Process Layout

Chapter 8

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 Layout Planning

Layout planning is planning that involves decisions

about the physical arrangement of economic activity
centers needed by a facilitys various processes.
Layout plans translate the broader decisions about the
competitive priorities, process strategy, quality, and capacity
of its processes into actual physical arrangements.
Economic activity center: Anything that consumes
space -- a person or a group of people, a customer
reception area, a teller window, a machine, a
workstation, a department, an aisle, or a storage
room.
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 Layout Planning
Questions

Before a manager can make decisions

regarding physical arrangement, four
questions must be addressed.
1. What centers should the layout include?
2. How much space and capacity does
each center need?
3. How should each centers space be
configured?
4. Where should each center be located?
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 7A-4

Facility Layout
Defined

Facility layout can be defined as the process by which the

placement of departments, workgroups within
departments, workstations, machines, and stock-
holding points within a facility are determined
This process requires the following inputs:
Specification of objectives of the system in terms of output
and flexibility
Estimation of product or service demand on the system
Processing requirements in terms of number of operations
and amount of flow between departments and work
centers
Space requirements for the elements in the layout
Space availability within the facility itself

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 7A-5

Process Layout: Interdepartmental Flow

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
minimizing costs

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 7A-6

Process Layout: 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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 Strategic Issues

Layout choices can help communicate an

organizations product plans and competitive
priorities.
Altering a layout can affect an organization and how
well it meets its competitive priorities in the following
ways:
1. Increasing customer satisfaction and sales at a retail store.
2. Facilitating the flow of materials and information.
3. Increasing the efficient utilization of labor and equipment.
4. Reducing hazards to workers.
5. Improving employee morale.
6. Improving communication.

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 Performance Criteria

Customer satisfaction
Level of capital investment
Requirements for materials handling
Ease of stockpicking
Work environment and atmosphere
Ease of equipment maintenance
Employee and internal customer attitudes
Amount of flexibility needed
Customer convenience and levels of sales
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 Types of Layouts

Flexible-flow layout: A layout that organizes

resources (employees) and equipment by function
rather than by service or product.
Line-flow layout: A layout in which workstations or
departments are arranged in a linear path.
Hybrid layout: An arrangement in which some
portions of the facility have a flexible-flow and
others have a line-flow layout.
Fixed-position layout: An arrangement in which
service or manufacturing site is fixed in place;
employees along with their equipment, come to the
site to do their work.
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 A Flexible (process
oriented) Flow Layout
A job shop has a flexible-flow layout.

Grinding Forging Lathes

Painting Welding Drills

Milling
Office machines Foundry

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 Process-Oriented Layout

Like machines and equipment are

grouped together
Flexible and capable of handling a
wide variety of products or services
Scheduling can be difficult and
setup, material handling, and labor
costs can be high

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 Process-Oriented Layout

Arrange work centers so as to

minimize the costs of material
handling
Basic cost elements are
Number of loads (or people) moving
between centers
Distance loads (or people) move
between centers
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 Office Layout
Grouping of workers, their equipment,
and spaces to provide comfort, safety,
and movement of information
Movement of
information is main
distinction
Typically in state of
flux due to frequent
technological
changes
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 7A-14

Example of Systematic Layout Planning:

Importance of Closeness

Line Numerical
Value Closeness
code weights
A Absolutely necessary 16

E Especially important 8

I Important 4

O Ordinary closeness OK 2

U Unimportant 0

X Undesirable 80
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 Relationship Chart

Figure 9.1
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 Fixed-Position Layout
Product remains in one place
Workers and equipment come to site
Complicating factors
Limited space at site
Different materials
required at different
stages of the project
Volume of materials
needed is dynamic
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 Line Flow (product
oriented) Layout

A production line has a line-flow layout.

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

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 McDonalds Assembly
Line

Figure 9.12
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 Product-Oriented Layout

Organized around products or families of similar

high-volume, low-variety products
1. Volume is adequate for high equipment utilization
2. Product demand is stable enough to justify high
investment in specialized equipment
3. Product is standardized or approaching a phase of
life cycle that justifies investment
4. Supplies of raw materials and components are
adequate and of uniform quality

2007 Pearson Education

 Product-Oriented Layouts
Advantages
1. Low variable cost per unit
2. Low material handling costs
3. Reduced work-in-process inventories
4. Easier training and supervision
5. Rapid throughput
Disadvantages
1. High volume is required
2. Work stoppage at any point ties up the whole
operation
3. Lack of flexibility in product or production rates
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 Comparison of Product vs.
Product Layouts

Process Layouts Product Layouts

Products: large #, different small # efficiently

Resources: general purpose specialized

Facilities: more labor intensive more capital intensive

Flexibility: greater relative to market lower relative to market

Processing slower faster

Rates:

Handling costs: high low

Space requirements: higher lower

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 Assembly Line
Balancing

Line balancing is the assignment of work to

stations in a line so as to achieve the desired output
rate with the smallest number of workstations.
Work elements are the smallest units of work that
can be performed independently.
Immediate predecessors are work elements that
must be done before the next element can begin.
Precedence diagram allows one to visualize
immediate predecessors better; work elements are
denoted by circles, with the time required to perform
the work shown below each circle.
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 Assembly Line
Balancing
Step 1: Identify tasks & immediate predecessors
Step 2: Determine the desired output rate
Step 3: Calculate the cycle time
Step 4: Compute the theoretical minimum number
of workstations
Step 5: Assign tasks to workstations (balance the
line)
Step 6: Compute efficiency, idle time & balance
delay
2007 Pearson Education
 Assembly Line
Balancing
1. Precedence diagram: circles=tasks, arrows show
the required sequence.
2. Determine cycle time:
P production/time_unit
C
D demand(output)/time_unit
3. Determine required workstations (theoretical
minimum) T task_times
Nt
C cycle_time
4. Set rules for assigning tasks (number of following
tasks,
2007 Pearson Education longest task time)
 Assembly Line
Balancing
5. Assign tasks to first workstation, using rules and
staying within cycle time. Repeat for following
workstations until all tasks are assigned.
6. Evaluate line efficiency:
T
E ; Na actual_wor kstations
Na C
7. Rebalance if efficiency is not satisfactory.

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 Step 1: Identify Tasks
& Immediate
Predecessors

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 Layout Calculations
Step 2: Determine output rate
Vicki needs to produce 60 pizzas per hour
Step 3: Determine cycle time
The amount of time each workstation is allowed to
complete its tasks
available time sec./day 60 min/hr x 60 sec/min
Cycle time (sec./unit) 60 sec./unit
desired output units/hr 60 units/hr

Limited by the bottleneck task (the longest task in a

process):
available time 3600 sec./hr.
Maximum output 72 units/hr, or pizzas per hour
bottleneck task time 50 sec./unit
2007 Pearson Education
 Layout Calculations (continued)

Step 4: Compute the theoretical minimum

number of stations
TM = number of stations needed to achieve 100%
efficiency (every second is used)

TM
task times 165 seconds
2.75, or 3 stations
cycle time 60 sec/station

Always round up (no partial workstations)

Serves as a lower bound for our analysis

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 Layout Calculations (continued)
Step 5: Assign tasks to workstations
Start at the first station & choose the longest eligible task following
precedence relationships
Continue adding the longest eligible task that fits without going over the
desired cycle time
When no additional tasks can be added within the desired cycle time, begin
assigning tasks to the next workstation until finished
Workstation Eligible task Task Selected Task time Idle time
A A 50 10
1
B B 5 5
C C 25 35
2 D D 15 20
E, F, G G 15 5
E, F E 12 48
F F 10 38
3
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I I 15 5
 Last Layout Calculation

Step 6: Compute efficiency and balance delay

Efficiency (%) is the ratio of total productive time
divided by total time

Efficiency (%)
t

165 sec.
100 91.7%
NC 3 stations x 60 sec.
Balance delay (%) is the amount by which the line
falls short of 100%

Balance delay 100% 91.7% 8.3%

2007 Pearson Education

 Line Balancing
Example 8.3
Green Grass, Inc., a manufacturer of lawn & garden equipment,
is designing an assembly line to produce a new fertilizer spreader,
the Big Broadcaster..

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 Using the information in the previous slide,
answer the following questions:
1.Construct a Precedence diagram
2.If the company would like to product 60 units
per hour determine cycle time:
5.Determine required workstations (theoretical
minimum)
6.Assign tasks to workstations
7.Calculate line efficiency:
2007 Pearson Education
 Work Time Immediate
Element
A
Description (sec) Predecessor(s)
Bolt leg frame to hopper 40 None
Line Balancing
B
C
Insert impeller shaft
Attach axle
30
50
A
A Green Grass, Inc.
D Attach agitator 40 B
E Attach drive wheel 6 B
F Attach free wheel 25 C
G Mount lower post 15 C
H Attach controls 20 D, E D
I Mount nameplate 18 F, G H
Total 244 B 40
20
30 E
A 6
F
40 C 25
50 I
18
G
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 Application 8.3

2007 Pearson Education

 Using the information in the previous slide, answer the
following questions:
1.Construct a Precedence diagram
2.If the company would like to product 60 units per
hour determine cycle time:
5.Determine required workstations (theoretical
minimum)
6.Assign tasks to workstations
7.Calculate line efficiency:

2007 Pearson Education

 Solved Problem 2

2007 Pearson Education

 Solved Problem 2
Precedence Diagram

D
25
B E C
80 20 50
J
A
F 115
40 G 15
120
H I
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 Solved Problem 2
Line Balancing Process

2007 Pearson Education

 Solved Problem 2
Line Balancing Solution

D
25 S5

B E C
80 20 50
S1 J
A
F 115
40 G 15
S2 120
H I S4
S3
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