sec) TASK D (40 sec)

TASK G (100 sec) TASK H (70 sec)

30
seconds

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A
60

C
30

50

B
80

3rd TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 3

40

40

100

70

30

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle Time

Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

180

180

seconds

seconds

seconds secon
ds

Station
1

Station
2

Station
3

TASK F (50 sec)

TASK G (100 sec)

TASK D (40 sec)

TASK H (70 sec)
TASK E (40 sec)

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

30
seconds

180

540

THE PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM

A
60

C
30

50

B
80

D
40

100

4th TASK ASSIGNMENT

CANDIDATES FOR
STATION 3

40

70

30

THE LINE BALANCING

SPREADSHEET
Cycle Time

Productive
Time
Per Cycle
Idle
Time
Per Cycle

180

180

180

540

seconds

seconds

seconds

seconds

Station
1

Station
2

Station
3

TOTAL

TASK A ( 60 sec )
TASK B ( 80 sec )
TASK C ( 30 sec )

10
seconds

TASK D (40 sec)

TASK F (50 sec)
TASK H (70 sec)
TASK G (100 sec) TASK E (40 sec)
TASK I (30 sec)

30
seconds

0
seconds

500
seconds
40
seconds

EVALUATING THE BALANCED

LINE
Efficiency =

total productive time on the assembly

line per cycle
total available time on the assembly
line per cycle
500 seconds
540 seconds

EFFICIENCY => 90%

IS CONSIDERED ACCEPTABLE

= 92.6%

EVALUATING THE BALANCED

LINE
Balance Delay Factor
( % IDLE TIME )

line idle time per cycle

line total time per cycle
40 seconds
540 seconds

A BALANCE DELAY FACTOR

=< 10% IS CONSIDERED TO
BE ACCEPTABLE

= 7.4%

CONCLUSION
Effectiveness is achieved when the assembly line
meets the daily production quota.
As the efficiency is more than 90% the assembly
line is expected to meet the daily production
quota.

ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

APPLICATIONS

CARWASH LINE

CAFETERIA LINE

APPLIANCE MANUFACTURING LINE

AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURING LINE

FABRICATION LINE

DISSASSEMBLY LINE