IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orited/v20y2019i1p41-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Case Article—Agile Auto Sub Assemblies: Challenges in Managing Growth, Resource Productivity, and Demand Variability

Author

Listed:
  • Balaraman Rajan

    (California State University, East Bay, Hayward, California 94542;)

  • N. Ravichandran

    (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015, India)

Abstract

The key objective of the case study is to help students understand the nuances of assembly line design without having to manage a huge problem context. The case study provides a platform for an engaging discussion on assembly line balancing and related concepts. The case is developed in a setting of an auto subassembly manufacturer that currently operates two lines. The management is confronted with a situation in which the production requirements are increased. The management needs to decide between hiring additional workers, reconfiguring the assembly lines, or both to meet the new demand. The production manager suggests a simple linear allocation of resources based on demand. Its validity and various other options are investigated to manage the projected volume. The following considerations are used to evaluate each option: capacity utilization, labor utilization and flexibility of operations, cost of overtime, cost of new recruitment, and inventory. As an extension, we also discuss the trade-offs involved in level-production strategy and a market-driven strategy when the demand profile is variable.

Suggested Citation

  • Balaraman Rajan & N. Ravichandran, 2019. "Case Article—Agile Auto Sub Assemblies: Challenges in Managing Growth, Resource Productivity, and Demand Variability," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 41-43, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orited:v:20:y:2019:i:1:p:41-43
    DOI: 10.1287/ited.2019.0206ca
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2019.0206ca
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/ited.2019.0206ca?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Christian & Scholl, Armin, 2006. "A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 694-715, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walter, Rico & Schulze, Philipp & Scholl, Armin, 2021. "SALSA: Combining branch-and-bound with dynamic programming to smoothen workloads in simple assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(3), pages 857-873.
    2. García-Villoria, Alberto & Corominas, Albert & Nadal, Adrià & Pastor, Rafael, 2018. "Solving the accessibility windows assembly line problem level 1 and variant 1 (AWALBP-L1-1) with precedence constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(3), pages 882-895.
    3. Borba, Leonardo & Ritt, Marcus & Miralles, Cristóbal, 2018. "Exact and heuristic methods for solving the Robotic Assembly Line Balancing Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 146-156.
    4. Corominas, Albert & Pastor, Rafael & Plans, Joan, 2008. "Balancing assembly line with skilled and unskilled workers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1126-1132, December.
    5. Rifat G. Ozdemir & Tugbanur Sezen, 2016. "Component inventory allocation in assembly line balancing with fuzzy performance ratings," International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1), pages 29-46.
    6. Boysen, Nils & Fliedner, Malte, 2008. "A versatile algorithm for assembly line balancing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(1), pages 39-56, January.
    7. Pereira, Jordi & Ritt, Marcus, 2023. "Exact and heuristic methods for a workload allocation problem with chain precedence constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(1), pages 387-398.
    8. Roemer, Thomas A. & Ahmadi, Reza, 2010. "Models for concurrent product and process design," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 601-613, June.
    9. Hamta, Nima & Fatemi Ghomi, S.M.T. & Jolai, F. & Akbarpour Shirazi, M., 2013. "A hybrid PSO algorithm for a multi-objective assembly line balancing problem with flexible operation times, sequence-dependent setup times and learning effect," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 99-111.
    10. Marcus Ritt & Alysson M. Costa & Cristóbal Miralles, 2016. "The assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem with stochastic worker availability," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(3), pages 907-922, February.
    11. Sadeghi, Parisa & Rebelo, Rui Diogo & Ferreira, José Soeiro, 2021. "Using variable neighbourhood descent and genetic algorithms for sequencing mixed-model assembly systems in the footwear industry," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 8(C).
    12. Bock, Stefan, 2008. "Supporting offshoring and nearshoring decisions for mass customization manufacturing processes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(2), pages 490-508, January.
    13. Anna Olkiewicz & Marcin Okliewicz & Radosław Wolniak & Paula Donajska, 2020. "Factors Influencing the Organization of Work in a Fish Processing Industrial Enterprise," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 1), pages 502-515.
    14. Armin Scholl & Nils Boysen & Malte Fliedner, 2009. "Optimally solving the alternative subgraphs assembly line balancing problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 243-258, November.
    15. Özcan, Ugur, 2010. "Balancing stochastic two-sided assembly lines: A chance-constrained, piecewise-linear, mixed integer program and a simulated annealing algorithm," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(1), pages 81-97, August.
    16. Bautista, Joaquín & Pereira, Jordi, 2011. "Procedures for the Time and Space constrained Assembly Line Balancing Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 473-481, August.
    17. Urban, Timothy L. & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan, 2016. "Designing energy-efficient serial production lines: The unpaced synchronous line-balancing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(3), pages 789-801.
    18. Wen-Chyuan Chiang & Timothy L. Urban & Chunyong Luo, 2016. "Balancing stochastic two-sided assembly lines," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(20), pages 6232-6250, October.
    19. Arnd Huchzermeier & Tobias Mönch, 2023. "Mixed‐model assembly lines with variable takt and open stations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(3), pages 704-722, March.
    20. Bautista, Joaquín & Batalla-García, Cristina & Alfaro-Pozo, Rocío, 2016. "Models for assembly line balancing by temporal, spatial and ergonomic risk attributes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(3), pages 814-829.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orited:v:20:y:2019:i:1:p:41-43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.