Facility Layout
Review Backgrounds: 3 minutes (for real class: 10 minutes)
Line Balancing & Designing Process Layouts: 13 minutes
(for real class: 20 minutes)
Excel Templates: 4 minutes (for real class: 10 minutes)
Problem-solving and Discussion: For real class: 45 minutes
Instructor Slides 2-2
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
Objectives
Facilitate a smooth flow of work, material, and information through
the system; also
1. Facilitate product or service quality
2. Use workers and space efficiently
3. Avoid bottlenecks
4. Minimize material handling costs
5. Eliminate unnecessary movement of workers or material
6. Minimize production time or customer service time
7. Design for safety
Instructor Slides 2-3
Product layouts (Repetitive Processing)
Process layouts (Non-repetitive Processing)
Fixed-Position layout
Combination layouts
Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E
Raw materials Station Station Station Station Finished
or customer 1 2 3 4 item
Material Material Material Material
Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F
and/or and/or and/or and/or
labor labor labor labor
Instructor Slides 2-4
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 represent 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.
Instructor Slides 2-5
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
Instructor Slides 2-6
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 theoretical minimum number of stations
t Sum of task times
Instructor Slides 2-7
Precedence diagram
A diagram that shows elemental tasks and their precedence
requirements
Instructor Slides 2-8
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.
Instructor Slides 2-9
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
Instructor Slides 2-10
Operating time per day
Cycle time
Desired output rate
(1.8) (1.5) (1.1) (0.9) 0.5+0.3=(0.8) (0.3)
N min
t
4 .2
Cycle time 1 .6
where
N min theoretical minimum number of stations
(3.2) (2.6) (1.4) t Sum of task times
Instructor Slides 11
Workstation #1 Workstation #2 Workstation #3
1.6 minutes 1.6 minutes 1.6 minutes Idle time per cycle
Balance Delay 100
N actual Cycle time
B 0.6 1.0 D 1.2 0.4 F 0.6 1.0
0 .6
A 0.3 0.7 H 0.5 0.5 100
0.4 3 1 .6
C 0.4 0.3 I 0.3 0.2
E 0.2 0.1 0.2 Efficiency 100% - Balance Delay
G 0.1 0.0
(1.8) (1.5) (1.1) (0.9) 0.5+0.3=(0.8) (0.3)
Instructor Slides(3.2) (2.6) (1.4) 12
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
Instructor Slides 2-13
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.
Instructor Slides 2-14
Example of designing process layout
Lo. (m) A B C
A -- 20 40
B -- 30
C --
Dept. 1 2 3
1 -- 30 170
2 -- 100
3 --
Instructor Slides 15
