Balancing of a Sofa Assembly Line and Its Assessment by Simulation

The assembly line balancing is to group successive tasks into work stations as simultaneous as possible by using various techniques to minimize idle times. One of these techniques is simulation. Simulation technique is a functional method which provides the animation, analysis and optimization of production systems. The main objective of this study using the line balancing and simulation technique is to increase the performance of the assembly line of study. In this research data gathered from furniture factory’s sofa and soft group assembly line working in Kayseri Organized Industrial Zone. In this study, primarily work stations are decreased by using ranked positional weight technique. After that cycle time is decreased and products obtained from assembly line in a week is increased from 1159 to 1354. Thus it is accomplished to use workforce and machines more productive. A simulation model for present and proposed lines is developed by ARENA software to ascertain the outcomes reached. Consequently the results indicate that simulation method is useful for assembly line balancing.