A computer simulation approach to evaluating assembly line balancing with variable operation times

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a computer simulation model to evaluate the bowl phenomenon and the allocation at the end of the line of stations with either greater mean operation times or higher variability of operation times.Design/methodology/approach – The model was developed on the basis of a realistic case problem and applied to a six‐station assembly line. The evaluation criteria were the: minimization of the total elapsed time; maximization of the average percentage of working time; and minimization of the average time in the system.Findings – The performance of an assembly line with independently normally distributed operation times could be improved by applying the bowl phenomenon. The allocation of large operation mean times to stations located near the end of the line did not produce improved results. Instead a more balanced allocation proved to be more significantly effective. On the other hand, the assignment of larger variability of operation times to the stations near th...

[1]  Jacob Rubinovitz,et al.  A weighted approach for assembly line design with station paralleling and equipment selection , 2003 .

[2]  Ramazan Yaman.  An assembly line design and construction for a small manufacturing company , 2008 .

[3]  Cathal Heavey,et al.  On the workload and 'phaseload' allocation problems of short reliable production lines with finite buffers , 2005, Comput. Ind. Eng..

[4]  Ray Wild,et al.  A note on the operating characteristics of‘ balanced’ and ‘ unbalanced’ production flow lines , 1972 .

[5]  Kut C. So,et al.  Some data for applying the bowl phenomenon to large production line systems , 1993 .

[6]  Diomidis Spinellis,et al.  Large production line optimization using simulated annealing , 2000 .

[7]  Syed H. Masood.  Line balancing and simulation of an automated production transfer line , 2006 .

[8]  Kelvin C. W. So,et al.  The effect of the coefficient of variation of operation times on the allocation of storage space in , 1991 .

[9]  Wen-Chyuan Chiang,et al.  An optimal piecewise-linear program for the U-line balancing problem with stochastic task times , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[10]  Frederick S. Hillier,et al.  On the optimal design of tandem queueing systems with finite buffers , 1995, Queueing Syst. Theory Appl..

[11]  F. Hillier,et al.  On the Optimal Allocation of Work in Symmetrically Unbalanced Production Line Systems with Variable Operation Times , 1979 .

[12]  Sabry Shaaban,et al.  Improving the efficiency of unpaced production lines by unbalancing service time means , 2009 .

[13]  M. M. Nkasu,et al.  A stochastic approach to assembly line balancing , 1995 .

[14]  P. De La Wyche,et al.  The Design of Imbalanced Series Queue Flow Lines , 1977 .

[15]  Ray Wild,et al.  The nonsteady-state performance of unpaced manual assembly lines , 1980 .

[16]  R. Pike,et al.  The bowl phenomenon in unpaced lines , 1994 .

[17]  Horst Tempelmeier,et al.  Practical considerations in the optimization of flow production systems , 2003 .

[18]  Kut C. So,et al.  On the efficiency of unbalancing production lines , 1989 .

[19]  Nori Prakasa Rao,et al.  On the mean production rate of a two-stage production system of the tandem type , 1975 .

[20]  Alberto Portioli-Staudacher,et al.  Integrating inspection-policy design in assembly-line balancing , 2006 .

[21]  H. L. Ong,et al.  A bidirectional heuristic for stochastic assembly line balancing Type II problem , 2005 .

[22]  N. P. Rao.  Two-Stage Production Systems with Intermediate Storage , 1975 .

[23]  Hon-Shiang Lau,et al.  A decision support system for the design of unpaced production lines , 1986 .

[24]  Nori Prakasa Rao,et al.  A generalization of the ‘bowl phenomenon’ in series production systems , 1976 .

[25]  Rob Pooley,et al.  Simulation as a Means of Solving the Buffer Capacity Problem for Flow Line Production , 1997 .

[26]  William C. Perkins,et al.  Stochastic unpaced line design: Review and further experimental results , 1985 .

[27]  Hon-Shiang Lau,et al.  Allocating work to a two-stage production system with interstage buffer , 1994 .

[28]  Diomidis Spinellis,et al.  Analysis and Design of Discrete Part Production Lines , 2009, Optimization and its applications.

[29]  Frederick S. Hillier,et al.  Toward characterizing the optimal allocation of storage space in production line systems with variable processing times , 1993 .