Increasing efficiency of assembly lines through computer integration, dynamic balancing and wage incentive

Abstract The traditional approach to mass production is to implement a product-oriented production process. The work to be performed is divided among workstations along a paced line in such a way that the operator in each station repeats the same set of work elements or tasks on each unit of the product. A modified version of the paced assembly line is emerging: The line is paced, but the time that a unit spends at the workstations varies. The line movement is controlled by computer, which is programmed to move the line only after all the stations have finished the work elements assigned to them. The conceptual outline of this approach is presented and discussed in this paper.