Example

Balance for 3 units/hour and compute theoretical min number of stations

(primary: longest task time; secondary: most followers)

5
C
10 Min. 11 3 7 3
A B F G I
4
D
12 11
E H
 Example of Line Balancing:
Step 2: Determine Cycle Time
Question: Suppose we only have demand for
3 units per hour. What would our cycle time
have to be?

Answer:
Production time per period
Required Cycle Time, C =
Required output per period
60 mins/hour
C= = 20 mins/unit
3 units/hour

Therefore, the maximum task time allowed in a single station is 20 minutes

 Example of Line Balancing:
Step 3: Determine Theoretical
Minimum Number of Workstations
Question: What is the theoretical minimum
number of workstations for this problem?
Answer: Theoretical Min. Number of Workstations, N t

Sum of task times (T)

Nt =
Cycle time (C)
66 mins/unit
Nt = = 3.3, or 4
20 mins/unit
 Example of Line Balancing:
Step 4: Rules To Follow for
Loading Workstations
• A number of simple rules have been proposed
for assigning tasks to work stations.
– Assign Tasks With The Most Following Tasks First
– Assign Tasks With the Longest Task Time First
• For this example, we’ll use
– Primary: Assign tasks in order of the longest
operating time
– Secondary (tie-breaking): Assign tasks in order of
the largest number of following tasks.
Example of Line Balancing:
Step 5: Make assignments

A B F G I

E H Workstation Time Left Eligible Will Fit Assign Idle Time

Task Task Time Followers I 20 A A A 10

(minutes) 10 B,E - -

A 10 8 II 20 B,E B,E E 8
8 B,H - -
B 11 5
III 20 B,H B,H B -
C 5 3 9 C,D,H C,D C
4 D,H D D
D 4 3
IV 20 F,H F,H H 6
E 12 2 9 F F F
6 G - -
F 3 2
V 20 G G G 10
G 7 1 13 I I I
H 11 1
I 3 0