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.

A Good Layout ...

Reduces bottlenecks in moving people or

material.
Minimizes materials-handling costs.
Reduces hazards to personnel.
Utilizes labor efficiently.
Increases morale.
Utilizes available space effectively and
efficiently.
Provides flexibility.
Provides ease of supervision.
Facilitates coordination and face-to-face
communication where appropriate.

Principles of Layout

The Principle of Minimum Travel

Principle of Sequence
Principle of Usage
Principle of Compactness
Principle of Safety and Satisfaction
Principle of Flexibility
Principle of Minimum Investment

Types of Layout

Four basics types of layout

Process Layout
Product layout
Fixed layout
Group layout

Flow-Line Layout/ Product

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 cost.
Reduces transit times.
Simplifies production planning and control systems.
Simplifies tasks, enabling unskilled workers to learn

task quickly.
o Assembly line such as automobile factory

Suitable for

Assembly line automobile factory

Low variety, high volume production
system
For standardized products , which have
quite stable demand in near future

Product
Layout
Figure 6.4
Raw
materials
or customer

Station
1

Station
Station
22

Station
Station
33

Material

Material

Material

Material

and/or
labor

and/or
labor

and/or
labor

and/or
labor

Station
Station
44

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

Finished
item

An Assembly Line (Product

Layout)

Racks containing
headlight subassembly
Workstation 1

Car
1

Conveyor

Racks containing
backlight subassembly
Workstation 2

Car
2

Racks containing
steering wheels
sub-assembly
Workstation 3

Car
3

A U-Shaped Production Line

In

4
5

Workers

6
Out

10

Advantages & Disadvantages of

Product Layout
Lesser supervision
& labor training
costs (as labor is
trained only for a
specialized task)

A high
output rate
and, thus,
low cost of
item per unit

Advantages

Easier material
handling and
lesser inventory
costs
Maintenance cost
is fairly high to
ensure smooth
running of the line

High
efficiency of
labor &
equipment

Product
Layout
Disadvantages

Inflexible to design
changes in products
or processes (the
changes in line are
usually expensive)

No need of routing or
scheduling once the line
is operational (as it is
already done during the
design of the line)

Monotonous repetitive
tasks lead to frustration
on part of workers

Breakdown of a
machine or high
absenteeism of workers
leads to halt in
production

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 /Functional

layout

Grouping together of machines and/or workers doing

similar tasks. (Job shop)
Suitable when different products are produced in lots or
batches
Process layout is generally found in service setups.
Examples : Hospitals, Maruti service station, Banks
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.

Process Layout of an Automobile Service

Station
Final
Inspectio Underbod
y Repairs
n

Engine
Repairs

Paint
Booth

Car
washing &
cleaning

Office

Spare
Oil
Parts Replacemen
Store
t

Wheel
Alignme
nt

Electrical
Repairs

Interiors,
Door
Repairs,
etc.

Dents
Repair

Advantages & Disadvantages of

Process Layout
Work-In-Process
(WIP) Inventory
is usually high in
batch processing
Material handling is
time consuming as
no fixed route is
there
Maintenance cost
is low because of
low cost general
purpose machines

A low output rate

and, thus, high
cost of item per
unit

Routing &
scheduling is
tedious and time
consuming for
different products

Disadvantages
Process
Layout
Advantages

The system is flexible

to design changes in
products or processes
in comparison to
product layout

High cost of
supervision because of
special treatment to
every product to be
processed
The system promotes
creativity on part of
workers due to variety
of tasks performed by
them

Breakdown of a
machine does not
lead to halt in
production as
substitute machines
are kept ready for
such situations

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.
Low output rate and thus high cost per unit
Work in process inventory is usually high in batch
processing

Fixed Position Layout

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.
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.

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.

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.

Lathe
machines

Fitting shop

Foundry

Drilling
machines

Paint shop

Welding
shop

Lathe

Drilling Fitting Welding Paint

Foundry Lathe Fitting

Lathe
Foundry

Fitting

Drilling

Drilling

Paint
Welding

Welding

Group Technology layout is also called

manufacturing cell layout.
Example:
Telco, Jamshedpur, has different machine

shops and dye shops whose output is finally

fed into the assembly line.
Hence, the processing of each member of a
given family would be similar

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.

Advantages/Disadvantag
es

Advantages

Reduction of necessary control

Reduced material handling
Reduced set-up time
Reduced tooling
Reduced in-process inventory
Reduced expediting
Increase operator expertise

Disadvantages
Reduced shop flexibility
Possible reduced machine utilization
Possible extended job flow times

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.

Service Facility layout

1.
2.

Service facility layout should provide easy

entrance to service facilities from free ways and
busy thoroughfares
Based on different degree of customer care
contact, there are two types of service facilities
layout
Totally designed around customers receiving
and servicing functions (banks)
Designed around the technologies , processing
of physical materials and production efficiency
(hospitals)

Computer Packages

CRAFT (Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities

Techniques) attempts to minimize materials-handling cost
by calculating cost, pair-wise interchanging departments,
calculating more costs until a good solution is obtained.
ALDEP (Automated Layout Design Program) and
CORELAP (Computerized Relationship Layout Planning)
attempt to maximize a nearness rating within the facility
dimension constraints.
PREP (Plant Re-layout and Evaluation Package)
analyzes multilevel structures and is based on actual
footage traveled by materials-handling equipment.

Systematic Layout
planning

Product Layout
1. Flow of Materials

2. Activity Relationships

Analysis

Input Data and Activities

3. Relationship Diagram

4. Space Requirements

5. Space Available

7. Modifying Considerations

8. Practical Limitations

Search

6. Space Relationship Diagram

10. Evaluation

Selection

9. Develop Layout Alternatives