INE 439

Fundamentals of Manufacturing
Systems

Lecture 7: Manual Assembly Lines

 Ch 15 Manual Assembly Lines

Sections:
1. Fundamentals of Manual Assembly Lines
2. Analysis of Single-Model Assembly Lines
3. Line Balancing Algorithms
4. Workstation Details
5. Other Considerations in Assembly Line Design
6. Alternative Assembly Systems

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Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Manual Assembly Lines

 Factors favoring the use of assembly lines:

 High or medium demand for product
 Identical or similar products
 Total work content can be divided into work elements
 It is technologically impossible or economically
infeasible to automate the assembly operations
 Most consumer products are assembled on manual
assembly lines

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 Why Assembly Lines
are so Productive
 Specialization of labor
 Learning curve
 Interchangeable parts
 Components made to close tolerances
 Work flow principle
 Products are brought to the workers
 Line pacing
 Workers must complete their tasks within the cycle time
of the line

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 Manual Assembly Line Defined

A production line consisting of a sequence of workstations

where assembly tasks are performed by human workers
as the product moves along the line
 Organized to produce a single product or a limited range
of products
 Each product consists of multiple components joined
together by various assembly work elements
 Total work content - the sum of all work elements
required to assemble one product unit on the line

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 Manual Assembly Line

Configuration of a manual assembly line with n

manually operated workstations

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Typical Products
Made on Assembly Lines

Automobiles Personal computers

Cooking ranges Power tools
Dishwashers Refrigerators
Dryers Telephones
Furniture Toasters
Lamps Trucks
Luggage Video DVD players
Microwave ovens Washing machines

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Manual Assembly Line

 Products are assembled as they move along the line

 At each station a portion of the total work content is
performed on each unit
 Base parts are launched onto the beginning of the line at
regular intervals (cycle time)
 Workers add components to progressively build the
product

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Assembly Workstation

A designated location along the work flow path at which

one or more work elements are performed by one or
more workers
Typical operations performed at manual assembly stations
Adhesive application Electrical connections Snap fitting
Sealant application Component insertion Soldering
Arc welding Press fitting Stitching/stapling
Spot welding Riveting Threaded fasteners

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Work Transport Systems

 Two basic categories:

 Manual
 Mechanized

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 Manual Work Transport Systems

 Work units are moved between stations by the workers

without the aid of a powered conveyor
 Types:
 Work units moved in batches
 Work units moved one at a time
 Problems:
 Starving of stations – finished work but next unit did
not arrive
 Blocking of stations – finished task but can’t pass
unit
 No pacing
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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Mechanized Work Transport Systems

 Work units are moved by powered conveyor or other

mechanized apparatus
 Categories:
 Work units attached to conveyor- worker walks along
with product
 Work units are removable from conveyor
 Problems
 Starving of stations
 Incomplete units – parts supposed to be added are
not added

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 Types of Mechanized Work Transport

 Continuous transport – parts are either fixed/ removable

 Conveyor moves at constant speed
 Synchronous transport
 Work units are moved simultaneously with stop-and-go
(intermittent) motion to next stations
 Task must be completed with certain time – not common in
manual systems
 Asynchronous transport
 Work unit leaves a given station when the assigned task has
been completed and worker releases unit.
 Work units are moved independently between workstations
 Queues of work units can form in front of each station
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 Types of Mechanized Work Transport

Velocity-distance diagram and physical layout for (a) continuous

transport, (b) synchronous transport, and (c) asynchronous transport

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Material Handling Equipment for
Mechanized Work Transport
Continuous transport Overhead trolley conveyor
Belt conveyor
Drag chain conveyor
Synchronous transportWalking beam
https://youtu.be/
759kPVhJKvk

Rotary indexing machine

Asynchronous transport Power-and-free conveyor
https://youtu.be/rih_SJqUuIA

Cart-on-track conveyor
Automated guided vehicles
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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Line Pacing

 A manual assembly line operates at a certain cycle time -

On average, each worker must complete his/her assigned
task within this cycle time
 Pacing provides a discipline for the assembly line workers
that more or less guarantees a certain production rate
 Several levels of pacing:
1. Rigid pacing
2. Pacing with margin
3. No pacing

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 Rigid Pacing

 Each worker is allowed only a certain fixed time each cycle

to complete the assigned task
 Allowed time is set equal to the cycle time less
repositioning time
 Synchronous work transport system provides rigid
pacing
 Undesirable aspects of rigid pacing:
 Incompatible with inherent human variability
 Emotionally and physically stressful to worker
 Incomplete work units if task not completed

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 Pacing with Margin

 Worker is allowed to complete the task within a specified

time range, the upper limit of which is greater than the
cycle time
 On average, the worker’s average task time must balance
with the cycle time of the line
 How to achieve pacing with margin:
 Allow queues of work units between stations
 Provide for tolerance time to be longer than cycle time
 Allow worker to move beyond station boundaries

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 No Pacing

 No time limit within which task must be completed

 Each assembly worker works at his/her own pace
 No pacing can occur when:
 Manual transport of work units is used
 Work units can be removed from the conveyor to
perform the task
 An asynchronous conveyor is used

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Coping with Product Variety

 Single-model assembly line (SMAL)

 Every work unit is the same
 Batch-model assembly line (BMAL)
 Hard product variety
 Products must be made in batches
 Mixed-model assembly line (MMAL)
 Soft product variety
 Models can be assembled simultaneously without
batching

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Coping with Product Variety

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 MMAL vs. BMAL

 Advantages of mixed-model lines over batch models

lines:
 No lost production time between models
 High inventories typical of batch production are
avoided
 Production rates of different models can be adjusted
as product demand changes

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 MMAL vs. BMAL

 Difficulties with mixed-model line compared to batch

model line
 Line balancing problem more complex due to
differences in work elements among models
 Scheduling the sequence of the different models is a
problem
 Logistics is a problem - getting the right parts to each
workstation for the model currently there
 Cannot accommodate as wide model variations as
BMAL

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 Analysis of Single-Model Assembly
lines
 Assuming the plant operates 50 weeks per year, the required hourly production rate is
given by

where Rp = average hourly production rate designed to acheive, units/hr; Da = annual demand for the
single product to be made on the line, units/yr; Sw = number of shifts/wk; and Hsh = hr /shift
 Some production time will be lost due to occasional equipment failures, power outages,
lack of a certain component needed in assembly, quality problems, labor problems, and
other reasons. The uptime proportion of line is referred to as the line efficiency. The
cycle time can be determined as

 The cycle time establishes the ideal cycle rate for the line. Rc = Ideal cycle rate of the
line.
 Work content time (Twc), which is the total time of all work elements that must be
performed on the line to make one unit of product.
 The number of workers on a production line

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Analysis of Single-Model Assembly
lines
 w* = theoretical minimum number of workers.

 Achieving this minimum theoretical value in practice is very unlikely: 2 factors ignored
 Repositioning losses: Some time will be lost at each station for repositioning of the
work unit or the worker. Thus, the time available per worker to perform assembly is
less than Tc.
 The line balancing problem: It is virtually impossible to divide the work content time
evenly among all workstations. Some stations are bound to have an amount of work
that requires less time than Tc. This tends to increase the number of workers.

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Repositioning Losses
 Repositioning losses on a production line occur because some time is
required each cycle to reposition the worker, or the work unit, or both.
 The repositioning time Tr, must be subtracted from the cycle time Tc to
obtain the available time remaining to perform the actual assembly
task at each workstation.
 The time to perform the assigned task at each station is called the
service time Tsi , where i is used to identify the stations
 There will be at least one station at which Tsi is maximum. This is
referred to as the bottleneck station.

 Repositioning losses reduce the amount of time that can be devoted

to productive assembly work on the line. These losses can be
expressed in terms of an efficiency factor as

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Line Balancing Problem

 Given:
 Total work content consists of many distinct work
elements
 The sequence in which the elements can be performed
is restricted
 The line must operate at a specified cycle time
 Problem:
 To assign the individual work elements to workstations
so that all workers have an equal amount of work to
perform

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Components of Cycle Time Tc

 Components of cycle time at several workstations on a manual

assembly line
 At the bottleneck station, there is no idle time
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 Precedence Constraints

 Restrictions on the order in which work elements can be

performed

Precedence
diagram

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 In class activity 10
 A small electrical appliance is to be produced on a single-model assembly line. The work content of
assembling the product has been reduced to the work elements listed in Table. The table also lists
the times for each element and the precedence order in which they must be performed. The line is
to be balanced for an annual demand of 100,000 units/yr. The line will operate 50 wk/yr, 5 shifts/wk,
and 7.5 hr/shift. There will be one worker per station. Previous experience suggests that the uptime
efficiency for the line will be 96%, and repositioning time lost per cycle will be 0.08 min. Determine
(a) total work content time Twc (b) required hourly production rate Rp to achieve the annual
demand, (c) cycle time Tc, (d) theoretical minimum number of workers required on the line, and (e)
service time Ts, to which the line must be balanced.

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 In class activity 10
 A small electrical appliance is to be produced on a single-model assembly line. The work content of
assembling the product has been reduced to the work elements listed in Table. The table also lists
the times for each element and the precedence order in which they must be performed. The line is
to be balanced for an annual demand of 100,000 units/yr. The line will operate 50 wk/yr, 5 shifts/wk,
and 7.5 hr/shift. There will be one worker per station. Previous experience suggests that the uptime
efficiency for the line will be 96%, and repositioning time lost per cycle will be 0.08 min. Determine
(a) total work content time Twc (b) required hourly production rate Rp to achieve the annual
demand, (c) cycle time Tc, (d) theoretical minimum number of workers required on the line, and (e)
service time Ts, to which the line must be balanced.

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Measures of Line Balance Efficiency

 Balance Efficiency Eb

where Eb = balance efficiency, often expressed as a percent; Ts = the maximum

available service time on the line (Max {Tsi} ), min/cycle; and w = number of
workers.
 Balance Delay, d

which indicates the amount of time lost due to imperfect balancing as a ratio to
the total time available, A balance delay of zero indicates a perfect balance.
Note that Eb + d = 1.

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Line Balancing Algorithms
 The objective in line balancing is to distribute the total workload on the
assembly line as evenly as possible among the workers.

 Three algorithms will be discussed to solve the line balancing problem. These
methods are heuristic, meaning they are based on common sense and
experimentation rather than mathematical optimization.
 In each of the algorithms, there is one worker per station.
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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Line Balancing Algorithms

 Largest Candidate Rule

 Assignment of work elements to stations based on
amount of time each work element requires
 Kilbridge and Wester Method
 Assignment of work elements to stations based on
position in the precedence diagram
 Elements at front of diagram are assigned first
 Ranked Positional Weights
 Combines the two preceding approaches by calculating
an RPW for each element

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 In class activity 11

 Line balance using Largest Candidate Rule

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 In class activity 11
Solution

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 In class activity 11
Solution

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Largest Candidate Rule

Solution to line
balancing example:
(a)Assignment of work
elements
(b)Physical sequence
of stations with
assigned work
elements

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Kilbridge and Wester Method

 It is a heuristic procedure that selects work elements for

assignment to stations according to their position in the
precedence diagram.
 This overcomes one of the difficulties with the largest
candidate rule in which an element may be selected
because of a high Te value but irrespective of its position in
the precedence diagram.
 In the Kilbridge and Wester method, work elements in the
precedence diagram are arranged into columns.
 The elements can then be organized into a list according to
their columns, with the elements in the first column listed
first.
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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Kilbridge and Wester Method

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Ranked Positional Weights
Method(RPW)
 A ranked positional weight value (call it RPW for short) is computed for each
element. The RPW takes into account both the Tek value and its position in
the precedence diagram.
 Specifically, RPWk is calculated by summing Tek and all other times for
elements that follow Tek in the arrow chain of the precedence diagram.
 Elements are compiled into a list according to their RPW value, and the
algorithm proceeds using the same three steps as before.

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Workstation Details
 Time-Distance Relationships:
 The total length of the assembly line is the sum of the station lengths

 The feed rate is simply the reciprocal of the cycle time,

 A constant feed rate on a constant speed conveyor provides a center-
to-center distance between base parts given by

 Tolerance time is the time a work unit spends inside the boundaries
of the workstation.
 ET = elapsed time a work unit (specifically, the base part) spends on
the conveyor during its assembly, min

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Other Considerations in Line Design

 Line efficiency
 Management is responsible to maintain line operation
at efficiencies (proportion uptime) close to 100%
 Implement preventive maintenance
 Well-trained emergency repair crews to quickly fix
breakdowns when they occur
 Avoid shortages of incoming parts to avoid forced
downtime
 Insist on highest quality components from suppliers
to avoid downtime due to poor quality parts

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
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 Other Considerations - continued

 Methods analysis
 To analyze methods at bottleneck workstations
 Sharing work elements between two adjacent stations
 Alternative cycles between two workers
 Changing work head speeds at mechanized stations
 Increase power feed or speed to achieve a better line
balance
 Preassembly of components
 Prepare certain subassemblies off-line to reduce work
content time on the final assembly line
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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Other Considerations - continued

 Storage buffers between stations

 To permit continued operation of certain sections of the
line when other sections break down
 To smooth production between stations with large task
time variations
 Parallel stations
 To reduce time at bottleneck stations that have
unusually long task times

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any
form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Other Considerations - continued

 Zoning constraints - limitations on the grouping of work

elements and/or their allocation to workstations
 Positive zoning constraints
 Work elements should be grouped at same
station
 Example: spray painting elements
 Negative zoning constraints
 Elements that might interfere with each other
 Separate delicate adjustments from loud noises

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any
form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Other Considerations - continued

 Position constraints
 Encountered in assembly of large products such as
trucks and cars, making it difficult for one worker to
perform tasks on both sides of the product
 To address, assembly workers are positioned on both
sides of the line

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any
form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Example
 Can a perfect line balance be achieved in
earlier Example using parallel stations?
Using a parallel station configuration to
replace positions 1 and 2, and reallocating
the elements, will achieve a perfect
balance.

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any
form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Alternative Assembly Systems

 Single-station manual assembly cell

 Worker teams
 Automated assembly systems

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Single-Station Manual Cell

 A single workstation in which all of the assembly work is

accomplished on the product or on some major
subassembly
 Common for complex products produced in small
quantities, sometimes one-of-a-kind
 Custom-engineered products
 Prototypes
 Industrial equipment (e.g., machine tools)

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Assembly by Worker Teams

 Multiple workers assigned to a common assembly task

 Workers set their own pace
 Examples
 Single-station cell with multiple workers
 Swedish car assembly (job enlargement) - product
is moved through multiple workstations by AGVS,
but same worker team follows it from station to
station

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form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.
 Reported Benefits of Team Assembly

 Greater worker satisfaction

 Better product quality
 Increased capability to cope with model variations
 Greater ability to cope with problems that require more
time rather than stopping the entire production line
 Disadvantage:
 Team assembly is not capable of the high production
rates of a conventional assembly line

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any
form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Automation, Production Systems, and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, Fourth Edition, by Mikell P. Groover.