Line balancing – What is it?

Some processes run intermittently or step by step. This means that at the outfeed of certain parts, products come out spaced from each other. As most processes run at their best when feeding is continuous, these slugs of products are best combined into a continuous stream.

These types of issues are often present around machines that produce packs of multiple products per step. These create slugs of products where, for example, sets of 5 products leave the machine and leave a gap as the next set of 5 is still being filled or packed.

The gaps in between these sets can hamper the next machine in line as it can't cope with sudden gaps and shuts off.

In order to ensure a stable and steady stream of products, you need to accumulate the sets of products and implement a spacing that suits the next machine. The infeed of the accumulator needs to be able to rapidly respond to the incoming products and stop fast enough to eliminate the gap while starting moving again when the new set arrives. 

This way, the accumulator can outfeed a steady stream of products with a particular spacing, keeping both machines running without any issues or dependencies.