Line of Balance

The Line Of Balance (LOB) process is employed when a repetitive process exists within the contract's work scope. The manufacturing of parts and the assem ly of units in the factory are two candidates for the use of LOB. Exhibit 1 Line Of Balance (LOB) is a management control process for collecting! measuring and presenting facts relating to time! cost and accomplishment " all measured against a specific plan. #t shows the process! status! ackground! timing and phasing of the pro$ect activities! thus providing management with measuring tools that help% &. 'omparing actual progress with a formal o $ective plan. (. )xamining only the deviations from esta lished plans! and gauging their degree of severity with respect to the remainder of the pro$ect. *. +eceiving timely information concerning trou le areas and indicating areas where appropriate corrective action is re,uired. -. .orecasting future performance. The /Line of Balance/ itself is a graphic device that ena les a manager to see at a single glance which of many activities comprising a complex operation are /in alance/ " i.e.! whether those which should have een completed at the time of the review actually are completed and whether any activities scheduled for future completion are lagging ehind schedule. The Line of Balance chart comprises only one feature of the whole philosophy which includes numerous danger signal controls for all the various levels of management concerned. History% LOB was devised y the mem ers of a group headed y 0eorge ). .ouch. 1uring &2-&! the 0oodyear Tire 3 +u er 'ompany monitored production with LOB. #t was successfully applied to the production planning and scheduling of the huge 4avy mo ili5ation program of 6orld 6ar ll. LOB proved to e a valua le tool for expediting production visi ility during the 7orean hostilities. 1uring this period! defense suppliers used LOB. LOB application has een further expanded! making it suita le now across a whole spectrum of activities ranging from research and development through $o shop and process flow operations. 8pecific forms and reports will e found to differ in detail! ut the asic pattern and sym ology are ,uite uniform throughout industry. Standard Symbols: 9ll LOB chart use standard sym ols! as shown in the lower right hand corner of )xhi it &. They identify the /sensors/ (milestones)! i.e.! readily identifia le stages of development or control point in the process designating completion of specific activities or clusters of activities. Application to Production: )xhi it & is a simplified example of a LOB 'hart for a hypothetical fa rication and assem ly operation and demonstrates the original application in monitoring and controlling production. The finished LOB chart displays first! the OB:)'T#;) (the re,uired delivery schedule)! as shown in the upper left hand portion. 8econd! there is a clearly defined <L94 for meeting that o $ective! indicating interrelationships! and how each part of component fits into the assem ly process! as well as the exact point in the cycle when each one is re,uired to e availa le. This is shown in the graphing of sensors! using standard sym ols! in the lower half of the chart. The ottom scale is the num er of working periods (in this case! the measure is in days)! counting ackwards from total completion! when each component shall e finished. Third! there is an appraisal of the progress that has een achieved! given y the vertical ars in

the <+O0+)88 chart in the upper right hand portion. .inally! also in the upper right hand portion! there is the L#4) O. B9L94')! (i.e.! a measure of the level of progress that shall have een reached if the o $ective is to e met on schedule! according to the esta lished plan). These four asic elements are vital ingredients of any effective management system. Together they will provide for the continuous exercise of authority and create a alanced and integrated operation out of a large num er of individual and uncoordinated transactions. The O $ective curve is a plot of schedule cumulative deliveries against calendar dates. #n this instance! the curve tells us that a total of ninety units are scheduled for delivery etween 4ovem er & and :une *=. The dotted curve indicates that actual deliveries have fallen elow the re,uired num er! reaching only thirty"eight units y >ay &=! whereas forty"eight had een planned. The Operating (manufacturing) <lan is represented y the series of interconnecting hori5ontal lines! seen in the lower portion of the Line of Balance 'hart. 9long these lines are the sensors indicating identifia le stages of development and control points. These control point are num ered consecutively from left to right across the schematic diagram! and from top to ottom wherever two or more points have a common position along the hori5ontal axis. 9s will e seen later! each of these control sensors is keyed y a corresponding num er to a ar graph in the <rogress portion of the LOB chart. The Operation <lan illustrated has an esta lished cycle of twenty"four days per unit. #t indicates the manner in which the several types and kinds of parts and components are $oined to form the completed product. To restrict the num er of sensor points to a minimum (no more than fifty)! certain conventions have een introduced. One convention is to develop a separate chart for each of two or more categories of parts (such as! purchased! company made! ma$or components! customer furnished parts! etc.). #n any case! there always remains the re,uirement for summary of the whole to indicate the overall program state. 9 8ummary 'hart generally is made y selecting key control points from each of the supporting charts! and having each such point represent a num er of su ordinate sensors. 9 similar device fre,uently is adopted in the treatment of complex products consisting of a large num er of parts. This expedient calls for each sensor to represent an association of parts (for example! a so called /family group/ of items on an indented parts list). ?nder such conditions the sym ol should e positioned for the earliest re,uired part. 9ll other related data (such as stock status) should e representative of the least favora le condition o taining within the particular family group at the time of the survey. The next step in our example is to cause a visual com ination of the data displayed in the O $ective and the <lan portions of the chart. This will e used to esta lish a gauge for measuring the performance re,uirements that will e necessary to meet the prescri ed delivery goal under operating conditions esta lished y the >anufacturing <lan. This com ination of elements is known as the L#4) O. B9L94')! the feature that gives its name to the techni,ue. 1eriving the Line Of Balance +eferring to )xhi it &! note that the date of the progress review is >ay &=. This now ecomes the date for all reference purposes. The delivery re,uirements at any time will e found y erecting a perpendicular at the point corresponding to the date in ,uestion! and extending it to intersect the cumulative delivery curve. The value of the ordinate at that point represents the re,uired TOT9L 1)L#;)+#)8 for that time. #n the case illustrated! the curve shows that y >ay &= a total of -@ units should have een shipped. #n the Line Of Balance! the -@ units relate to sensors (- and (A! the events that take place at the time of delivery. .or '?++)4T needs to insure .?T?+) deliveries! consider sensors 4um ers & and (. These actions indicate initiation of the manufacturing cycle and are slated for accomplishment (- days

prior to delivery of the finished unit. On >ay &=! we shall have completed not only the -@ end items sets of items & and ( re,uired for delivery on that date! ut shall also have completed an additional ,uantity sufficient to meet the shipping needs (- working days later. The precise level of this re,uirement can e found y erecting a perpendicular at the calendar date that is (working days after >ay &=! that is! :une &*. The cumulative delivery curve at that point calls for B@ finished units! showing that a total of B@ end item sets of items & and ( should have een completed (or have een availa le for use on >ay &=). The Line of Balance is drawn at this level in the <rogress 'hart. 8imilarly! sensor *! which is slated for (* days prior to the delivery date! shall provide for re,uirements for :une &(! namely! BC units! which is its Line of Balance. 4ow! consider sensors num ers -! A! and C! all of which are re,uired (& working days in advance of shipment. The >ay &= level of re,uirements for these items is represented y the value of the ordinate at the point corresponding to :une &=! B( units. .or sensor num er B! scheduled for accomplishment &@ working days in advance of shipment! a re,uirement for CC end item sets is shown y the O $ective curve value for :une A. By following the same principle of construction! re,uirement levels for all other elements are esta lished! culminating in a -@ unit delivery schedule y >ay &=! the date of the study! and providing for planned future deliveries. The end result is the characteristic step down contour of a Line of Balance. <roperly constructed! this invaria ly will step downward from a high point on the left to the level indicated for cumulative deliveries on the date of the study. By comparing the Line of Balance with the record of completed sensors of each item! management is afforded a graphic portrayal of program status and an accurate forecast of shipping capa ility. The vertical ars in the <rogress chart are typical LOB representation of the progress eing made on a program. 9s was mentioned earlier! each sensor in the Operating <lan is keyed y an identifying num er to a ar graph display. The length of this ar represents the num er of end item sets that have een completed or are availa le for use! as read off the vertical scale used for the O $ective curve. #t will e noted that ecause of the manner in which the chart was constructed! the ar graphs with the lowest num ers relate to the events that occur earliest. This automatically points out the priority of corrective action. 9lso! ecause progress is reported in terms of )41 #T)> 8)T8! the inventory count is translated into the capa ility of delivery of finished units. That is to say! if the end product is a icycle! the ar graph for wheels will e on a length that is e,uivalent to the total num er of wheels that have een completed (or are availa le for use) divided y two. The results show how many finished icycles can e delivered out of the current stock level of wheels. 9ll the sensor that are ehind schedule are indicated y ar graphs that fail to meet the Line of Balance. The first of these is sensor num er @! complete fa rication of part /1/. 8ensor num er @ is a /make/ assem ly which is manufactured relatively early in the factory cycle. To the extent that supporting sensors A and C are on schedule! evidently some pro lem exists in the fa rication process. The effects of this difficulty have een transmitted throughout su se,uent operations as may e seen y the ar graphs for &=! &A! &C! &@! &2! (&! ((! (*! (-! and (A. #t may e concluded that the fault for shipping only *@ instead of -@ units lies almost entirely with the failure to complete the re,uired ,uantity of part /1/. The chart also reveals the presence of a pro lem area in the operation represented y sensor &* and &A. )ven if the trou les with part 1 were cleared up! the deliveries would e limited to only A& units as shown y the height of ar graph &A. This rudimentary example serves to illustrate the application of this techni,ue to a simple process of fa rication and assem ly. Line of Balance can e applied to all other manufacturing or production operations! whether they are $o shop or flow shop. 9lthough more than some fifty years have elapsed since Line of Balance was first introduced! it is still considered to e most effective for control of production.