Line Balancing in Practice

Learning objectives

• Move a bottleneck without slowing the line
• Balance for real operator skill

Steps

1. Draw operation flow and SMVs
2. Compute target cycle time = shift time / target output
3. Assign operations so no station exceeds cycle time
4. Skill-match operators, then re-time

Factory example

A denim line where re-assigning one operation from the bottleneck operator to the next station lifted hourly output by 12%.

Common mistakes

• Balancing on paper without skill match
• Not re-balancing after a change