Knowledge Base

Line Balancing – Sharing the Work

3 min read IE validated

In plain English

Line balancing means sharing the work evenly across your stations or people so the whole line flows smoothly. A 'Yamazumi' chart just stacks up how long each station takes so you can see, at a glance, who's overloaded and who's waiting.

The parts, simply

Find the bottleneck
The slowest station sets the pace for the whole line.
Level the load
Move small tasks from busy stations to idle ones.
Pace to takt
Aim each station just under your takt time.

Why it matters to your business

When one station is overloaded, everyone downstream waits and everyone upstream piles up work — you go as slow as your busiest station. Balancing the load can lift output significantly with the staff you already have.

Everyday example

An assembly of five steps

Four steps take about 2 minutes each but the fifth takes 8. Everyone waits on that fifth step. Splitting it in two, or moving some of its work to the idle stations, doubles the line's output without hiring anyone.

How SenseFlow does this for you

SenseFlow measures each station against your takt time and proposes a re-balanced layout — showing the before/after output.

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