Research on the Path to Improving the Balance Rate of Assembly Lines in Manufacturing Workshops

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jiem.202603205

Author(s)

Jiaqi Chu

Affiliation(s)

Business School, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, Shandong, China

Abstract

China's manufacturing industry is currently at a critical juncture of high-quality development and digital transformation. The low assembly line balance rate has become a prominent bottleneck constraining workshop capacity utilization, hindering lean production implementation, and impacting corporate market competitiveness. As a core indicator measuring production efficiency, on-site management level, and resource utilization efficiency, assembly line balance rate directly determines production rhythm, manufacturing costs, work-in-progress inventory, and order delivery cycles. Most Chinese manufacturing workshops currently face challenges including weak foundational management, uneven process allocation, prominent bottleneck stations, significant skill disparities among personnel, irrational site layouts and logistics systems, and lack of digital improvement mechanisms. These issues lead to imbalanced workstation loads, excessive inefficient operations, severe production fluctuations, and inefficient line operations. Grounded in industrial engineering and lean production theories while analyzing specific manufacturing workshop scenarios, this study delves into the intrinsic mechanisms of improving assembly line balance rates. It identifies typical operational issues and root causes in Chinese manufacturing workshops, then proposes a systematic improvement pathway through five dimensions: fundamental industrial engineering optimization, process reengineering and load balancing, workforce allocation and skill enhancement, site layout and logistics optimization, and digital management with continuous improvement. Research findings demonstrate that multidimensional coordinated improvements can effectively eliminate production waste, balance workstation loads, stabilize operational efficiency, reduce auxiliary time, and achieve dynamic optimization. This approach significantly enhances assembly line balance rates and overall production efficiency, providing theoretical support and practical guidance for manufacturing enterprises to reduce costs, improve efficiency, ensure stable deliveries, and strengthen core competitiveness.

Keywords

Assembly Line Balance Rate; Manufacturing Industry; Lean Production; Industrial Engineering; Process Optimization; Digital Management

References

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