Facilities Layout

Facility Design

Facility layout:
Arrangement of machines, storage areas,
and/or work areas usually within the
confines of a physical structure, such as a
retail store, an office, a warehouse, or a
manufacturing facility.

Factors that influence layout

Volume, weight of items to be produced.

Nature of the service to be provided.
Cost of the building to house the operation.
The product mix that must have a facility.
The fragility of the product or component.

Objectives
Arrangement of areas within a facility to:

Minimize materialhandling costs

Utilize space efficiently
Utilize labor efficiently
Eliminate bottlenecks
Facilitate communication
and interaction
Reduce manufacturing
cycle time
Reduce customer service
time
Eliminate wasted or
redundant movement
Increase capacity

Facilitate entry, exit, and

placement of material,
products, and people
Incorporate safety and
security measures
Promote product and
service quality
Encourage proper
maintenance activities
Provide a visual control
of activities
Provide flexibility to
adapt to changing
conditions

A Product / Flow Line Layout

In

Out
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Product / Flow-Line Layout

Applicable to both manufacturing and non

manufacturing operations.
Arrange machines and/or workers in
accordance with the sequence of operations
for a given product or service.
Advantages of flow-line layout

Reduces materials handling.

Accommodates small amounts of work in process.
Reduces transit times.
Simplifies production planning and control
systems.
Simplifies tasks, enabling unskilled workers to
learn task quickly.

Disadvantages of flow-line layout

Lack of process flexibility.

Lack of flexibility in timing: the product can not
flow through the line faster than the slowest task
can be accomplished unless that task is performed
at several stations.
Large investments: special-purpose equipment
and duplication is required to offset lack of
flexibility in timing.
Dependence of the whole on each part: a
breakdown of one machine or absence of enough
operators to staff all work stations may stop the
entire line.
Worker fatigue: workers may become bored by
the endless repetition of simple tasks.

Process layout in services

Stationeries

Shoes

Housewares

Womens
dresses

Cosmetics
and jewelry

Childrens
department

Womens
sportswear

Entry and
display area

Mens
department

Manufacturing Process Layout

Lathe Department

Milling
Department

Drilling Department

Grinding
Department
Receiving and
Shipping

Painting Department

Assembly

Process Layout

Grouping together of machines and/or

workers doing similar tasks / functions.
Applicable to both manufacturing and non
manufacturing operations.
Advantages

Flexibility: equipment and personnel can be used

where they are needed.
Smaller investment in equipment: duplication is
not necessary unless volume is large.
Expertise: supervisors for each department
become highly. knowledgeable about their
functions
Diversity of tasks: changing work assignments
make work more satisfying for people who prefer
variety.

Disadvantages

Lack of process efficiency: backtracking and long

movements may occur in the handling of
materials.
Lack of efficiency in timing: workers must wait
between tasks.
Complication of production planning and control.
Cost: workers must have broad skills and must be
paid higher wages than assembly line workers.
Lowered productivity: because each job is
different it requires different setups and operator
training.

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Analysis of Layout By Process

Steps involved:
1.

2.

3.

Determine the size of each

department.
Determine the arrangement of the
department with respect to one
another.
Determine the arrangement of the
equipment and people within each
department.
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Comparison of Product
and Process Layouts
Product

Description
Description

Type
Type of
of process
process

Product
Product

Demand
Demand
Volume
Volume
Equipment
Equipment

Process

Sequential
arrangement of
activities
Continuous, mass
production, mainly
assembly

Standardized,
made to stock
Stable
High
Special purpose

Functional
grouping of
activities
Intermittent, job
shop, batch
production, mainly
fabrication
Varied, made to
order
Fluctuating
Low
General purpose

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Comparison of Product
and Process Layouts
Product
Workers
Workers
Inventory
Inventory

Storage
Storage space
space
Material
Material
handling
handling
Aisles
Aisles
Scheduling
Scheduling
Layout
Layout decision
decision
Goal
Goal

Advantage
Advantage

Limited skills
Low in-process, high
finished goods
Small
Fixed path
(conveyor)
Narrow
Part of balancing
Line balancing
Equalize work at
each station
Efficiency

Process

Varied skills
High in-process, low
finished goods
Large
Variable path
(forklift)
Wide
Dynamic
Machine location
Minimize material
handling cost
Flexibility

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Fixed Position Layout

Typical of projects
Manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations of
bulky or fragile products, e.g., ships and planes.
Move machines and/or workers to the site; products
normally remains in one location for its entire
manufacturing period.
Highly skilled labor
Often low fixed costs. Typically high variable costs

Advantages of fixed position layout

Reduces movement of work items; minimizes

damage or cost of moving.
More continuity of the assigned work force (since the
item does not go from one department to another).
This reduces the problems of re-planning and
instructing people each time a new type of activity is
to begin.

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Disadvantages of fixed position layout

Since the same workers are involved in more

operations, skilled and versatile workers are
required. The necessary combination of skills may
be difficult to find and high pay levels may be
necessary.
Movement of people and equipment to and from
the work site may be expensive.
Equipment utilization may be low because the
equipment may be left at a location where it will
be needed again in a few days rather than moved
to another location where it would be productive.

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Cellular / Group Technology Layout

Definition of Group Technology

Group technology is the technique
of identifying and bringing together
related or similar parts in a
production process in order to
utilize the inherent economy of flow
production methods.

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Group Technology layout is also called manufacturing

cellular layout.
Example:

A plant producing 10,000 part numbers may be able to

group the parts into 50 or 60 families. Each family
would possess similar design and manufacturing
characteristics.
Hence, the processing of each member of a given family
would be similar, and this results in manufacturing
efficiencies in the form of:

Reduced set-up,
Lower in-process inventories,
Better scheduling,
Improved tool control,
Standard process plan.

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Concept

Many problems are similar, by grouping

similar problems, a single solution can be
found to a set of problems, thus saving time
and effort.
A manufacturing philosophy in which similar
parts are identified and grouped together to
take advantage of their similarities in design
and manufacturing.
A technique for identifying and bringing
together related or similar components in
order to take advantage of their similarities
in the production process.
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Manufacturing Cell

Cellular manufacturing is the physical division of the

manufacturing facilities into production cells.

Each cell is designed to produce a part family. A part family

is a set of parts that require similar machinery, tooling,
machine operations, and/or jigs and fixtures.
The parts within the family normally go from raw material to
finished parts within a single cell.

Justification

Cellular manufacturing directs its effort by organizing the

plant layout according to work cell, rather than functions. A
work cell is a unit that includes all of the machines required
to produce a family of parts.

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Parts Families

A family of
similar parts

A family of related
grocery items

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Revised Cellular Layout

Assembly
8

10

12
11

Cell 1

Cell 2

Cell 3
7

A B C
Raw materials

21

Revised Cellular Layout

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Direction of part movement within cell

A Manufacturing Cell
with Worker Paths

HM

Source: J.T. Black, Cellular Manufacturing

Systems Reduce Setup Time, Make Small Lot
Production Economical. Industrial
Engineering.

VM
Worker 3

VM
L
Paths of three
workers moving
within cell
Material
movement

Worker 2

Key:
S
L
HM
VM
G

Final
inspection

= Saw
= Lathe
= Horizontal milling
machine
= Vertical milling machine
= Grinder

Worker 1

In

Finished
part

Out

23

Automated Manufacturing Cell

Source: J. T. Black, Cellular

Manufacturing Systems Reduce Setup
Time, Make Small Lot
Production Economical. Industrial
Engineering (November 1983)

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Advantages/Disadvantages

Advantages
Implied

reduction of necessary control

Reduced material handling
Reduced set-up time
Reduced tooling
Reduced in-process inventory
Reduced expediting/movement
Increase operator expertise
Improved human relations.
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Disadvantages

Inadequate part families

Poorly balanced cells
Expanded training and scheduling
of workers
Increased capital investment

Implementation Issues

Reorganization - machine layout need

reorganization every so often.
Work cell supervision - supervisors must be expert
in several field (milling, turning, grinding, etc.)
represented in the cell.
Shop floor control / production planning - cell
concept leads to unbalanced workload on
machines.

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Comparison

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Computerized layout solutions

CRAFT

CORELAP

Computerized Relationship Layout Planning

PROMODEL and EXTEND

Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities

Technique

visual feedback
allow user to quickly test a variety of scenarios

Three-D modeling and CAD

integrated layout analysis

available in VisFactory and similar software

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Designing Service Layouts

Must be both attractive and functional

Types

Free flow layouts

encourage browsing, increase impulse purchasing,
are flexible and visually appealing
Grid layouts
encourage customer familiarity, are low cost, easy
to clean and secure, and good for repeat
customers
Loop and Spine layouts
both increase customer sightlines and exposure to
products, while encouraging customer to circulate
through the entire store

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Types of Store Layouts

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