1

Manufacturing Facility Layouts

2

Materials Handling

The central focus of most manufacturing layouts is to

minimize the cost of processing, transporting, and

storing materials throughout the production system.

Materials used in manufacturing include:

Raw material

Purchased components

Work-in-progress

Finished goods

Packaging material

Maintenance, repair, and operating supplies

3

Materials Handling

A materials-handling system is the entire network of

transportation that:

Receives material

Stores material in inventories

Moves material between processing points

Deposits the finished products into vehicles for delivery to customers

4

Materials Handling

Material-Handling Principles

Move directly (no zigzagging/backtracking)

Minimize human effort required

Move heavy/bulky items the shortest distances

Minimize number of times same item is moved

MH systems should be flexible

Mobile equipment should carry full loads

5

Materials Handling

Material-Handling Equipment

Automatic transfer devices

Containers/pallets/hand carts

Conveyors

Cranes

Elevators

Pipelines

Turntables

AGVS

6

Basic Layout Forms

Process

Product

Cellular

Fixed-Position

Hybrid

7

Process (Job Shop) Layouts

Equipment that perform similar processes are

grouped together

Used when the operations system must handle a wide

variety of products in relatively small volumes (i.e.,

flexibility is necessary)

8

Characteristics of Process Layouts

General-purpose equipment is used

Changeover is rapid

Material flow is intermittent

Material handling equipment is flexible

Operators are highly skilled

9

Characteristics of Process Layouts

Technical supervision is required

Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are

challenging

Production time is relatively long

In-process inventory is relatively high

10

Product (Assembly Line) Layouts

Operations are arranged in the sequence required to

make the product

Used when the operations system must handle a

narrow variety of products in relatively high volumes

Operations and personnel are dedicated to producing

one or a small number of products

11

Characteristics of Product Layouts

Special-purpose equipment are used

Changeover is expensive and lengthy

Material flow approaches continuous

Material handling equipment is fixed

Operators need not be as skilled

12

Characteristics of Product Layouts

Little direct supervision is required

Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are

relatively straight-forward

Production time for a unit is relatively short

In-process inventory is relatively low

13

Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

Operations required to produce a particular family

(group) of parts are arranged in the sequence required

to make that family

Used when the operations system must handle a

moderate variety of products in moderate volumes

14

Characteristics of Cellular Manufacturing

Relative to Process Layouts

Equipment can be less general-purpose

Material handling costs are reduced

Training periods for operators are shortened

In-process inventory is lower

Parts can be made faster and shipped more quickly

15

Characteristics of Cellular Manufacturing

Relative to Product Layouts

Equipment can be less special-purpose

Changeovers are simplified

Production is easier to automate

16

Fixed-Position Layouts

Product remains in a fixed position, and the

personnel, material and equipment come to it

Used when the product is very bulky, large, heavy or

fragile

17

Hybrid Layouts

Actually, most manufacturing facilities use a

combination of layout types.

An example of a hybrid layout is where departments

are arranged according to the types of processes but

the products flow through on a product layout.

18

New Trends in Manufacturing Layouts

Designed for quality

Designed for flexibility - to quickly shift to different

product models or to different production rates

Cellular layout within larger process layouts

Automated material handling

U-shaped production lines

19

New Trends in Manufacturing Layouts

More open work areas with fewer walls, partitions, or

other obstacles

Smaller and more compact factory layouts

Less space provided for storage of inventories

throughout the layout

20

Planning Manufacturing Facility Layouts

Two Categories of Software Tools

Computer aided design (CAD)

Allows 3-D, full-color views of facility design

Allows virtual walk-throughs

Ex. – ArchiCAD, AutoSketch, AutoCAD

Computer simulation

Can simulate proposed system layout in operation and measure its performance

Ex. – ProModel, VisFactory, SIMPROCESS

21

Process and Warehouse Layouts

Product Layouts

Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

Planning Manufacturing Facility Layouts

22

Planning Manufacturing Facility Layouts

Process Layouts

Primary focus is on the efficient flow of materials

The wide variety of potential product routings through the facility can be evaluated using computer simulation

Warehouse Layouts

Primary focus is the fast storage and retrieval of inventory items

Decisions about aisle size/placement and location of each inventory item can be evaluated using computer simulation

23

Planning Manufacturing Facility Layouts

Product Layouts

Primary focus is on the analysis of production lines

The goal of the production line analysis is to:

Determine how many workstations to have

Determine which tasks to assign to which workstation

Minimize the number of workers & machines used

Provide the required amount of capacity

Line balancing is a key part of the analysis

24

Planning Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

Cell Formation Decision

Which machines are assigned to manufacturing

cells

Which parts will be produced in each cell

25

Planning Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

Fundamental Requirements for Parts to be Made in

Cells

Demand for the parts must be high enough and

stable enough that moderate batch sizes of the

parts can be produced periodically.

Parts must be capable of being grouped into parts

families.

26

Planning Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

More-Complex Issues to be Resolved

If all the parts cannot be cleanly divided between

cells, how will we decide which are to be the

exceptional parts?

If inadequate capacity is available to produce all the

parts in cells, which parts should be made outside the

cells?

27

Planning Cellular Manufacturing Layouts

Cell Formation Procedure

1. Form the Parts-Machines Matrix.

2. Rearrange the Rows.

Place the machines that produce the same parts in adjacent rows.

3. Rearrange the Columns.

Place the parts requiring the same machines in adjacent columns.

4. Use the rearranged parts-machines matrix to identify cells, the machines for that cell and the parts that will be produced in that cell.

28

Example: Maxx Superchargers

Cell Formulation

Maxx produces superchargers for high

performance cars and trucks. Maxx has implemented

a group technology program in its shop and now must

formulate the manufacturing cells. Maxx has

identified six parts that meet the requirements for

CM.

The parts-machines matrix on the next slide

identifies the 6 parts and 5 machines on which the

parts are presently produced.

29

Example: Maxx Superchargers

Cell Formulation – Original Matrix

1 2 3 4 5 6

X X X

X X X X

X X

X X

X X X

A

B

C

D

E

Parts

Machines

30

Example: Maxx Superchargers

Cell Formulation – Rows Rearranged

1 2 3 4 5 6

X X X

X X X

X X

X X

X X X X

A

E

D

C

B

Parts

Machines

31

Example: Maxx Superchargers

Cell Formulation – Columns Rearranged

3 5 6* 1 2 4

X X X

X X X

X X

X X

X X X X

A

E

D

C

B

Parts

Machines

* exceptional part

32

Example: Maxx Superchargers

Cell Formulation – Summary

2 manufacturing cells (MC1, MC2) will be used.

Parts 3 and 5 will be produced in MC1 on

machines A and E.

Parts 1, 2 and 4 will be produced in MC2 on

machines B, C and D.

Part 6 is an exceptional part that cannot be

produced within a single cell.

33

Service Facility Layouts

34

Characteristics of Services

There may be a diversity of services provided

There are three dimensions to the type of service:

Standard or custom design

Amount of customer contact

Mix of physical goods and intangible services

There are three types of service operations:

Quasi manufacturing operations: Kitchen area of Fast Food Restaurant

Customer-as-Participant: ATM, Dept. stores or Fast Food Restaurant

Customer-as-Product: hair salons, medical clinics, hospitals, tailors

35

Characteristics of Service Facility Layouts

The encounter between the customer and the service

must be provided for.

The degree to which customer-related features must

be provided varies with the amount of customer

involvement and customer contact.

36

Planning Service Facility Layouts

Quasi-Manufacturing Services

Several topics previously discussed under

Manufacturing Layouts are relevant here:

Principles of material handling

CAD and simulation software

Line balancing

37

Planning Service Facility Layouts

Customer-as-Participant & Customer-as-Product

An important element is providing for customer

waiting lines

Amount of space needed for service counters

and waiting customers

Placement of waiting lines in overall layout

38

Planning Service Facility Layouts

For many service operations, layouts are like process

layouts in manufacturing

The departments of hospitals are grouped and located

according to their processes

In some cases, closeness ratings are used to reflect the

desirability of having one department near another

39

Using Closeness Ratings

to Develop Service Facility Layouts

Start Let m = 1 and n = 6.

Identify dept. pairs with CR of m.

Develop layout with dept. pairs iden-

tified in Step 2 adjacent to one another.

Identify dept. pairs with CR of n.

Fit the dept. pairs identified in Step 4

into the trial layout from Step 3.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Examine the trial layout from Step 5.

If any CRs of dept. pairs are violated,

rearrange depts. to comply with CRs.

Step 6

Does

m = 3 and n = 4

?

Stop

Let m = m + 1

and n = n - 1.

No

Yes

40

Using Closeness Ratings

to Develop Service Facility Layouts

Typical Closeness Ratings

Closeness Meaning

Rating of Rating

1 Necessary

2 Very Important

3 Important

4 Slightly Important

5 Unimportant

6 Undesirable

41

Example: AG Advertising

Using Closeness Ratings

AG Advertising is moving into a new office suite

having seven large, roughly equal size rooms, one for

each department of the firm. Lisa, the manager, must

now assign each department to a room. She has

developed a grid of closeness ratings (on the next

slide) for the 21 unique pairs of departments.

42

Example: AG Advertising

5

6

4

4

2

3 3

5

4

1

2 6

2 4

3 3

1 6 5

1 2

Closeness Ratings Grid

Dept. A

Dept. B

Dept. C

Dept. D

Dept. E

Dept. F

Dept. G

43

Example: AG Advertising

Unassigned Rooms of Office Suite

44

Layout Satisfying All Pairings of

Departments with 1 Closeness Ratings

CR = 1

B – D

B – F

C – G

Example: AG Advertising

B D

F C G

45

Trying to satisfying all pairings of departments with

6 closeness ratings, we see that Dept. C needs to be

moved.

CR = 1 CR = 6

B – D A – D

B – F B – C

C – G

Example: AG Advertising

B D

F G C

46

Example: AG Advertising

Layout Satisfying All Pairings of Departments with 6

Closeness Ratings (note that we swapped Dept. D and

Dept. F)

CR = 1 CR = 6

B – D A – D

B – F B – C

C – G

B F A

D E G C

47

Wrap-Up: World-Class Practice

Strive for flexibility in layouts

Multi-job training of workers

Sophisticated preventive-maintenance programs

Flexible machines

Empowered workers trained in problem solving

Layouts small and compact

Services follow the above practices plus incorporate

customer needs in design

48

End of Chapter 5, Part B