Operations Management: Facility Layout and Design

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to facility layout and design in operations management.

Facility Layout

The arrangement of machines, departments, workstations, and storage areas within a facility.

Objectives of Facility Layout

Include minimizing material handling costs, utilizing space and labor efficiently, eliminating bottlenecks, facilitating communication, reducing manufacturing cycle time, and increasing capacity.

Fixed-Position Layout

A layout where resources are brought to the site of a project, typically involving highly skilled labor.

Process Layout

Also known as functional layout; it groups similar activities according to function and uses general-purpose equipment.

Product Layout

Also known as assembly line layout; it arranges activities in line according to the sequence of operations for assembling a product.

Line Balancing Technique

A method to distribute tasks among workstations to ensure each station has a balanced workload.

Cycle Time

The maximum time that an item is allowed to spend at any workstation in the production process.

Flow Time

The total time required to complete all stations in the production process.

Relationship Diagramming

A technique using schematic diagrams to illustrate location preferences between departments.

Block Diagramming

A quantitative technique for determining the optimal layout by minimizing non-adjacent loads among departments.

Efficiency of Line

Measured as the ratio of total work time to the total cycle time multiplied by the number of workstations.

Balance Delay

The total idle time of the production line, calculated as (1 - efficiency).

Load Summary Chart

A chart that summarizes the flow of materials among departments and helps identify non-adjacent loads.

Muther’s Grid

A diagrammatic technique to represent department location preferences, using coded categories.

Visual Control of Operations

The design aspect that allows operations or activities to be monitored visually, aiding management.