The Florida Appliance Company Is Installing an Assembly Line to Produce

Essay

The Florida Appliance Company is installing an assembly line to produce vacuum cleaners, and you, as an operations manager, are responsible for balancing the line. The tasks to be performed are listed, along with their times and immediate predecessors. $\begin{array}{ccc}\text { Task }&\text {Time (in seconds) }&\text { Immediate Predecessor }(\mathrm{s})\\\text { A } & 60 & \text { none } \\\text { B } & 40 & \text { A } \\\text { C } & 30 & \text { B } \\\text { D } & 20 & \text { B } \\\text { E } & 40 & \text { B } \\\text { F } & 60 & \text { C } \\\text { G } & 70 & \text { D } \\\text { H } & 50 & \text { F, G } \\\text { I } & 20 & \text { E } \\\text { J } & 60 & \text { H. I }\end{array}$ The company is planning to operate 2 shifts per day, 8 hours per shift. The desired output rate of the line is 480 units per day.
a.Compute the cycle time per unit in minutes.
b.Compute the minimum number of workstations required.
c.Use the longest-task-time heuristic to balance the assembly line.
d.Compute the efficiency of your assembly line.