1. Introduction
Assembly lines are the most critical constituents for companies depends on the mass production system. It is concerned with improving labor productivity with cost effective and timely manner. The total output level of a production line is one of the key factors which determines the response time of an entire manufacturing system. The line balancing main problem is to arrange the individual processing and assembly tasks at the workstations so that the total time required at each workstation is approximately the same. Generally, line balancing is to divide the assembly line total workload into several workstations, and determine the name of the task that will be performed at each workstation. These workstations are joined together
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The total time required to perform each set of tasks assigned to a given assembly line must be less than the cycle time that is predetermined by the manager of the line. Hence, the production rate is determined by the cycle time. The main objective of assemble line balancing is to minimize the sum of the difference between the cycle time and the station time of each workstation to reduce the total idle time of the line. There are two ways to reduce it, first by minimizing the number of required stations at each workstation, or by the reduction of the cycle time.
2. Assembly Line Objectives From the very first mathematical formalization of assembly line objectives by Salveson (1955), the academic work focused on the assignments of tasks to the stations, which is the main or core problem of the configuration. The application of assembly line balancing is to avoid all the types of wastes done such as overproduction, inventory, waiting, overemployment, transportation of equipment and motion by the workers.
By avoiding all the former types of wastes, it is possible to reduce the non-value added activities. Hence, the cycle time can be reduced.
3. Classifications of Assembly Line Balancing
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In the same assembly line, one or more component of a product may be assembled. If only one model is assembled in the line, so the production system is defined as a single model assembly line, otherwise, it’s defined as mixed model assembly system. The problems of assembly line balancing can be classified based on different characteristics such as the numbers of models produced on a given production line, the nature of task times if either deterministic or probabilistic, and the nature or type of the flow if either straight type or
In Andrew Braaksma 's essay Some Lessons From The Assembly Line he provides the perspective of a college student learning life lessons from his summer job in a factory and how it showed him not to take his ability to have a higher education for granted. While most students never give it a second thought about not going to college, Braaksma learned from the hard work and low pay to appreciate the opportunities he has. Most college age students have never experienced the struggles of what real life can throw at them. Long hours with low wages, the physically taxing nature of some of these jobs and lack of job security. Having myself worked construction jobs for many years before going back to college his essay could prove invaluable to many students.
In the 1920’s the United States economy was booming, and a famous man by the man of Henry Ford came along and had an industry changing idea. He set up the first production line style for producing automobiles. Each assembly line worker had one or two specific tasks to complete on the cars that came through. The process began with a skeleton on the car, and as it went down the line from worker to worker it slowly gained more and more pieces finishing the automobile completely...
For an assembly plant to be so productive materials must be on hand at all times. Every mustang begins with a truck; reels of raw steel weighing in at 30 tons a piece are delivered periodically. Now this raw steel is the moved to a machine that cuts i...
The way the assembly line moves are from workstation to workstation, where the parts are added in the sequence until the final assembly is produced. A finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by have workers carried parts to a stationary piece assembly. Many workers hated their job because it was hard, they had to work for 12 hours. The percent of people who quit their job working on the assembly line because it was too much for them was 370%. Henry Ford didn’t want his workers to quit so what he did was satisfy his workers and give them less hours and higher payment. Ford was the first man to pay his workers $5 a day. Ford has also reduced a day's work to 8 hours. The thing Ford did was called Welfare Capitalism, which means taking care of employees to keep them happy and loyal
In “Some Lessons from the Assembly Line” published in 2005 in Newsweek, college student Andrew Braaksma discussed his experience of working in a car manufacturing plant as well as other blue-collar jobs during his summer breaks from school. This allowed him to discover the importance of obtaining an education as a means of avoiding this type of work in the future. He discussed his difficulties with working long hours for a meager salary and the stress of knowing he could lose his job at any moment. Braaksma uses these experiences as motivation to do well in school so he does not end up in the same situation once he graduates from college. I applaud Braaksma for his strong work ethic and high aspirations, however, I do not share his view on the importance of a college education. I do not discount the value of an education, moreover, I disagree with so much emphasis being placed on earning a college degree as a means of avoiding blue-collar work. Through the author’s experiences of working more challenging summer jobs, he is able to convey to other students what life in the real world could be like if they do not go
The Assembly Line, often attributed to Henry Ford, was a brilliant idea, which allowed items to be produced at a less expense, and at a faster rate. The principle behind the assembly line was that a worker would stand in one place, a belt would bring the pieces or goods to the worker and he or she would simply perform a task such as putting a bolt in or assembling a piece. Then, the item would go on its way by means of the belt to the next worker, who would perform the next task. The assembly line worked, and actually made things such as automobiles, previously too expensive for the average family, to now be affordable.
The start of Assembly Lines in the Manufacturing Industry has contributed to the change that has occurred in the opportunity for employment, quantity of products, quality of products, and convenience of products being made. The assembly lines were first discovered by Henry Ford in 1913. He revolutionized the automobile industry with this new factory invention, his idea for this new factory tool came from his observing the continuous-process production of oil refineries, canneries, and chemical plants. Henry Ford wanted to make his automobiles available to everyone by using the mass-production process. His innovation of this new industrial tool provided well paying jobs to people that were not educated or skilled in any particular trade. He was able to cut down the time it took to build a car, and provide training to his employees in one or two skills they could specialize in to build cars faster and more efficient.
“Henry Ford and the Assembly Line.” 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. .
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. (TMM) is deviating from the standard assembly line principle of jidoka in an attempt to avoid expenses incurred from stopping the production line for seat quality defects. This deviation has contributed to the inability to identify the root cause of the problem, which has led to decreased run ratios on the line and an excess of defective automobiles in the overflow lot for multiple days. If this problem isn’t fixed quickly, an increased amount of waste will continue to be incurred and customer value will be threatened.
Ford’s concept of an assembly line sprang from the thought that a car could be produced much quicker if each person did one, single task. He applied this in his Highland Park plant, and cut down production time of one Model T to a fraction on the time. The carefully timed pace of a conveyer belt moving the parts along further speeded the process. With these new tactics, a factory could produce 40%-60% more cars per month. By late 1913 he had established assembly plants in Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, and Japan. At this point, the Ford Motor Company was the largest manufacturer of cars in the world.
Ford was able to make a reliable and inexpensive automobile primarily because of his introduction of the innovative moving assembly line into the process of industrial manufacturing. The assembly line is a system for carrying an item that is being manufactured past a series of stationary workers who each assemble a particular portion of the finished product.
Throughout the history of modern civilization, there have been a number of inventions, contraptions, and processes to have made profound impacts on everyday life, and redefine the world, as we know it. With effective quality management, measures American industrialist and innovator Henry Ford used the assembly line to streamline the automotive manufacturing process and transform the American Industry. With the implementation of the assembly line in his manufacturing process Ford was able to offer the American consumer an affordable automobile, while at the same time cutting costs to his company, therefore maximizing his overall productiveness and profit while ensuring his customers’ needs were met.
...r L. "Henry Ford and the Assembly Line." About.com 20th Century History. Accessed March 07, 2014. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/Ford--Assembly-Line.htm.
The development of the manufacturing industry, quality and control, manufacturing capacity increase or the duration and the need to reduce cost has arisen is inevitable. Thus automation and programming concepts were started years ago. Automation is a machine's operative procedures and their sequence start form beginnig to end without human intervention, and its done automatically. Programming of the sequence of operations is prerared and tranfered to the counter. A bench during the operation of the program, and in the process, this will provide for amendments to the alignment and speed, then the counter is called flexibility.
In manufacturing process there are different steps and jobs needs to be done in specific ways and time such as sourcing the parts we need in the production, make the items, and shipping it for the customers.