Balanceamento de linha: estudo aplicado em uma indústria que atua nos segmentos de automóveis e mineração

Abstract

The competition between companies’ day after day becomes fiercer, mainly due to globalization, which has been shortening the life cycle of products and consequently demanding that production processes occur more quickly. In the area of production planning and control, line balancing is one of the measures adopted by companies to improve the production flow, in order to achieve maximum efficiency and production capacity, aiming to optimize the resources used in production while seeking meet the maximum demand in the shortest time and with the best possible quality, thus bringing competitive advantages. This work aims to apply heuristic methods of line balancing in a production line of an industry that operates in the automotive and mining segments located in the State of Paraná, looking for possibilities of improvements that bring performance gains to the studied line. To achieve this objective, it will be necessary to map the production process and collect data such as: quantity of items produced in the line, maximum production capacity, number of operators, operating time, and line restrictions. After mapping and data collection, four selected heuristic methods will be applied for this work: RPW Method, KWM Method, LCR Method and COMSOAL Method. The results obtained from the application of each of the methods will be analyzed in order to verify if there was an improvement in the efficiency of the line under study, then the methods will be compared to each other, to identify which result is more appropriate for the line studied. Finally, from the observations made, the interviews and the analysis of the results of the methods, improvements will be proposed for the production line.