Line Balance Analysis
Line Balancing — Optimize Workstation Assignment & Takt Time
Production Parameters
Units to produce per shift
Total available minutes per shift (480 = 8 hours)
A lean manufacturing engineer analyzes the standard time distribution of an 8-station assembly line to identify the bottleneck station (longest cycle time) and waste (waiting time), then calculates Line Balance Efficiency and the theoretical capacity gain after improvement.
Takt Time = 480 min/shift available time / 600 units demand = 0.8 min/unit = 48 sec/unit. Eight station times (sec): 42, 51, 38, 49, 35, 45, 40, 43. Station 2 (51 sec) exceeds Takt Time — it is the bottleneck. Line balance efficiency = Σtime/(stations × bottleneck time) = 343/(8×51) = 84.1%. Improvement target: move a 3-sec task from Station 2 to Station 1, raising efficiency to 89.5%.
FAQFrequently Asked Questions
Related Tools
Bottleneck Analysis
Line balance analyzes efficiency across all stations; bottleneck analysis focuses on identifying and quantifying stations exceeding Takt Time — together they give a full diagnosis of line issues.
Open toolOverall Equipment Effectiveness
Line balance improvement raises the Performance component, contributing directly to OEE — a key part of any lean improvement program.
Open toolDowntime Cost Calculator
Waiting losses from poor line balance are a hidden cost. Use the downtime cost tool to quantify before/after benefits and justify the investment to management.
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