Extract
Choosing a station loading rule in assembly line design.
ABSTRACT
Paced assembly lines remain the dominant means of efficiently mass producing products such as major appliances and automobiles. Innovations in operating assembly plants make it important to be able to quickly and efficiently balance assembly lines in a practical setting. For example, manufacturers rebalance lines to adjust for demand changes, accommodate specialized equipment, and innovations in work force management. Previous research in assembly line balancing described methods for minimizing the cost of line design under conditions of variable task times. However, there has not been an adequate study of the relative effectiveness of various station loading rules. This paper compares the performance of two commonly used station loading rules in a variety of contexts. The performance of the rules are examined in cases of high and low task time variability, high and low remedial costs when the cycle time is exceeded, 45 and 70 task problems and two actions that can be taken when the cycle time is exceeded. In most of the contexts studied, the probability rule outperformed the percent rule. Significantly, the optim...See the full content of this document
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