Lean Six Sigma organizations can streamline their operations to be more efficient and/or effective using lean manufacturing techniques. Lean focuses on minimizing batch size, work-
Lean Six Sigma organizations can streamline their operations to be more efficient and/or effective using lean manufacturing techniques. Lean focuses on minimizing batch size, work-in-process inventory, lead time, and bottlenecks. It utilizes pull scheduling systems to dictate the flow of products and services.
Line Balancing, also known as heijunka in Japanese, is a lean tool that helps with several of these issues at once by reorganizing operations and resources to match the Takt time established by the customer.
You are working on an improvement project where there are three problems: the total cycle time (TCT) per unit is higher than the Takt time for some of the operations, there is some non-utilized resources waste visible at some of the production stations (station downtime), and there is transportation waste visible with people moving parts back and forth all over the place from station to station for the next operation. You will use line balancing to tackle all three of these problems.
Before you begin, be sure to review the following resources:
- Line Balancing
WATCH THIS VIDEO
Download the Line Balancing template here.
Your Line Balancing document must include:
- All 18 Operation Blocks Inside the Green Block
- All 16 Operations Arranged in Chronological Order
- No Resizing of Any Blocks (blocks have dimensions so any tampering will be evident)
Line Balancing – Before
Student Name
Instructions:
Look at the existing production process below before line balancing. You can see that Operation (OP)5 and OP9 are exceeding the Takt time dictated by the customer because they are taller than the green dotted line.
You can also see that there is some unused green space representing non-utilized resources waste between parts being processed at each station. E.g., Station 1 has 20 seconds of downtime between parts.
There are also 16 stations being used, which means there are 15 instances of transportation waste moving parts from one station to the next.
Proceed to the next slide to complete the line balancing activity.
OP1
OP2
OP3
OP7
OP4
OP8
OP9
OP10
OP5
OP6
OP11
OP12
OP13
OP14
OP15
OP16
Total Cycle Time per Unit
Takt Time = 30 seconds
STATION 1
STATION 2
STATION 3
STATION 4
STATION 5
STATION 6
STATION 7
STATION 8
STATION 9
STATION 10
STATION 11
STATION 12
STATION 13
STATION 14
STATION 15
STATION 16
Line Balancing – After
Student Name
Instructions:
Your improvement project team has already reduced the total cycle time (TCT) per unit for OP5 by splitting it up so that it is being run on 2 machines at once.
The team has also reduced the TCT for OP9 by splitting it up so that it is being done by 2 people at once. The blocks for OP5 and OP9 have been duplicated and resized accordingly. This means that all operations are now within the Takt time.
Your team still needs to reduce non-utilized resources waste and transportation waste. Reducing the amount of green space leftover will reduce non-utilized resources waste. Reducing the number of stations being used will reduce transportation waste. Rearrange the blocks on the right to fit inside the green rectangle below. Operations must be shown in order, but you can stack them vertically in order from bottom to top as needed. Do not resize any blocks. All blue blocks must be used.
Takt Time = 30 seconds
Total Cycle Time per Unit
STATION 1
STATION 2
STATION 3
STATION 4
STATION 5
STATION 6
STATION 7
STATION 8
STATION 9
STATION 10
STATION 11
OP1
OP2
OP3
OP7
OP4
OP8
OP9
PERSON 1
OP10
OP5
MACHINE 1
OP6
OP11
OP12
OP13
OP14
OP15
OP16
OP5
MACHINE 2
OP9
PERSON 2
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