SSRG International Journal of Industrial Engineering (SSRG-IJIE) – volume 2 Issue 4–July to August 2015
Study of Line Balancing on Audi B8 Cable Assembly Line
Dr.K.L.Neeraj kumar, Sukhdev singh
Associate Professor, Student,
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal
ABSTRACT:This
paper adopts a different
approach combining lean industrialized, line
balancing and layout enhancement to useful
improvements in the production on the HVAC it
means Heating, ventilating and air conditioning
AUDI B8 Cable gathering line of cable assembly
manufacturing company for automobile industry.
Ainclusive methodology is adapted to methodically
analysis and effect productivity improvements. A pilot
study of the assembly line is done to approximation
line imbalance. This is followed by waste (MUDA)
identification and elimination and debottlenecking to
balance the line and optimize the exploitation of
resources. Adjustment in layout is effected to switch
over from batch and queue system to single piece
flow. The outcomes of implementation are
summarized in the termination part of the paper.
Keywords: Line Balancing, Wire Harness Assembly,
MUDA.
I.
INTRODUCTION
The company is occupied in the congregation of
HVAC cables, Steering wheel cables, Air-Bag cables,
Sensor cable assemblies abounding to the Original
Equipment Manufacturers in automobile industry.
OEM hardware and software is packaged for
distribution to companies who build systems. These
companies are the original equipment manufacturers.
This is why OEM products are usually sold in a
generic box or wrapper instead of retail packaging.
They’re not meant to ever be on store shelves.And
they’re usually not. Most retail stores never sell OEM
products. Online stores don’t care about retail
packaging, however, so they’re more than happy to
stock up on these products and sell them to
customers. Online retailers know that there are plenty
of bargain hunters looking for the lowest price
possible.
A mainstream of these products happen to be of
high volume of low variety type and fall in the ATO
that is assembled to order category. The company has
32 assembly lines from which 12 are committed to
ISSN: 2349 - 9362
HVAC cable assembly.Out of these 12 assembly
lines, Audi B8 HVAC cable assembly line was
preferred for production improvement being one of
the highest runner lines. Audi B8 HVAC connect has
four dissimilar variants fashioned on two dedicated
lines. The one line only one high runner paper was
produced while the enduring three parts on the other
line. Apparatusnecessary for the assembly of Audi
B8 HVAC cable are crimped leads, tapes, housings,
back cover, body clip & splice leads. The company
was facing problems due to increased demand,
extreme back tracking of material, unnecessary
assembly line, huge in-process inventories
underutilization of human resources and delays in
deliveries. The most important source of these wastes
was batch and get in line process.
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
makes apparatus or instruments that are then
marketed by its client, another manufacturer or a
reseller, frequently under that reseller's own name.
An OEM it kind of complete devices or just certain
components either of which can then be constructed
by the reseller. Automobile manufacturer that uses an
OEM's components in the production of the cars it
makes and sells. Initially OEM was an adjective only
used to designate a company that produced items,
usually hardware or component parts, to be marketed
under another company's brand. While this is still the
norm OEMs have begun in current years to sell their
products more widely and in some cases directly to
the public. Expansions within the computer industry
have played a role in this expansion. As people
indicate to upgrade their PCs with new parts, they
wish to do so by obtaining replacement parts that
have been produced by the same manufacturer that
made the formerly installed item. The statement in
this case is that components and other processed
items may work better or fit better if they come from
the OEM. They are more possible to meet the
creative standards and product conditions established
for the product. OEM parts can be distinguished to
other replacement parts that may be referred to as
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SSRG International Journal of Industrial Engineering (SSRG-IJIE) – volume 2 Issue 4–July to August 2015
functionally equivalent or of like kind and
quality.Today component parts and handled items are
becoming branded and as such their names are
becoming well-known by consumers. In the past
these apparatuses were processed from raw materials
and became part of a finished product without the
consumer ever becoming aware of who made the
component. In most casesconsumers did not care as
long as the product worked as expected. But times
have changed. Consumers upgrading their computers
today for example may specify a new processor made
by an OEM company that they respect like that Intel,
and may request the processing power of the OEM's
latest release, like the Pentium 4.
2.1 Pilot study of Audi B8 HVAC cable assembly
line
A walk-through on Audi B8 HVAC
assembly line supported to recognize the process in
terms of work content that is manual and machine,
sequence of operations and cycle time on each
workstation. A comprehensive time study accurately
appraised production possibility and the extent of line
imbalance. Cycle time was recorded for five cycles.
It is based on the monthly demand like that takt time
for present demand and target rate were calculated.
The actions at the bottleneck stations were further
characterized into value-added and non-value-added
activities. The primary focus was on rejection of nonvalue-added activities.
A component part that isa computer's processor,
include items that go into the association of the final
product. Other examples include CD-ROM drives
included in personal computersair bags in cars, and
motors for appliances. Consumers are also charming
interested in the component materials stipulations and
manufacturers of such items as wire, paper, textiles,
or cement.Example of General Motors recommended
that consumers request Good wrench parts when
replacements are needed for a GM vehicle. We offer
a full line of products that are fully designed and
industrial to challenging standards specifically for
your GM vehicle.
II.
Table 1 shows complete cycle time study for
workstation 1. The typical and lowest cycle time for
each of the four operations and entire workstation is
shown along with the classification of each operation
into value-added and non-value-added. Similar
calculations are done for all eleven workstations on
the assembly line. Line of balance (LOB) ratio is also
shown in the table. Workstation 7 with maximum
cycle time (64.67 sec) is bottleneck station. The table
also shows the 7 wastes popularly abbreviated as that
is Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting,
Overproduction, over processing and Defect that are
observed at individual workstations. Figure 1
showsthe Present Method of Cycle Time Analysis
with respect to Takt Time increasing the work
content as each workstation and reduce some
workstations.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology used for enlargement it is given below,
- Pilot study of Audi B8 HVAC cable
assembly line
- Bottleneck identification & elimination
- Line balancing & resource optimization
No
Operation
1
Take sub & Br/Bk wire
2
Laying of Sub
3
4
No of cycles
Average
Minimum
VA/NVA
10.11
10.08
9.36
8.86
9.54
8.86
NVA
29.79
25.84
26.37
30.29
27.17
27.89
25.84
NVA
Take brown wire
7.2
8.6
7.15
6.57
8.32
7.57
6.57
NVA
Laying of brown wire and
insertions
15.66
19.93
16.86
19.94
21.42
18.76
15.66
VA
Average Time
61.95
64.48
60.46
66.16
65.77
63.764
56.93
9.3
Table 1. Cycle time study for work station 1.
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SSRG International Journal of Industrial Engineering (SSRG-IJIE) – volume 2 Issue 4–July to August 2015
manufacturing industry as for example labor, time,
material or machine etc. In general different forms of
bottleneck can be described as below,
Fig 1 Cycle Time Analysis with respect to Takt Time
2.2 Bottleneck identification & elimination
An action which delays the appearance of a system
and diminishes overall efficiency of the process is
known as bottleneck. As for example a
manufacturing company has dissimilar line of
production that isall of them connected to each other
like that the work produced from one unit is the input
for other unit and so on. In this case if one line is
cracked or halted due to some reason than the other
lines of manufacture is directly affected causing
lower level of output as a result of bottleneck.
Fig 2. Example of bottleneck
Here in the above diagram it is seen that the inflow
rate is higher than the outflow rate so that it may be
due to numerous reasons from proposal of the
equipment to assemble and operation of the process,
which helps to reduce the overall efficiency of the
systems. All these constraints of the system are
known as bottleneck.Thus a bottleneck is an obstacle
in the process of manufacturing which controls the
production.There are different types of bottleneck in
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2.2.1 People constraints: People are one of the most
significant factors of the construction and
problematic to manage in an effective way. In any
industrial unit there are different people working
together with different experience, background and
educational qualification. Every people have their
own way of motive towards work. So in aindustrial
unit dissimilar constraints of bottleneck can be due to
union problem, illness, unexpected vacancy, hiring
and training problems etc.
2.2.2 Material constraints: Construction capacity is
extremely affected by the poor management of
inventory, inadequate forecast, incompetent supplier,
poor production planning, inadequate finance,
changing product mix etc. All of these factors may
cause inappropriate flow of materials resulting
reduction in overall production capacity and
increasing lead time.
2.2.3 Equipment constraints: Equipment for
manufacturing should meet the current demand. The
machines and apparatus should be flexible to expand
in order to meetfuture demand, but sometimes due to
unsuitable planning, brakedown of machine,
unavailability of spareparts, improper maintenance,
low level of infrastructure machines and equipment’s
becomes a constraint of manufacturing.
2.2.4 Process constraints: Process constraints is one
of the important manufacturing unit can be due to
excellence problems, insufficient resources, poor
plant layout and inflexible process that is not able to
change according to time and market demand. The
constraints can occurs anywhere in the process,
supply chain, customer, supplier etc. Hence any kind
of problems affecting entire output of the system is
known as process constraints.
2.2.5
Management
constraints:
Effective
management resourcesimproved performance of
resulting in higher output and profit. Complete
management of a manufacturing unit should comply
with aim and objective of the company. Occasionally
the management is not be able to meet the needs of
the system and becomes a constraint causing
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SSRG International Journal of Industrial Engineering (SSRG-IJIE) – volume 2 Issue 4–July to August 2015
dissimilar problems like demotivation of employee,
ineffective flow of material and information etc.
2.2.6 Policy constraints: Policy of aindustrial unit
should meet the goal of company it should be
obviously defined o what actions are to be taken at
what conditions. Normally the management is
notable to define all the issue in specific way; this
may leads to a constraint in manufacturing.It is the
most common form of constraint.
2.27
Environmental
constraint:
Operating
environment of any business includes competitor’s
activities, rules and principles formulated by
government, labour law, union law, customer
demands & expectation, economic situation,
scientific improvement, development in infrastructure
etc. At the same time the firm should bear the social
responsibilities. These all factors affecting the
activities of business are called environmental
constraints.
A common barrier that we deal with at First Edge
Solutions is industrial bottlenecks. Define a
bottleneck as any obstacle within the manufacturing
team’s control that can prevent work from graceful
through our accommodations better, faster, and more
cost effective than anybody else. In spiritwe can only
get as much throughput as our smallest bottleneck
will allow. The identification or implementation
process is a fine balance. It is easiest to identify
a singular process that is producing a bottleneck in
the manufacturing workflow when the facility is
operating at full capacity. Thoughintroducing a
change to the process to correct the bottleneck is best
done throughout a manufacturing lull to avoid
creating confusion.
Fig 3. Manufacturing bottleneck
2.3 Line balancing & resource optimization
Line balancing is the imperative tool to reducing
production time, maximizing the output or
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minimizing the cost of a product. In other word, line
balancing is one of the most important characteristics
to design the stage for flow-line production
systems.Important data is the details of the process
flow and the cycle time at every workstation. The
traditional line balancing problem consists of
transmission each operation to a workstation such
that the number of workstations is minimized and
preference constraints are satisfied. The sum of time
for all operations of this workstation must not surpass
the given cycle time. The modification between the
cycle time and workstation time is called idle time.
The balance delay time will be minimal if and only if
the number of workstations is minimal too. The dual
problem is minimization of the cycle time for a given
number of workstations.Cultivating bottleneck
workstation is the main objective the line balancing
tool. To accomplish the objective, the cycle time data
at each workstation need to be taken for making the
analysis or sub-graph result which will define the
bottle neck workstation.
There are number of parameters that can be
composed at the workstation which are balance by
time, balance by work content, balance material, and
balance by inventory. Balance by time is denoting to
the cycle time of the workstation. In this term it
desires to utilize the time study method of data
collection. All the time those are involved in the
process will be taken. After that a certain amount of
allowance is given to the process especially for the
physically operated workstation. The second
parameter that can be balanced is the work content.
Some workstations will be balanced effortlessly and
can be left alone. Work content at others will need to
be shifted around or taken out of its original
sequence. New ways of working will be twisted to
make the line flow properly. Balancing by work
content must use the knowledge of operators and
engineers.
Material is one the parameter that can be balanced.
Example of this method can be discussed at the
individual work elements, focus to outsized parts that
require large workstation. While the ideal state,
operators should stay in their workstations without
having to leave for any reason, it may be essential to
allow time for lifting parts or a little walking to
recover them from bins. Small bits of waste like these
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SSRG International Journal of Industrial Engineering (SSRG-IJIE) – volume 2 Issue 4–July to August 2015
will remain in the process for a while. The last
parameter that can be balance is catalogue. While
unnecessary inventory is wastehaving some inventory
can help in line balancing. To balance by inventory,
the new design of the space a workstation to allow an
operator to work on more than one unit. Line
balancing can be done in two method, traditional and
simulation. In the traditional method it will involve
some methods to define the problem. This method is
used in a long time ago. In the modern world now,
the simulation will be used to define the problem and
automatically can solve the problem with the line
balancing. Though there are dissimilar methods in
line balancing tool but both of this method required
the same data collection to done the process.
III.
CONCLUSIONS
It is evident from the enhancementsproduced that
practical line balancing problems often needs indepth examination of work content on the entire line
in order to invention practical solutions that are often
found by reordering the work content across
workstations merging the workstations. The simple
principles of lean such as waste (MUDA)
identification or elimination, cellular approach and
design modifications further supplement the
productivity improvements.
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