Effective design of an assembly line using modelling and simulation

The objective of this research is the development of an effective design of an assembly line for heaters production by taking into consideration work measurement, line balancing and ergonomic problems. As the assembly line is still not in existence and no data are available, it is quite difficult to evaluate, for each assembly line workstation, the work assignment, the assembly times as well as the effect of ergonomic risks such as musculoskeletal disorders, wrong working postures, etc. In this research, the authors propose a two-step approach. In the first step the authors design the geometric model of the heater and the geometric model of the assembly line by using the CAD software Pro-Engineer. Both the geometric models are then imported in a simulation environment provided by the simulation package eM-Workplace. The simulation model is completed by adding and training human models to perform the assembly operations and is used for carrying out work measurement, time and ergonomic analysis. The second step is the effective design of the assembly line. The authors propose a multi-measures approach (based on the results of work measurement and ergonomic analysis) with the aim of obtaining a different work assignment to each workstation, a better linebalancing and better ergonomic solutions. Journal of Simulation (2009) 3, 50–60. doi:10.1057/jos.2008.18