CHAPTER 06
PROCESS SELECTION AND FACILITY LAYOUT
Teaching Notes
Facility Layout involves physical placement of departments and/or arrangement of equipment within a
plant or a service facility. A good layout will possibly lead to smooth flow of material, reduction of
inventories, and effective utilization of space.
The material in this chapter can be divided into four areas:
1.
2.
3.
Line balancing.
4.
This chapter provides a good lead-in for the following chapter on design of work systems because it
introduces some of the problems that can be associated with work systems. It also describes group
technology, cellular manufacturing, and flexible manufacturing systems.
g. Produce the cans by forming a cylinder (two sheets of chip board are glued together) .
h. Roll the cylinder into a continuous tube.
i.
j.
Load the filled cans onto pallets and store them in inventory.
6-1
2.
3.
The company may not have updated its equipment because of the high cost of investment in
new machinery.
4.
Salt production would be a low variety, high volume operation which would place it as a
repetitive production or continuous flow in the product-process matrix.
5.
(3,800,000 cans per year) x (26 ounces of salt per can) = 98,800,000 ounces per year.
(98,800,000 ounces per year) / (16 ounces per pound) = 6,175,000 pounds per year.
(6,175,000 pounds per year) / (2000 pounds per ton) = 3,087.5 tons of salt per year.
6.
The Viper/Prowler assembly plant is much smaller than typical automobile assembly plants.
The plant covers 392,000 square feet of space as opposed to other typical auto assembly plants
that cover from 2 million square feet to 5 million square feet of space.
The production capacity of the Viper plant is much less than a typical automobile assembly
line. The Viper plants daily production capacity is 13 Vipers and 20 Prowlers compared to
large automobile assembly plants that can manufacture 1000 vehicles per day.
While most large automobile plants require 2000 or more workers, the Viper plant employs
only 260 employees.
The Viper plant employs skilled craftsman workers. Typical auto assembly plants use
workers to do repetitive work with little skill required.
There are no robots or automation in the Viper plant while most auto assembly plants have
high levels of automation.
The Viper plant uses early 20th century manual assembly techniques on two manual, parallel,
relatively short (12 work stations and 720 feet long) assembly lines with generous idle time
built in. Typical assembly lines usually involve the use of robots, large number of workstations
and very little idle time.
6-2
2.
The reasons for not having robots or other high level automation include the following:
Chrysler Corporation wants to portray a high quality image of two handcrafted automobile
models that is generally more expensive and appealing to high-income individuals. The
personal attention to the customers is part of the marketing package associated with both
products.
The company also wants to draw attention to this facility and the two car models (Viper and
Prowler) manufactured at this facility because it is an unusual and attractive automobile
manufacturing facility. Chrysler Corporation is hoping that not only will it draw attention to
the two hand-crafted automobile models produced within the facility but also possibly
improve the general goodwill associated with the company.
Process selection refers to the ways organizations choose to produce or provide their goods
and services. It involves choice of technology, type of processing, and so on. These choices
have important implications for capacity planning, layout of facilities, equipment choices, and
the design of work systems.
2.
6-3
e. Project: Projects are designed to be used with non-routine, unusual tasks or activities.
These activities are generally not repeated. Equipment flexibility, level of worker skills
and work-in-process inventory can range from very low to very high. Examples include
construction of a dam or a bridge, conversion of the production system from job-shop to
group technology, installing and implementing a new inventory and bar coding system.
3.
Advantages: Highly uniform output, boredom and fatigue are not factors, machines dont go
out on strike, etc.
4.
5.
6.
Process selection decisions often include aspects that require highly technical knowledge.
Many managers do not possess such expertise. However, if those decisions are delegated to
engineers or others who do have the expertise, there is the danger that managerial issues will
suffer. The solution is for managers to increase their knowledge of technological advances. In
the meantime, managers must be prepared to ask questions and impress upon technical experts
their goals and objectives.
7.
Managers sometimes view flexible systems as a hedge; hence, they opt for such systems
without having complete understanding of future needs, reasoning that their lack of
knowledge is offset by the flexible nature of the system. However, such systems are more
expensive to install and maintain. Moreover, the flexibility provided by such systems may not
be needed, or it may be of the wrong type. In many cases, a dedicated, or focused system,
would be a better choice.
8.
The trade-offs between product layout and process layout include the following:
a. Process layout has more equipment flexibility.
b. Process layout generally has higher skilled workers.
c. Product layout involves higher volume manufacturing.
d. Process layout benefits from high flexibility to be able to produce a variety of products,
while product layout benefits from large volume manufacturing at low cost.
e. The major goal of process layout is to minimize the transportation and material handling
costs while the primary objective of the product layout is to minimize idle time and
maximize efficiency of the process.
f.
6-4
g. For a product layout, the flow of work is straight, while for process layout, the flow of
work is mixed depending on the product produced.
h. There is more dependency between workstations for product layout than for a process
layout.
9.
i.
The preventive maintenance and machine reliability are more important in a product
layout than process layout because equipment breakdown may involve shutting down a
work station which may in turn result in shutting down downstream work stations.
j.
Routing and scheduling is much less complicated for processes with product layout than
processes with process layout.
Product layouts are generally characterized by specialized labor and equipment designed for
continuous processing. The layout is often arranged on the basis of processing sequence.
Process layouts are more general in nature, in terms of labor, processing equipment and
material handling equipment. Process layouts often feature machine groups or departments.
Items processed in process layouts tend to follow differing paths through the system. Fixed
position layouts are used to facilitate processing of a single (usually large) job, such as
construction of a large building or a hydro-electric power plant. Labor, equipment and
materials are typically brought to the job site (i.e., to the product) rather than the other way
around. Fixed position layouts are commonly found in farming, road building, home
remodeling and mining.
11.
6-5
a. Specialization can mean dull, repetitive jobs with little opportunity for personal
satisfaction or creativity.
b. Workers may have little interest in maintaining equipment or in the quality of output.
c. The system is not particularly adaptable to changes in process design or changes in the
volume of output.
d. The system is highly susceptible to shutdowns caused by equipment failure or excessive
absenteeism.
e. Preventive maintenance costs and the capacity for quick repairs are necessary to ensure
high utilization.
f.
12.
Unit costs tend to be higher than comparable output produced with a product layout.
g. Accounting, inventory control and purchasing are generally more involved than with a
product layout.
13.
The main goal of line balancing is to achieve a set of task groupings at work stations in the
line that have equal time requirements in order to get a high utilization of labor and
equipment. Unbalanced lines have bottlenecks at some work stations and idle time at others.
The resulting output is lower than it would be if the line were balanced.
14.
Routing and scheduling are continual problems in a process layout because a variety of jobs
pass through the system, and they tend to differ in terms of routing and schedule requirements.
In contrast, product layouts typically handle items with little or no varietyall have the same
or similar routing and scheduling requirements.
6-6
15.
With a product layout, equipment breakdown has serious implications because the separate
pieces of equipment are closely tied together. If one piece of equipment fails, the line will
quickly come to a halt. Consequently, preventive maintenance to reduce the failure rate is
advisable. In contrast, a process layout often contains duplicative equipment so that if one
particular piece of equipment fails, the work can usually be shifted to another piece of
equipment. Consequently, there is less need for preventive maintenance, and less need for
repair of equipment when it does break down. Moreover, process layouts utilize more skilled
workers who tend to take better care of the equipment than their lower skilled counterparts in
a product layout system.
16.
17.
The subway system is essentially a fixed-path arrangementa product layout. Its advantages
are often low operating cost, more efficient handling, and low cost per unit moved. On the
other hand, a bus system is more flexible in terms of varying routes. This can be desirable if
there are shifts in which potential riders are coming from and going to. For example, a new
bus route could easily be established to service a new shopping area, a new apartment
complex, or a large industrial facility. Other considerations are initial cost (high for subway
and relatively low for bus), severity of difficulties that would arise from a breakdown (high for
subway, low for bus), the possibility of alternative uses (none for subway, private groups, etc.,
for bus during off times), and possible disruptions caused by weather (higher risk for bus than
subwaye.g., snowstorms stall highway traffic).
18.
Fixed-path material handling equipment in supermarkets includes the belts at the checkouts
which move items up to the cashier, the roller conveyors which transport boxes of groceries
outside to pickup areas, conveyors in the meat department to move carcasses from storage to
cutting tables, roller conveyors to off-load goods from trucks and move them to storage.
Variable-path material handling equipment includes grocery carts, trucks and jeeps used
to transport baked goods from storage to display shelves, and movable racks to transport
baked goods from ovens or from deliveries to the bakery counter.
19.
20.
6-7
21.
The original car was probably one of a large number of similar cars produced on an assembly
line, which was set up to speed the flow of work. That is, inventories of parts were on hand,
specialized machinery, workers and material handling equipment were arranged specifically
for the job. As a result of this continuous processing, the unit cost of the car was relatively
low. In contrast, constructing a car from scratch is essentially a cross between intermittent
processing and a project, with none of the economies of continuous processing. A list of the
parts must be assembled. Some might be available locally, but others would have to be
shipped individually from suppliers. The parts would have to be held until all were on hand.
Workers would not be highly familiar with this particular car, even though they were
experienced in this sort of work. Consequently, the work would progress at a fairly slow rate,
and probably with a certain amount of back-tracking. Obviously, construction of a
replacement would be considerably more costly than initial, continuous production.
22.
Layout can lead to high productivity if it contributes to a smooth flow of work with high
utilization of labor and equipment. This requires careful consideration of future work
requirements to determine what will be needed and a certain amount of effort to obtain an
optimal (or satisfactory) layout. A poor layout will hinder productivity with bottlenecks, lower
utilization of labor and equipment than is necessary, and require more handling or movement
between work stations than is necessary (particularly in process layouts).
23.
In cellular manufacturing, machines are grouped into cells. The basis for grouping can be
operations needed to process a group of similar items or part families. Advantages of such
systems include relatively short throughput time, reduced material handling, less work-inprocess inventory, and reduced setup time.
24.
Group technology involves items that have similar design or processing requirements and
grouping them into part families for cellular manufacturing. It also includes a coding system
for items.
25.
Although we treated the task completion times as fixed in balancing assembly lines, it is more
realistic to assume variable task times whenever humans are involved. The lower the level of
automation, the higher the variability of tasks. If the assembly line consists of tasks with
variable completion times, it will be more difficult to balance the line. In order to deal with
variability of task times, we can require a minimum amount of slack to be available at each
workstation. As the variability of task times increase we can increase the minimum slack
available at each workstation. In addition, workstation slack time can also be used for slower
or less experienced workers who take longer than normal to complete a task.
Taking Stock
1. The three major trade-offs in process selection are:
a. Flexibility vs. efficiency in facilities layout. Product layout is designed to provide efficient
operations, while process layout is designed to provide a variety of products, thus offering
a flexible system.
b. Level of automation (high vs. low) High level of automaton has the potential advantage of
providing faster production or service, the ability to quickly switch from product to
product resulting in higher flexibility. On the other hand, high level of automation
involves higher cost and the potential risk that it may involve costly implementation
problems.
6-8
c. The expected volume of output can either be high or low. If it is high, we can take
advantage of the economies of scale and reduce costs and improve efficiency. However, if
we make a commitment to high volume production and the demand is consistently low,
we may be faced with the potential problem of low efficiency and low utilization of the
machines and idle resources. On the other hand, if the expected volume is low, then we
probably have decided to compete as a job-shop, emphasizing flexibility. If there is a
capacity-demand mismatch, we will either have too few resources allocated for production
or we will have a capacity constraint on resources.
2.
If we rebalance the assembly line too frequently, then the cost of making the adjustments
becomes too costly. On the other hand, if we do not rebalance it as frequently as necessary,
then the assembly line will experience too much inefficiency resulting in a less efficient line.
3.
4.
In layout design, we must make sure that manufacturing group(s), maintenance, engineering,
technical support, process design specialists, quality, finance (especially if we need capital to
support the facility layout, new equipment or new machinery) are involved.
5. Technology has tremendous impact on process selection due to changes in computer related
technology. The level of automation continues to change in companies affecting the layout
decisions. For example, the newer machinery are smaller, therefore the size of the machinery
affects the work area size and ultimately the layout of the facility.
6-9
Strategic fit with the overall goals and objectives of the company: If the type of automation
does not lend itself to flexible manufacturing, but the objectives and goals of the company
involve low volume large variety of products, we could have significant capacity-demand
mismatch problems due to this misalignment.
For production, the risks relate to the possibility that demand will increase, and it will be
costly to adjust the process to meet that increase, or that it will decrease and leave excess
capacity, and fewer units to absorb costs. In addition, employee morale may suffer if
employees fear losing jobs. For service (e.g., automated call center), customers may prefer
talking to an actual person, or the system may not be able to handle the variety of requests or
demands from customers.
6-10
Solutions
1.
OT = 450 minutes
a. Minimum cycle time = length of longest task, which is 2.4 minutes.
Maximum cycle time = task times = 18 minutes.
b. Range of output:
450
187.5 units
2.4
450
@18 min . :
25 units
18
@ 2.4 min . :
Dx t 187.5(18)
c.
d.
Output
OT
450
Solving for CT, CT
3.6 minutes per cycle
CT
125
e. Potential output:
(1) CT 9 min . :
OT 450
50 units
CT
9
6-11
(2) CT 15 min . :
450
30 units
15
2.
0.6
c
0.5
f
1.4
0.5
0.7
0.5
1.0
g
0.8
e
a.
Task
A
Positional Weight
6
4.6
1.6
2.2
2.3
1.0
1.5
0.5
6-12
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
1.4
0.4
II
0.5
1.3
C, D, E
0.8
0.5
0.7
1.1
0.6
0.5
0.5
1.0
0.8
0.5
0.3
III
IV
b.
Work Station
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
1.4
0.4
II
0.5
1.3
C, D, E
0.8
0.5
0.7
1.1
0.6
0.5
0.5
1.0
0.8
0.5
0.3
III
IV
6-13
Efficiency
c.
3.
Total time
6 .0
83.3%
CT x no. of stations 7.2
Desired output = 4
Operating time = 56 minutes
CT
Task
A
# of Following tasks
4
Positional Weight
23
20
18
25
18
29
24
14
6-14
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
A,D,G
B,G
B, E
10
II
III
IV
Work Station
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
A,D,G
A, E
B,E
10
II
III
IV
c.
Efficiency
Total time
45
80.36%
CT x no. of stations 56
6-15
4.
a, b
a. l.
c
a
b
e
h
g
Work Station
Eligible
Assign
Time Remaining
Idle Time
1.1
b,c,e, (tie)
0.7
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.0
II
0.0
III
f,g
0.5
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
IV
0.6
3.
Idle percent
(idle time)
.6
11.54 percent
N x CT
4(1.3)
6-16
Output
4.
b. 1.
OT
420 min./day
2.3 minutes
N
2
5.
OT 420
3.
Output
4.
a.
.2
a
1.2
.2
.4
b
c
.4
d
420 min./day
91.30 copiers / day
4.6 min . / cycle
1.2
1.0
g
c.
OT
480 min./day
t 4.6
d.
6-17
Task
A
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
0.2
1.8
B,D
0.4
1.4
C, D
0.4
1.0
0.2
0.8
II
1.2
0.8
III
1.2
0.8
IV
1.0
1.0
6-18
e.
Idle percent
E
6.
.8 .8 .8 1.0 3.4
42.5%
( 4)(2)
8.0
4.6
57.5%
( 4)(2)
a.
(1,2)
0.1
0.2
0.9
0.6
(3.9)
(3.8)
(3.6)
(2.7)
0.1
Positional weights
in parentheses
0.2
0.4
0.1
0.2
0.7
(2.2)
(2.1)
(1.9)
(1.5)
(1.4)
(1.2)
CT = 1.5
6-19
(0.5)
0.3
(0.2)
0.2
6.
b. Using both the greatest positional weight and the greatest number of following tasks rules
result in the following balance.
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
0.1
1.4
0.2
1.2
0.9
0.3
0.1
0.2
0.6
0.9
0.2
0.7
0.4
0.3
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.7
0.8
0.3
0.5
0.2
0.3
II
III
0.5 x 100
11.11%
3(1.5)
6-20
7.
a.
A
CT
b.
OT 7(60)
Minimum cycle time = maximum task time = 50 seconds (results in 504 units of
production)
c.
t
193
3.83 or 4 stations
CT 50.4
d.
Task
A
Number of followers
6
*PW
106
61
50
106
56
30
31
29
19
10
*Positional weight
CT = 50 seconds
6-21
Work Station
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
45
III
50
III
11
39
C, E
26
13
C, F
12
38
H, F
11
27
10
17
10
40
IV
e.
I 1
8.
193
22.8%
(50)(5)
b.
CT
400
2.0 minutes
200
6-22
Station
1
Tasks
a,b
Time
1.9
Idle/Time
.1
c,d
1.9
.1
e,f,i
2.0
g,h,j
1.5
.5
k,m
1.2
.8
1.5
c.
Tasks
a
Positional
Weight
8.5
4.6
4.4
4.2
3.2
3.5
1.9
1.5
2.5
2.0
1.2
.3
6-23
Work Station
Task
Task Time
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
.5
1.5
b, c, d
1.4
.1
1.2
.8
d, e
.7
.1
1.0
1.0
e, i
.5
.5
i, g
.5
.8
1.2
.4
.8
.3
.5
.9
1.1
.3
.8
II
III
IV
10.
1
2
3
11.
6-24
A
X
o
o
A
X
o
o
o
o
A
o
o
o
12.
13.
14.
Or
Or
Or
Or
Or
Number of trips
2.4
90
1.4
80
3.4
55
2.3
40
From this we can see that departments 2 and 4 have the greatest interdepartmental work flow,
so they should be close, perhaps locations C and B. Next, we can see that the work flows for 1
and 4, and 3 and 4 are high. Therefore department 4 has to be located at a central location
(location B), while department 2 is in location C, department 1 is in location A, and
department 3 is in location D.
6-25
3
(20x 70) = 1400
4
(80 x 40) = 3200
Department
1
2
3
4
B
#4
D
#1
C
#3
1
-
2
20 x 70 = 1400
-
6-26
3
20 x 60 = 1200
10 x 80 = 800
-
4
40 x 50 = 2000
50 x 40 = 2000
60 x 40 = 2400
-
No. of trips
(two way)
12
Order of
Assignment
10
13
14
90
11
15
370
16
135
17
125
18
23
24
A
#1
B
#5
C
#7
D
#4
E
#3
360
120
8 (tie)
F
#6
G
#2
H
#8
25
40
26
115
27
45
28
120
8 (tie)
34
350
35
110
10
36
40
37
20
38
200
No. of trips
(two way)
45
190
46
70
47
50
48
190
56
10
57
40
58
10
67
50
68
20
78
20
4
Order of
Assignment
5 (tie)
12
5 (tie)
6-27
16.
No. of trips
(two way)
12
13
40
14
110
15
80
16
50
23
24
50
25
40
26
120
34
10
35
250
36
10
45
40
46
90
56
20
(Ignore Reception since all locations are the same distance from it.)
17.
Two-way trips can not be used here because of the one-way route restriction.
Consequently, students are forced to develop a heuristic that will yield reasonable
assignments. One possible heuristic is the following:
Beginning with Department 1, identify the department which receives the greatest number
of trips from that department (e.g., 40 to Department 2). Assign that department to the
next location counter-clockwise.
For that department (e.g., 2) identify the department which receives the greatest number of
trips (e.g., 5) and assign it to the next position.
Continue in this manner until all departments have been assigned.
The resulting set of assignments for this problem is: A1, 2B, 5C, 4D, 9E, 8F, 6G, 10
H, 7I, 3J.
6-28
Students may raise the question about return trips to the original departments after delivery,
which would seem to make all locations comparable. Three possible explanations are:
1.
2.
3.
Material handlers (?) pick up new load at each new department and move it to
the next department.
(The last explanation seems to appeal most to students.)
Time Remaining
Feasible tasks
Remaining
50
0.4
45
5.4
26
24
B ,F
11
13
C, F
11
41
G, H
12
29
10
19
10
10
Work Station
Task
II
III
IV
Task Time
2.4
0.4
18. Station
Task
1
D
2
A
3
E, B, F
4 C, G, H, I, J
6-29
Dining area
2.
Lounge/Bar
3.
Kitchen
4.
Storage/Refrigeration/Loading area
Donald envisioned using the four rooms to occupy four areas of his operation. The distance matrix
among the four rooms is as follows (all distance values are given in feet):
Room
1
Distance Matrix
2
25
3
45
4
35
60
20
10
3
4
Based on his experience from his previous restaurant, he estimated the following number of trips per
hour between departments:
Load Matrix
Lounge
60
Dining
Dining
Lounge
Kitchen
80
Storage
10
40
20
Kitchen
100
Storage
a.
Room 2
Room 3
Room 4
Dining
Kitchen
Lounge
Storage
Determine the (distance x trip) matrix for the above layout. What is the total distance?
b.
Determine a layout and the associated trip x distance matrix that will result in a lower total
distance (Hint: Locate the departments that have a high traffic close to each other).
6-30
Solution of Problem 1
a.
From
Dining
Lounge
Kitchen
Storage
*2,700
**2,000
***350
2,400
200
Lounge
Kitchen
Storage
2,000
The objective is to arrange the departments such that the departments with high
interdepartment movements (# of trips) are close to one another.
Since the number of trips between kitchen and storage is the highest and room 3 and room 4
(100) have the closest proximity (shortest distance of 10 feet), we will place kitchen and
storage in rooms 3 and 4. However, at this point we have not decided which of the two
departments will be placed in room 1 and room 2.
We can observe that the next highest number of trips is between dining and kitchen (80). In
addition, the shortest distance from rooms 1 and 2 to rooms 3 and 4 is 20 feet (room 2 to room
4). Therefore, kitchen is placed in room 4, storage is placed in room 3, dining is placed in
room 2 and the lounge is placed in room 1. The summary of the room assignments are given
below:
Room 1Lounge
Room 2Dining
Room 3Storage
Room 4Kitchen
Updated (Distance) x (Load) Matrix
To
Dining
From
Lounge
Dining
Lounge
Kitchen
Storage
*1,500
**1,600
***600
1,400
900
Kitchen
Storage
1,000