CHAPTER 6

FACILITY LAYOUT

Concept of Facility Layout

Facility layout may be defined as the arrangement of machinery, equipment, and other amenities
in a facility, which should ensure a smooth movement of materials.

According to Moore, facility layout is the plan of or the act of planning an optimum arrangement
of facilities, including personnel, operating equipment, storage space, material handling
equipment, and all other supporting services along with the design of the best structure to contain
these facilities.

The term “facility” is used to cover: Plants, Warehouses, Hotels, Medical Clinics, Fire Stations,
Distribution Centers, Post Offices, Libraries, Schools

Objectives of an Effective Facility Layout

 Minimum Material Handling

 Elimination of Bottlenecks
 Shorter Production Cycles
 Reduction in Production Delays
 Improved Quality Control
 Efficient Utilization of Labor
 Improved Employee Morale
6.1 Layout Types

There are five different types of layouts. These are:

a. Process Layout
b. Product Layout
c. Fixed Position Layout
d. Cellular Manufacturing Layout
e. Combination or Hybrid Layout
a. Process layout: Process layout, also called functional layout or batch production layout, is
characterized by the grouping together of similar machines, based upon their operational
characteristics.

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 Plants with a process layout may arrange work stations, machinery, tools and other
equipment in groups according to the functions they perform.
b. Product layout: In product layout, also called straight line layout, machinery is arranged in
one line as per the sequence of production operations. Materials are fed into the first machine
and finished products come out of the last machine.
c. Fixed position layout: This type of facility layout is used to assemble products that are too
large, heavy or fragile to move to a location for completion. In the fixed position layout,
machinery, men, as well as other pieces of material, are brought to the location where the
product is to be assembled.
d. Cellular manufacturing layout: In Cellular Manufacturing (CM) layout, machines are
grouped into cells, which function somewhat like a product layout in a larger shop or a
process layout. Each cell in the CM layout is formed to produce a single part family, that is, a
few parts with common characteristics.
e. Combination or hybrid layout: Plants with a process layout may arrange work stations,
machinery, tools and other equipment in groups according to the functions they perform. It is
difficult to use the principles of product layout, process layout, or fixed location layout in
facilities that involve fabrication of parts and assembly. Fabrication tends to employ the
process layout, while assembly areas often employ the product layout.
6.2 Service Layouts

The objectives of service facility layouts differ from those of manufacturing facility layouts. This
is because a manufacturing facility aims to make on-time delivery of products to customers,
whereas customers come to a service facility to receive services. Therefore, customers usually
prefer a service facility that is close to them, especially when the service delivery process
requires considerable customer contact. For example, if you are hungry, you would prefer to go
to a restaurant near you.

Service facility layouts are often categorized under three heads, which are:

 Product layout: This type of layout is used only in cases where services are organized in a
sequence.
 Process layout: These layouts are highly common in service facilities as they successfully
deal with the varied customer processing requirements.

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 Fixed position layout: In this type of service layout, materials, labor and equipment are
brought to the customer’s place. This layout is used in services like appliance repair,
landscaping, home remodeling, etc.

Types of Service Facility Layouts

1. Warehouse and storage layouts: The layouts of warehouse and storage facilities are
designed by considering the frequency of order. Items that are ordered frequently are placed
near the facility entrance. However, items that are not ordered frequently are placed at the
rear of the facility. Apart from this, correlation between two merchandises is also important
while designing a layout for a warehouse and storage facility.
2. Retail layouts: A retail store layout refers to a systematic arrangement of merchandise
groups within a store. A well-planned retail store layout provides a description of the size and
location of each department of the store, fixture locations, and traffic patterns. It also helps
consumers find products of their choice in a short time. Different retail layouts are:
 Grid layout
 Free-form layout
 Loop layout
 Spine layout
a. Grid layout: A grid layout is ideal for businesses that want to maintain control over their
inventory. The grid layout is common in drug and hardware stores, as it makes it easy for
shoppers to find the products that they came for.
b. Free-form layout: refers to a store design used primarily in specialty stores or within the
boutiques of larger stores that arranges fixtures and aisles in an asymmetrical pattern.
c. The loop layout: takes customers along a single path, past all available products, before
arriving at the checkout.
d. A spine layout: A straight store layout, or a spine layout, features a single passage going
from the front to the back of the store with shelving on either side. This layout encourages
customers' movement, especially in department stores for accessibility between floors.
3. Office layouts: Designing of office layouts is witnessing revolutionary changes as
paperwork is now replaced with different modes of electronic communications. Today, office
layouts focus more on creating an image of openness. Low-rise partitions are preferred
between departments to facilitate easy communication among workers.

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6.3 Line Balancing

Line balancing is a production strategy that involves balancing operator and machine time
to match the production rate to the Takt time (the required product assembly duration that is
needed to match the demand) to make production lines flexible enough to absorb external
and internal irregularities.

There are two types of line balancing, which we have explained as:

 Static Balance – This refers to long-term differences in capacity over a period of several
hours or longer. Static imbalance results in underutilization of workstations, machines,
and people.

 Dynamic Balance – Refers to short-term differences in capacity, like, over a period of

minutes, hours at most. Dynamic imbalance arises from product mix changes and
variations in work time unrelated to product mix.

Assembly-line balancing often has implications for layout. This would occur when, for
balance purposes, workstation size or the number used would have to be physically
modified.

The most common assembly-line is a moving conveys or that passes a series of

workstations in a uniform time interval called the workstation cycle time (which is also the
time between successive units coming off the end of the line). At each workstation, work is
performed on a product either by adding parts or by completing assembly operations. The
work performed at each station is made up of many bits of work, termed tasks, elements,
and work units. Such tasks are described by motion-time analysis. Generally, they are
grouping that cannot be subdivided on the assembly-line without paying a penalty in extra
motions.

The total work to be performed at a workstation is equal to the sum of the tasks assigned to
that workstation. The line-balancing problem is one of assigning all tasks to a series of
workstations so that each workstation has no more than can be done in the workstation
cycle time, and so that the unassigned (idle) time across all workstations is minimized.