A ball bearing assembly firm wants to set up an assembly line which must have an output of 60 units per hour. The work elements are A to J and the task times are 40, 30, 50, 40, 6, 25, 15, 20, 18 and 30 seconds respectively.
a. Determine the cycle time associated with the rate of output required.
b. What is the theoretical number of workstations.
To determine the cycle time associated with the rate of output required, you need to divide the total available time by the desired number of units produced per hour.
a. Total available time per hour can be calculated by converting 60 minutes to seconds (60 minutes * 60 seconds = 3600 seconds). So, the total available time is 3600 seconds.
To determine the cycle time:
Cycle Time = Total Available Time / Desired Output
Desired Output = 60 units per hour = 60 units / 3600 seconds = 0.0167 units per second
Cycle Time = 3600 seconds / 0.0167 units per second ≈ 215.57 seconds
Therefore, the cycle time associated with the rate of output required is approximately 215.57 seconds.
b. To calculate the theoretical number of workstations, divide the sum of the task times by the cycle time obtained in part a.
Total Task Time = 40 + 30 + 50 + 40 + 6 + 25 + 15 + 20 + 18 + 30 = 274 seconds
Number of Workstations = Total Task Time / Cycle Time
Number of Workstations = 274 seconds / 215.57 seconds ≈ 1.27 (rounded up to 2 workstations)
Therefore, the theoretical number of workstations needed is 2.