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FACILITIES LAYOUT
Rules of Thumb for Retail Layout
* Remove crossover aisles that allow the customers the opportunity of moving
between aisles.
* Distribute what are known in the trade as "power items", (items that may
dominate a shopping trip) to both sides of an aisle, and disperse them, in order
to increase the viewing of other items.
* Use end-aisle locations, because they have a very high exposure rate.
Different Types of Layouts
1. Fixed Position Layout
Large projects such as construction of buildings, ships, aircraft.
2. Office Layout
Group workers and equipment for flow of information such as law offices,
insurance companies, accounting services. For example, how Melcher Hall is
laid out; why are most of the classroom on the first floor?
3. Retail Stores
Emphasis on the customer, such as a grocery store, a department store or a
hardware store.
4. Warehouse Layout
Trade-off between space and material handling. For example, consider the
items carried at an Auto parts store and how they would be stored at their
distribution centers/ warehouses
5. Process-Oriented/Job Shop Layout
Low volume, high variety production, such as hospital, machine shop, bakery,
an auto repair shop such as Firestone. The purpose is to minimize the material
handling costs.
6. Product-Oriented/Assembly Line Layout
High volume, low variety production, such as meat packaging, TV assembly.
The purpose is to balance the work among work stations on the assembly line
and thus minimize the idle time, production costs and maximize efficiency.
Would the Souper salad restaurant be an example of such a layout in the
restaurant business?
7. Group Technology/Cellular Manufacturing
Breaking up process clusters into cells such that each cell makes a family of
products. This is done to obtain the benefits of both process as well as product
oriented layout. We will study this in a later module in this course.
2 Facilities Layout
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Job-Shop Layout
What criteria are we going to use to evaluate the layout of a job-shop?
Material handling would require two pieces of information:
1. The degree of interaction, referred to as load, between each pair of departments
(given by what is generally termed the Load Matrix).
2. The distance between each pair of departments, that is the vertical or the horizontal
distance between each department (generally diagonal is not permitted), given by
what is referred to as the Distance Matrix.
Knowing the Load and the Distance Matrices we can calculate the Load*Distance (LD)
for
each pair of departments in a given layout, and by summing the LD for all pair of
departments in the job-shop we can find the total LD or the “material handling” for a
given
layout. Our purpose is to minimize the total LD for the job-shop.
In a job-shop with n departments the possible ways these departments can be arranged is
n!=
n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)(n-4)…..3*2*1.
For example a job-shop with 6 departments can be arranged in 6! i.e.,:
6*5*4*3*2*1 = 720 different ways (This is because there are six choices for selecting the
first
department to be assigned, then five choices of the selection and so on).
To find the best layout, one can of course evaluate the LD values of all the 720 different
alternatives and choose the one with the least LD (i.e. with the lowest material handling
cost).
However, with large numbers of departments ( i.e. n), the total number of different ways
(i.e.
n!) becomes very large, and therefore this method of evaluating all possibilities becomes
prohibitive. However, as was the case in FLP, we can use heuristic methods.
One such heuristic is to place the departments with heavy interactions between them
close to
each other in a ranked ordered manner. To understand the total number of ways of
assigning
departments in this heuristic method, let us consider several example problems.
Facilities Layout 3
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Illustration
There are three departments A, B and C to be allocated in the three areas of the job-shop
shown below:
123
For simplicity, each area is of equal size and the distance between adjacent areas can be
thought of as one unit. Thus, the distance between areas 2 and 3 is one unit, but between
areas 1 and 3 is two units. The cost of moving the material from one area to another is $ 5
per
unit per unit distance.
The Load Matrix is given below, where the numbers represent the expected units moved
between the
departments per hour:
ABC
A - 5 30
B - 20
C-
Again for simplicity, we will assume the Load Matrix to be a diagonal matrix, i.e., the
numbers
across the diagonal are equal (they are the mirror images of each other). In other words,
the expected
loads from A to B is the same as from B to A.
How should we arrange the departments A, B and C in the areas 1, 2 and 3 in this
example?
1. One Possible Solution would be: (assign dept. A to area 1, B to 2, and C to 3)
ABC
The evaluation of LD for this assignment will be:
Pair Load Distance LD Cost
A-B 5 1 5 $25
A-C 30 2 60 $300
B-C 20 1 20 $100
Total Cost = $425
4 Facilities Layout
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Pair Load Distance LD Cost
-----
Total Cost $
The layout that minimizes the total LD also minimizes the cost.
In the example above there are 3 departments. The number of possible solutions is 3*2*1
= 6. We
have only looked at two solutions. However, the mirror image of a given solution would
have the
same cost.
B C A and A C B would both yield $300
B A C and C A B would both yield $375
A B C and C B A would both yield $425
This is because the distance between each pair of departments remains the same in the
mirror image
solution.
In this example placing department C in the middle gives the best solution because it has
heavy
interaction with both A and B. So we use the information of the interaction from the load
matrix in
judiciously determining the layout.
Facilities Layout 5
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Illustration with 5 departments:
Suppose the area of the Job-Shop is as give below:
12
345
Again, for simplicity, each department can be assigned to any of these five equal areas;
and we will
assume unit distance between adjacent areas. Thus, distance between areas 1 & 2, 2 & 4,
etc., is one
unit; between 3 & 5 is two units; between 1 & 5 is three units, etc. The loads between the
5
departments is given by the following diagonal load matrix.
ABCDE
A-5241
B-302
C-00
D-5
E-
Suppose the cost of moving between departments is $10 per unit of load per unit distance.
The moves
between departments can not be diagonal, but only vertical or horizontal.
The rank of the pairs of departments by Load obtained from the load matrix is given
below:
Pair Load
A-B 5
D-E 5
A-D 4
B-C 3
A-C 2
B-E 2
A-E 1
6 Facilities Layout
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Obviously, this tells us that we should insure that department A&B, D&E should have the
highest
priority to be adjacent to each other and so on.
One solution would be:
DE
ABC
Pair Load Distance LD Cost
A-B 5 1 5 $50
D-E 5 1 5 $50
A-D 4 1 4 $40
B-C 3 1 3 $30
A-C 2 2 4 $40
B-E 2 1 2 $20
A-E 1 2 2 $20
-----
Total Cost $250
Facilities Layout 7
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Example with six departments
123
456
There are 6 departments with the following load between each pair.
ABCDEF
A-52410
B-3022
C-000
D-52
E - 10
F-
The cost of moving between departments is $ 10 per unit, per unit distance.
8 Facilities Layout
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Assembly Line Layout
Consider the following assembly line with three workers A, B and C assigned to three
work stations
(WS). Also given are the amount of work to be done at each station.
R/M WS 1 WS 2 WS 3
Finished
Product
A:10 min. B:8 min. C:12 min.
Suppose that this assembly line begins production at 8:00 a.m., when will the first unit
come off the
line?
Once the first unit is off the line, when will the second unit come off the line?
Discarding the time to produce the first unit, what will be the production rate? ( how
many units will
be produced per hour)
Hence, the cycle time, the time interval between every unit, will be:
Would you prefer to be A, B or C? Why?
Could production rate be improved? How?
What should the cycle time be to make 10 units per hour?
If we wanted to minimize the number of workers in the example above what would be the
production
rate?
Maximum production rate with two workers? ____________ per hour; C.T= _______
Maximum production rate with only one worker? ____________ per hour; CT=
________
Facilities Layout 9
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Another Illustration
Suppose that the following nine tasks are required to make one item; but the tasks have
precedence
relationships (e.g.: clothes can be dried only after they are first washed and can be ironed
only after
they are dried).
Task Preceded by Time (minutes)
A - 0.8
B A 1.3
C A 3.4
D - 1.5
E B 1.8
F C,D 1.5
G E 1.0
H E,F 2.1
I G,H 1.1
-----
Total 14.5
Suppose each of these tasks is performed in a separate Work Station like in the Assembly
Line
shown below:
ABCDEFGHI
0.8 1.3 3.4 1.5 1.8 1.5 1.0 2.1 1.1
Does this line meet all the precedence requirements?
The cycle time for the above line will be:
The production rate will be:
10 Facilities Layout
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The efficiency (E) of the line will be:
E








Task Time
Actual No.
of Stations
Max. WS
Time
= _____________
Usually E is expressed as a percentage by multiplying the above number by 100.
Consider the above example; is it possible to improve the efficiency for the same cycle
time
of 3.4 minutes? How?
One way of balancing the assembly line is to group individual tasks into work stations
such
that the total time in each work station is as close to the cycle time as possible but not
more
than the cycle time (without violating the precedence relationships).
Suppose in the example above the required production rate is 12 units/hour.
Therefore, the cycle time should be:
Is this feasible? Yes/No and why ?
What is the minimum number of stations (NMin) we can have for this production rate ?
Nmin = 3 Task Time
Cycle Time
In case Nmin is not an integer, it is the next highest integer (e.g.: suppose the ratio is 5.1,
then
the minimum number of stations will have to be 6)
For this illustration, let us now see if we could design a line that would enable us to have
the
desired cycle time (hence the desired production rate) with the minimum number of
workstations. For this, there are several known rules available. The popular one are given
below and are explained by applying them to our illustrative problem.
14.5
Facilities Layout 11
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Methods to group tasks into work stations:
Longest Task Time (LTT): When you have a choice, assign the feasible task with the greatest
task
time.
Largest Number of
Following Tasks (NFT): When you have a choice, assign the feasible task with the largest
number of tasks following it.
Ranked Positional
Weight (RPW): When you have a choice, select the feasible task with the highest
Positional Weight (PW).
(PW = Sum of the time of the task and the times of the tasks following
it)
As the tasks are being selected, if there is a tie, then another method can be used to break the tie.
For
example, if we are using the NFT method, the LTT method can be used to break a tie.
While the tasks are being selected, if a task cannot be included in the current work station
because of
the violation of the cycle time requirement, then the next available feasible task could be chosen.
For
example, if we are using the NFT method, and among the available feasible tasks, the one with
the
largest number of followers cannot be selected because the task time would violate the cycle
time
requirement, then another feasible task whose time would not violate the cycle time can be
included in
the station, even though it is not the one with the largest number of followers.
The following steps need to be followed to design the assembly line:
1. Update the list of available tasks
Only tasks for which all predecessor tasks have been assigned to a workstation are available.
The line is completed when this list is empty.
2. Assign a task from this list to a workstation
Based on a method (LTT, NFT, RPW), select the next task to assign to the current
workstation. If none will fit, due to cycle time restriction, close-out workstation and open a
new one.
3. Cross-out the assigned task from the list of available tasks.
4. Go back to 1.
12 Facilities Layout
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A-
B-
C-
D-
E-
F-
G-
H-
I-
1. Using LTT Method
Task Preceded by Time (minutes)
A - 0.8
B A 1.3
C A 3.4
D - 1.5
E B 1.8
F C,D 1.5
G E 1.0
H E,F 2.1
I G,H 1.1
Required Cycle Time = 5 Minutes. ( because required production rate = 12 units/hour)
WS 1 WS 2 WS 3 WS 4 ...
A I
D
B
C
E
F
G
H
0.8
1.5
1.3
3.4
1.8
1.5
1.0
2.1
1.1
Facilities Layout 13
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A-
B-
C-
D-
E-
F-
G-
H-
I-
Using the NFT Method
Task Preceded by Time (minutes) NFT
A - 0.8 7
B A 1.3 4
C A 3.4 3
D - 1.5 3
E B 1.8 3
F C,D 1.5 2
G E 1.0 1
H E,F 2.1 1
I G,H 1.1 0
Cycle Time = 5 Minutes.
WS 1 WS 2 WS 3 WS 4 ...
A I
D
B
C
E
F
G
H
0.8
1.5
1.3
3.4
1.8
1.5
1.0
2.1
1.1
14 Facilities Layout
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A-
B-
C-
D-
E-
F-
G-
H-
I-
Using the Ranked Positional Weight (RPW)
Task Preceded by Time PW * RPW
A - 0.8 13.0 1
B A 1.3 7.3 3
C A 3.4 8.1 2
D - 1.5 6.2 4
E B 1.8 6.0 5
F C,D 1.5 4.7 6
G E 1.0 2.1 8
H E,F 2.1 3.2 7
I G,H 1.1 1.1 9
Cycle Time = 5 Minutes.
* PW for task A: Sum of task times of A, B, C, E, F, G, H & I = 13.0
PW for task E: Sum of task times of E, G, H & I = 6.0
PW for task D: Sum of task times of D, F, H & I = 6.2
WS 1 WS 2 WS 3 WS 4 ...
A I
D
B
C
E
F
G
H
0.8
1.5
1.3
3.4
1.8
1.5
1.0
2.1
1.1
Facilities Layout 15
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Group Technology
We have learned previously that process layout is common to those organizations that
make a
very large variety of items such that different jobs require different operations and
therefore
take different routings around the shop. In cases where distinct product families exist and
when several of each type of machine exist in the work centers, machines from different
work
centers are organized as a flow line into what are called "cells". This flow line is
dedicated to
a family of products or to one product. Note that in this case the product family is not a
sales
catalog family, it is a production family with common raw materials, labor skills, cycle
times
and especially common routings.
Group technology, also referred to as cellular manufacturing, therefore helps maintain the
variety of products but makes the production process more efficient by organizing toward
a
flow layout, and thus reducing the number of set-ups required and also the manufacturing
lead
time