Ain Shams University Facility Planning

Faculty of Engineering

4th Year Production Design & Prod. Engineering Dept. 2015-2016

Assignment 1 solution
Assembly Line Balancing
1. In a production company, it is wanted to assemble 160 products per day (working time
of 420 min) on a newly established assembly line. Assembly requires performing the
following tasks, where the tasks lengths and the possible sequences are given below:
Task Immediate predecessor Task time (s)
A None 60
B A 80
C None 30
D C 40
E B, D 40
F None 50
G F 100
H D, G 70
I E, H 30
Draw the precedence diagram, then assign tasks to the minimal number of workstations
according to the “Ranked Positional Weight” rule.
B ( ti ,PW)

A ( 60 , 210 )
B ( 80 , 150 ) Task
Task PW
A ( 60 , 210 ) E ( 40 , 70 ) time (s)
A ( 60 , 210 )
A ( 60 , 210 ) I ( 30 , 30 ) A 210 60
A ( 60 , 210 ) D ( 40 , 180 )
A ( 60 , 210 ) B 150 80
C ( 30 , 210 ) A ( 60 , 210 ) H ( 70 , 100 )
C 210 30
G ( 100 , 200 ) A ( 60 , 210 )
A ( 60 , 210 )
D 180 40
F ( 50 , 250 ) A ( 60 , 210 )
E 70 40
A ( 60 , 210 )
F 250 50
Demand = 160 Product /day G 200 100
ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛 H 100 70
7 ∗60 ∗60𝑆𝑒𝑐/𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑑𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
CT = = 157.5 𝑠𝑒𝑐./𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡
160𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡/𝑑𝑎𝑦 I 30 30
𝛴𝑡𝑖 500
Nmin= = = 3.17 ∴ 𝑁𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 4 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠
𝑐 157.5
 After rearrange according to the highest positional Weight

Task
Task PW Predecessor
time (s)

F 250 None 50
A 210 None 60
C 210 None 30
G 200 F 100
D 180 C 40
B 150 A 80
H 100 D, G 70
E 70 B, D 40
I 30 E, H 30

# cumulative unassigned
station Element PW Predecessor Ti station time station
no. X time C-X
F 250 None 50 50 107.5
1 A 210 None 60 110 47.5
C 210 None 30 140 17.5
G 200 F 100 100 57.5
2
D 180 C 40 140 17.5
B 150 A 80 80 77.5
3
H 100 D, G 70 150 7.5
E 70 B, D 40 40 117.5
4
I 30 E, H 30 70 87.5

Efficiency = Total task time / (actual no. of workstation * C.T)

= 1 – Idle time / actual no. of workstation * C.T =

2. For a production of a wooden rocking chair the following tasks need to be taken:
Task Immediate predecessor Task time (s)
A None 90
B A 22
C B 18
D None 100
E D 30
F C 24
G C 24
H E 24
I E 24
J F, G, H, I 16
K J 18
The required production capacity is 250 chairs per day (working time of 420 min).
Draw the precedence diagram. Assign tasks to the minimal number of workstations
according to the “Most Positional Weight Tasks” primary rule and “Longest Task
Time” secondary rule.

A
B C F
A ( 60 , 210 ) A ( 60 , 210 ) A ( 60 , 210
J )
G
A
E A ( 60 , 210
K )
( A ( 60 , 210 )
H
D 60 A ( 60 , 210 ) A ( 60 , 210 )
, A ( 60 , 210 )
A ( 60 , 21
210 ) I
Immediate Task
0 Task PW
A ( 60 , 210 ) predecessor time (s)
)
A None 90 212
B A 22 122
C B 18 100
D None 100 212
E D 30 112
F C 24 58
G C 24 58
H E 24 58
I E 24 58
J F, G, H, I 16 34
K J 18 18
 Rearrange according to the “Most Positional Weight Tasks” primary rule and “Longest
Task Time” secondary rule.

Immediate Task
Task PW
predecessor time (s)
D 212 None 100
A 212 None 90
B 122 A 22
E 112 D 30
C 100 B 18
F 58 C 24
G 58 C 24
H 58 E 24
I 58 E 24
J 34 F, G, H, I 16
K 18 J 18

R= 250 Product /day

𝑚𝑖𝑛.
1 420 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ∗60𝑆𝑒𝑐/𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑑𝑎𝑦
C=𝑅 = = 100.8 𝑠𝑒𝑐./𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡
250𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡/𝑑𝑎𝑦

𝛴𝑡𝑖 250
Nmin= = = 2.48 ∴ 𝑁𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 3 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠
𝑐 100.8

# unassigned
cumulative
station Element PW Predessor ti station time
station time X
no. C-X

1 D 212 None 100 100 0.8

2 A 212 None 90 90 10.8
B 122 A 22 22 78.8
E 112 D 30 52 48.8
3
C 100 B 18 70 30.8
F 58 C 24 94 6.8
G 58 C 24 24 76.8
H 58 E 24 48 52.8
4
I 58 E 24 72 28.8
J 34 F, G, H, I 16 88 12.8
5 K 18 J 18 18 82.8