Antti Salonen

KPP227

KPP227

Antti Salonen

What is layout?

Layout refers to the configuration of

departments, work centers and
equipment with particular emphasis on
movement of work (customers or
materials) through the system.

The need for layout planning arises in

the process of designing new facilities
and redesigning existing facilities.

Layout decisions:
Require substantial investments
(money and effort)
Involve long-term commitments
Impact the cost and efficiency of
short-term operations

KPP227

Antti Salonen

Layout types
Layout requirements are determined by the type of operation.
Less customization and higher volume

Less complexity, less divergence, and more line flows

Process
Characteristics

KPP227

(1)
Customized process,
with flexible and unique
sequence of tasks

(2)
Disconnected line flows,
moderately complex
work

(1)
Low-volume
products, made
to customer
order

(2)
Multiple products with low
to moderate volume

(3)
Few major
products,
higher
volume

(4)
High volume, high
standardization,
commodity
products

Job
process

Small batch
process
Batch processes
Large batch
process

(3)
Connected line, highly
repetitive work

Line
process

(4)
Continuous flows

Continuous
process

Antti Salonen

Layout strategy

KPP227

Fixed position (Project)

Extremely low volumes (one of a kind), e.g. bridge, airplane.

Process oriented (Job shop)

Low volumes, high variety, least efficient, e.g. customized
products.

Product oriented (Line flow/batch production)

High volumes, most efficient, e.g. books, furniture.

Continuous flow
Extremely high volumes, standard products, e.g. paper, milk.

Hybrid layouts
Warehouses
Service layout

Antti Salonen

Production and Inventory Strategies

Make-to-Stock Strategy
Used by manufacturers that hold items in stock
for immediate delivery, thereby minimizing
customer delivery times.
Supply

Assemble-to-Order Strategy
Used by manufacturers that produce a wide
variety of products from relatively few
subassemblies and components after the
customer orders are received.

Prognosis Driven (PD)

MTS:
ATO:

DD

Consume

PD

DD

Consume

OP

PD

DD
OP

Used by manufacturers that make

products to customer specifications in low
volumes.

KPP227

PD
OP

MTO:

Make-to-Order Strategy

Demand

Antti Salonen

Consume

Demand Driven (DD)

Layout strategy
Job shop process
A process with the flexibility to produce a wide variety of products in
significant quantities, with considerable complexity and divergence in the
steps performed => Resources allocated around the process

Line Process
A process with high volumes and standardized products => Resources
organized around the product

Hybrid layout
Create flow lines in parts of the workshop to increase efficiency, e.g. One
worker multiple machines, Cell/Group technology.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

Process vs product focus

KPP227

Antti Salonen

Reasons for redesign

Inefficient operations (e.g. bottlenecks)

Accidents or safety hazards
Changes in the design of products/services
Introduction of new products/services
Changes in volume (output or mix)
Changes in methods or equipment
Changes in environmental or other legal requirements
Morale problems (e.g. lack of face-to face contact)

KPP227

Antti Salonen

Designing Process Layouts

Layout planning involves decisions about the physical

arrangement of economic activity centers within a facility.
An economic activity center could be anything that
consumes space (e.g. a machine or a cafeteria)
The goal is to allow workers and equipment to operate most
efficiently.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

Designing Process Layouts

1. What centers to include?

2. How much space does each center need?
3. How should each center be configurated?
4. Where should each center be located?

KPP227

Antti Salonen

10

Designing Process Layouts

Gather information

Space requirements of each center

Available space in the facility

Closeness factor indicates which centers

need to be located next to each other

Closeness Factors

1. Develop current block plan (allocates space

and indicates placement of each department by trial
and error)

Department

1. Administration

10

2. Social services
3. Institutions
4. Accounting

5. Education
6. Internal audit

2. Develop proposed block plan

3. Compare the two (e.g. using load-distance
method) and make choice!

KPP227

Antti Salonen

11

EXAMPLE

Designing process layouts

(Block plan)

KPP227

Antti Salonen

12

Salonen machining is a machine shop that produces a variety of small metal products on general-purpose equipment. A
full shift of 26 workers and a second shift of 6 workers operate its 32 machines. Three types of information are needed
to begin designing a revised layout for Salonen machining: Space requirements for each center, available space and
closeness factors. Departments 3 and 4 can not be moved because of constraints in the building design.
Space requirements for each center: Salonen machining has grouped its processes into six different departments: burr
and grind, NC equipment, shipping and receiving, lathes and drills, tool crib, and inspection. The exact space
requirements of each department, in square meters, are listed below.
Department

Area needed m2

1. Burr and grind

100

2. NC equipment

95

3. Shipping and receiving

75

4. Lathes and drills

120

5. Tool crib

80

6. Inspection

70
TOTAL:

540

The layout designer must tie space requirements to capacity plans, calculate the specific equipment and space needs
for each center, and allow circulation space such as aisles and the like.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

13

Available space:
A block plan allocates space and indicates placement of each department. When
describing a new facility layout, the plan need only provide the facilitys dimensions and
space allocations. When an existing facility layout is being modified, the current block
plan also is needed. Salonen machinings available space is 36 meters by 15 meters,
or 540 square meters. The designer could begin the design by dividing the total
amount of space into six equal blocks (90 square meters each), even though
inspection needs only 70 square meters. The equal space approximation shown in the
figure below is good enough until the detailed layout stage, when larger departments
(such as lathes and drills) are assigned more block space than smaller departments.

Current Block Plan

2

3
15m

36m

KPP227

Antti Salonen

14

Closeness factors:
The layout designer must also know which centers need to be located close to one
another. Location is based on the number of trips between centers and qualitative
factors.
Below is Salonen machinings trip matrix, which gives the number of trips (or some
other measure of materials movement) between each pair of departments per day.

Trips between departments

Department

1. Burr and grind

20

2. NC equipment
3 Shipping and receiving
4 Lathes and drills

20
10
-

80
75

15
-

90
70

5 Tool crib

6 Inspection

KPP227

Antti Salonen

15

Develop an acceptable block plan for Salonen machining, using trial and error. The
goal is to minimize materials handling costs.
Solution:
A good place to start is with the largest closeness ratings in the trip matrix (say, 70 and
above). Beginning with the largest number of trips and working down the list, you might
plan to locate the departments as follows:

Departments 3 and 6 close together

Departments 1 and 6 close together
Departments 2 and 5 close together
Departments 4 and 5 close together

3
15m

Departments 3 and 4 should remain at their current locations because of the other
considerations.
If after several attempts you cannot meet all five requirements, drop one or more and
try again. If you can meet all five easily, add more (such as for interactions below 70).
The block plan in the figure shows a trial-and-error solutoion that satisfies all five
requirements. We started by keeping departments 3 and 4 at their current locaitons. As
the first requirement is to locate departments 3 and 6 close to each other, we put 6 in
the southeast corner of the layout. The second requirement is to have departments 1
and 6 close together, so we place 1 in the space just to the left of 6, and so on.

KPP227

Proposed Block Plan

Antti Salonen

36m

16

Improvement analysis:
The table below includes all department pairs that have some load in between them. The Distance figures are
based on recti-linear movements.
Current plan

Proposed plan

Proposed Block Plan

Department
pair

Load

Distance

Load-Distance

Distance

Load-Distance

1-2

20

60

20

1-4

20

40

20

1-6

80

160

80

2-3

10

20

30

2-5

75

150

75

3-4

15

15

15

3-6

90

270

90

4-5

70

70

70

Tot:

785

3
15m

36m

Current Block Plan

400

3
15m

36m

KPP227

Antti Salonen

17

Technical considerations
Requirements of different tasks
If these are quite different, it may not be feasible to place the tasks in the
same workstation.
If these are incompatible, it may not even be feasible to put the work
stations near each other.

Human factors
When humans are involved, tasks may take different amount of time to
complete.

Equipment limitations
Space limitations

KPP227

Antti Salonen

18

Designing Product Layouts

Line balancing is the assignment of
work elements to stations in a line.
The goal is to achieve the desired
output rate with the smallest number of
workstations.
Arranging stations in a sequence (line)
for the product to move from one station
to the next until its completion at the
end of the line.
The slowest station sets the output rate,
e.g. 500/week.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

19

Designing Product Layouts

The goal is to match the output rate to the
production plan.
1.
2.

The work is separated into work elements (the smallest

units of work that can be performed independently)
A precedence diagram is constructed, which shows
which work elements that must be performed before the
next can begin.

Description

Time
(sec)

Determine the desired output rate.

4.

Calculate the cycle time (the maximum time allowed for

work on a unit at each station) = 1/output rate

Bolt leg frame to hopper

40

None

Insert impeller shaft

30

Attach axle

50

Attach agitator

40

Attach drive wheel

Attach free wheel

25

Mount lower post

15

Attach controls

20

D, E

Mount nameplate

18

F, G

D
B

30

40

Balancing the line gives the minimum amount of stations for a

determined output rate, still satisfying all precedence requirements

Antti Salonen

20

Assign work elements to stations.

40

25

50

KPP227

Immediate
Predecessor(s)

Total 244

3.

5.

Work
Element

I
G

18

15

20

EXAMPLE

Designing product layouts

(Line balancing)

KPP227

Antti Salonen

21

EXAMPLE X.4
Green Grass, Inc., a manufacturer of lawn and garden equipment, is designing
an assembly line to produce a new fertilizer spreader, the Big Broadcaster.
Using the following information on the production process, construct a
precedence diagram for the Big Broadcaster.
Work
Element

Description

Time
(sec)

Immediate
Predecessor(s)

Bolt leg frame to hopper

40

None

Insert impeller shaft

30

Attach axle

50

Attach agitator

40

Attach drive wheel

Attach free wheel

25

Mount lower post

15

Attach controls

20

D, E

Mount nameplate

18

F, G

Total 244

KPP227

Antti Salonen

22

SOLUTION
The figure shows the complete diagram. We begin with work element A, which
has no immediate predecessors. Next, we add elements B and C, for which
element A is the only immediate predecessor. After entering time standards and
arrows showing precedence, we add elements D and E,
and so on. The diagram simplifies interpretation.
Work element F, for example, can be done
D
anywhere on the line after element C is completed.
H
40
B
However, element I must await completion of
20
E
elements F and G.
30
6

A
40

F
C

25

50

I
G

18

15
KPP227

Antti Salonen

23

Designing Product Layouts

Theoretical minimum no. of stations:
TM = t/c [pc]
t = total time required to assemble each unit
c = cycle time

Idle time (total unproductive time for all stations)

IT= nc - t [min]
n = no. of stations

Efficiency (ratio of productive time to total time)

E =(t/nc)*100

[%]

Balance delay (amount by )

BD = 100 E
KPP227

[%]

Antti Salonen

24

EXAMPLE

Designing product layouts

(Line balancing)

KPP227

Antti Salonen

25

EXAMPLE X.5
Green Grasss plant manager just received marketings latest
forecasts of Big Broadcaster sales for the next year. She
wants its production line to be designed to make 2,400
spreaders per week for at least the next 3 months. The plant
will operate 40 hours per week.
a. What should be the lines cycle time?
b. What is the smallest number of workstations that she could
hope for in designing the line for this cycle time?
c. Suppose that she finds a solution that requires only five
stations. What would be the lines efficiency?

KPP227

Antti Salonen

26

SOLUTION
a. First convert the desired output rate (2,400 units per week) to an
hourly rate by dividing the weekly output rate by 40 hours per
week to get units per hour. Then the cycle time is
c = 1/r = 1/60 (hr/unit) = 1 minute/unit = 60 seconds/unit
b. Now calculate the theoretical minimum for the number of
stations by dividing the total time, t, by the cycle time,
c = 60 seconds. Assuming perfect balance, we have
t
244 seconds
TM =
=
= 4.067 or 5 stations
c
60 seconds
c. Now calculate the efficiency of a five-station solution, assuming
for now that one can be found:
t
244
= 81.3%
Efficiency =
(100) =
nc
5(60)
KPP227

Antti Salonen

27

Designing Product Layouts

How to assign work elements to stations then
Ranked Positional Weight Technique (RPWT)
The rationale for the RPWT is that the positional weight is a measure of
the tasks importance. Tasks with a high positional weight imply much
subsequent work and tasks depending on them.
Also

KPP227

Longest work element first

Shortest work element first

Etc

Antti Salonen

28

Designing Product Layouts

Ranked Positional Weight Technique (RPWT)
1. Construct a diagram of precedence relationships among the tasks (arrows indicate
which tasks must proceed others)
2. For each task, add up the task times for that task and ALL tasks that must follow it
directly and indirectly. This value is called positional weight for the task.
3. Select the task with the largest positional weight and assign it to the first work
station.
4. Select the task with the next largest positional weight and assign it to the earliest
possible work station that exists, as long as:

KPP227

The maximum cycle time is not exceeded

All the tasks predecessors must be assign to the same or earlier work stations

Antti Salonen

29

Largest work-element time rule

Same procedure as RPWT, but instead of choosing the work-element
with the highest RPW, choose the work-element with the largest time
(as long as the precedence requirements are fulfilled).

KPP227

Antti Salonen

30

EXAMPLE

Designing product layouts

(Line balancing)

KPP227

Antti Salonen

31

Find a line balancing solution for Green Grass Inc.

using the RPWT technique

Work
Element

Description

Time (sec)

Immediate
Predecessor(s)

D
40

Bolt leg frame to hopper

40

None

Insert impeller shaft

30

Attach axle

50

Attach agitator

40

Attach drive wheel

Attach free wheel

25

40

Mount lower post

15

Attach controls

20

D, E

Mount nameplate

18

F, G

30
F
C

25

50

I
G

Theoretical minimum no of stations = 5

Cycle time = 60 sec

Antti Salonen

20

Total 244

KPP227

18

15

32

Find a line balancing solution for Green Grass Inc.

using the RPWT technique
Work
Element

Description

Time (sec)

Immediate
Predecessor(s)

Bolt leg frame to hopper

40

None

Insert impeller shaft

30

Attach axle

50

Attach agitator

40

Attach drive wheel

Attach free wheel

25

Mount lower post

15

Attach controls

20

D, E

Mount nameplate

18

F, G

Total 244

D
B

30

20

A
40

40

C
50

F
25
I
G

Theoretical minimum no of stations = 5

Cycle time = 60 sec

18

15

KPP227

Antti Salonen

33

KPP227

Antti Salonen

34

Solution:
Station

Candidates

Choice

Cumulative
time

Idle time

S1

40

20

S2

B,C

50

10

S3

B, F, G

30

30

E, F, G

55

D, E, G

40

20

E, G

55

E, I

18

42

24

36

44

16

S4

S5

When implementing this solution, we must observe precedence requirements within each station.
For example, the worker at station S5 can do element I at any time but cannot start element H until
element E is finnished.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

35

D
B

30

20

A
40

40

F
C

25

50

I
G

18

15

KPP227

Antti Salonen

36

KPP227

Antti Salonen

37

The manager of a computer assembly line plans to produce 100 assembled computers per 10-hour
workday. Work element data for the assembly is shown in the table below.

Work
element

Time
(minutes)

Immediate
predecessors

None

C, D

D, E

I, J

KPP227

a) Draw a precedence diagram.

b) What cycle time (in minutes) results in the
desired output rate?
c) What is the theoretical minimum number of
work stations?
d) Using trial and error, balance the line as best
as you can.
e) What is the efficiency of your solution?

Antti Salonen

38

C
A

E
D

KPP227

F
G

Antti Salonen

39

C
A

E
D

Work
element

Time
(minutes)

RPW

41

39

31

35

30

18

15

14

14

12

KPP227

WS

Candidates

CT

A, B, C

E, G

F, H

J, K

Antti Salonen

40

C
WS1

E
D
WS2

KPP227

WS6

WS4

F
G
WS3

Antti Salonen

WS7

I
WS5

41

Improving line efficiency

KPP227

Antti Salonen

42

Parallel workstations
Bottlenecks may be the result of difficult or very long tasks and
may disrupt the flow of products down the line.
In these situations, parallel workstations increase the work flow
and provide flexibility.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

43

Mixed model lines

Still another approach is to design the line to handle multiple
products, often referred to as mixed model lines. This implies that
the products have to be similar with similar work elements.
This approach offers great flexibility in varying the amount of output
of the products.
One example is found in the automotive industry where cars are
often made on the same platform.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

44

Workers
Another approach to achieving a balanced line is to cross train
workers to be able to perform multiple tasks.
This implies that a worker with temporarily increased idle time can
assist other workers to maintain the flow of the line, so called
dynamic line balancing.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

45

Improving job shop efficiency

A job shop has the least efficiency
Creating a line flow in parts of the job shop will increase efficiency!
One worker multiple machines
Cell/Group technology
These are called hybrid layouts!

KPP227

Antti Salonen

46

One worker multiple machines

One worker operates several machines
simultaneously to achieve line flow (moves
from one machine to the next)

The machine set-up can be changed to

produce different products or parts

KPP227

Antti Salonen

47

Cell/Group technology
This manufacturing technique groups parts or products with similar
characteristics into families and sets aside groups of machines for
their production => A line within the job shop.
Based on shape, size, manufacturing requirements etc.
Goal: efficient production with minimal change-over and set-up times

KPP227

Antti Salonen

48

EXAMPLE

Cell/Group technology

KPP227

Antti Salonen

49

KPP227

Antti Salonen

50

Lathing

Milling

Drilling

M
Grinding

Receiving and
shipping

Assembly
A

(a) Jumbled flows in a job shop without GT cells

KPP227

Antti Salonen

51

Assembly
area
A

Cell 2

Cell 1
Receiving

Cell 3
L

Shipping

(b) Line flows in a job shop with three GT cells

KPP227

Antti Salonen

52

Volvo CE, CS-09

After:

Before:

KPP227

Antti Salonen

53

Storage layouts
The design of storage facilities present a different set of factors
than the design of factory layouts.
Frequency of order is an important consideration:
Items that are ordered frequently should be placed near the entrance of
the facility
Items that are ordered infrequently should be placed in the rear of the
facility.

The goal is to minimize picking time and transportation (distance of

movement and travel time)!

KPP227

Antti Salonen

54

Storage layouts
If items are ordered/sold together it is beneficial to store them
close to each other.
Other considerations:
Width and length of aisles
Height of storage racks
Need to periodically make a physical count of stored items
Modes of internal transport
Level of automation

KPP227

Antti Salonen

55

EXAMPLE

Storage Layout

KPP227

Antti Salonen

56

KPP227

Antti Salonen

57

KPP227

Antti Salonen

58

Office layouts
Office layouts are undergoing transformations
as the flow of paperwork is replaced by
electronic communications.
This implies that there is less need to place
office workers in a layout that optimizes a
physical flow.
However, providing efficient use of space and
possibilities for cooperation between
colleagues are of course important issues.

KPP227

Antti Salonen

59

Relevant book chapters

Chapter: Developing a process strategy
Layout

Chapter: Managing process constraints

Chapter: Designing lean systems
Designing lean systems layouts

KPP227

Antti Salonen

60

Questions?
antti.salonen@mdh.se

Next lecture on Tuesday 2015-12-01

Aggregate planning
KPP227

Antti Salonen

61