Balancing Operations to Meet Your Needs

For our example, we will pretend that we have historically used ten people to produce 150 widgets per shift in the past; and we now want to determine the number of people required to produce only 80 widgets per shift.
 
Steps to Line Balancing

1. Identify labor content and standards - The first step in Line Balancing is to determine the labor content and time duration for completing all activities required to complete the task.  For more information on how this is done, please refer to Epicenter's newsletter of October 2008 on Labor Standards.
   1. Example:  We identify twenty steps to build a Widget which require 23.8 minutes of activity time.
2. Determine the production rate - This represents the rate for producing finished product and is calculated by: Time Available for Making Product/ Finished Production Required.
   1. Example: We have one shift (420 working minutes) in which to make 80 widgets = 420/80 = 5.25 minutes per widget while running the line.
3. Determine the "ideal" number of people required - This is calculated by dividing the total amount of activity time (#1) by the production rate required (#2).
   1. Example: We need to make a widget (23.8 minutes of activity) every 5.25 minutes = 23.8/5.25 = 4.5 people required.
4. Assign tasks to people - This final step is to assign specific activities to individuals so that their overall assignments are less than or equal to the required production rate.
   1. Example: After a review of the layout and activities, it was determined that five people would be required to meet the production needs; and the activities were assigned as shown on the table to the right.

Considerations:

• A key to flexible staffing levels is the use of visual tools, operator instruction sheets and a work force that is cross-trained to complete a variety of tasks.
• Part of the final step must include a consideration of the work station, work cell or assembly line layout. 
• To allow for flexibility, many organizations create equipment layouts that are conducive to flexible staffing scenarios (U-shaped work cells, for example).
• A variable speed conveyor can sometimes be used to adjust the work pace for assembly line operations (at different staffing levels).
• There are a number of techniques that can be used to help maintain the work balance to handle unplanned disruptions within work cells.  Please contact us if you would like more information concerning these methods.