KNP 4073: Advanced Manufacturing System

(Due date 17 October 2012)

ASSIGNMENT #2 Manual Assembly Lines

(Total marks: 38) Problem 1 Name four factors that favor the use of manual assembly lines. Problem 2 [4 marks] [4 marks]

The theoretical minimum number of workers on an assembly line w* is the minimum integer that is greater than the ratio of the work content time Twc divided by the cycle time Tc. Explain two factors that make it difficult to achieve this minimum value in practice. Problem 3 [5 marks] A manual assembly line has 15 workstations with one operator per station. Work content time to assemble the product = 22 minutes. The production rate of the line = 35 units per hour. Assume that the proportion uptime E = 1.0 and that repositioning time Tr = 6 sec. determine the balance delay. Problem 4 [5 marks] A final assembly plant for a certain automobile model is to have a capacity of 225,000 units annually. The plant will operate 50 wk/yr, 2 shifts/day, 5 day/wk, and 7.5 hr/shift. It will be divided into three departments: 1. Body shop 2. Paint shop 3. Trim-chassis-final department The body shop welds the car bodies using robots, and the paint shop coats the bodies. Both of these departments are highly automated. Trim-chassis-final has no automation. There are 15.0 hr of direct labor content on each car in this third department, where cars are moved by a continuous conveyor. Determine: a) Hourly production rate of the plant b) Number of workers and workstations required in trim-chassis-final is no automated stations are used. The average manning level is 2.5, balancing efficiency=90%, proportion uptime=95%, and repositioning time of 0.15 min is allowed for each worker. Problem 5 [10 marks] Solve Example #4 (in your lecture note) using the Killbridge and Wester method in part (c). Problem 6 [10 marks] Solve Example #4 (in your lecture note) using the ranked positional weights method in part (c). A.Y [Sem 1 2012/2013] Page 1