WELD PROCESS WORK BALANCING

weld cell optimization

SERVICE AREA:

A Tier 1 automotive manufacturer turned to IMEG to improve labor efficiency and streamline operations in a complex weld cell environment. The manufacturer faced rising labor costs and unbalanced workloads across stations, making it difficult to scale production effectively. IMEG implemented a strategic work balancing solution using time studies and work combination charts to optimize weld cell performance.

THE PROBLEM

The manufacturer was experiencing several critical issues in their weld area:

High labor costs due to inefficiencies and overstaffing
Trapped labor, with operators waiting or performing non-value-added tasks
Double handling of parts, leading to excessive movement and waste
Underutilized labor, with uneven work distribution across the cell

workload balancing

THE PLAN

IMEG’s engineering consultants developed a lean, data-driven approach to rebalance the weld cell and improve productivity:

Performed time studies with performance ratings to assess the true workload at each station
Created detailed work combination charts to visualize manual, walking, and machine time
Balanced workloads across the weld cell based on takt time and value-added work
Observed and refined the process during trial builds to validate improvements