6-1 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Operations Management

William J. Stevenson

8th edition
 6-2 Process Selection and Facility Layout

CHAPTER
6

Process Selection
and Facility Layout

Operations Management, Eighth Edition, by William J. Stevenson

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
6-3 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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 Facility Layout

Process Selection and System Design

Figure 6.1

Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design
6-5 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Process Strategy

• Key aspects of process strategy

– Capital intensive – equipment/labor
– Process flexibility
– Adjust to changes
– Design
– Volume
– technology
6-6 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Process Selection

 Variety
Batch
 How much
 Flexibility
 What degree Job Shop Repetitive
 Volume
 Expected output
Continuous
6-7 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-8 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Product – Process Matrix

Figure 6.2

Process Type
Job Shop Appliance repair Not
Emergency feasible
room
Batch Commercial
bakery
Classroom
Lecture
Repetitive Automotive
assembly
Automatic
carwash
Continuous Not Oil refinery
feasible Water purification
(flow)
6-9 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-10 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Automation

 Automation: Machinery that has sensing and

control devices that enables it to operate
 Fixed automation
 Programmable automation
6-11 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Automation

• Computer-aided design and

manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
• Numerically controlled (NC) machines
• Robot
• Manufacturing cell
• Flexible manufacturing systems(FMS)
• Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
6-12 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Facilities Layout

 Layout: the configuration of departments,

work centers, and equipment, with particular
emphasis on movement of work (customers
or materials) through the system
6-13 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-14 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-15 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-16 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Basic Layout Types

 Product layouts
 Process layouts
 Fixed-Position layout
 Combination layouts
6-17 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-18 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Product Layout
Figure 6.4

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
labor labor labor labor

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

6-19 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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

6-20 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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

6-21 Process Selection and Facility Layout

A U-Shaped Production Line

Figure 6.6

In 1 2 3 4

Workers

Out 10 9 8 7
6-22 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-23 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-24 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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

6-25 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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

6-26 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-27 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-28 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Other Service Layouts

 Warehouse and storage layouts

 Retail layouts

 Office layouts
6-29 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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.
6-30 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Cycle Time

Cycle time is the maximum time

allowed at each workstation to
complete its set of tasks on a unit.
6-31 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Determine Maximum Output

OT
Output capacity =
CT

O T  operating tim e per day

D = Desired output rate

OT
CT = cycle tim e =
D
6-32 Process Selection and Facility Layout
Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required

(D)( t)
N =
OT

 t = sum of task times

6-33 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Precedence Diagram
Figure 6.10

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.
6-34 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-35 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-36 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Calculate Percent Idle Time

Idle time per cycle

Percent idle time =
(N)(CT)

Efficiency = 1 – Percent idle time

6-37 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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.
6-38 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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
6-39 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d
6-40 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Parallel Workstations

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

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

Bottleneck

30/hr. 1 min. 30/hr.

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

Parallel Workstations
6-41 Process Selection and Facility Layout

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

6-42 Process Selection and Facility Layout
Example 3: Interdepartmental Work Flows
for Assigned Departments
Figure 6.12

30

170 10
1 3 2
0

A B C
6-43 Process Selection and Facility Layout

 Author’s note:
 The following three slides are not in the 8e,
but I like to use them for alternate examples.
6-44 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Process Layout

Milling

Assembly
Grinding
& Test

Drilling Plating
Process Layout - work travels
to dedicated process centers
6-45 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Functional Layout

222 222 222

111 Drill Grind
444 Mill 3333
444

1111 2222 Assembly

111 333
111 111
Heat 111 Gear
333 Lathes
treat cutting 444
6-46 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Cellular Manufacturing Layout

Heat Gear
-1111 Lathe Mill Drill -1111
treat cut

Heat

Assembly
222222222 Mill Drill Grind - 2222
treat

Heat
3333333333 Lathe Mill Grind - 3333
treat

44444444444444 Mill Drill Gear - 4444

cut
6-47 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Flexible Manufacturing

VD7
Process at Trek Bikes
6-48 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Location/Criteria

PS11
Guitar site location
6-49 Process Selection and Facility Layout

Process Overview

AB2
Aluminum tubing, suppliers at Hillerich & Bradsby