Design of a Push Production (Assembly) Line

The design team should design a push production (assembly) lines for a product. A Lego toy car shown below is used to represent the final product.

In this assignment, the design team must design an assembly line with at most five work stations. The objective is to design a line with the highest throughput (i.e., produced cars per unit time). The design process involves the following steps:

Step 1: Precedence Diagram. In this step the design team must disassemble the toy car and provide the part list and the assembly task list for assembling the car. The team must then develop the precedence diagram for assembling the toy car.

Step 2: Task Time Measurement. By performing each assembly task, the team should measure the time required to perform each task using stop watches. These times are then added to the precedence diagram.

Step 3: Design. Using the assembly line balancing techniques learned in IEMS-382 classes, the team must decide about the number of work stations in the line as well as the tasks assigned to each station. At this step, the team is asked to come up with at least three different designs. For each design, students must use the models learned in the class to compute the throughput of each design.

Step 4: Evaluation and Revision. Each team will then set up the line according to their design in the production line station. By working as assembly workers in their line, the team can evaluate the performance of their design and recognize its shortcomings. The team can therefore improve their designs and choose the best design among their three designs.

Step 5: Report and Presentation. Each team must write a report on the specifications of their best designed assembly line. They also need to present their design along with a 5-minute demonstration of their line to other teams. After each presentation, the class will discuss the positive and negative aspects of each design. The presentation of the team with the best design will be recorded on a VHS tape and the tape will be kept in the Video Library.