Advanced Manufacturing Technology

MECH4012
Module#3
Tutorial#8
Production Lines

Course Coordinator: Dr. M AL Haddad

Lecturer Name: Dr. M AL Haddad
Academic Year: 2020-2021

1
 Manual Assembly Lines

41.1 A manual assembly line is being designed for a product with annual demand =
100,000 units. The line will operate 50 wks/year, 5 shifts/wk, and 7.5 hr/shift. Work
units will be attached to a continuously moving conveyor. Work content time = 42.0
min. Assume line efficiency = 0.97, balancing efficiency = 0.92, and repositioning
time = 6 sec. Determine (a) hourly production rate to meet demand, (b) number of
workers required, and (c) the number of workstations required if the estimated
manning level is 1.4.

41.2 A manual assembly line produces a small appliance whose work content time =
25.9 min. Desired production rate = 50 units/hr. Repositioning time = 6 sec, line
efficiency = 95%, and balancing efficiency is 93%. How many workers are on the
line?

41.3 A single model manual assembly line produces a product whose work content
time = 47.8 min. The line has 24 workstations with a manning level = 1.25. Available
shift time per day = 8 hr, but downtime during the shift reduces actual production
time to 7.6 hr on average. This results in an average daily production of 256
units/day. Repositioning time per worker is 8% of cycle time. Determine (a) line
efficiency, (b) balancing efficiency, and (c) repositioning time.

41.4 A final assembly plant for a certain automobile model is to have a capacity of
240,000 units annually. The plant will operate 50 weeks/yr, two shifts/day, 5
days/week, and 8.0 hours/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 15.5 hours of
direct labor content on each car in this 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 if no automated stations are
used, the average manning level is 2.5, balancing efficiency = 93%, proportion
uptime = 95%, and a repositioning time of 0.15 min is allowed for each worker.

41.5 A product whose total work content time = 50 minutes is to be assembled on a

manual production line. The required production rate is 30 units per hour. From
previous experience with similar products, it is estimated that the manning level will
be close to 1.5. Assume that the uptime proportion and line balancing efficiency are
both = 1.0. If 9 seconds will be lost from the cycle time for repositioning, determine
(a) the cycle time, and (b) how many workers and (c) stations will be needed on the
line?

41.6 A manual assembly line has 17 workstations with one operator per station.
Total work content time to assemble the product = 22.2 minutes. The production rate

2
 of the line = 36 units per hour. A synchronous transfer system is used to advance the
products from one station to the next, and the transfer time = 6 seconds. The
workers remain seated along the line. Proportion uptime = 0.90. Determine the
balance efficiency.

41.7 A production line with four automatic workstations (the other stations are
manual) produces a certain product whose total assembly work content time = 55.0
min of direct manual labor. The production rate on the line is 45 units/hr. Because of
the automated stations, uptime efficiency = 89%. The manual stations each have
one worker. It is known that 10% of the cycle time is lost due to repositioning. If the
balancing efficiency = 0.92 on the manual stations, find (a) cycle time, (b) number of
workers and (c) workstations on the line. (d) What is the average manning level on
the line, where the average includes the automatic stations?

41.8 Production rate for a certain assembled product is 47.5 units per hour. The total
assembly work content time = 32 minutes of direct manual labor. The line operates
at 95% uptime. Ten workstations have two workers on opposite sides of the line so
that both sides of the product can be worked on simultaneously. The remaining
stations have one worker. Repositioning time lost by each worker is 0.2 min/cycle. It
is known that the number of workers on the line is two more than the number
required for perfect balance. Determine (a) number of workers, (b) number of
workstations, (c) the balancing efficiency, and (d) average manning level.

41.9 The total work content for a product assembled on a manual production line is
48 min. The work is transported using a continuous overhead conveyor which
operates at a speed of 3 ft/min. There are 24 workstations on the line, one-third of
which have two workers; the remaining stations each have one worker.
Repositioning time per worker is 9 sec, and uptime efficiency of the line is 95%. (a)
What is the maximum possible hourly production rate if line is assumed to be
perfectly balanced? (b) If the actual production rate is only 92% of the maximum
possible rate determined in part (a), what is the balance efficiency on the line?

Automated Production Lines

41.11 An automated transfer line has 20 stations and operates with an ideal cycle
time of 1.50 min. Probability of a station failure = 0.008 and average downtime when
a breakdown occurs is 10.0 minutes. Determine (a) the average production rate and
(b) the line efficiency.

41.12 A dial-indexing table has 6 stations. One station is used for loading and
unloading, which is accomplished by a human worker. The other five perform
processing operations. The longest process takes 25 sec and the indexing time = 5
sec. Each station has a frequency of failure = 0.015. When a failure occurs it takes

3
 an average of 3.0 min to make repairs and restart. Determine (a) hourly production
rate and (b) line efficiency.

41.13 A 7-station transfer line has been observed over a 40-hour period. The
process times at each station are as follows: station 1, 0.80 min; station 2, 1.10 min;
station 3, 1.15 min; station 4, 0.95 min; station 5, 1.06 min; station 6, 0.92 min; and
station 7, 0.80 min. The transfer time between stations = 6 sec. The number of
downtime occurrences = 110, and hours of downtime = 14.5 hours. Determine (a)
the number of parts produced during the week, (b) the average actual production
rate in parts/hour, and (c) the line efficiency. (d) If the balancing efficiency were
computed for this line, what would its value be?

40.14 A 12-station transfer line was designed to operate with an ideal production rate
= 50 parts/hour. However, the line does not achieve this rate, since the line efficiency
= 0.60. It costs $75/hour to operate the line, exclusive of materials. The line operates
4000 hours per year. A computer monitoring system has been proposed that will cost
$25,000 (installed) and will reduce downtime on the line by 25%. If the value added
per unit produced = $4.00, will the computer system pay for itself within one year of
operation. Use expected increase in revenues resulting from the computer system as
the criterion. Ignore material costs in your calculations.

40.15 An automated transfer line is to be designed. Based on previous experience,

the average downtime per occurrence = 5.0 min, and the probability of a station
failure that leads to a downtime occurrence p = 0.01. The total work content time =
9.8 min and is to be divided evenly amongst the workstations, so that the ideal cycle
time for each station = 9.8/n. Determine (a) the optimum number of stations n on the
line that will maximize production rate, and (b) the production rate and proportion
uptime for your answer to part (a).