A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology

This research study relates to analysis of the existing assembly line of electric vibrators for the manufacture of and redesign the line using Industrial Engineering methods. This study was carried out on the basis of the data obtained from the manufacturer of electric vibrators whose factory is situated in Navanakorn Industrial Estate, Bangkok. The data analysis shows that the pe1f01mance of the existing line has decreased to great extent recently, leading to increased number of worker working in the line, reduced line efficiency. Keeping the practical constraints in mind, and to improve the performance measure, redesign started with process design using assembly line balancing technique (Branch & Bound method) and Queuing Network Analysis (Jackson's open queuing network) to measure perfmmance of the assembly system. Since variations in Queuing Model is difficult to consider and for different systems all the calculations for new model has to be repeated, further pe1f01mance measure was achieved through Simulation Model developed in SIMAN for different cases with different variation in model. On the basis of results, comparison between analytical and simulation model is made, under the same conditions. Finally, on the basis of the analysis of the redesigned work, some recommendations are made to company to improve the productivity of the worker with more balanced and redesigned work.