Understanding the processes - 2

OBJECTIVES
Line balancing

Xootr Assembly by Novacruz

The assembly process is divided into three main workstation One worker is assigned to each step

First Step

(13 min)
30 of 80 parts are assembled fork, steering support, and the T-handle are assembled

Second Step (11 min)

wheel and brakes are assembled steering mechanism is assembled deck is assembled

Final Step (8 min)

final wipe off decals and grip tape are applied final tests

Process Capacity
Workstation Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Process Cycle Time Required Time (min) 13 11 8 13

Capacity = (1 min)/( 13 min/scooter) = 0.0769 scooter/min (0.0769 scooter/minute) * (60 min/hr) = 4.6 scooters/hr

Flow rate

Flow Rate
Suppose that Novocroz received a rush order for 100 scooters and there is no finished Xootrs nor work in process inventory. How long does it take to fulfill the order?
For the first Xootr, it will take: 13+11+8 = 32 minutes
After the first unit, we will see one Xootr finished every 13 minutes. Thus, the time for the remaining 99 units is 13*99 = 1287 The total time for 132 units is 32 + 13*99 = 1319 minutes

 Time to finish X units in an empty system is

time through an empty process + (X-1)/Flow rate

When X is a very large number, it can be approximated with

time through an empty process + X/Flow rate

Labor Content and the Idle Time

Each Xootr takes 32 minutes.

If Novocroz pays $12 per hour of labor:

The direct cost of each Xootr is: ($12/hr)*(32 min)/(60min/hr) = ($0.20/min)*(32 min) = $6.40 Is this correct?

Labor Content and the Idle Time

Suppose that the assembly process operates 7 hours a day and 5 days a week, i.e., 35 hours a week. Wages of the workers are paid on this basis, i.e., for one worker: $12/hr * 35 hr/week = $420/week The process is using 3 workers, thus the weekly direct labor cost is $420*3 = $1260/week. In order to find the direct labor cost per Xootr, we need to know.?

Labor Content and the Idle Time

Suppose that currently the weekly demand is 125 scooters. What is the direct labor cost?

Observe that, the weekly capacity of the process is (4.6 scooters/hr)*(35hrs/week) = 161 scooters/week

Flow rate = min{demand, capacity} = min{125, 161} = 125 Unit labor cost = Total Weekly Wages/Weekly Flow Rate = ($1260/week)/(125scooters/week) = $10.08/scooter

Labor Content and the Idle Time

$10.08 vs $6.40. why is this difference?
1. Worker1 is the bottleneck, workers 2 and 3 will have more idle time. for example, for every 13 minutes, worker 2 has 2 minutes, worker 3 has 5 minutes of idle time. 2. the process has excess capacity, thus all workers will have idle time, including the bottleneck. 125 scooters/week = 3.57 scooters/hr = 1 scooter every 16.8 minutes bottleneck workstation requires 13 minutes. So, 3.8 min idle/ scooter

Idle times:
worker 1: 3.8 min/scooter worker 2: 3.8 + 2 = 5.8 min/scooter worker 3: 3.8 + 5 = 8.8 min/scooter

TOTAL: 18.4 min idle time/scooter ($0.20/min)*(18.4 min/sccoter) = $3.68/scooter

Labor Content and the Idle Time

Note that, with 125 scooters per week and 35hrs of work time per week, the cycle time is
(35hrs/week)*(60min/hr)/(125 scooters/week) = 16.8 min/scooter Labor Utilizations:
worker 1: 13/16.8 = 77% worker 2: 11/16.8 = 65.5% worker 3: 8/16.8 = 47.6%

Overall process utilization: (77+65.5+47.6)/3 = 63.4%

Labor Content and the Idle Time

Overall process utilization: (77+65.5+47.6)/3 = 63.4%

Alternatively:
Process Utilization = Labor content/(Labor content + Idle times) = 32 minutes / ( 32 minutes + 18.4 minutes) = 63.4%

When the demand changes

Suppose that the weekly demand is 200.

In this case, we cannot satisfy the demand with the current capacity (161 Xootrs per week)
we need to have a capacity of 200 per week, i.e., (35hrs*60min/hr)/ (200 Xootrs/week) = 10.5 minutes of cycle time. Our cycle time is 13 minutes. how can we reduce it to 10.5 minutes?

how can we make the process more efficient?

the idea: the closer the processing times for each workstation to each other, the more efficient the process is.

A deeper look at the process

Worker 1 Tasks Prepare the cable move cable assemble washer apply fork, threading cable end assemble socket head screws steer pin nut break shoe, spring, pivot bolt insert front wheel insert axle bolt tighten axle bolt tighten brake pivot bolt assemble handle cap Duration (sec) 30 25 100 66 114 49 66 100 30 43 51 118 Worker 3 Tasks inspect and wipe off Worker 2 Tasks assemble brake lever and cable trim and cap cable place first rib insert axles and cleats insert rear wheel place second rib and deck apply grip tape insert deck fasteners Duration (sec) 110 59 33 96 135 84 56 75 648 Duration (sec) 95

792

apply decal and sticker

insert in bag assemble carton insert Xootr and manual seal carton

20
43 114 94 84 450

A deeper look at the process

Worker 2 Tasks Worker 1 Tasks Prepare the cable move cable assemble washer apply fork, threading cable end assemble socket head screws steer pin nut break shoe, spring, pivot bolt insert front wheel insert axle bolt tighten axle bolt tighten brake pivot bolt Duration (sec) 30 25 100 66 114 49 66 100 30 43 51 674 Worker 3 Tasks inspect and wipe off apply decal and sticker insert in bag assemble carton insert Xootr and manual seal carton assemble handle cap assemble brake lever and cable trim and cap cable place first rib insert axles and cleats insert rear wheel place second rib and deck apply grip tape Duration (sec) 118 110 59 33 96 135 84 56

insert deck fasteners

75
766 Duration (sec) 95 20 43 114 94 84 450

 new cycle time is 766 seconds, 12.75 minutes.

can we do any better?

A deeper look at the process

Worker 2 Tasks Worker 1 Tasks Prepare the cable move cable assemble washer apply fork, threading cable end assemble socket head screws steer pin nut break shoe, spring, pivot bolt insert front wheel insert axle bolt tighten axle bolt tighten brake pivot bolt Duration (sec) 30 25 100 66 114 49 66 100 30 43 51 674 Worker 3 Tasks apply grip tape insert deck fasteners inspect and wipe off apply decal and sticker insert in bag assemble carton insert Xootr and manual seal carton assemble handle cap assemble brake lever and cable trim and cap cable place first rib insert axles and cleats insert rear wheel place second rib and deck Duration (sec) 118 110 59 33 96 135 84 635 Duration (sec) 56 75 95 20 43 114 94 84 581

 new cycle time is 674seconds, 11.25 minutes.

can we do any better?

Worker 2 Tasks Worker 1 Tasks Prepare the cable move cable assemble washer apply fork, threading cable end assemble socket head screws steer pin nut break shoe, spring, pivot bolt insert front wheel insert axle bolt tighten axle bolt Duration (sec) 30 25 100 66 114 49 66 100 30 43 623 Worker 3 Tasks place second rib and deck apply grip tape insert deck fasteners inspect and wipe off tighten brake pivot bolt assemble handle cap assemble brake lever and cable trim and cap cable place first rib insert axles and cleats insert rear wheel

Duration (sec) 51 118 110 59 33 96 135 602 Duration (sec) 84 56 75 95

apply decal and sticker

insert in bag assemble carton insert Xootr and manual seal carton

20
43 114 94 84 665

 new cycle time is 665 seconds, 11 minutes. the weekly capacity is: (1/665)*(3600)*35 = 189.5 per week direct labor cost: 3*(35)*($12)/189.5 = $6.65/Xootr Recall the direct labor content: 32 minutes of labor,
($0.20)*(32)= $6.40/Xootr!!

Utilizations:
worker 1: 623/665 = 93.7% worker 2: 602/665 = 90.5% worker 3: 665/665 = 100% average labor utilization = (623+602+665)/(623 + 602 + 665 + 42 + 63) = 94.7%

Increasing the Capacity Further

Suppose the weekly demand is now 700.

We cannot increase the capacity by any further balancing

Alternatives:
replicate the line selectively add workers

Replicating the Line

The weekly capacity is 189.5 and the demand is 700

If we have 4 identical lines, the weekly capacity is

189.5 * 4 = 758

how about having 3 lines?

Selectively Adding Workers

workstation 1
cycle time: 623 seconds
weekly capacity: (1/623)*(3600)*35 = 202 units

workstation 2
cycle time: 602 seconds weekly capacity: (1/602)*(3600)*35 = 209

workstation 3
cycle time: 665 seconds weekly capacity: 189 units

workstation workstation 1 workstation 2 workstation3

weekly capacity 202 209 189.5

# of workers

# of workers rounded

700/202 = 3.46 4 700/209 = 3.34 4 700/189.5 = 3.69 4

 Consider the unbalanced process

workstation 1
cycle time: 792 seconds weekly capacity: (1/792)*(3600)*35 = 159 units

workstation 2
cycle time: 648 seconds weekly capacity: (1/648)*(3600)*35 = 194 units

workstation 3
cycle time: 450 seconds weekly capacity: (1/450)*(3600)*35 = 280 units

Replicating the Line

The weekly capacity is 159 and the demand is 700

If we have 5 identical lines, the weekly capacity is

159 * 5 = 795

how about having 4 lines?

Selectively Adding Workers

workstation workstation 1 workstation 2 workstation3

weekly capacity 159 194 280

# of workers 700/159= 4.40 700/280 = 2.5

# of workers rounded 5 3

700/194 = 3.61 4

Comparing the two alternatives

replicating the line
total workers = 15 workstation 1 = 5 workstation 2 = 5 workstation 3 = 5 average process utilization:
=(700*1890)/(15*3600*35) = 1,323,000 / 1,890,000

selectively adding workers

total workers = 12 workstation 1 = 5 workstation 2 = 4 workstation 3 = 3

average process utilization:

=(700*1890)/(12*3600*35) = 1,323,000 / 1,512,000 = 87.5%

= 70%

compare the efficiency of the balanced and unbalanced processes!

An Algorithm for Complicated Assembly Line Balancing Problems

5 3 1
6 9 10 3 8

6 4
5

12

12

10 7 8
7 4

14 13
7

15

11

Questions
Main goal: construct workstations and assign the tasks to the workstations to achieve the desired cycle time
1. 2. What is the minimum number of workstations to achieve a cycle time, C, of 30 minutes? Find the C=30 balance obtained using the ranked positional weight technique

3.
4.

Is there a solution with the same number of stations you found in 2 but with a lower cycle time?
What appears to be the minimum cycle time with the number of workstations that you found in 2?

Question 1
What is the minimum number of workstations to achieve a cycle time, C, of 30 minutes?
Task Time Task Time Task Time

Total Task Time = 100 100/C = 100/30 = 3.3 We would require a minimum of 4 workstations (theoretical bound we cannot guarantee this!!)

1 2 3 4 5

6 3 9 5 8

6 7 8 9 10

10 7 4 9 8

11 12 13 14 15

4 12 7 3 5

Question 2
Find the C=30 balance obtained using the ranked positional weight technique? Positional Weight of a Task = Sum of all of the times of that task and its successors. E.g., Task 4 Sucessors: 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 Positional Weight of 4 = Task Times of (4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15) = 5 + 7 + 4 + 8 + 4 + 7 + 3 + 5 = 43 The list of positional weights of all of the tasks

Task 1 2 3 4 5

Time 100 94 46 43 37

Task 6 7 8 9 10

Time 47 23 20 29 16

Task 11 12 13 14 15

Time 16 20 12 8 5

Question 2
Rank the tasks according to the positional weights
Job PW Time 1 100 6 2 94 3 6 47 10 3 46 9 4 43 5 5 37 8 9 29 9 7 23 7 8 20 4 12 20 12 10 16 8 11 16 4 13 12 7 14 8 3 15 5 5

Start grouping the tasks to assign to the workstations in the order of positional weight. Move to next workstations when total task time for that workstation exceeds C WS1: 1, 2, 6, 3; Total Task Time = 6+3+10+9 = 28 WS2: 4, 5, 9, 7; Total Task Time = 5+8+9+7 = 29 WS3: 8, 12, 10, 11; Total Task Time = 4+12+8+4 = 28 WS4: 13, 14, 15; Total Task Time = 7+3+5 = 15

Question 3
5
6 3 8

WS1: 1, 2, 6, 3; WS2: 4, 5, 9, 7; WS3: 8, 12, 10, 11; WS4: 13, 14, 15;

6+3+10+9 = 28 5+8+9+7 = 29 4+12+8+4 = 28 7+3+5 = 15

9 10

2
4
5

6 7
8
7 4

12

12

10
4

14

15

11

13

Questions??