What Is Line Balancing & How to Achieve It 

What is Line Balancing in Manufacturing? 

Line balancing is an approach in which worker and equipment time balancing is performed to balance the takt time with the production rate. Takt time is the rate at which goods should be manufactured so customer demands are met. 

For any assembly line, if the time of production is equal to the takt time, it is completely balanced. Else, there must be changes made to decrease bottlenecks or decrease extra tasks. In simple words, the number of machines and workers assigned to each process in the production line must be rearranged to meet the required rate. 

Advantages of Line Balancing 

Line balancing has many benefits, it helps in reducing time, inventory costs, and much more. Here are four benefits of Line Balancing for your organization. 

1. Minimize Waiting Waste 

Waiting is among the eight types of wastes in Lean manufacturing. Any idle time in the production line which occurs when tasks are not properly synchronized is waiting waste. For example, when workers are waiting for materials or for the previous task to finish it is considered a waste of time. The time when equipment is not operating is also a waste. In such a case, line balancing makes sure that workers and equipment work in a balanced way. It ensures that everything is optimized and there is nothing idle or overburdened. It minimizes the downtime and reduces the waste waiting. 

2. Decrease Inventory Waste 

Inventory is also a waste. If there are extra raw materials, unfinished products, or extra finished products, all fall under inventory waste. It shows unproductive distribution of capital. Line balancing helps in avoiding extra production or build-ups on the production line. It reduces the idle time and makes sure that the work in progress is decreased. It brings production and takt times closer and guarantees delivery of products without delays. 

3. Remove Internal and External Variabilities 

Line balancing minimized variations in the line. A balanced assembly line is one which can adapt to any customer demands and changes in production. If the customer demand changes, then takt time is changes and if the line is balanced, the company can quickly realign all tasks and complete the order. Line balancing helps in predicting the impact of the changes being made on the production line and makes it easy to alter the line as per production demands. 

4. Decrease Production Costs and Maximise Profits 

If workers and machines are performing in a fully synchronised way, then it means the line balancing is perfect. There are no idle times and workers are being paid for their work. All equipment is being used to their full capacity. In simple words, the potential of workers and equipment is maximised. This allows the production line to have lower costs and more profits. 

Further, benefits of line balancing could be found in the flowchart below:

How To Achieve Line Balancing? 

Achieving line balancing is not extremely difficult. However, you need to perform a few things to achieve a perfectly balanced production line. These include: 

1. Calculating Takt Time 

The aim of line balancing is to synchronise takt time and production rate. So, knowing your company’s takt time is important. Calculating takt time is easy, you have to divide available production time with customer time, or you can always use online calculators. 

2. Performing Time Studies 

Calculate the time required to complete each operation within the production line. This is time studies where we find the time workers and machines spend on a task. You can calculate it through a stopwatch, or you can use applications like Dropslab Sense. The modern IoT and cloud computing have changed the way data is being collected and stored. Sensors and applications allow workers and organizations to automatically perform time studies. It also removes any human errors or sample size effect on the readings. 

3. Identifying Bottlenecks and Excess Capacity 

To analyse data from the time studies, you have to focus on tasks which are longer than the takt time. If a task is taking longer than takt time, it means there will be unsatisfied customers, late deliveries, and high costs for transportation. If there are tasks that take less time than takt time, then there will be unwanted bulk production. 

4. Reallocating Resources 

First finalise the sequence in which tasks will be performed. Create a Precedence Diagram. For example, if a part is required in a specific stage, make sure it is produced before that task occurs. Then, arrange the tasks again to minimize bottlenecks and excess capacity. For instance, move workers and machines from excess capacity to bottleneck areas so the work can be done fast. This will help in reducing waste and improve production flow at bottlenecks. 

Organise simple tasks into groups which reduces the workers’ idle time, so machines and equipment are used to their maximum capacity. Divide the workload between workers in a logical way, keeping in mind the performance data of the workers. To achieve line balancing, in an ideal situation, all tasks must take the same amount of time to complete. Check the number of workstations. If there are extra and line balancing is creating excess capacity in your production line, then either group or remove workstations. 

If there are multiple workers performing one task after another, then try to make sure that there is no imbalance between workloads and workers. The tasks should be arranged and distributed properly to help increase output at the required time. 

5. Making Other Upgrades 

Perform analysis of quantitative data to find out other areas of improvement in your production line. For example, use Dropslab Sense’s failure catalog to identify the issues in your production line and remove bottlenecks. To improve your processes, you can play with three parameters which include machine time, worker time, and setup time. Using digital work instructions and workflow management applications like Dropslab Sense can help in completing tasks fast with less or no errors. This helps in balancing the production line, minimizing issues and increasing output and profits. 

Conclusion

Line balancing has a lot of industrial importance, and it helps in optimizing processes. By improving the efficiency of production lines, organizations can minimize Lean manufacturing wastes and increase their value. Book a demo with us to learn how you can minimise waste and enhance your production efficiency by using easy to use industrial applications.