Line balancing advance

P.VIDYUT CHANDRA

Line balancing means balancing production line or an assembly line.

So that there is an even flow of production units from one work station to the next

This problem is particularly important in plant layouts ..

The finished product is the result of many sequential operations.

The production capacity of each machine /workstation in sequence is not identical .

To distribute the task evenly over workstations , so that idle time of man and machines is minimized.

Machines operations are difficult to split in to small work elements for re grouping.

Some operations are inter-related with each other –and have fixed sequence

Example tapping after drilling Machine tools employed cannot be used

for variety of jobs ..without expensive changes in setup and tools ..

There is no methods which guarantee the optimal solution for a line balancing problem.

1.Kilbridge –weister heuristic( Predecessor number technique)

2.Large candidate rule 3.Heilgeson –Brine (Ranke proportional

methods)

By sub contracting By diverting extra parts to another

machine not in line. Having more than one machine at slow

work station. Or changing the speed of machine .

Motivating and improving performance of worker or assigning job to efficient worker.

Providing a buffer stock of semi finished parts

Work element is a part of total job content.

Work station is combination of few work elements are performed on part/component.

Station time is the time required to perform the designated amount of work at a given station.

Total work content is algebraic sum of all the work elements on the line.

Cycle Time is time required to complete one job

Delay or idle time of ith station = cycle time – (work content of ith station / cycle time) - station time.

Or it is difference between the cycle time and station time

Balance delay is the measure of line efficiency.