Comparative analysis of the performance of a novel U-shaped ‘chasing-overtaking’ production line

Fluctuations in market demands, increased mobility of workers and changing employment practices as well as companies’ increased respect for individual differences of workers have led to the phenomenon that workers with large efficiency differences work together in the same production line in manufacturing companies. In a traditional travelling production line (TrPL), low-efficiency workers can block the work of higher efficiency workers. To increase the production capacity of a travelling line composed of workers with different efficiencies, a chasing-overtaking mechanism was established and used to achieve line production capacity and efficiency improvement. A formula to calculate the production capacity of two workers with different efficiencies was derived and validated. A simulation performed to analyse the differences between the ‘chasing-overtaking’ production line (COPL), TrPL and the classic ‘bucket brigade’ production line (BBPL) with respect to production capacity, working time utilisation and equipment utilisation demonstrated that the COPL provides good production capacity and adaptability to worker differences. Finally, the statistical analysis verified that the COPL has a higher production capacity, average worker working hour utilisation rate and equipment utilisation rate than the BBPL and TrPL.