A B

E H

C

D

F G I10 Min.10 Min.

55

1111

1212

33 77 33

44

1111

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

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

Example of Line Balancing: Step 2: Determine Cycle Time

Required Cycle Time, C = Production time per period

Required output per period

mins/unit 20=units/hour 3

mins/hour 60 =C

Question: Suppose we only have demand for 3 units per hour. What would our cycle time have to be?

Answer:

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

N = Sum of task times (T)

Cycle time (C)

t

t

4or 3.3, =mins/unit 20

mins/unit 66 =N t

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

C

D

F

E

G

H

I

Task Task Time (minutes)

Followers

A 10 8

B 11 5

C 5 3

D 4 3

E 12 2

F 3 2

G 7 1

H 11 1

I 3 0

Workstation Time Left  Eligible Will Fit Assign Idle Time

I 2010

AB,E

A-

A-

10

II 208

B,EB,H

B,E-

E-

8

III 2094

B,HC,D,HD,H

B,HC,DD

BCD

-

IV 2096

F,HFG

F,HF-

HF-

6

V 2013

GI

GI

GI

10