Line Balancing is a technique in production and operations management that involves allocating tasks among different workstations in an assembly line so that each workstation has roughly equal work content. The main goal is to minimize idle time, reduce bottlenecks, and maximize efficiency of the entire production system.

In simple terms, line balancing ensures that no workstation is overloaded or underutilized and that the total amount of work on a line is divided into different tasks.

Key Concepts and Definitions

🛠️ Example: Assembling a Toy Car

🧾 Tasks:

🔢 Step 1: Total Task Time = 2 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 8 minutes

⏱️ Step 2: Assume cycle time = 4 minutes

🚉 Step 3: Minimum Workstations = 8 / 4 = 2

🧩 Step 4: Assign Tasks to Workstations

Workstation 1:

• A (2.0)

• B (3.0) → Total = 5.0 ❌ (too much)
  Try: A + C = 2 + 2 = 4.0 ✅
  But C depends on B → Invalid

So:

• A (2.0)

• B (3.0) → Total = 5.0 ❌

Only A fits here

✅ Assign:

• WS1: A (2.0) + CANNOT add B

• WS2: B (3.0) + D (1.0) → Total = 4.0

But C still remains. So try:

WS1: A (2.0) + B (3.0) = 5.0 ❌

Try this final combo:

✅ WS1: A (2.0) + C (2.0) = 4.0
✅ WS2: B (3.0) + D (1.0) = 4.0
Oops! But B must come before C.

So correct order is:

✅ WS1: A (2.0) + B (3.0) = 5.0
✅ WS2: C (2.0) + D (1.0) = 3.0

✅ Final Workstation Assignment:

📊 Efficiency:

Efficiency = [8 / (2 × 5)] × 100 = 80%