Production Line Efficiency: A Comprehensive Guide for Managers

Sabry Shaaban

May 2010 · Business Expert Press

About this ebook

This book covers the area of unpaced, unbalanced production lines. You will find an up-to-date discussion of how designing these lines can be made more efficient by taking advantage of inherent imbalance -- for example operators who work at different speeds- a concept which has traditionally been seen as an obstacle to efficient production. A series of experiments are presented to illustrate the issues involved in improving performance through production line imbalance. This area is of interest to postgraduate and executive level students interested in the area of production, and to managers of manual or semi-automated production lines who are interested in innovative approaches to line design. In this book you will find some surprisingly easy ways to improve performance with low or zero costs. Emphasis is placed on reducing the amount of time production lines lie idle, and on reducing work in process. This is a timely contribution to the field when managers are casting around for new ways to cut waste and reduce their use of natural resources.

About the author

Dr. Sabry Shaaban received his Ph.D. in Management Science from Sheffield Hallam University (UK) and a MSc. in Operational Research from the University of Sussex (UK). He joined ESC Rennes School of Business (France) in 1999 and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Finance and Operations, where he teaches courses in operations management and management science. He served for five years as head of the department.