Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Load balancing
Also known as: workload distribution
German: Lastverteilung
In computing and production systems, load balancing is the distribution of requests, tasks or material flow across several equivalent resources, so that no single resource is overloaded and overall throughput and availability improve.
- System integration
In one sentence
Load balancing distributes requests, tasks or material across several equivalent resources so none is overloaded and throughput improves.
Example
A load balancer spreads HMI web client sessions over three SCADA web servers; on the shop floor, a diverter sends cartons alternately to two parallel palletizers.
How it applies
- IT systems: Load balancers distribute traffic across servers using methods such as round robin, least connections or health-based routing. Health checks remove failed servers from rotation.
- Production: Parallel machines, lanes or vehicles are load-balanced by diverters, dispatch rules or fleet managers. Balancing rules must consider differences in machine state, such as a machine being set up.
- Documentation: Document how load is distributed, what happens when one resource fails and how to take a resource out of rotation for maintenance. Operators need to know whether the remaining resources can carry the full load.
Load balancing vs. line balancing
Load balancing distributes work across equivalent resources at run time. Line balancing distributes different work elements across sequential stations at planning time.