Line balancing

Concept

Distributing the work of an assembly line over its stations so that each takes about the same time, close to the takt time, and no station is a bottleneck while others wait.

Description

Line balancing is the work of dividing the tasks of an assembly line among its stations so that each station has about the same workload. The goal is for every station to finish close to the takt time. If one station is slower, it holds up the others. If one is much faster, it waits and its capacity is wasted.

The usual steps are to list all tasks with their times and the order they must follow, calculate the takt time from demand, group tasks into stations without breaking the order and compare the load of each station with takt. A common measure is balance efficiency, the sum of task times divided by the number of stations times the longest station time. When models differ, mixed-model lines need a balance that works for the average and for the peak.

Related topics in brief

• iFAKT GmbH · Related to · Organization
  Stuttgart-based consulting company and software specialist for Industry 4.0, founded in 2001, that helps manufacturers plan and optimize production and logistics processes; developer of the Polaris software.
• Takt time · Related to · Concept
  The pace at which a product must be completed to meet customer demand, calculated as the available production time divided by the customer demand in the same period.
• Cycle time · Related to · Concept
  The time one step needs to complete one unit, measured from start to finish of that step. Compared with takt time, it shows whether a step can keep up with demand.
• Bottleneck (production) · Related to · Concept
  The resource or process step that limits how much work can pass through a production system in a given period; after a disruption the bottleneck can shift to another machine, inspection step, tool or person.
• Standard work · Related to · Concept
  The documented best-known way to do a task, with its sequence, time and quantities. It gives a stable basis for training and quality, and is the starting point for the next improvement.
• Factory simulation · Related to · Concept
  A controlled model of how work moves through part of a factory, using current operating rules, resources, orders and normal variation, so a proposed change such as an extra shift, new machine or smaller buffer can be tested before it is made.

Glossary

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Experts on related topics

• Mirko Peters · via iFAKT GmbH

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-11