6

Process Selection
and Facility Layout

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All

 Learning Objectives
 Explain the strategic importance of process
selection.
 Explain the influence that process selection
has on an organization.
 Describe the basic processing types.
 Discuss automated approaches to
processing.
 Explain the need for management of
technology.
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 Learning Objectives
 List some reasons for redesign of layouts.
 Describe the basic layout types.
 List the main advantages and
disadvantages of product layouts and
process layouts.
 Solve simple line-balancing problems.
 Develop simple process layouts.

6-3
 Introduction
 Process selection
 Deciding on the way production of goods or
services will be organized
 Major implications
 Capacity planning
 Layout of facilities
 Equipment
 Design of work systems

6-4
 Process Selection and
Figure 6.1
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 intensive – equipment/labor
– Process flexibility
– Technology
– Adjust to changes
– Design
– Volume
– technology

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 Technology
 Technology: The application of scientific
discoveries to the development and
improvement of products and services and
operations processes.
 Technology innovation: The discovery and
development of new or improved products,
services, or processes for producing or
providing them.

6-7
 Kinds of Technology
 Operations management is primarily
concerned with three kinds of technology:
 Product and service technology
 Process technology
 Information technology
 All three have a major impact on:
 Costs
 Productivity
 Competitiveness

6-8
 Technology Competitive
Advantage
 Innovations in
 Products and services
 Cell phones
 PDAs
 Wireless computing
 Processing technology
 Increasing productivity
 Increasing quality
 Lowering costs

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 Technology Acquisition
 Technology can have benefits but …
 Technology risks include:
 What technology will and will not do
 Technical issues
 Economic issues
 Initial costs, space, cash flow, maintenance
 Consultants and/or skilled employees
 Integration cost, time resources
 Training, safety, job loss

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 Process Selection

 Variety Batch
 How much
 Flexibility
 What degree
Job Shop Repetitive
 Volume
 Expected output

Continuous

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 Process Types
 Job shop
 Small scale
 Batch
 Moderate volume
 Repetitive/assembly line
 High volumes of standardized goods or services
 Continuous
 Very high volumes of non-discrete goods

6-12
 Product and Service
Figure 6.2 Processes
Process Type
Job Shop Appliance repair Ineffective
Emergency room

Batch Commercial
baking
Classroom
Lecture

Repetitive Automotive
assembly
Automatic
carwash

Continuous Ineffective Steel Production

Water purification
(flow)

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 Product – Process Matrix
Figure 6.2 (cont’d)

Dimension
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 High Low High Very low
output

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 Product and Process Profiling
 Process selection can involve substantial investment
in
 Equipment
 Layout of facilities
 Product profiling: Linking key product or service
requirements to process capabilities
 Key dimensions
 Range of products or services
 Expected order sizes
 Pricing strategies
 Expected schedule changes
 Order winning requirements
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 Automation
 Automation: Machinery that has sensing
and control devices that enables it to
operate
 Fixed automation
 Programmable automation

6-16
 Automation
• Computer-aided design and
manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
• Numerically controlled (NC) machines
• Robot
• Manufacturing cell
• Flexible manufacturing systems(FMS)
• Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)

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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
 Product layouts
 Process layouts
 Fixed-Position layout
 Combination layouts

6-18
 Objective of Layout Design
1. Facilitate attainment of product or service
quality
2. Use workers and space efficiently
3. Avoid bottlenecks
4. Minimize unnecessary material handling costs
5. Eliminate unnecessary movement of workers or
materials
6. Minimize production time or customer service
time
7. Design for safety

6-19
 Importance of Layout
Decisions
 Requires substantial investments of
money and effort
 Involves long-term commitments
 Has significant impact on cost and
efficiency of short-term operations

6-20
 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

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 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

6-22
 Basic Layout Types

 Product layouts
 Process layouts
 Fixed-Position layout
 Combination layouts

6-23
 Basic Layout Types
 Product layout
 Layout that uses standardized processing
operations to achieve smooth, rapid, high-
volume flow
 Process layout
 Layout that can handle varied processing
requirements
 Fixed Position layout
 Layout in which the product or project
remains stationary, and workers, materials,
and equipment are moved as needed

6-24
 Product Layout
Figure 6.4

Raw Finished
Station Station
Station Station
Station Station
Station
materials 1 22 33 44 item
or customer
Material Material Material Material

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

labor labor labor labor

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

6-25
Advantages of Product Layout
 High rate of output
 Low unit cost
 Labor specialization
 Low material handling cost
 High utilization of labor and equipment
 Established routing and scheduling
 Routing accounting and purchasing

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 Disadvantages of Product Layout

 Creates dull, repetitive jobs

 Poorly skilled workers may not maintain
equipment or quality of output
 Fairly inflexible to changes in volume
 Highly susceptible to shutdowns
 Needs preventive maintenance
 Individual incentive plans are
impractical

6-27
 A U-Shaped Production Line
Figure 6.6

In 1 2 3 4

Workers

Out 10 9 8 7

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 Process Layout
Figure 6.7
Process Layout
(functional)

Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E

Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F

Used for Intermittent processing

Job Shop or Batch Processes

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 Product Layout
Figure 6.7
(cont’d)
Product Layout
(sequential)

Work Work Work

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3

Used for Repetitive Processing

Repetitive or Continuous Processes

6-30
 Advantages of Process Layouts
 Can handle a variety of processing
requirements
 Not particularly vulnerable to equipment
failures
 Equipment used is less costly
 Possible to use individual incentive
plans

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 Disadvantages of Process
Layouts
 In-process inventory costs can be high
 Challenging routing and scheduling
 Equipment utilization rates are low
 Material handling slow and inefficient
 Complexities often reduce span of supervision
 Special attention for each product or customer
 Accounting and purchasing are more involved

6-32
 Fixed Position Layouts
 Fixed Position Layout: Layout in which the
product or project remains stationary, and
workers, materials, and equipment are
moved as needed.
 Nature of the product dictates this type of
layout
 Weight
 Size
 Bulk
 Large construction projects
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 Cellular Layouts

 Cellular Production
 Layout in which machines are grouped into
a cell that can process items that have
similar processing requirements
 Group Technology
 The grouping into part families of items with
similar design or manufacturing
characteristics

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 Functional vs. Cellular Layouts
Table 6.3
Dimension Functional Cellular
Number of moves many few
between departments
Travel distances longer shorter
Travel paths variable fixed
Job waiting times greater shorter
Throughput time higher lower
Amount of work in higher lower
process
Supervision difficulty higher lower
Scheduling complexity higher lower
Equipment utilization lower higher

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 Service Layouts
 Warehouse and storage layouts
 Retail layouts
 Office layouts
 Service layouts must be aesthetically
pleasing as well as functional

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 Design Product Layouts: Line
Balancing

Line Balancing is the process of assigning

tasks to workstations in such a way that
the workstations have approximately
equal time requirements.

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 Cycle Time

Cycle time is the maximum time

allowed at each workstation to
complete its set of tasks on a unit.

6-38
Determine Maximum Output

OT
Output rate =
CT

OT = operating time per day

D = Desired output rate

OT
CT = cycle time =
D
6-39
Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required

( ∑t)
N=
CT

∑t = sum of task time

6-40
 Precedence Diagram
Figure 6.11

Precedence diagram: Tool used in line balancing to

display elemental tasks and sequence requirements
0.1 min. 1.0 min.
A Simple Precedence
a b Diagram

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

6-41
 Example 1: Assembly Line
Balancing
 Arrange tasks shown in Figure 6.10
into three workstations.
 Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
 Assign tasks in order of the most number
of followers

6-42
 Example 1 Solution

Revised
Time Assign Time Station
Workstation Remaining Eligible Task Remaining Idle Time

1 1.0 a, c a 0.9
0.9 c c 0.2
0.2 none - 0.2
2 1.0 b b 0.0 0.0
3 1.0 d d 0.5
0.5 e e 0.3 0.3
0.3 - - 0.5

6-43
 Calculate Percent Idle Time

Idle time per cycle

Percent idle time =
(N)(CT)

Efficiency = 1 – Percent idle time

6-44
 Line Balancing Rules
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.

6-45
 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

6-46
 Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d

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 Bottleneck Workstation

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

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

Bottleneck

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 Parallel Workstations

30/hr. 2 min. 30/hr.

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

Parallel Workstations

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 Designing Process Layouts
Information Requirements:
1. List of departments
2. Projection of work flows
3. Distance between locations
4. Amount of money to be invested
5. List of special considerations
6. Location of key utilities

6-50
 Example 3: Interdepartmental Work
Flows
Figure 6.13 for Assigned Departments

30

170 100
1 3 2

A B C

6-51
 PowerPoint Author’s note:
 The following three slides are not in the 9e
text, but I like to use them for alternate
examples.

6-52
 Process Layout
Milling

Assembly
Grinding
& Test

Drilling Plating
Process Layout - work travels
to dedicated process centers

6-53
 Functional 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
33

111 111
33
Heat 111 Gear
3

333Lathes
treat cutting 444

6-54
 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

6-55