Chapter 6

Facility Layout

Slides prepared by
Laurel Donaldson
Douglas College

Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives
LO 1 Describe the basic plant/facility layout
LO 2 types.
LO 3 Solve simple assembly line balancing
problems.
Develop simple process (functional) layouts.

Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Chapter Outline
Types of Layout
Assembly Line Balancing
Designing Process Layouts

Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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 Layout
Layout: the arrangement of
departments, work centers, equipment,
etc.
want to have smooth movement (of work,
people, materials, info) through the system

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Basic Layout Types
Product layout
arranges production resources linearly
according to the progressive steps
by which a product is made

Process layout
arranges production resources together
according to similarity of function

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Product (Line) Layout

Raw
Station Station Station Station Finished
materials 1 2 3 4 item
or customer
Material Material Material Material
and/or and/or and/or and/or
labour labour labour labour

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

More common for goods than services

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Product Layout
(Assembly Line)
Standardized
processing operations
to achieve
smooth, rapid, high-volume flow
Standardized product/service
allows continuous processing and
specialization of labour & equipment
Product demand is stable
enough to justify high investment in specialized
equipment
Divide work into series of tasks
by technological processing requirements
Can use fixed path material handling
conveyors 7
LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Product (Line) Layouts
Advantages: Efficient and Easy to Use
1. High degree of labour & equipment utilization
= lower cost per unit
2. Minimal work-in-process inventories
3. Simplified accounting, purchasing and inventory control
4. Easier training and supervision

Disadvantages: Inflexible
1. Higher equipment cost
2. Dull, repetitive jobs = stress, low morale
3. Lack of flexibility in product or production rates
4. Work stoppage at any point ties up the whole operation

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Assembly Lines

Lucy at the Chocolate Factory

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Process (Functional) Layout

Used for Intermittent processing

Job Shop or Batch Processes
Common in Services
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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Process (Functional) Layout

Flexible and
Like machines capable of
& equipment handling a
are grouped wide variety of
together products or
services
General
Used for purpose
intermittent equipment
processes and variable-
(job-shop, path
batch, most equipment
services) (forklift, pallet
jack, tote)

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Process (Functional) Layout
Advantages: Flexibility
Less vulnerable to shutdown
(from mechanical failure or
absenteeism)
Lower maintenance costs
(and reduced investment in spare
parts)
Disadvantages: Inefficiency
Scheduling can be difficult
(= low equipment utilization
rates)
Setup, material handling, and
labour and costs can be high
Increased work-in-process
inventory
LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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 Cellular Layout
Cellular layout
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 (size, shape and function) or manufacturing
(type and sequence of operations required)
characteristics

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Comparison of functional and cellular layouts

222 222 222

Mill 111 Drill Grind
444 333
444

Assembly
333

111
111

222
111 111
Heat Gear
111
333 Lathes treat cutting
444

Functional Layout
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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Comparison of functional and cellular layouts

Lathe Mill Drill Heat Gear

111 111
treat cut

Heat
222 Mill Drill Grind 222

Assembly
treat

Heat
333 Lathe Mill Grind 333
treat

444 Mill Drill Gear 444

cut

Cellular Layout
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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Cellular Layouts
Benefits:
faster processing time and reduced setup
times
increased capacity
less material handling and work-in-process
inventory
Conversion is a major undertaking
Three primary methods:
visual inspection,
examination of design and production data,
and production flow sequence and routing
analysis.
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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Other Layout Types
Warehouse layouts
Important consideration: frequency of order
Retail layouts
Important consideration: traffic flow
Office layouts
Objective: optimize the physical transfer
of information or paperwork
New trend: create an image of
openness (low rise partitions)

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Fixed Position Layouts
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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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Design Product Layouts: Line Balancing

process of assigning tasks to workstations

so that the workstations have
approximately equal time requirements.

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Line Balancing Procedure

Calculate
Draw and label a Calculate DESIRED
theoretical
PRECEDENCE CYCLE TIME
MINIMUM NUMBER
DIAGRAM required for line
OF WORKSTATIONS

GROUP Elements
Calculate into Workstations
Acceptable
efficiency? EFFICIENCY of Line Cycle Time and
Precedence
Repeat if CONSTRAINTS
NO

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Cycle Time

Cycle time is the maximum time

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

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Line Balancing Formulas
OT OT
Output capacity CT
CT D
OT operating time per day D desired output rate
CT cycle time

N m in
t
CT
N m in Theoretica l minimum number of work stations
t sum of the task time s
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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Precedence Diagram
Tool used in line balancing to display
elemental tasks and sequence
requirements
0.1 min. 1.0 min.
A Simple
a b Precedence
Diagram

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

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Example 1: Assembly Line Balancing
Arrange tasks into three workstations.
Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
Assign tasks in order of the most number of
followers
0.1 min. 1.0 min.
a b

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 0.2 min.
min. 24
LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 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

0.1 min. 1.0 min.

a b

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 0.2 min.
min. 25
LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Line Balancing Rules
Some Heuristic (intuitive) Rules:
Assign the task with longest time
Assign the task with the most followers

Percentageof idle time

Idle time 100
N actual Cycle time
Efficiency 100 - Percentageof idle time

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Example 1 Solution
% of idle time
Idle time
100
0.5
100 16.7%
N actual Cycle time 3 1.0
efficiency 100% 16.7% 83.3%

WS 1 WS 2

0.1 min. 1.0 min.

a b
WS 3

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

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Example 2
0.2 0.1 0.3
a b e

0.8 0.6
c d f g h
1.0 0.4 0.3

Arrange tasks into four workstations.

Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
Assign tasks in order of the most number of
followers (then longest time)

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Variable Task Times: Solutions
Leave some
Use buffer idle time in
Reduce inventory workstations Use parallel
variability between which have work stations
work stations random
times

design the
jobs better

use higher
quality
material,

do preventive
maintenance
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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Bottleneck Workstation

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

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

Bottleneck

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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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Treatment of Bottlenecks

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LO 5 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Process (Functional) Layout Design
Arrange work centers so as to minimize
transportation cost, distance or time

Difficult to optimize
General rule:
Locate departments
with high interdepartmental flow
as close as possible

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Designing Process (Functional) Layouts
Information Requirements:
1. List of departments
2. Projection of work flows
3. Distance between locations
cost per unit of distance to move loads
4. List of special considerations
Location of entrances, elevators
Need to be close (or far) from others
Reinforced flooring, room dimensions, etc
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LO 6 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Designing Process Layouts

Tools
Block QUANTITATIVE
Diagramming Minimize Non-Adjacent Loads

Relationship NON-QUANTITATIVE
Diagramming Based on Intuitive Preferences

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LO 4 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Example: Process Layout Design
Distance between locations (metres)
Location
From To A B C
A 20 40
B 20 30
C 40 30

Loads between departments (per day)

Department
From To 1 2 3
1 10 80
2 20 30
3 90 70
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LO 6 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Example: Interdepartmental Work Flows
for Assigned Departments
30

170 10
1 3 2
0
A B C
From/To Loads Distance Loads X Distance
1-2 10 40 400
1-3 80 20 1,600
2-1 20 40 800
2-3 30 30 900
3-1 90 20 1,800
3-2 70 30 2,100
Total 7,600
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LO 6 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Closeness ratings - Muther Grid
Muther suggests the following list of reasons for
closeness: 1. Use same equipment or
facilities
2. Share the same personnel
3. Sequence of work flow
4. Ease of communication
5. Unsafe or unpleasant
conditions
6. Similar work performed

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LO 6 Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Checklist
Process
Discuss considerations for make or buy decisions
Compare intermittent vs. repetitive processes
Discuss issues in automation
Describe the steps in production process design
Be able to draw a process flow diagram
Facility Layout
List the different types and key considerations in
each
Describe advantages/disadvantages of product,
process and cellular layouts
Create a precedence diagram, calculate cycle
time, idle time and efficiency, balance a line
Use tools to create a process layout
Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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