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MANUFACTURING SYSTEM DESIGN

EME4313

Dr. Ali Niakan

aliasgharniakan@segi.edu.my

Unit 1: Lesson 4
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PRODUCT LAYOUT DESIGN TECHNIQUES LINE BALANCING

This lesson will develop understanding of the product layout,
by considering its detailed design.
The technique we will be using is called line balancing and its
objective is to design the most efficient process possible which
allows the expected volumes to be met.
Therefore upon completion of this lesson you should be able
to:
Describe the line balancing technique as a method for product
layout design and analysis.
Apply the technique to design and analyse a typical product
layout.

Detailed design of product layout

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Product layout concerned about

WHAT TO PLACE WHERE. Rather than
WHERE TO PLACE WHAT
Locations are frequently decided upon and then work tasks are
allocated to each location.
For example, it may have been decided that four stations are needed to make

computer cases. The decision then is which of the tasks that go into making the cases
should be allocated to each station.

The main product layout decisions are as follows:

What cycle time is needed?
How many stages are needed?
How should the task-time variation be dealt with?
How should the layout be balanced?

1. Cycle Time
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Cycle time is used to express the total

manual work involved in a process, or
between completed part of a process.
Cycle time is a vital factor in the design of
product layouts and has a significant
influence on most of the other detailed
design decisions.
It is calculated by considering the likely
demand for the products or services
over a period and the amount of
production time available in that period.

1. Cycle Time: Work example

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Suppose the regional back-office operation of a large bank is designing

an operation which will process its mortgage applications. The number
of application to be processed is 160 per week and the time available to
process the applications is 40 hours per week.

Layout Cycle Time =

time available
40

number to be processed
160

0.25hours

So, the banks layout must be capable of processing a completed

application once every 15 minutes.

2. Number of stages
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The total amount of work required to produce a unit of output.

2. Number of stages
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Number of stages depends on the cycle time and total quantity

of work involved (total work content).

The larger the total work content and the smaller the required

cycle time, the more stages will be necessary.

Normal bakery production stages

Worked example (number of stages)

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Suppose the bank in the previous example calculated that the average

total work content of processing a mortgage application is 60 minutes.

The number of stages needed to produce a processed application every
15 minutes can be calculated as follows:

Number of stages=

total work content

required cycle time

60 minutes

15 minutes

4 stages

Task-time variation
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In practice, the flow (Task time) may not be regular

Variation in time of processes is a general characteristic of

repetitive processes

Variation contributes to irregularity into the flow along the

line, periodic queues at the stages, and lost processing

time

It is necessary to introduce more resources into the

operation to compensate for the loss of efficiency

Balancing work time allocation

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Line balancing is one of the most important design decision in

product layout.
Line balancing work contents are allocated equally.
It is nearly impossible to achieve line balancing in practice.
Inevitably it will increase the effective cycle time of the line.
The effectiveness of the line-balancing activity is measured by
balancing loss time wasted through the unequal allocation
of work as a percentage of the total time invested in processing
the product or service.

Balancing techniques (Precedence Diagram)

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Precedence diagram This is a representation of the ordering of the

elements which compose the total work content of the product or
service.
Rules in applying diagram:
1. Circles are drawn as far to the left as possible
2. None of the arrow should be vertical.
0.17 mins
0.25 mins

0.30 mins

a
0.12 mins

c
0.36 mins

e
0.05 mins

0.25 mins

g
0.10 mins

0.08 mins

Each element is
represented by a circle.
The circles are connected
by arrows, which signify
the ordering of the
elements.

The precedence diagram, either using circles and arrows or

transposed into tabular form, is the most common starting point for
most balancing techniques.

Worked example:
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An ideal balance
where work is
allocated equally
between the stages

3.5
3

2.5

2.5

1.5

1.5

Load

Load

But if work is not equally

allocated the cycle time
will increase and
balancing losses will
occur

1
0.5

When the work is equally

allocated between the
stages, the total time
invested in each product
or service is 4 x 2.5 = 10
minutes.

0.5
0

0
1

Stage
Work allocated to stage
Idle time

Stage
Calculating balancing loss:
=
Idle time every cycle
=(3.0
- 2.3) +
(3.0 - 2.5) +
(3.0 - 2.2) = 2.0 mins
Balancing
loss
=
Balancing loss
=
2
4 x 3.0
= 0.1667
= 16.67%

However, when work is

unequally allocated, the
time invested is 3.0 x 4 =
12 minutes, i.e. 2
minutes of time, 16.67%
of the total is wasted.

Balancing
Balancing loss
loss is
is that
that proportion
proportion of
of the
the time
time invested
invested in
in
processing
processing the
the product
product or
or service
service which
which is
is not
not used
used productively.
productively.

Balancing techniques
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This general approach is to allocate elements from the precedence

diagram to the first stage, starting from the left, in order of the columns
until the work allocated to the stage is as close to, but less than, the
cycle time. When that stage is as full of work as is possible without
exceeding the cycle time, move on to the next stage, and so on, until all
the work elements are allocated.
The key issue is how to select an element to be allocated to a stage when
more than one element could be chosen. Two heuristic rules have been
found to be particularly useful in deciding this:
Simply choose the largest that will fit into the time remaining at the
stage.
Choose the element with the most followers: that is the highest number
of elements which can only be allocated when that element has been
allocated.

0.48 mins

Worked Example (Karlstad kakes)

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Worked Example
Consider Karlstad Kakes, a manufacturer of specialty cakes, which has
recently obtained contract to supply a major supermarket chain with a
specialty cake in the shape of a space rocket. It has been decided that the
volumes required by the supermarket warrant a special production line
to perform the finishing, decorating and packing of the cake. This line
would have to carry out the elements shown in the next slide, which also
shows the precedence diagram for the total job. The initial order from
the supermarket is for 5000 cakes a week and the number of hours
worked by the factory is 40 per week. From this:

Allocation of elements to stages and balancing loss (Case karlstad

Kakes).
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Element
Element
Element
Element
Element
Element
Element
Element
Element

a
b

- - De-tin and trim

- Reshape with off-cuts

0.30 mins

c
d

- Clad in almond fondant

0.36 mins

- Clad in white fondant

0.25 mins

- Decorate, red icing

0.17 mins

- Decorate, green icing

0.05 mins

- Decorate, blue icing

0.10 mins

- Affix transfers

0.08 mins

e
f
g
h
i

- Transfer to base and pack

0.17 mins

0.25 mins

0.30 mins

a
0.12 mins

c
0.36 mins

0.12 mins

Total work content = 1.68 mins

e
0.05 mins

0.25 mins

0.25 mins

g
0.10 mins

0.08 mins

Allocation of elements to stages and balancing loss (Case karlstad

Kakes).

The required cycle time = 40 hrs x 60 mins = 0.48 mins

5000

The required number of stages = 1.68 mins (total work content) = 3.5 stages
0.48 mins (required cycle time)

This means 4 stages !!!

Allocation of elements to stages and balancing loss

(Case karlstad Kakes).
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Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

0.17 mins

Stage 4

e
0.25 mins

0.30 mins

0.12 mins

0.36 mins

0.05 mins

0.25 mins

0.10 mins

h
0.08 mins

0.6
0.5

Cycle time = 0.48 mins

0.4

Idle time every cycle = (0.48 - 0.42) + (0.48 - 0.36) + (0.48 - 0.42) = 0.24 mins
Proportion of idle time per cycle = 0.24
4 x 0.48

0.3
0.2

= 12.5%

0.1
0
1

Arranging the stages

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15 mins

Long thin: A process designed to

have many sequential stages, each
performing a relatively small part of
the total task, the opposite of short
fat processes.
Short fat: Processes designed with
relatively few sequential stages, each
of which performs a relatively large
part of the total task, the opposite of
long thin processes.

15 mins

15 mins

30 mins

15 mins

30 mins

30 mins

30 mins

60 mins

60 mins

60 mins
60 mins

15 mins

Arranging the stages

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In any particular situation there are usually technical

constraints which limit either how long and thin or

how short and fat the layout can be, but there is
usually a range of possible options within which a
choice needs to be made.
The advantages of each extreme of the long thin to
short fat spectrum are very different and help to
explain why different arrangements are adopted.

Arranging the stages

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Advantages
Advantages of long thin arrangement:
Controlled flow of material/customer easy to manage
Simple material handling; especially for heavy, large or
difficult products
Lower capital requirements (If a specialist piece of equipment is needed
for one element in the job, only one piece of equipment would need to be
purchased; on short fat arrangements every stage would need one)

More efficient operation

Advantages
Advantages of
of short
short fat arrangement:

Higher mix flexibility: each stage could specialize in different types.

Higher volume flexibility: as volume varies, stages can simply be
closed down or started up as required. (long thin arrangements would need
rebalancing each time the cycle time changed)

Higher robustness: if one stage breaks down, the other parallel stages
are unaffected. (a long thin arrangement would cease operating completely)
Less monotonous work

Exercise:
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An automobile company is pushed to manufacture 150

car per week, with working hour of 90 hours per
week. If the total work content for manufacturing a
car is 5 hours, determine:
1. The cycle time
2. Number of the stages

QUESTIONS
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QUESTION 1
A DIY product manufacturing company wishes to create a product focused
layout for the manufacture of their new cordless drill. There order book requires
them to produce 480 drills per eight hour day. The assembly operations for the
drill and the associated information are given in the table below. Therefore the
key tasks are to:
(a) calculate the maximum cycle time
(b) calculate the minimum number of work stations
(c) produce the precedence diagram
(d) produce the line design which achieves the required cycle time
(e) calculate the new cycle time and idle time/cycle.

Assembly operation
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