UNIT III

Factors affecting facilities location, mathematical models for

facilities, location, Types of facilities- layout: product layout,
process layout, group technology layout, Assembly line
balancing, computerized layout: ALDEP, CRAFT, CORELAP.

PLANT LOCATION

NEED FOR PLANT LOCATION

1. If an entrepreneur starts new business

2. When al lease expires and the landlord is not willing to extend its leasing
contract
3. When current business unit does not have any scope for that expansion it had
outgrown
4. If a firm think that there is change of decreasing the manufacturing cost by
change one location to other
5. Last and important factor economic or social reasons such as labour supply,
change of market conditions etc. for selecting plant location.

NEED FOR SELECTING A SUITABLE LOCATION

1. In case of new location or when starting new organisation

2. In case of existing organisation

3. In case of global location

1. In case of new location or when starting new organisation

a) Identification of region:

b) Choice of a site within a region

c) Dimensional analysis:

a) Identification of region: The basic objectives with various long term

consideration.
(i) Market
(ii) Technology
(iii)Internal organisation strength and weakness
(iv)Legal environment
(v) Social environment
(vi)Geographical environment

a) Choice of a site within a region:

(i) Once suitable region is identified; the next step is choosing the best site from
an available set.
(ii) Evaluation of alternative sites for their tangible and intangible cost will resolve
facility location problem.
a) Dimensional analysis:
(i) When starting a new factory , plant location decision are very important
because they have direct bering on factors like financial and employment.
(ii) In long run relocation of plant may be benift to organisation.
(iii)But relocation involves stoppage of production and cost of shifting the
facilities to new location.
For that reasons any industies one should think several alternatives ite for
locating theplant. This is also applicaple for warehouses and other facilites.

1. In Case of Location Choice for Existing Organisation

a) Plant manufacturing distinct products
b) Manufacturing plant supplying to specific market area
c) Plant divided on the basis of the process or stages in manufacturing
d) Plants emphasizing flexibility

a) Plant manufacturing distinct products

This strategy is necessary where the need of technological and resource inputs
is specialized or its different for the different product lines.

a) Manufacturing plant supplying to specific market area

(i) Here each plant manufactures almost all of the companys product.
(ii) An extreme example of this strategy is that soft drinking bottling plants.
a) Plant divided on the basis of the process or stages in manufacturing

Each and every production process or stage of manufacturing may require

different equipment capabilities, labour skills, technologies and management
policies.

a) Plants emphasizing flexibility

Expansion of facilities at existing site

Expansion should not compromise quality, delivery or customer service

Relocation of the facilities

Uprooting and Transplanting To remove complete plant and bring radical

changes technology and resources.

1. In Case of Global Location

The process of locating facilities around the world.

Globalization concern with technology such as faxes, e-mails, video

conferencing and overnight delivery market and competition are increasingly
globally.

Deciding to expand an operation globally is not simple decision.

Advantages

The demand for imported goods has grown tremendously and their markets
offer a new arena of completion
For example: Japanese automobile manufacture, have located in USA and
employed American works and also eliminate negative attitude about buying
Japanese cars.
This will reduce currency variation between dollar and yen.
Cheap labour
Reduction of trade barriers.

Disadvantages

Political risks can be large with unstable government

Whether to use local employees. Companies are often attracted to cheap
foreign labour
Different people culture.
Language barrier
Different laws and regulation.

FACTORS
LOCATION

INFLUENCING

PLANT

LOCATION/FACILITY

CONTROLLABLE FACTORS

1. Proximity to markets

(i) Every company is expected to serve its customer by providing goods and
services @ right time and reasonable price Industries may choose to locate
facilities close to the market.
(ii) Help to reduce transport cost
(iii)Helps implementing replacement orders without any delay.
(iv)Improving customer satisfaction.

2. Supply of raw materials

(i) To get raw material in right time, right quality in order to have uninterrupted
production.
(ii) For example, heavy industries such as sugar industry, paper industry, iron and
steel industry.
(iii)Decrease transport cost
(iv)Save the storage cost of material

Transportation facilities

(i) Speedy transport facilities ensure timely supply of raw material to the
company finished goods to the customer
(ii) Five basic mode of transport Air, Road, Rail, water and pipeline
(iii)The selection of transport mode is done by considering cost, convenience and
suitability.

4. Infrastructure availability

(i) Basic infrastructure facilities like power, water and waste disposal.
(ii) Heavy manufacturing industries are power hungry locate close to power
station uninterrupted production iron and steel
(iii)Process industries need lot of water Paper industry and chemical etc
(iv)Chemical, leather, steel and sugar industries facing lot of problem of disposal
of waste effluents proper provision for sufficient land for disposal.

5. Labour and wages

Success of any organisation depends on the timely availability of labour at
reduced wage.
Labour also acts on obstacle in the development of industries due to its factor like
attitude of workers activity.
6. External economies
(i)Urbanization locating large cities rather than small cities
(ii)Location Increased competition due to production cost as a result of lower
transportation and logistics cost.
7. Capital
(i)Fixed capital cost building and construction vary from region to region
(ii)Large building can also be rented and existing plants can be expanded.

UNCONTROLLABLE FACTORS

8. Government policy

The policies of the state governments and local bodies concerning labour laws,
building codes, safety, etc., are the factors that demand attention.

9. Climate conditions

The geology of the area needs to be considered together with climatic

conditions (humidity, temperature).

10. Supporting industries and services

Now a day the manufacturing organisation will not make all the components
and parts by itself and it subcontracts the work to vendors. So, the source of
supply of component parts will be the one of the factors that influences the
location.

11. Community and labour attitudes

Community attitude towards their work and towards the prospective industries
can make or mar the industry. Community attitudes towards supporting trade
union activities are important criteria.

12. Community Infrastructure

All manufacturing activities require access to a community infrastructure, most

notably economic overhead capital, such as roads, railways, port facilities,
power lines and service facilities and social overhead capital like schools,
universities and hospitals.

LOCATION MODELS

1. Factor rating method

2. Load-distance method

3. Centre of gravity method

4. Break even analysis

Factor Rating Method

The process of selecting a new facility location involves a series of following

steps:
1. Identify the important location factors.
2. Rate each factor according to its relative importance, i.e., higher the ratings is
indicative of prominent factor.
3. Assign each location according to the merits of the location for each factor.
4. Calculate the rating for each location by multiplying factor assigned to each
location with basic factors considered.
5. Find the sum of product calculated for each factor and select best location
having highest total score.

ILLUSTRATION 1: Let us assume that a new medical facility, Health-care,

is to be located in Delhi. The location factors, factor rating and scores for two
potential sites are shown in the following table. Which is the best location
based on factor rating method?

Problem for practice

The LoadDistance Model: The loaddistance model is a procedure for

evaluating location alternatives based on distance. The distance to be
measured could be proximity to markets, proximity to suppliers or other
resources, or proximity to any other facility that is considered important.

The objective of the model is to select a location that minimizes the total
amount of loads moved weighted by the distance traveled.

What is a load? A load represents the goods moved in or out of a facility or the
number of movements between facilities.

For example, if 200 boxes of tomato are shipped between the local warehouse
and a grocery store, that is the load between the warehouse and grocery store.
The idea is to reduce the amount of distance between facilities that have a high
load between them.

DISTANCE MEASURES

Suppose that a new warehouse is to be located to serve Delhi. It will receive

inbound shipments from several suppliers, including one in Ghaziabad. If the
new warehouse were located at Gurgaon, what would be the distance between
the two facilities? If shipments travel by truck, the distance depends on the
highway system and the specific route taken. Computer software is available
for calculating the actual mileage between any two locations in the same
county.

However, for load-distance method, a rough calculation that is either

Euclidean or rectilinear distance measure may be used. Euclidean distance
is the straight-line distance, or shortest possible path, between two points.

ILLUSTRATION 2: The new Health-care facility is targeted to serve seven census

tracts in Delhi. The table given below shows the coordinates for the centre of each
census tract, along with the projected populations, measured in thousands. Customers
will travel from the seven census tract centres to the new facility when they need healthcare. Two locations being considered for the new facility are at (5.5, 4.5) and (7, 2),
which are the centres of census tracts C and F. Details of seven census tract centres, coordinate distances along with the population for each centre are given below. If we use
the population as the loads and use rectilinear distance, which location is better in
terms of its total load distance score?

Centre of Gravity

Centre of gravity is based primarily on cost considerations. This method can be used to
assist managers in balancing cost and service objectives. The centre of gravity method
takes into account the locations of plants and markets, the volume of goods moved, and
transportation costs in arriving at the best location for a single intermediate warehouse.

The centre of gravity is defined to be the location that minimizes the weighted distance
between the warehouse and its supply and distribution points, where the distance is
weighted by the number of tones supplied or consumed. The first step in this procedure
is to place the locations on a coordinate system. The origin of the coordinate system
and scale used are arbitrary, just as long as the relative distances are correctly
represented. This can be easily done by placing a grid over an ordinary map. The centre
of gravity is determined by the formula.

ILLUSTRATION 3: The new Health-care facility is targeted to serve seven census

tracts in Delhi. The table given below shows the coordinates for the centre of each
census tract, along with the projected populations, measured in thousands. Customers
will travel from the seven census tract centres to the new facility when they need
healthcare. Two locations being considered for the new facility are at (5.5, 4.5) and (7,
2), which are the centres of census tracts C and F. Details of seven census tract centres,
coordinate distances along with the population for each centre are given below. Find
the target areas centre of gravity for the Health-care medical facility.

SOLUTION: To calculate the centre of gravity, start with the following

information, where population is given in thousands.

Problem : Load- distance

Joes Sports Supplies Corporation is considering where to locate its warehouse in
order to service its four stores in four towns: A, B, C, and D. Two possible sites
for the warehouse are being considered, one in Jasper and the other in Longboat.
The following table shows the distances between the two locations being
considered and the four store locations. Also shown are the loads between the
warehouse and the four stores. Use the load distance model to determine whether
the warehouse should be located in Jasper or in Longboat.

Given here are the coordinates for each of the four towns to be serviced by the
warehouse in Problem 15. Use the information from Problem 15 and the center
of gravity method to determine coordinates for the warehouse.

Break-Even Analysis:Break-even analysis is a technique used to compute the

amount of goods that must be sold just to cover costs. The break-even point is
precisely the quantity of goods a company needs to sell to break even.
Whatever is sold above that point will bring a prot. Below that point the
company will incur a loss.

PLANT LAYOUT

Deciding on the best physical arrangement of all various that consume space
within a facility

This mean deciding where to put optimum arrangement of facilities, machines,

equipment, store room and staff in the operation.

The way in which transformed resources material information and

customers.

Good layout or Principle of layout

Inherent safety

Length of flow

Clarity of flow

Staff conditions

Management co-ordination

Use of space

Accessibility

Long-term flexibility

Inherent safety
should clear marked

Length of flow
operation minimized distance travelled by
transformed resources. Material moving always forward and should not be any
backtracking

Clarity of flow
marked gangway

Staff conditions
staff room away from noisy or unpleasant part of
operation- well ventilated , well lit

Management coordination supervision & communication should be

assisted by location of staff

Use of space

Accessibility
All machine plant equipment accessible to degree for
proper cleaning and maintenance

Long term flexibilityIf Demand is likely to increase for a product or service

has the layout been designed to accommodate any future expansion

Danger to either staff or customer Fire exist

manufacturing operation usually have cleared

Use both horizontal and vertical space

Objectives of Plant Layout

The primary goal of the plant layout is to maximise the profit by arrangement
of all the plant facilities to the best advantage of total manufacturing of the
product.

The objectives of plant layout are:

1. Streamline the flow of materials through the plant.
2. Facilitate the manufacturing process.
3. Maintain high turnover of in-process inventory.
4. Minimise materials handling and cost.
5. Effective utilisation of men, equipment and space.
6. Make effective utilisation of cubic space.
7. Flexibility of manufacturing operations and arrangements.
8. Provide for employee convenience, safety and comfort.
9. Minimize investment in equipment.
10. Minimize overall production time.
11. Maintain flexibility of arrangement and operation.
12. Facilitate the organizational structure.

 1.Case study: Good layout impacts supermarket profit

In supermarket locating product, counters and checkouts in a supermarket in both an art
and science based on customer behaviour
Max revenue and minimum contribution per sq meter in such a way products should be
arranged in order to customer comfort and convenience is important
The first thing is to get the circulation right. Most people, when they enter a closed
space, will look left but move right, so to get customers attention supermarkets often
put their entrance on the left-hand side of a building with a layout designed to take
customers in a clockwise direction around the store.
Aisles must be wide enough to avoid slowing trolleys so that customers pay more
attention.
Although the majority of supermarket sales are packaged, tinned or frozen goods, the
displays of fruit and vegetables are usually located adjacent to the main entrance, as a
signal of freshness and wholesomeness at the point of entry.
Basic products such as flour, sugar and bread are often located at the back of the
store and apart from each other so that customers have to pass higher margin items as
they search.
High-margin items are usually put at eye level on shelves (where we are more
likely to see them) and low-margin products lower down or higher up

2.Case study: Shoop floor tool room

Keeping tools at individual work stations

CLASSIFICATION OF LAYOUT

Layouts can be classified into the following five categories:

1. Process layout (or) Functional layout
2. Product layout (or) line layout
3. Combination layout (or) Hybrid (or) Mixed layout
4. Fixed position layout
5. Group layout (or) Cellular layout

Process Layout (or) Functional Layout

Layout that grouped resource based on similar process or functions or similar

arrangement of machines

Layout seen in companies with intermittent processing system

Large variety of item with low volume.
The product is moved from one location to another location based on unique
needs
Arrange resources to maximise the efficiency and minimize the waste of
movement.
Different product or customer will have different needs therefore take different
route and flow patterns in the operation very complex

FUNCTIONAL LAYOUTS ARE INEFFICIENT

L
L

Drilling

Milling

Lathe

L
L

M
M

M
M

Grinding

L
L

M
Assembly

Receiving and
Shipping

PROCESS-TYPE LAYOUT

Example
A hospital is an example of process layout. Departments are grouped based on
their function, such as cardiology, radiology, laboratory, oncology, and
pediatrics. The patient, the product in this case, is moved between departments
based on his or her individual needs.
A university is another example. Colleges and departments are grouped based
on their function. You, the student, move between departments based on the
unique program you have chosen.
Another example is a metalworking shop, where resources such as drills,
welding, grinding, and painting are each grouped based on the function they
perform.
Other examples include a printing facility that prints books, magazines, and
newspapers, or a bakery that makes many different baked goods.

Advantages
1. In process layout machines are better utilized and fewer machines are
required.
2. Flexibility of equipment and personnel is possible in process layout.
3. Lower investment on account of comparatively less number of
machines and lower cost of general purpose machines.
4. Higher utilisation of production facilities.
5. A high degree of flexibility with regards to work distribution to
machineries and workers.
6. The diversity of tasks and variety of job makes the job challenging and
interesting.
7. Supervisors will become highly knowledgeable about the functions
under their department.

Limitations
1. Backtracking and long movements may occur in the handling of
materials thus, reducing material handling efficiency.
2. Material handling cannot be mechanised which adds to cost.
3. Process time is prolonged which reduce the inventory turnover and
increases the in process inventory.
4. Lowered productivity due to number of set-ups.
5. Throughput (time gap between in and out in the process) time is longer.
6. Space and capital are tied up by work-in-process.
Case study: Process layout

Product Layout (or) Line Layout

The arrangement of various resources facilities such as machine, equipment,

work force in a straight -line fashion to promote efficient production

If volume of production of one or more product is large this facility can be

arranged to achieve efficient flow of material and lower cost per unit

PRODUCT LAYOUT
Part #1

G
A

Receiving

Part #2
Part #3

Shipping

Case study: Product layout

Advantages
1. The flow of product will be smooth and logical in flow lines.
2. In-process inventory is less.
3. Throughput time is less.
4. Minimum material handling cost.
5. Simplified production, planning and control systems are possible.
6. Less space is occupied by work transit and for temporary storage.
7. Reduced material handling cost due to mechanised handling systems and
straight flow.
8. Perfect line balancing which eliminates bottlenecks and idle capacity.
9. Manufacturing cycle is short due to uninterrupted flow of materials.
10. Small amount of work-in-process inventory.
11. Unskilled workers can learn and manage the production.

Limitations
1. A breakdown of one machine in a product line may cause stoppages of
machines in the downstream of the line.
2. A change in product design may require major alterations in the layout.
3. The line output is decided by the bottleneck machine.
4. Comparatively high investment in equipments is required.
5. Lack of flexibility. A change in product may require the facility modification.

Combination Layout (or) Hybrid layout

Layout that combine characteristics of process and product layout

Certain operation intermittent and certain process is continuous

Example
Winnebago, which makes mobile campers, manufactures the vehicle itself as
well as the curtains and bedspreads that go into the camper. The vehicles are
produced on a typical assembly line, whereas the curtains and bedspreads are
made in a fabrication shop that uses a process layout.
Hybrid layouts are very common. Often, some elements of the operation call
for the production of standardized parts, which can be produced more
efciently in a product layout, whereas other parts need to be made
individually in a process layout.

Fixed Position Layout

This is also called the project type of layout. In this type of layout, the
material, or major components remain in a fixed location and tools, machinery,
men and other materials are brought to this location. This type of layout is
suitable when one or a few pieces of identical heavy products are to be
manufactured and when the assembly consists of large number of heavy parts,
the cost of transportation of these parts is very high.

Advantages
The major advantages of this type of layout are:
1. Helps in job enlargement and upgrades the skills of the operators.
2. The workers identify themselves with a product in which they take interest
and pride in doing the job.
3. Greater flexibility with this type of layout.
4. Layout capital investment is lower.

GROUP TECHNOLOGY and

CELLULAR MANUFACTURING
SYSTEMS
Batch manufacturing is a dominant manufacturing activity in
the world.
Difficulties in batch manufacturing due to high level of product
variety and small manufacturing lot sizes:
Problem of designing many different parts
High investment in equipment
High tooling costs
Complex scheduling and loading
Lengthy setup time and costs
Excessive scrap
High quality-control costs
61

Group technology (GT) is a manufacturing philosophy in which

similar parts are identified and grouped together to take
advantage of their similarities in manufacturing and design.
Group technology provides an integration of the design and
manufacturing activities.
Group technology helps to improve the productivity in batch
manufacturing industries.
Group technology allows small batch production to gain economic
advantages similar to those of mass production by retaining the
flexibility of the job shop.
Group technology implies the notion of recognizing and exploiting
similarities in three different ways:
1. By performing like activities together
2. By standardizing similar tasks
3. By efficiently storing and retrieving information about recurring
problems.
62

63

 Similar parts are arranged into part families.

Each family would have similar design and manufacturing
characteristics.
Similarities of processing of each member in a family will result
in manufacturing efficiencies.
Production equipment are arranged into machine groups or
cells.
Parts classification and coding includes identifying the
similarities among parts and relating these similarities to a
coding system.
Part similarities:
Design attributes - geometric shape and size
Manufacturing attributes - sequence of processing steps

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Part Families-I
A part family is a collection of parts which are similar either
because of geometric shape and size or because of similar
processing steps required in their manufacture.
By grouping workparts into families, we may use group
technology layout instead of process-type layout.
In process-type layout, workpiece moves between sections,
sometimes visits a section several times. This causes:
significant amount of material handling
large in-process inventory
more setups
long manufacturing lead times
high cost
65

Part Families-II
In GT layout, we have a production shop with the machines
arranged into cells.
Each cell is organized to specialize in the manufacture of a
particular part family.
Cells can be designed to form production flow lines with
conveyors transporting workparts between machines in the
cell.
Advantages of GT layout are:
reduced workpiece handling
lower setup times
less in-process inventory
shorter lead times
66

GT Implementation
Different GT approaches have been developed to decompose a
large manufacturing system into smaller, manageable systems
based on similarities of design attributes and part features.
There are three main approaches for grouping parts into families
and implementing group technology in a plant:
1. Visual Inspection Method
2. Classification and Coding by Examination
of Design and Production Data
3. Production Flow Analysis

67

1. Visual Inspection Method

Involves arranging a set of parts into part families by
visually inspecting the physical characteristics of the parts
or their photographs.
Least sophisticated and least expensive method.
Although this method is the least accurate one among the
three, the first major success stories of GT in the US made
the changeover using this method.

2. Parts Classification and Coding-I

The most time consuming and complicated of the three
methods.
A classification and coding system should be custom
engineered for a given company or industry.
68

2. Parts Classification and Coding-II

Types of classification and coding systems:
A GT code is a string of characters capturing information about
an item.
There are a large number of coding schemes which differ:
In terms of the symbols they employ such as numeric, alphabetic, or
alphanumeric.
In the assignment of these symbols to generate codes.

Parts classification systems fall into one of three categories:

1. Systems based on part design attributes
2. Systems based on part manufacturing attributes
3. Systems based on both design and manufacturing attributes

There is a certain amount of overlap between the design and

manufacturing attributes of a part.
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2. Parts Classification and Coding-III

Part design attributes
Basic external shape
Basic internal shape
Length/diameter ratio
Material type
Part function
Major dimensions
Minor dimensions
Tolerances
Surface finish

Part manufacturing attributes

Major process
Minor operations
Major dimension
Length/diameter ratio
Surface finish
Machine tool
Operation sequence
Production time
Batch size
Annual production
Fixtures needed
Cutting tools
70

2. Parts Classification and Coding-IV

There are distinct types of codes:
1. Monocode or hierarchical code: In this code structure, the
interpretation of each succeeding symbol depends on the
value of the preceding symbols.
2. Polycode or chain code: Code symbols are independent of
each other. Each digit in a specific location of the code
describes a unique property of the workpiece.
3. Mixed code: Has the advantages of both mono- and
polycodes. Most coding systems use this code structure.
Ex: Opitz classification system.
71

The Opitz Classification System-I

Was developed at the Tech. Univ. of Aachen in Germany.
Best known and widely used classification system.
Can be applied to machined parts, non-machined parts, and
purchased parts.
Considers both design and manufacturing information.
The following digit sequence is used:
12345
6789
ABCD
Form code

Supplementary
code

Secondary
code

Form code: Includes the first five digits. Describes the primary design
attributes of the part.
Supplementary code: Indicates some of the attributes that would be
of use to manufacturing (dimensions, work material, starting raw
piece shape, and accuracy.
72

73

Samsung Mobiles

https://www.flipkart.com/mobiles/samsung~brand/pr?
sid=tyy,4io&otracker=nmenu_sub_Electronics_0_Samsung
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The Opitz Classification System-II

Secondary code: Identifies the production operation type and
sequence. Can be designed by the firm to serve its own
particular needs.
The complete coding system is too complex.
There is an entire book on this system written by Opitz.

3. Production Flow Analysis

A method for both identifying part families and associated
groupings of machine tools.
Will be told in cell formation approaches

75

Advantages of Group Technology Layout

Group Technology layout can increase
1. Component standardization and rationalization.
2. Reliability of estimates.
3. Effective machine operation and productivity.
4. Customer service.
It can decrease the
1. Paper work and overall production time.
2. Work-in-progress and work movement.
3. Overall cost.
Limitations of Group Technology Layout
This type of layout may not be feasible for all situations. If the product mix is
completely dissimilar, then we may not have meaningful cell formation.

DESIGN OF PRODUCT LAYOUT

In product layout, equipment or departments are dedicated to a particular

product line, duplicate equipment is employed to avoid backtracking, and a
straight-line flow of material movement is achievable.

Adopting a product layout makes sense when the batch size of a given product
or part is large relative to the number of different products or parts produced.

Assembly lines are a special case of product layout. In a general sense,

the term assembly line refers to progressive assembly linked by some materialhandling device.
The usual assumption is that some form of pacing is present and the
allowable processing time is equivalent for all workstations. Within this broad
definition, there are important differences among line types.
A few of these are material handling devices (belt or roller conveyor,
overhead crane); line configuration (U-shape, straight, branching); pacing
(mechanical, human); product mix (one product or multiple products);
workstation characteristics (workers may sit, stand, walk with the line, or ride
the line); and length of the line (few or many workers).
The range of products partially or completely assembled on lines includes
toys, appliances, autos, clothing and a wide variety of electronic components.
In fact, virtually any product that has multiple parts and is produced in large
volume uses assembly lines to some degree.

A more-challenging problem is the determination of the optimum

configuration of operators and buffers in a production flow process. A major
design consideration in production lines is the assignment of operation so that
all stages are more or less equally loaded. Consider the case of traditional
assembly lines illustrated in Fig. 2.10.
In this example, parts move along a conveyor at a rate of one part per
minute to three groups of workstations. The first operation requires 3 minutes
per unit; the second operation requires 1 minute per unit; and the third requires
2 minutes per unit. The first workstation consists of three operators; the
second, one operator; and the third, two operators. An operator removes a part
from the conveyor and performs some assembly task at his or her workstation.

The completed part is returned to the conveyor and transported to the

next operation. The number of operators at each workstation was chosen so
that the line is balanced. Since three operators work simultaneously at the first
workstation, on the average one part will be completed each minute. This is
also true for other two stations. Since the parts arrive at a rate of one per
minute, parts are also completed at this rate.
Assembly-line systems work well when there is a low variance in the
times required to perform the individual subassemblies. If the tasks are
somewhat complex, thus resulting in a higher assembly-time variance,
operators down the line may not be able to keep up with the flow of parts from
the preceding workstation or may experience excessive idle time.
An alternative to a conveyor-paced assembly-line is a sequence of
workstations linked by gravity conveyors, which act as buffers between
successive operations.

LINE BALANCING
Assembly-line balancing often has implications for layout. This would
occur when, for balance purposes, workstation size or the number used would
have to be physically modified.
The most common assembly-line is a moving conveyor that passes a
series of workstations in a uniform time interval called the workstation cycle
time (which is also the time between successive units coming off the end of
the line).
At each workstation, work is performed on a product either by adding
parts or by completing assembly operations. The work performed at each
station is made up of many bits of work, termed tasks, elements, and work
units. Such tasks are described by motion-time analysis.
Generally, they are grouping that cannot be subdivided on the assemblyline without paying a penalty in extra motions.

The total work to be performed at a workstation is equal to the sum of the

tasks assigned to that workstation.

The line-balancing problem is one of assigning all tasks to a series of

workstations so that each workstation has no more than can be done in the
workstation cycle time, and so that the unassigned (idle) time across all
workstations is minimized.

The problem is complicated by the relationships among tasks imposed by

product design and process technologies.

This is called the precedence relationship, which specifies the order in

which tasks must be performed in the assembly process.

The firm determines that there are 480 productive minutes of work available per day.
Furthermore, the production schedule requires that 40 units be completed as output
from the assembly line each day.

ILLUSTRATION 7: The MS 800 car is to be assembled on a conveyor

belt. Five hundred cars are required per day. Production time per day is 420
minutes, and the assembly steps and times for the wagon are given below. Find
the balance that minimizes the number of workstations, subject to cycle time
and precedence constraints.

Notice that the total task time to produce 1 pizza is 165 seconds.
Vicki said that she wanted to produce 60 pizzas per hour as her desired output.