Line Balancing Calculator
Spread the work evenly across stations so nobody waits on the bottleneck. Enter your total work content, takt, station count and slowest station to get line efficiency, balance delay, the minimum stations you actually need, and whether the line can hit demand. Updates as you type.
The line
Keep every time in the same unit (seconds per unit works best).
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A balance sheet assumes every station runs to plan. Micro-stops at the bottleneck break that.
You can balance the line perfectly on paper, then a station's real cycle stretches from unlogged micro-stops and minor jams, and the bottleneck moves without anyone seeing it. Fabrico reads every stop straight from the line and pins the true cause at the constraint station, so your balance holds on the floor, not just in the spreadsheet.
See how Fabrico holds the bottleneckHow line balancing is calculated
Line balancing efficiency = total work content / (number of stations x cycle time) x 100. The cycle time is the slowest station's time, because on a serial line every station waits on the bottleneck. Whatever the busiest station takes becomes the pace of the whole line.
Worked example, using the defaults above: total work content is 240 s, split across 6 stations, and the slowest station runs 52 s. Efficiency = 240 / (6 x 52) = 240 / 312 = 77%. So 23% of your paid station time is balance delay (idle) - faster stations standing idle while the 52-second station catches up.
The minimum number of stations is set by demand, not by the current layout: minimum stations = total work content / takt, rounded up. Here that is 240 / 45 = 5.33, rounded up to 6. You are already at the minimum, so the fix is not fewer stations, it is moving work off the 52-second station until its cycle drops to or below the 45-second takt.
What each number tells you
- Line cycle time - the slowest station's time. Output per hour = 3,600 / cycle time. At 52 s that is about 69 units/hour, below the 80/hour that a 45-second takt demands.
- Balance delay - the idle share (100% minus efficiency). It is real paid time lost to uneven work, and it is the easiest capacity to win back for free.
- Bottleneck vs takt - if the slowest station is above takt, no amount of rebalancing across the existing stations alone will meet demand until that station's work is cut. See the bottleneck analysis guide.
- Takt vs cycle - set your target from the takt time calculator, then check each station's cycle time against it.
Two levers move the numbers: rebalance work so stations are even (raises efficiency, lowers balance delay), or shorten the bottleneck's task, often with a faster changeover or setup (SMED) so the line cycle drops toward takt.
What is a good line balancing efficiency?
Above 90% is well balanced. 75% to 90% is workable but loose, with a station or two carrying more than its share. Below 75% you are paying for idle stations, and rebalancing usually frees real capacity without spending anything.
Do I count a station or an operator?
Count whatever paces the work. If one operator runs two machines in sequence as one step, that is one station. If two operators share a bench doing the same task in parallel, treat them as parallel capacity, which effectively halves that step's cycle time. Be consistent.
My efficiency looks fine but I still miss demand. Why?
Efficiency measures evenness, not speed. If the balanced cycle time is still above takt, an evenly loaded line still cannot keep up. Check the line cycle time against takt above, then either add a station or cut work from every station. Hidden micro-stops also inflate the real cycle beyond your plan, sized in the hidden-factory calculator.
Guide: bottleneck analysis and the theory of constraints · Takt Time Calculator · All OEE Lab tools