Like many IME activities in the past, we have talked about assembly lines. Usually, the activity includes pre-made instructions for each step of the assembly process. However, in this activity students get to create their own. How do you divide work evenly among each step in the assembly line? Is an assembly line cost effective? Students will get to discover this for themselves in this activity.
What is line balancing? It is when each person/workstation has a specific task to complete in order to make a product. The goal in line balancing is to complete a task in a specified amount of time so production does not fall behind. That is the main task in this IME lesson plan. Students must construct a “house” in a specified amount of time. But what do you do if you know you cannot make the time goal given? What would you compromise on? Ask your students these questions while going through the following material:
This is another great activity made for us by our IME Team. In this activity, students will use LEGOs to design the most cost effective airplane without compromising on function. See the links below to run this activity in your classroom:
