Application of Work Load Balancing by Optimal Utilization of Man Power and Grouping of Operations

Edwin Joy Pulikkottil, Bibin Baby

Abstract: Balancing of workload has been an area of interest in manufacturing and assembly processes of late. Interestingly, quite a lot of proposals for a creative atmosphere where clear shop floor management techniques are applied and proven beneficial have popped up with time. Adhering to the proposed rules like Largest Candidate Rule (LCR) Algorithm helps in arranging the workstations based on the time taken for each job to complete. A grouping of stations would mean maximum utilization of available resources which includes machines, operators and space. Optimum utilization of manpower brings out the best in the people employed. Grouping technique would also bring about significant down trend in the excess capacity produced. This work concentrates on the analysis of the effect of grouping of operations and optimum utilization of manpower and available capacity. Based on the researches, estimated values are calculated which gives a clear picture of the effect of implementing the work as well. All of these point towards an improved and ordered plant functioning with the best efficiency possible which would result, ultimately, in faster processes and better customer satisfaction which, in turn, would add to the growth of the firm. Identification of bottleneck stations and removal of excess capacity would lead to lesser inventories which would control the possibility of accumulating waste resources which would only add to the cost of the firm on a longer run. So balancing and levelling the work load would reduce the wastage of resources and thus, the total cost.

Keywords: Largest Candidate Rule Algorithm, Grouping of Stations, Levelling of Workload, Bottleneck Station, Manpower Utilization