Chapter 6

Process Selection
and Facility Layout

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6-1
Chapter 6: Learning Objectives
You should be able to:
LO 6.1 Explain the strategic importance of process selection and the
influence it has on the organization and its supply chain
LO 6.2 Name the two main factors that influence process selection
LO 6.3 Compare the four basic processing types
LO 6.4 Explain the need for management of technology
LO 6.5 List some reasons for redesign of layouts
LO 6.6 Describe product layouts and their main advantages and
disadvantages
LO 6.7 Describe process layouts and their main advantages and
disadvantages
LO 6.8 Solve simple line-balancing problems
LO 6.9 Develop simple process layouts

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 Process Selection
Process selection
 Refers to deciding on the way production of goods or
services will be organized
 It has major implications for
Capacity planning
Layout of facilities
Equipment
Design of work systems

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 Process Selection and System Design
Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design

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 Process Strategy
 Key aspects of process strategy:
 Capital intensity
 The mix of equipment and labor that will be used by the
organization
 Process flexibility
 The degree to which the system can be adjusted to changes in
processing requirements due to such factors as
 Product and service design changes
 Volume changes
 Changes in technology

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 Process Selection (cont.)
Two key questions in process selection:
1. How much variety will the process need to be able to
handle?
2. How much volume will the process need to be able to
handle?

Job Shop

Batch

Repetitive Continuous

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 Types of Processing
Repetitive/
Job Shop Batch Assembly Continuous
Description Customized Semi- Standardized Highly standardized
goods or standardized goods or Goods or services
services goods or services
services
Advantages Able to handle a Flexibility; easy Low unit Very efficient, very
wide variety to add or change cost, high volume, high volume
of work products or efficient
services
Disadvantages Slow, high cost Moderate cost Low flexibility, Very rigid, lack of
per unit, per unit, high cost of variety, costly to
complex moderate downtime change, very high
planning and scheduling cost of downtime
scheduling complexity

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 Sustainable Production of
Goods and Services
There is increasing pressure for organizations to
operate sustainable production processes
According to the Lowell Center for Sustainable
Production:
 “Sustainable Production is the creation of goods and
services using processes and systems that are: non-
polluting; conserving of energy and natural resources;
economically efficient; safe and healthful for workers,
communities, and consumers; and, socially and
creatively rewarding for all working people.”

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 Sustainable Production of
Goods and Services (cont.)

Reduce/recycle waste and ecologically

incompatible parts and byproducts
Eliminate hazardous chemicals/physical agents
Conserve energy and materials
Redesign workspace to minimize hazards to the
workers and the environment

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 Process and Information Technology
 Process and information technology can have a major
impact on costs, productivity and competitiveness:
 Process technology
 Methods, procedures, and equipment used to produce goods and
provide services
 Information technology
 The science and use of computers and other electronic equipment to
store, process, and send information

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 The Need to Manage Technology
Process technology and information technology
can have a profound impact on:
 Costs
 Productivity
 Competitiveness

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 Automation
Automation
 Machinery that has sensing and control devices that
enable it to operate automatically
Fixed automation
Programmable automation
Flexible automation

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 Programmable Automation
 Programmable automation
 Involves the use of high-cost, general-purpose equipment
controlled by a computer program that provides both the
sequence of operations and specific details about each
operation
 Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)
 The use of computers in process control, ranging from robots to automated quality
control
 Numerically Controlled (N/C) Machines
 Machines that perform operations by following mathematical processing
instructions
 Robot
 A machine consisting of a mechanical arm, a power supply, and a controller

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 Various types of Robots
 Robots that follow a fixed set of instructions
 Programmable robots
 Repeat a set of movements after being led through a
sequence
 Follow instructions from a computer
 Collaborative robots, also known as cobots

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 Flexible Automation
 Flexible automation
 Evolved from programmable automation. It uses equipment
that is more customized than that of programmable
automation. A key difference between the two is that flexible
automation requires significantly less changeover time.
 FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System)
 A group of machines designed to handle intermittent processing requirements and
produce a variety of similar products

 CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing)

 A system for linking a broad range of manufacturing activities through an
integrated computer system

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 Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS)
FMS
 A group of machines designed to handle intermittent
processing requirements and produce a variety of similar
products
Have some of the benefits of automation and some of the
flexibility of individual, or stand-alone, machines
Includes supervisory computer control, automatic material
handling, and robots or other automated processing
equipment

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 Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
 A system for linking a broad range of manufacturing
activities through an integrated computer system
Activities include
 Engineering design
 FMS
 Purchasing
 Order processing
 Production planning and control
The overall goal of CIM is to link various parts of an
organization to achieve rapid response to customer orders
and/or product changes, to allow rapid production, and to
reduce indirect labor costs
Internet of Things (IoT) further enhances connectivity of
devices through internet

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 Facilities Layout
Layout
 The configuration of departments, work centers, and
equipment, with particular emphasis on movement of
work (customers or materials) through the system
 Facilities layout decisions arise when:
Designing new facilities
Re-designing existing facilities

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 The Need for Layout Planning
Inefficient operations
 High cost
 Bottlenecks
Accidents or safety hazards
Changes in product or service design
Introduction of new products or services
Changes in output volume or product mix
Changes in methods or equipment
Changes in environmental or other legal requirements
Morale problems

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 Layout Design Objectives
 Basic objective
 Facilitate a smooth flow of work, material, and information through the
system
 Supporting objectives
 Facilitate product or service quality
 Use workers and space efficiently
 Avoid bottlenecks
 Minimize material handling costs
 Eliminate unnecessary movement of workers or material
 Minimize production time or customer service time
 Design for safety

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 Basic Layout Types
Product layouts
Process layouts
Fixed-position layout
Combination layouts

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 Repetitive Processing: Product Layouts
Product layout
 Layout that uses standardized processing operations to
achieve smooth, rapid, high-volume flow

Raw materials
Station Station Station Station Finished
or customer item
1 2 3 4

Material Material Material Material

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

labor labor labor labor
Used for Repetitive Processing
Repetitive or Continuous
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Process Types

A job shop A batch process

A repetitive process A continuous process

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 Product Layouts: Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
 High rate of output  Creates dull, repetitive jobs
 Low unit cost  Poorly skilled workers may not

 Labor specialization maintain equipment or quality of

output
 Low material handling cost per
 Fairly inflexible to changes in
unit volume or product or process
 High utilization of labor and design
equipment  Highly susceptible to shutdowns
 Established routing and  Preventive maintenance, capacity
scheduling for quick repair, and spare-parts
 Routine accounting, purchasing, inventories are necessary expenses
and inventory control  Individual incentive plans are
impractical

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 Non-repetitive Processing: Process Layouts

Process layouts
 Layouts that can handle varied processing requirements

Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E

Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F

Used for Intermittent processing

Job Shop or Batch

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 Process Layouts: Advantages &
Disadvantages (cont.)
Advantages Disadvantages
 Can handle a variety of  In-process inventories can be high
processing requirements  Routing and scheduling pose
 Not particularly vulnerable to continual challenges
equipment failures  Equipment utilization rates are
 General-purpose equipment is low
often less costly and easier to  Material handling is slow and
maintain inefficient
 It is possible to use individual  Reduced spans of supervision
incentive systems  Special attention necessary for
each product or customer
 Accounting, inventory control,
and purchasing are more involved

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 Fixed Position Layouts
Fixed position layout
 Layout in which the product or project remains
stationary, and workers, materials, and equipment are
moved as needed
 Large construction projects
 Shipbuilding/aircraft manufacturing
 Space mission

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 Combination Layouts
 Some operational environments use a combination of the
three basic layout types:
 Hospitals
 Supermarket
 Shipyards
 Some organizations are moving away from process layouts
in an effort to capture the benefits of product layouts
 Cellular manufacturing
 Flexible manufacturing systems

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 Cellular Layouts
Cellular production
 Layout in which workstations are grouped into a cell
that can process items that have similar processing
requirements
Groupings are determined by the operations needed to
perform the work for a set of similar items, part families, that
require similar processing
The cells become, in effect, miniature versions of product
layouts
Enables companies to produce a variety of products with very
little waste

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 Group Technology
Group technology
 The grouping into part families of items with similar
design or manufacturing characteristics
Design characteristics:
 Size
 Shape
 Function
Manufacturing or processing characteristics
 Type of operations required
 Sequence of operations required
 Requires a systematic analysis of parts to identify the
part families

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 Service Layouts
 Service layouts can be categorized as: product,
process, or fixed position
 Service layout requirements are somewhat different
due to such factors as:
 Degree of customer contact
 Degree of customization
 Common service layouts:
 Warehouse and storage layouts – minimize item movement
 Retail layouts – influence customers into buying more
 Office layouts – increase employee interactions

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 Designing Product Layouts:
Line Balancing
 The goal of a product layout is to arrange workers or machines in the
sequence that operations need to be performed

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 Line Balancing
Line balancing
 The process of assigning tasks to workstations in such a
way that the workstations have approximately equal
time requirements
 Goal:
Obtain task grouping that represents approximately equal
time requirements, since this minimizes idle time along the
line and results in a high utilization of equipment and labor
 Why is line balancing important?
1. It allows us to use labor and equipment more efficiently
2. To avoid fairness issues that arise when one workstation must
work harder than another

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 Cycle Time
Cycle time
 The maximum time allowed at each workstation to
complete its set of tasks on a unit
 Cycle time also establishes the output rate of a line

Operating time per day

Cycle time 
Desired output rate

Operating time per day

Output rate =
Cycle time

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 How Many Workstations Are Needed?
The required number of workstations is a
function of
 Desired output rate
 Our ability to combine tasks into a workstation
Theoretical minimum number of stations

N min 
t
Cycle time
where
N min  theoretica l minimum number of stations
 t  Sum of task time s
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 Precedence Diagram
 Precedence diagram
 A diagram that shows elemental tasks and their precedence
requirements

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 Assigning Tasks to Workstations
Some heuristic (intuitive) rules:
 Assign tasks in order of most following tasks
 Count the number of tasks that follow

 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

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 Measuring Effectiveness
 Balance delay (percentage of idle time)
 Percentage of idle time of a line

Idle time per cycle

Balance Delay   100
N actual  Cycle time
where
N actual  Actual number of stations
 Efficiency
 Percentage of busy time of a line
Efficiency  100% - Balance Delay

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 Designing Process Layouts
The main issue in designing process layouts concerns
the relative placement of the departments
Measuring effectiveness
 A major objective in designing process layouts is to
minimize transportation cost, distance, or time

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 Information Requirements
 In designing process layouts, the following
information is required:
1. A list of departments to be arranged and their dimensions
2. A projection of future work flows between the pairs of work
centers
3. The distance between locations and the cost per unit of distance
to move loads between them
4. The amount of money to be invested in the layout
5. A list of any special considerations
6. The location of key utilities, access and exit points, etc.

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 Process Layout Problem
Distance between locations in meters
To
A B C
A 20 40
From

B 30
C

Interdepartmental work flows (loads

per day)
To
1 2 3
1 30 170
From

2 100
3

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 Process Layout Problem (cont.)
30

170 100
1 2 3

A B C

Dept. Loads Location Distance Load Distance

(meters) Score
1 to 2 170 A to B 20 170 × 20 = 3,400
1 to 3 30 A to C 40 30 × 40 = 1,200
2 to 3 100 B to C 30 100 × 30 = 3,000
Total 7,600

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