Chapter 6

Process Design
and
Facility Layout
1
 Introduction

• Make or Buy?
– Available capacity, excess capacity
– Expertise, knowledge, know-how exists?
– Quality Consideration, specialized firms, control
over quality if in-house
– The nature of demand, aggregation
– Cost
Make some components buy remaining
2
 Introduction

• Process selection
– Deciding on the way production of
goods or services will be organized
• Major implications
– Capacity planning
– Layout of facilities
– Equipment, Capital-equipment or
labor intensive
– Design of work systems
• New product and service,
technological changes, and
competitive pressures 3
 Process Selection and System Design

Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design

Figure 6.1
4
 Process Types

• Job Shops: Small lots, low volume, general equipment,

skilled workers, high-variety. Ex: tool and die shop,
veterinarian’s office
• Batch Processing: Moderate volume and variety. Variety
among batches but not inside. Ex:paint production ,
BA3352 sections
• Repetitive/Assembly: Semicontinuous, high volume of
standardized items, limited variety. Ex: auto plants,
cafeteria
• Continuous Processing: Very high volume an no variety.
Ex: steel mill, chemical plants
• Projects: Nonroutine jobs. Ex: preparing BA3352
midterm 5
Questions Before Selecting A Process

• Variety of products
and services
– How much
• Flexibility of the process; volume, mix,
technology and design
– What type and degree Batch
• Volume
– Expected output
Job Shop Continuous

Repetitive
6
 Product – Process Matrix

Dimension Job Shop Batch Repetitive Continuous

Job variety Very High Moderate Low Very low
Process Very High Moderate Low Very low
flexibility

Unit cost Very High Moderate Low Very low

Volume of Very low Low High Very high
output

7
 Variety, Flexibility, & Volume

Product High Moderate Low Very Low

Variety
Equipment High Moderate Low Very Low
flexibility
Low Job
Shop
Volume
Moderate Batch
Volume
High Repetitive
assembly
Volume
Very high Continuous
Flow
Volume
8
 Product – Process Matrix

Process Type High variety Low variety

Job Shop Appliance
repair
Emergency
room
Batch Commercial
bakery
Classroom
Lecture
Repetitive Automotive
assembly
Automatic
carwash
Continuous Oil refinery
Water
(flow)
purification

9
 Product-Process Matrix
Few High
Low Multiple Major Volume,
VolumeProducts,
Products,High
One of a Low Higher Standard-
Kind VolumeVolumeization
Flexibility-
Job Book
Quality
Shop Writing

Batch Movie
Theaters

Assembly Automobile
Line Assembly

Continuous Sugar
Flow RefineryDependability-
Cost
Flexibility-Quality
Dependability-Cost

10
Automation: Machinery that has sensing
and control devices that enables it to
operate

Fixed automation: Low production cost and high volume but

with minimal variety and high changes cost
– Assembly line
Programmable automation: Economically producing a wide
variety of low volume products in small batches
– Computer-aided design and manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
– Numerically controlled (NC) machines / CNC
– Industrial robots (arms)
Flexible automation: Require less changeover time and allow
continuous operation of equipment and product variety
– Manufacturing cell
– Flexible manufacturing systems: Use of high automation to achieve
repetitive process efficiency with job shop process
• Automated retrieval and storage
• Automated guided vehicles
– Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
11
Robot

Show wafer_handler_web

12
 Flexible Manufacturing System
• Group of machines that include supervisory computer
control, automatic material handling, robots and other
processing equipment
– Advantage:
reduce labor costs and more consistent quality
lower capital investment and higher flexibility than
hard automation
relative quick changeover time
– Disadvantage
used for a family of products and require longer
planning and development times

13
 Computer-integrated manufacturing
• Use integrating computer system to link a broad
range of manufacturing activities, including
engineering design, purchasing, order processing
and production planning and control
• Advantage:
rapid response to customer order and product
change, reduce direct labor cost, high quality

14
 Service Blueprint

• Service blueprint: A method used in service

design to describe and analyze a proposed
service. Flowchart:

B Turn on Connect to LCD A

egi laptop
n
Yes
A View Lecture
on
No
Begi
n 15
 Service Process Design

• Establish boundaries
• Identify steps involved
• Prepare a flowchart
• Identify potential failure points
• Establish a time frame for operations
• Analyze profitability

16
 Layout

• Layout: the configuration of departments, work

centers, and equipment,
– Whose design involves particular emphasis on
movement of work (customers or materials) through
the system
• Importance of layout
– Requires substantial investments of money and effort
– Involves long-term commitments
– Has significant impact on cost and efficiency of short-
term operations

17
 The Need for Layout Decisions

Inefficient operations
For Example: Changes in the design
High Cost of products or services
Bottlenecks

Accidents
The introduction of new
products or services

Safety hazards
18
The Need for Layout Design (Cont’d)

Changes in
environmental Changes in volume of
or other legal output or mix of
requirements products

Morale problems
Changes in methods
and equipment

19
 Basic Layout Types

• Product Layout
– Layout that uses standardized processing operations
to achieve smooth, rapid, high-volume flow
• Auto plants, cafeterias
• Process Layout
– Layout that can handle varied processing requirements
• Tool and die shops, university departments
• Fixed Position Layout
– Layout in which the product or project remains
stationary, and workers, materials, and equipment are
moved as needed
• Building projects, disabled patients at hospitals
• Combination Layouts
20
 A Flow Line for Production or Service

Flow Shop or Assembly Line Work Flow

Raw Station Station Station Station Finished

materials 1 2 3 4 item
or customer
Material Material Material Material

and/or and/or and/or and/or

labor labor labor labor

21
 A U-Shaped Production Line

Advantage: more compact, increased communication

facilitating team work, minimize the material handling
22
 Process Layout

Process Layout
(functional)
Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E

Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F

Used for Intermittent processing

23
 Process Layout

Milling

Assembly
Grinding
& Test

Drilling Plating
Process Layout - work travels
to dedicated process centers

24
Layout types: Product or Process Make your pick

25
 Process vs Layout types
• Job Shop • Product

• Project Matc • Process

h?

• Repetitive • Fixed-point

26
 Product layout
Advantages Disadvantages
– High volume – Lacks flexibility
– Low unit cost • Volume, design, mix
– Low labor skill needed – Boring for labor
– Low material handling • Low motivation
– High efficiency and • Low worker enrichment
utilization – Can not accommodate
– Simple routing and partial shut
scheduling downs/breakdowns
– Simple to track and
– Individual incentive
control
plans are not possible

27
 Cellular Layouts

• Cellular Manufacturing
– Layout in which machines are grouped into a cell that
can process items that have similar processing
requirements. A product layout is visible inside each
cell.
• Group Technology
– The grouping into part families of items with similar
design or manufacturing characteristics. Each cell is
assigned a family for production. This limits the
production variability inside cells, hence allowing for a
product layout.

28
A Group of Parts

Similar manufacturing characters

29
 Process vs. Cellular Layouts

Dimension Process Cellular

Number of moves many few
between departments
Travel distances longer shorter
Travel paths variable fixed
Job waiting times greater shorter
Amount of work in higher lower
process
Supervision difficulty higher lower
Scheduling complexity higher lower
Equipment utilization Lower? Higher?

30
 Process Layout

222 222 222

111

2
Mill Drill Grind

22
444 3333
444

22
33

1111
2222 Assembly
33

44
111333

33
33

44
33

4
3

111
33

111
33
Heat 111 Gear
333Lathes
treat cutting 444

31
 Cellular Manufacturing Layout

Heat Gear
-1111 Lathe Mill Drill -1111
treat cut

Heat
Mill Drill Grind - 2222

Assembly
222222222 treat

Heat
3333333333 Lathe Mill Grind - 3333
treat

44444444444444 Mill Drill Gear - 4444

cut

32
 Basic Layout Formats

• Group Technology Layout

Similar to cellular layout

Part Family W Part Family X Part Family Z

Assemble Y,W Assemble X,Z

Part Family Y

Final
• Fixed Position Layout Product
– e.g. Shipbuilding

33
 Fixed-Position and combination Layout

• Fixed-Position Layout:
item being worked on remains stationary,
and workers, materials and equipment are
moved as needed.
Example: buildings, dams, power plants
• Combination Layouts:
combination of three pure types.
Example: hospital: process and fixed position.

34
 Service Layouts

• Warehouse and storage layouts

Issue: Frequency of orders
• Retail layouts
Issue: Traffic patterns and traffic flows
• Office layouts
Issue: Information transfer, openness

35
 Design Product Layouts: Line Balancing

ancing is the process of assigning tasks to workstatio

a way that the workstations have approximately the s
ng time requirements. This results in the minimized i
e line and high utilization of labor and equipment.
4 tasks 2 tasks

Worker 1 Worker 2

h task takes 1 minutes, how to balance?

time is the maximum time allowed at each workstatio

o complete its set of tasks on a single unit
the cycle time for the system above?
36
 Parallel Workstations

30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr.

1 min. 1 min. 2 min. 1 min.

Bottleneck

30/hr. 2 min. 30/hr.

60/hr. 60/hr.
1 min. 1 min. 1 min.
30/hr.
2 min. 30/hr.

Parallel Workstations

37
 The obstacle
• The difficulty to forming task bundles that have the
same duration.
• The difference among the elemental task lengths
can not be overcome by grouping task.
– Ex: Can you split the tasks with task times {1,2,3,4} into
two groups such that total task time in each group is the
same?
– Ex: Try the above question with {1,2,2,4}
• A required technological sequence prohibit the
desirable task combinations
– Ex: Let the task times be {1,2,3,4} but suppose that the
task with time 1 can only done after the task with time 4 is
completed. Moreover task with time 3 can only done
after the task with time 2 is completed. How to group?
38
 Cycle Time

The major determinant: cycle time

Cycle time is the maximum time allowed at each

workstation to complete its tasks on a unit.

Minimum cycle time: longest task time by

assigning each task to a workstation
Maximum cycle time: sum of the task time by
assigning all tasks to a workstation
39
 Determine Maximum Output
Cycle Time: Time to process 1 unit
OT: OperatingTimePerDay
D: DesiredOutputRate
OT
= DesiredCycleTime
D
CT = CycleTime ← FromProcessDesign
OT
≥ CT Can produce at the desired level, design is feasible
D
OT
< CT Cannot produce at the desired level, design is infeasible
D

Example: If a student can answer a multiple choice

question in 2 minutes but gets a test with 30 questions
and is given only 30 minutes then
OT=30 minutes; D=30
Desired cycle time=1 minute < 2 minutes = Cycle time 40
 Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required: Efficiency
Example: Students can answer a multiple choice question
in 2 minutes but given a test with 30 questions and is
given only 30 minutes. What is the minimum number of
students to collaborate to answer all the questions in the
exam?
Total operation (task) time = 60 minutes = 30 x 2 minutes
Operating time=30 minutes
60/3=2 Total
students
N min =
must
task time for collaborate. This N
all products produced inmin
a day
=
∑
below.
(D)( t)
Availabale time in a day OT

N min =
∑t =
Total task time for a product ∑ t
=
OT/D Availabale time for a product CT

∑ t = sum of task times

41
 Percent Idle Time

Idle time per cycle

Percent idle time =
(N)(CT)

Efficiency = 1 – Percent idle time

42
 Example 1: Precedence Diagram

Precedence diagram: Tool used in line

balancing to display elemental tasks and
sequence requirements
0.1 min. 1.0 min.

a b

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

43
 Example 1: Assembly Line Balancing

• Arrange tasks shown in the previous slide

into workstations.
– Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
• Every 1 minute, 1 unit must be completed
– Rule: Assign tasks in order of the most number
of followers
• If you are to choose between a and c, choose a
• If you are to choose between b and d, choose b
• Number of followers: a:3, b:2, c:2, d:1, e:0
– Eligible task fits into the remaining time and all
of its predecessors are assigned.
44
 Solution to Example 1.
Assigning operations by the number of followers

Work- Time Assign Station

Station Remaining Eligible Task Idle Time
1 1.0 a,c a
.9 c c
.2 none - .2
2 1.0 b b
0 none - 0
3 1.0 d d
.5 e e
.3 - - .3
.5

- Eligible operation fits into the remaining time and its

predecessors are already assigned.
45
- What is the minimum cycle time possible for this example?
 Calculate Percent Idle Time

Sum of idle times at stations during a cycle

Percent idle time =
(N)(CT) = Total station time

0.2 + 0 + 0.3
Percent idle time = = 0.167 = 16.7%
(3)(1)

Efficiency=1-percent idle time=1-

0.167=0.833=83.3%

46
 Line Balancing Heuristic Rules

• Assign tasks in order of most following

tasks.
• Assign task in the order of the greatest task
time.
• Assign tasks in order of greatest positional
weight.
– Positional weight is the sum of each task’s
time and the times of all following tasks.
47
 Solution to Example 1. Assigning operations
using their task times.

Work- Time Assign Station

Station Remaining Eligible Task Idle Time
1 1.0 a,c c
.9 a a
.2 none - .2
2 1.0 b b
0 none - 0
3 1.0 d d
.5 e e
.3 - - .3
.5

Eligible operation fits into the remaining time and its

predecessors are already assigned.
48
 Positional Weights

Assign tasks in order of greatest positional weight.

– Positional weight is the sum of each task’s time

and the times of all following tasks.
– a:1.8 mins; b: 1.7 mins; c:1.4 mins; d: 0.7 mins;
e:0.2 mins.

49
 Solution to Example 1. Assigning operations
using their task times.

Work- Time Assign Station

Station Remaining Eligible Task Idle Time
1 1.0 a,c a
.9 c c
.2 none - .2
2 1.0 b b
0 none - 0
3 1.0 d d
.5 e e
.3 - - .3
.5

Eligible operation fits into the remaining time and its

predecessors are already assigned.
50
 Example 2

0.2 0.2 0.3

a b e

0.8 0.6
c d f g h
1.0 0.4 0.3

51
 Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d

52
 Designing Process Layouts

• Requirements:
– List of departments
• Shape requirements
– Projection of work flows
• One way vs. two way: Packaging and final
assembly.
– Distance between locations
• One way vs. two way: Conveyors, Elevators.
– Amount of money to be invested
– List of special considerations
• Technical, Environmental requirements

53
 Example 3:
Locate 3 departments to 3 sites
• Distances: From\To A B C
A - 20 40
in meters
B 20 - 30
C 40 30 -

• Work Flow: From\To 1 2 3

1 - 10 80
in kilos
2 20 - 30
3 90 70 -

54
 Example 3
• Mutual flow: From\To 1 2 3
1 - - -
2 30 - -
3 170 100 -

• Closeness graph:

1 2

55
 Designing Process Layouts

• Create Layout Alternatives

• Find the one which minimizes
transportation costs and distance traveled

56
 Example 3: Layout Alternative 1

30

170 100
1 3 2

A B C
Total Distance Traveled by
Material=7600 m
57
 Example 3: Layout Alternative 2

170

30 100
1 2 3

A B C
Total Distance Traveled by
Material=10400 m
58
Closeness Rating: multiple criteria

59
 Muther Grid
• Allow multiple objectives and subjective
input from analysis or manager to
indicate the relative importance of each
combination of department pairs.
• Subjective inputs are imprecise and
unreliable

60
 Example 4

• Heuristic: assign critical departments first. The

critical departments are those with X and A
ratings.
• Solution: As Xs
1-2 1-4
1-3 3-6
2-6 3-4
3-5
4-6
5-6 61
 Example 4
• Begin with most frequently in the A list (6)
• Add remaining As to the main cluster
• Graphically portray Xs
• Fit the cluster into the arrangement
2 4
6
1
5
3
1 2 6
3 5 4
62
 Summary

• Process Selection
Objective, Implication, types
• Product Layout
Line balancing: procedures and measures
• Process layout
Information requirements, measures
From to chart and Muther grid

63
 An example for Recitation
Tasks times and predecessors for an operation
Task label Time Predecessors
A 2 None C
B 7 A E
C 5 None D
D 2 None
F
E 15 C,D
F 7 A,E A B
G 6 None H N
H 4 B,G G I
I 9 A
J 10 None
K 4 None J
L 8 J,K L M
M 6 A,L K
N 15 F,H,I,M 64
 Recitation example
• Find a workstation assignment by taking
cycle time=17 minutes by assigning in the
order of the greatest task time.
• Can you find an assignment that uses only
six stations and meets 17 minute cycle
time requirement.
• See the solution in the next recitation.

65
 Solution 1: Greatest task time first

Time Idle
A 2 None Station remaining Eligible Assign Time
B 7 A 1 17 C,D,A,G,J,K J
C 5 None 7 C,D,A,G,K G 1
D 2 None 2 17 C,D,A,K C

E 15 C,D 12 D,A,K K
8 D,A,L L 0
F 7 A,E
3 17 D,A A
G 6 None
15 D,B,I,M I
H 4 B,G
6 D,B,M M 0
I 9 A 4 17 D,B B
J 10 None 10 D,H H
K 4 None 6 D D 4
L 8 J,K 5 17 E E 2
M 6 A,L 6 17 F F 10

N 15 F,H,I,M 7 17 N N 2
66
 Solution 2: A heuristic

• Workstation Assignment that uses only six stations

and meets 17 minute cycle time requirement

STATION NO OPERATIONS STATION TIME

1 C,D,G,K 17
2 E,A 17
3 J,B 17
4 L,I 17
5 F,H,M 17
6 N 15

67
Solution 3: Greatest positional weight first

SUCCESSORS'
OPERATION TASK TIME TASK TIME
C 42 5
D 39 2
J 39 10
E 37 15
STATION
K 33 4 STATION NO OPERATIONS TIME
L 29 8 1 C,D,J 17
A 28 2 2 E,A 17
B 26 7 3 K,L 12
G 25 6 4 B,G,H 17
I 24 9 5 I,F 16
F 22 7 6 M 6
M 21 6 7 N 15
H 19 4
N 15 15
68
 Practice Questions
• True/False
• General, Job-Shop systems have a lower unit
cost than continuous systems do because
continuous systems use costly specialized
equipment.

• In cellular manufacturing, machines and

equipment are grouped by type (e.g., all
grinders are grouped into a cell).
Answer: False Page: 218
Answer: False Page: 233

69
 Practice Questions

1. Layout planning is required because of:

• Efficient operations
• Accidents or safety hazards
• New products or services
• Morale problems
• A) I and II
• B) II and IV
• C) I and III
• D) II, III, and IV
• E) I, II, III, and IV Answer: D Page: 227
70
 Practice Questions
2. Which type of processing system tends to
produce the most product variety?
• A) Assembly
• B) Job-Shop
• C) Batch
• D) Continuous
• E) Project
•Answer: B Page: 220

71
 Practice Questions
3. A production line is to be designed for a
job with three tasks. The task times are 0.3
minutes, 1.4 minutes, and 0.7 minutes.
The minimum cycle time in minutes, is:
• A) 0.3
• B) 0.7
• C) 1.4
• D) 2.4
• E) 0.8 •Answer: C Page: 238

72
 Chapter 6 Supplement
Linear Programming:
Very useful technique – Learn before graduation
You may read my lecture notes
for OPRE6201 available on the web.

73