Mattress, Bedding & Foam Product Assembly worked example

Line Balance with sum of all station cycle times of 11 min: a worked example in mattress, bedding & foam product assembly

This worked example runs the line balance numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: sum of all station cycle times of 11 min instead of the typical 22 min. Calculate mattress assembly line balance efficiency by comparing the sum of station cycle times against the bottleneck station time multiplied by the number of stations.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Sum of all station cycle times: 11 min (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 22)
  • Number of workstations: 5 stations (held at the documented default)
  • Bottleneck station cycle time: 5.5 min (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Line balance efficiency (%) = sum of station times ÷ (number of stations × bottleneck time) × 100.
  • Rate works out to 220 % at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gap to target works out to -215 points at these inputs.
  • Affected count works out to 11 count at these inputs.
  • Total count works out to 5 count at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where sum of all station cycle times sits at 22 min and the headline result is 440 %, this scenario comes in 50% below the baseline at 220 %.
  • Use it when designing a new assembly line, rebalancing after a takt-time change, or diagnosing why output trails the line's theoretical rate. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Rate: 220 % (headline result)
  • Gap to target: -215 points
  • Affected count: 11 count
  • Total count: 5 count

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Line Balance calculator, set sum of all station cycle times to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.