National Institute of Technology Agartala

Department of Mathematics

Lecture Note number 02

On
Operations Research for MBA 2nd Semester

The following topics I will teach you and rest of the syllabus will be covered by Dr. Abhijit Baidya Sir.

1. Layout designing, product, process & cellular layout, assembly line balancing, service layouts.
2. Aggregate plans and master production schedules, MRP, MRP II, lot-sizing, MPS, operations scheduling,
priority rules & techniques, work centre & personnel scheduling.
3. Inventory management, types, models, systems, inventory control.
4. Fundamentals of quality management, TQM philosophy, introduction to six-sigma
5. Design and use SQC charts [process capability, x-bar, R, p and c-charts, acceptance sampling.
6. Facets of world class manufacturing, lean manufacturing aspects

1. Define assembly line balancing? Write its uses.

Assembly Line production is one of the widely used production systems. The problem of Assembly Line
Balancing deals with the minimization of the number of workstations, minimization of cycle time, the maximization
of workload smoothness, The maximization of work relatedness It is used to assemble quickly large numbers of a
uniform product. Originally, assembly lines were developed for a cost efficient mass production of standardized
products, designed to exploit a high specialization of labour and the associated learning effects

Thus, line balancing technique is used to achieve:

OR
Technical benefits of line balancing technique:
(i) Minimization of the number of workstations for a given cycles.
(ii) Minimization of cycle time for a given number of numbers of workstations.
(iii) Minimizing the balance delay (or) maximizing the balancing efficiency.
(iv) the maximization of workload smoothness;
(v) The maximization of work relatedness.
(vi) Minimizing the total idle time.
(Idle Time  Unused or non-functioning time)
(vii) Minimizing the overall facility or line length.

2. What are main types of assembly line balancing? Explain Briefly.

There are many different types of assembly line systems some common variations include the classic
automated intermittent and lean manufacturing models. These assembly line systems are often used for making
different types of products. Assembly lines have some shared characteristics. Following are the main types of
assembly line balancing in operation research:

i. Single model assembly line

Single model assembly line is a type of assembly line in which assemblers work on the same
product.

ii. Mixed Model assembly line

In mixed-model production is the practice of assembling several distinct models of a product
on the same assembly line without changeovers and then sequencing those models in a way that
smoothes the demand for upstream components. Setup times between models could be reduced
sufficiently enough to be ignored, so that intermixed model sequences can be assembled on the same
line. In spite of the tremendous efforts to make production systems more versatile, this usually
requires very homogeneous production processes.

iii. Minimum rational work element.

It is an indivisible element of work, or natural minimum work unit, beyond which assembly
work cannot be divided rationally.
 iv. Cycle Time (CT)
Cycle Time may be defined as the ratio between the effective time available per period and
the production volume per period.
Effective time available = (Time per period) X per period (%Utilization of period)

3. What are the objectives of assembly line balancing?

The aims and objectives of the assembly line balancing are as follows:-
i. To reduce production cost and improve productivity.
ii. To determine number of feasible workstation.
iii. To identify the location of bottleneck and eliminate them.
iv. To determine machinery and equipment according to assembly mechanism.
v. To equally distribute the workloads among workmen to the assembly line.
vi. To optimize the production functions through construction of mix form of automation assembly
and manual assembly.
vii. To minimize the total amount of idle time and equivalently minimizing the number of operators
to do a given amount of work at a given assembly line speed.

4. What do you mean by service layouts?

The major factors considered for service providers, is an impact of location on sales and customer
satisfaction. Customers usually look about how close a service facility is, particularly if the process requires
considerable customer contact. Hence, service facility layouts should provide for easy entrance to these facilities
from the freeways. Well-organized packing areas, easily accessible facilities, well designed walkways and
parking areas are some of the requirements of service facility layout.

5. Give an example of service layouts?

Service facility layout will be designed based on degree of customer contact and the service
needed by a customer. These service layouts follow conventional layouts as required.

For example,
a) Car service station, product layout is adopted, where the activities for servicing a car follows a
sequence of operation irrespective of the type of car.

b) Hospital service is the best example for adaptation of process layout.

Here, the service required for a customer will follow an independent path.
If possible click on the following links for more details:

https://www.slideshare.net/Hiwa2314/line-balancing-61515224

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