Authors:
Marlene Brás
1
and
Ana Moura
1
;
2
Affiliations:
1
Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Portugal
;
2
GOVCOPP – Systems for Decision Support Research Group, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Layout Design, Assembly Line Balancing, Systematic Layout Planning, Linear Programming.
Abstract:
In most manufacturing companies, the layout designs and line balancing problems are often based on personal experience and made without following a theoretical methodology. By applying those ad-hoc solutions, various problems may arise when quick changes of capacity or any other constraints occur. This work was developed for a Portuguese SME in the electronics industry, that had some changes at the production level, which caused limitations in terms of space on the factory floor. Furthermore, it was also revealed that an existing production line with high production rates was gradually losing efficiency. Bringing these two issues together, the idea was to design a new plant layout to improve the performance of this production line, considering the new space constraints. To increase the production line efficiency, decisions such as the number of workers and assembly task assignment to stations need to be optimized to increase its throughput and decrease cost. An integer linear program
ming model was developed and used to solve the balancing problem. Considering six different optimization criteria, five variants of the model were tested. Using the best solution according to predefined Key Indicators Performance, the layout was developed using the Systematic Layout Planning approach.
(More)