Consider the following tasks that must be assigned to four workers on a conveyor
ID: 343061 • Letter: C
Question
Consider the following tasks that must be assigned to four workers on a conveyor-paced assembly line (i.e., a machinepaced line flow). Each worker must perform at least one task.
Time to Complete Task (seconds):
Task 1: 27
Task 2: 25
Task 3: 15
Task 4: 21
Task 5: 15
Task 6: 20
Task 7: 54
Task 8: 15
Task 9: 20
Task 10:25
Task 11: 15
Task 12: 20
The current conveyor--paced assembly-line configuration assigns the workers in the following way:
• Worker 1: Tasks1, 2, 3
• Worker 2: Tasks 4, 5, 6
• Worker 3: Tasks 7, 8, 9
• Worker 4: Tasks 10, 11, 12
Assume a demand rate of 19 units per minute. What would be the target manpower?
Explanation / Answer
Let us call :
Tasks 1, 2 and 3 as workstation 1 managed by worker 1
Tasks 4, 5 and 6 as workstation 2 managed by worker 2
Tasks 7,8 and 9 as workstation 3 managed by workers 3
Tasks 10,11 and 12 as workstation 4 managed by worker 4
Throughput time of workstation 1 = 27 + 25 + 15 = 67 seconds
Throughput time of workstation 2 = 21 + 15 + 20 = 56 seconds
Throughput time of workstation 3 = 54 + 15 + 20 = 89 seconds
Throughput time of workstation 4 = 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 seconds
Thus , bottleneck workstation will be workstation 3 and that will decide the cycle time of the whole conveyor line.
Thus cycle time of conveyor line under current arrangement = 89 seconds
However, required demand rate = 19 units/ minute
Or, required cycle time = 60 seconds / 19 units = 60/19 seconds per unit
The target manpower for any workstation will be
= Current throughput time/ Required cycle time ( rounded to higher whole number )
Target manpower for workstation 1 = 67/ (60/19) = 21.21 ( 22 rounded to next higher whole number)
Target manpower for workstation 2 = 56/ ( 60/19) = 17.73 ( 18 rounded to nearest whole number)
Target manpower for workstation 3 = 89/ ( 60/19) = 28.18 ( 29 rounded to nearest whole number )
Target manpower for workstation 4 = 60 / ( 60/19) = 19
Cumulative target manpower
= Sum of target manpower in 4 workstations
= 22 + 18 + 29 + 19
= 88
TARGET MANPOWER = 88 workers
TARGET MANPOWER = 88 workers