Line Balancing

First shift employees at Harley-Davidson work from 6am to 2pm Monday through Friday. Everyone on the motorcycle assembly line is allowed a 30 minute lunch and two 20 minute breaks, but other cross-trained associates cover lunches and breaks for the associates on the assembly line so the line doesn’t stop. The processes of the assembly line have the following dependencies:

Task                           Predecessor                          Average Time (sec)

A                                 none                                          30

B                                 A                                                   35

C                                 B                                                   15

D                                 A                                                   30

E                                  D                                                   20

F                                  E                                                    60

G                                 C, F                                              10

H                                 G                                                   10

The Plant Manager needs first shift to achieve an output of 350 motorcycles.

A) Compute the Takt time for the line.

B) What is the theoretical minimum number of workstations?

C) Draw the precedence diagram, and then create work stations. Follow the “most following tasks” heuristic rule to assign these tasks to the work stations. Show which tasks are assigned to each workstation.

D) Compute the efficiency and percent idle time for the system.