Production line – takt time, bottleneck station and output
Design & TechnologyMechanical EngineeringAges 16–17
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Mechanical Engineering
The line has several stations in series, each with its own processing time; click Run to watch parts move along the conveyor and pile up in a queue in front of the slowest station (the bottleneck), while the other stations sit idle waiting for work. Click a station, then drag the slider to change its processing time, or fit a robot / add a parallel station at the bottleneck, and watch the takt time, hourly output and per-shift production change instantly.
Lesson: Mechanical manufacturing and automated production lines: takt time, line balancing, output, and the role of industrial robots
What it shows
An automated production line passes each part through several stations in series, so the whole line can only work as fast as its slowest station, the bottleneck. The simulation computes the takt time T = t_max, the hourly output Q = 3600/T and the output per shift. Faster stations sit idle while parts queue in front of the bottleneck, a loss measured by the line balance efficiency η = Σtᵢ/(n·t_max). Fitting an industrial robot or adding a parallel station at the bottleneck raises output until another station becomes the new bottleneck.
How to use
Set the Number of stations on the line and the Base processing time per station, press Run and find the station marked BOTTLENECK where parts pile up. Record hourly output and balance efficiency. Then click a different station and shorten its time: output does not change. Next press Fit a robot at the bottleneck or Add a parallel station, compare the results and check which station has become the new bottleneck. Remove improvement restores the original line.
Parameters you can change
- Number of stations on the line 3–6 stations
- Base processing time per station 10–60 s
- Length of one work shift 4–12 h
- Bottleneck improvement measure No improvement yet, Fit an industrial robot (cuts time by 40%), Add a parallel station (halves the time)
- Simulation speed (factory seconds per real second) 1–20 ×
Questions to explore
- Why does shortening the time of a station that is not the bottleneck leave hourly output unchanged?
- After fitting a robot at the bottleneck, which station limits the line, and by how much does output rise?
- How does line balance efficiency change as the station times become more equal?
