Title: Productivity enhancement by component-oriented line balancing method

Authors: A. John Rajan; E.V.V. Ramanamurthy; Rajdeep Nath; Prashant Kumar

Addresses: Department of Manufacturing Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering (SMEC), VIT University, Vellore – 632014, India ' Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai – 600119, India ' Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai – 600119, India ' Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai – 600119, India

Abstract: The problem of balancing a production line has been one of the typical complications in the field of industrial engineering. An unbalanced production line associates with the downfall in productivity. Since productivity is the 'primus motor' of income in any firm, the above problem cannot be over sighted. In this paper a similar problem is being faced by a company which is unable to cope with the increasing demands of their product. The past data of component manufacturing process, resources required and the time taken is collected, when this data is analysed, constraints are observed in the testing machine of the production line. The elimination of bottleneck in this line is needed in order to escalate the productivity. The intended rate of production is achieved through component-oriented line balancing (COLB) approach. In this method the number of workstations is increased and hence bottle neck is removed. The comparison of the data before and after the implementation of component-oriented line balancing shows a simultaneous improvement in the productivity and reduction of labour cost.

Keywords: component-oriented line balancing; COLB; productivity improvement; automobile; work station; cycle time.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2018.091432

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2018 Vol.29 No.1, pp.31 - 47

Received: 24 Oct 2015
Accepted: 13 Apr 2016
Published online: 01 May 2018 *

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