Impact of work-sharing on the performance of production line with heterogeneous workers

Abstract

This study addresses the problem of Dynamic Line Balancing (DLB) in a two-stage production assembly tandem line where there are worker differences. This study examines the dynamic decision rules for workers to operate under DLB with a low level of work in process (WIP), in the constant work-in-process (CONWIP) system. We develop a new dynamic decision rule, the Smallest R No Starvation-II (SRNS- II), to maximize the throughput of the system. Results showed that DLB improves the throughput rate under a low WIP level. This study provides managerial insights for worker assignments and workload balancing.

Keywords

• line balancing
• work-sharing
• conwip
• cross-training