Validation of line balancing by simulation of workforce flexibility

Markus Pröpster; Lothar März; Gunther Reinhart; Carsten Intra

doi:10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018

Validation of line balancing by simulation of workforce flexibility

Markus Pröpster
, Lothar März
, Gunther Reinhart
, Carsten Intra

Chair of Sustainable Production

Technical University of Munich
Stremler AG
MAN Truck and Bus SE

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

To stay competitive and reach a high productivity, mixed model assembly lines need to handle variations in capacity requirements induced by the different variants manufactured. Therefore workforce flexibility is required, i. e. drifting, which allows workers to leave their stations to fulfill high equipped variants, and the allocation of jumpers. These support if drifting is not sufficient. This paper presents a simulation tool which simulates these aspects of worker flexibility according to the produced variants and their sequence. Furthermore an approach is introduced which validates line balancing results by using the simulation tool. Since the simulation tool is already in use at a commercial vehicle company, an example of application is also given in this paper.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	93-98
Number of pages	6
Journal	Procedia CIRP
Volume	33
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018
State	Published - 2015
Event	9th CIRP International Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering, CIRP ICME 2014 - Capri, Italy Duration: 23 Jul 2014 → 25 Jul 2014

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Keywords

Assembly
Flexibility
Line Balancing
Simulation

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10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018

Cite this

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title = "Validation of line balancing by simulation of workforce flexibility",

abstract = "To stay competitive and reach a high productivity, mixed model assembly lines need to handle variations in capacity requirements induced by the different variants manufactured. Therefore workforce flexibility is required, i. e. drifting, which allows workers to leave their stations to fulfill high equipped variants, and the allocation of jumpers. These support if drifting is not sufficient. This paper presents a simulation tool which simulates these aspects of worker flexibility according to the produced variants and their sequence. Furthermore an approach is introduced which validates line balancing results by using the simulation tool. Since the simulation tool is already in use at a commercial vehicle company, an example of application is also given in this paper.",

keywords = "Assembly, Flexibility, Line Balancing, Simulation",

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note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 The Authors. Published by B.V.; 9th CIRP International Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering, CIRP ICME 2014 ; Conference date: 23-07-2014 Through 25-07-2014",

year = "2015",

doi = "10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018",

language = "English",

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journal = "Procedia CIRP",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Validation of line balancing by simulation of workforce flexibility

AU - Pröpster, Markus

AU - März, Lothar

AU - Reinhart, Gunther

AU - Intra, Carsten

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - To stay competitive and reach a high productivity, mixed model assembly lines need to handle variations in capacity requirements induced by the different variants manufactured. Therefore workforce flexibility is required, i. e. drifting, which allows workers to leave their stations to fulfill high equipped variants, and the allocation of jumpers. These support if drifting is not sufficient. This paper presents a simulation tool which simulates these aspects of worker flexibility according to the produced variants and their sequence. Furthermore an approach is introduced which validates line balancing results by using the simulation tool. Since the simulation tool is already in use at a commercial vehicle company, an example of application is also given in this paper.

AB - To stay competitive and reach a high productivity, mixed model assembly lines need to handle variations in capacity requirements induced by the different variants manufactured. Therefore workforce flexibility is required, i. e. drifting, which allows workers to leave their stations to fulfill high equipped variants, and the allocation of jumpers. These support if drifting is not sufficient. This paper presents a simulation tool which simulates these aspects of worker flexibility according to the produced variants and their sequence. Furthermore an approach is introduced which validates line balancing results by using the simulation tool. Since the simulation tool is already in use at a commercial vehicle company, an example of application is also given in this paper.

KW - Assembly

KW - Flexibility

KW - Line Balancing

KW - Simulation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84939792848

U2 - 10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018

DO - 10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.018

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:84939792848

SN - 2212-8271

VL - 33

SP - 93

EP - 98

JO - Procedia CIRP

JF - Procedia CIRP

T2 - 9th CIRP International Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering, CIRP ICME 2014

Y2 - 23 July 2014 through 25 July 2014

ER -

Validation of line balancing by simulation of workforce flexibility

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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