Introduction
Introduction Facility layout design is the field of selecting the most effective arrangement of
physical facilities to allow the greater efficiency. It reduces the total cost of manufacturing
activity provides optimum space to give maximum output. The plant layout or facilities layout
can be defined as an arrangement of the factory facilities to support the smooth running of the
production process. These settings will increase the utilization of the area for the placement of
the machinery or other production support facilities, smooth movement transfer of material,
material storage which is either temporary or permanent, operator and so on other personnel.
Setting a good and planned layout will determine the efficiency of the production process.
Computerized Layout Planning
A recent trend has been the development of computer program to assist the layout planner in
generating alternative layout designs. Computerized layout planning can improve the search of
the layout design process by quickly generating a large number of alternative layouts.
Computer programmers are generally either construction programmers or improvement
programmers:
Both ALDEP and CORELAP are concerned with the construction of a layout based on the
closeness ratings given by the REL chart.
CRAFT is concerned. With the minimization of a linear function of the movement between
departments Typically CRAFT employs an improvement procedure to obtain a layout design
based on the objective of minimizing material handling costs.
CORELAP
It begins by calculating which of the activities in the layout is the busiest or most related. The
sums of each activity’s closeness relationships with all other activities are compared and the
activity with the highest total closeness relationship (TCR) count is selected and located first in
the layout matrix. This activity is named Winner. Next, an activity which must be close to the
winner is selected and placed as adjacent as possible to winner: This activity is denoted as A
(closeness absolutely necessary) and is named Victor. A search of winner’s remaining
relationships for more A-related victors is then made. These are placed, again, as close to each
other as possible. If no more A’s can be found, the victors become potential winners and their
relationships are searched for A’s. If an A is found, the victor becomes the new winner, and the
procedure is repeated. When no A’s are found, the same procedure is repeated for E’s (closeness
especially important), I’s (closeness important), and 0’s (Ordinary closeness o.k.) until all
activities have been placed in the layout. CORELAP also puts a value on the U (closeness
Unimportant) and X (closeness not desirable) relationship.
ALDEP
It uses a preference table of relationship values in matrix form to calculate the scores of a series
of randomly generated layouts. If for example, activities 11 and 19 are adjacent, the value of the
relationship between the two would be added to that layout’s score. A modified random selection
technique is used to generate alternate layouts. The first activity is selected and located at
random. Next, the relationship data are searched to find an activity with a high relationship to the
first activity. This activity is placed adjacent to the first. If none is found, a second activity is
selected at random and placed next to the first. This procedure is continued until all activities are
placed. The entire procedure is repeated to generate another layout. The analyst specifies the
number of layouts wanted which must satisfy a minimum score.
CRAFT
It is the only one which uses flow of materials data as the sole basis for development of closeness
relationships. Material flow, in terms of some unit of measurement (pounds per day, in terms of
skid-loads per week), between each pair of activity areas, forms the matrix to the program.
A second set of input data allows the user to enter cost of moving in terms of cost per unit moved
per unit distance. In many cases this cost input is unavailable or inadequate, in which case it can
be neutralized by entering 1.0 for all costs in the matrix.
Space requirements are the third set of input data for CRAFT. These take the form of an initial or
an existing layout. For new area layouts, order guess or even completely random layouts can be
used. In any case, activity identification numbers, in a quantity approximate to their space
requirements, are entered in an overall area of continuation. The location of any activity can be
fixed in the overall area through control cards CRAFT limits the number of activities involved in
the layout to 40.
A number of computer software packages can be used as decision-support tools in making the
layout decision. Two of the most popular are ALDEP (automated layout design program) and
CRAFT (computerized relative allocation of facilities technique). They are called decision-
support tools because they use different heuristics to develop a solution. They do not give an
optimal solution, and they consider only one criterion at a time in designing a layout. The best
way to use these software packages is to consider the software solution as a starting point in
developing a final layout. ALDEP works from a REL chart. It constructs a layout within the
boundaries of the facility by trying to link together departments that have either A or E rating in
the REL chart.
“A” rating stands for absolutely necessary and “E” rating for especially important. ALDEP uses
this logic to link these departments together.
The first department is selected randomly. To evaluate a layout, the computer program computes
a score that is similar to the Load Distance score we computed using trial and error. Depending
on the starting point selected, many different layouts can be obtained.
Automated Layout Design Program (ALDEP)
ALDEP is basically a construction algorithm, but it can also be used to evaluate two layouts
It uses basic data on facilities & builds a layout by successively placing the layout using
relationship information between the departments
Basic Inputs to ALDEP:
Length & width of facility
Area of each department
Minimum Closeness Preference (MCP) Value
Sweep width
Relationship chart showing the closeness rating
Location & size of any restricted area
REL chart with A,E,I,O,U,X rankings
Ranking values:
A = 64, Absolutely Necessary
E = 16, Especially Important
I = 4, Important
O=1 Ordinarily Important
U=0 Unimportant
X = -1024 Undesirable
ALDEP Facility Representation
The size of the facility and the size of the departments are expressed in terms of blocks.
Discrete
Representation
Sweep Method
The procedure will be explained with an example. Suppose that the facility is 8 blocks
(horizontal) 6 blocks (vertical).
The shops and the required number of blocks are:
Production area 14 blocks
Office rooms 10
Storage area 8
Dock area 8
Locker room 4
Tool room 4
ALDEP starts to allocate the departments from the upper left corner of the facility. So the
first department is chosen at random. By starting with a different department, ALDEP
can find a different layout for the same problem.
Let’s start with dock rooms (D). On the upper left corner 8 blocks must be allocated
for the dock area. The sweep width defines the width in number of blocks. Let
sweep width = 2. Then, dock area will be allocated 2 4 = 8 blocks.
To find the next shop to allocate, find the shop that has the highest proximity rating with the
dock area. Storage area (S) has the highest proximity rating A with the dock area.
So, the storage area will be allocated next. The storage area also needs 8 blocks.
There are only 22 = 4 blocks, remaining below dock area (D). After allocating 4
blocks, the down wall is hit after which further allocation will be made on the
adjacent 2 (=sweep width) columns and moving upwards.
The allocation started from the upper left corner and started to move downward with a width of 2
(=sweep width) blocks.
After the down wall is hit, the allocation continues on the adjacent 2 (=sweep width) columns on
the right side and starts moving up.
This zig-zag pattern will continue.
Next time, when the top wall will be hit, the allocation will continue on the adjacent 2
(=sweep width) columns on the right side and starts moving down.
Procedure Adapted for using ALDEP:
Step#01: Input the following
Length & width of facility
Area of each department
Minimum Closeness Preference (MCP) Value
Sweep width
Relationship chart showing the closeness rating
Location & size of any restricted area
Step#2:
One department is selected randomly & placed in the layout
Step#3:
In this step, the algorithm uses minimum closeness required b/w departments for the
selection of departments to be placed with an earlier placed department.
Select the department having maximum closeness rating. If there is no department having
minimum closeness preference then any department that remains to be placed is selected
Step#4:
If all the departments are placed in the layout, go to step#5 else go to step#3
Step#5:
Compute the total score of the layout
Step#6:
If the total score required is acceptable score, then go to step#7, else go to step#2
Step#7:
Print the current layout & the corresponding score
Example:
Use ALDEP procedure to determine the layout vector, construct and evaluate the layout for the
facility based on the relationship chart and the departmental dimensions given below. The
dimensions of the facility are 10x18. Use the sweep width of 2 and the minimum acceptable
level of importance “E”. The closeness values: A=64, E=16, I=4, O=1, U=0, X=-1024
Department Selection
Layout Vector
4-2-1-6-5-7-3
Layout Construction
Layout Vector: 4-2-1-6-5-7-3
Swept Width: 2
Final Layout
442222116655557733
442222116655557733
442222116655557733
442222116655557733
442222116655557733
444411116666777733
444411116666777733
444411116666777730
444411116666777700
444411116666777700
Adjacent Score
Adjacent Dep’t Relationship Value
4-2 E 16
4-1 I 4
2-1 E 16
1-6 U 0
6-5 A 64
6-7 E 16
5-7 I 4
7-3 U 0
Total Adjacent Score = 120
Advantage of ALDEP
ALDEP doesn’t need any initial layout
ALDEP constructs a layout when there is none
