Facility

Layout

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8–1
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Layout Decisions
• Facility layout: the process of determining placement
of departments, workgroups within departments,
workstations, machines, and stock-holding points
within a facility
• This process requires the following inputs:
– Specification of the objectives used to evaluate the
design
– Estimates of product or service demand
– Processing requirements
– Space requirements for the elements
– Space availability within the facility
8–2
 Basic Production Layout

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Formats
• Workcenter (job-shop or functional layout)
– Similar equipment are grouped together.
• Assembly line (flow-shop layout)
– Work processes are arranged according to the steps by
which the product is made.
• Manufacturing cell
– Dissimilar machines are grouped to work on similar
products.
• Project layout
– Product remains at one location.

8–3
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Workcenters
• Given
– The flow (number of moves) to and from all departments
– The cost of moving from one department to another
– The existing or planned physical layout of the plant
• Determine
– The “best” locations for each department, where best
means maximizing flow, which minimizes costs

8–4
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Systematic Layout Planning
• Numerical flow of items between workcenters
– Can be impractical to obtain
– Does not account for the qualitative factors that may be crucial to
the placement decision

• Systematic layout planning

– Accounts for the importance of having each department located
next to every other department
– Is also guided by trial and error
 Switching workcenters then checking the results of the “closeness”
score

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 Store
Layout
Systematic

a Floor of a
Department
Planning for

8–6

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
 Assembly Line

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
• Assembly line: progressive assembly linked by some
material handling device
– Some form of pacing is present and the allowable processing time
is equivalent for all workstations

• Important differences:
– Material handling devices
– Line configuration
– Pacing
– Product mix
– Workstation characteristics
– Length

8–7
 Assembly-Line Design

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
• Workstation cycle time: a uniform time interval in which a
moving conveyor passes a series of workstations
– Also the time between successive units coming off the line

• Assembly-line balancing: assigning all tasks to a series of

workstations so that each workstation has no more than can
be done in the workstation cycle time

• Precedence relationship: the order in which tasks must be

performed in the assembly process

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Assembly-Line Balancing

• Specify the sequential relationships among tasks.

• Determine the required workstation cycle time.
• Determine the theoretical minimum number of
workstations.
• Select a primary and secondary assignment rule.
• Assign tasks.
• Evaluate the efficiency of the balance.
• Rebalance if needed.

8–9
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Assembly-Line Balancing

Production time per day

Cycle time (C) 
Required output per day (in units)
Sum of task time s (T)
Theoretica l minimum (N t ) 
Cycle time (C)
Sum of task time s (T)
Efficiency 
Actual number of workstati ons (N a ) x Worksta tion cycle time (C)

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 Example 8.2: Assembly Steps and Times

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
8–11
 Example: Precedence Graph

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8–12
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Example: C and Nt
Production time per day 60 sec. x 420 min
C 
Output per day 500 wagons
25,200
  50.4
500
T 195 seconds
Nt    3.87  4
C 50.2 seconds

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 t
Example:
Assignmen

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8–14
 Efficiency 
T

195
N a C 5 50.4 
Example: Efficiency

 0.77  77%

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
8–15
 Task Splitting

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• Split the task
• Share the task
• Use parallel workstations

• Use a more skilled worker

• Work overtime
• Redesign

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 Flexible Line Layouts

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Problem – operators Solution – remove
trapped in “cages” barriers so operators
prevents sharing work can trade work and
among them operators can be
added or removed as
needed

8–17
 Flexible Line Layouts

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Problem – operators
“birdcaged” with no
opportunity to share
work or add third
operator Solution – operators
can help each other
and third operator can
be added if needed

8–18
 Flexible Line Layouts

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Problem – straight line
is difficult to balance

Solution – U-shaped
line gives better
operator access and
may reduce need for
operators

8–19
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Mixed-Model Line Balancing
• Most factories produce a number of different
products.
– Inventory can be reduced by building some of each
product during every period (e.g., day, week, etc.).

• Mixed-model line balancing is one means of

scheduling this varied production.

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 Example 8.3: Mixed-Model Line

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Balancing
• Processing must be completed for both Model J and
Model K wagons.
• Equal number of each model are required.
• Cycle time – 6 minutes for Model J and 4 minutes for
Model K.
• In an 8-hour day, how should the models be processed?

Total Processing Time Because K = J, we

can produce 48 of
  each per day (6 of
each per hour.

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 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Example 8.3: Mixed-Model Line Balancing

This approach often requires diligent efforts to reduce setup times and
costs, but can significantly reduce overall inventory levels.

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 Developing a Manufacturing

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Cell

• Grouping parts into families that follow a

common sequence of steps
• Identifying dominant flow patterns of parts
families as a bases for location of processes
• Physically grouping machines and processes
into cells

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 Example: Original Workcenter Layout

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8–24
 Flow of Parts
Example: Routing Matrix Based upon

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8–25
 Example:

Form Cells
Machines to
Reallocating

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8–26
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Manufacturing Cell Benefits
• Better human relations
• Improved operator expertise
• Less in-process inventory and material
handling
• Faster production setup

8–27
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Project Layout
• Is characterized by a relatively low number of production
units.

• Visualize the product as the hub of a wheel with materials

and equipment arranged concentrically around the
production point.

• A high degree of task ordering is common.

• To the extent that this precedence determines production

stages, a project layout might be developed by arranging
materials according to their technological priority.
8–28
 Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Retail Service Layout
• Goal — maximize net profit per square foot of floor
space
• Servicescapes
– Ambient conditions
 Background characteristics, such as noise
– Spatial layout and functionality
 Planning the circulation path of customers and grouping
merchandise
– Signs, symbols, and artifacts
 Parts of the service that have social significance

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 Alternative Store Layouts

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8–30
 Marketing Research and

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Retail Layout
• People in supermarkets tend to follow a perimeter
pattern in their shopping behavior. Placing high-
profit items along the walls of a store will enhance
their probability of purchase.

• Sale merchandise placed at the end of an aisle in

supermarkets almost always sells better than the
same sale items placed in the interior portion of an
aisle.
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 Marketing Research and

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited. All rights reserved.
Retail Layout
• Credit and other non-selling departments that
require customers to wait for the completion of
their services should be placed either on upper
floors or in “dead” areas.

• In department stores, locations nearest the

store entrances and adjacent to front window
displays are most valuable in terms of sales
potential.
8–32
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Office Layout
• More open offices

• Low divider walls

• Size and orientation of desks indicates

importance of people behind them
– ServiceMaster (A major janitorial firm) places its
know-how room (tools , manuals) at the center

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