Operations Management: Facility Layout and Design

Facility Layout

• Refers to arrangement within a facility of:

  • Machines

  • Departments

  • Workstations

  • Storage areas

  • Common areas

• Decisions affect:

  • Quality

  • Competitiveness

Objectives of Facility Layout

• Minimize Material Handling Costs: Reduce expenses associated with transporting material.

• Utilize Space Efficiently: Optimize physical area used within the facility.

• Utilize Labor Efficiently: Maximize productivity per labor hour.

• Eliminate Bottlenecks: Identify and remove areas of congestion in processes.

• Facilitate Communication and Interaction: Promote effective communication among workers, supervisors, and customers.

• Reduce Manufacturing Cycle Time: Shorten time from production start to product delivery.

• Eliminate Waste or Redundant Movement: Streamline processes to reduce unnecessary actions.

• Facilitate Entry, Exit, and Placement: Ensure ease of movement for materials and personnel.

• Incorporate Safety and Security Measures: Prioritize safe practices within the layout.

• Promote Quality: Design layout to enhance product and service standards.

• Encourage Proper Maintenance Activities: Allow for effective maintenance of machines and processes.

• Provide Visual Control of Operations: Enhance visibility for managing operations effectively.

• Provide Flexibility to Adapt: Design layout to be adaptable to changing conditions.

• Increase Capacity: Maximize production output potential.

Basic Types of Layouts

1. Fixed-Position Layout

   • Utilized for projects where equipment and resources are transported to the project site.

   • Typically involves highly skilled labor and often lower fixed costs but higher variable costs.

2. Process Layout (Functional Layout)

   • Groups similar activities together based on function.

   • Equipment is general-purpose; workers have specific skills for the equipment used in their department.

   • Advantages: Flexibility.

   • Disadvantages: Inefficiency due to potential extra movement.

Designing Service Layouts

• Must balance attractiveness and functionality.

• Types include:

  • Free Flow Layout: Encourages browsing and is visually appealing.

  • Grid Layout: Low cost, easy to clean, secure, ideal for repeat customers.

  • Loop and Spine Layouts: Enhance sightlines and encourage circulation.

Manufacturing Process Layouts

• Involves arranging departments by activities needed for production. Example layout includes:

  • Receiving and Shipping

  • Assembly

  • Various Department Operations (Painting, Lathe, Milling, Drilling, etc.).

Designing Process Layouts

• Minimize Material Handling Costs: Critical to layout efficiency.

• Relationship Diagramming:

  • Uses schematics to denote location preferences among departments. Important when quantitative data isn't available.

• Block Diagramming:

  • Similar to relationship diagramming but emphasizes the minimization of non-adjacent loads.

Relationship Diagramming

• Uses codes to indicate importance of departmental proximity. Categories include:

  • A: Absolutely Necessary

  • E: Especially Important

  • I: Important

  • O: Okay

  • U: Unimportant

  • X: Undesirable

Block Diagramming Steps

1. Create a load summary chart.

2. Calculate composite movements.

3. Develop trial layouts with the aim to reduce non-adjacent loads.

Product Layout (Assembly Line)

• Sequentially arranges activities to optimize the assembly process.

• Specific advantages and disadvantages:

  • Advantage: High efficiency.

  • Disadvantage: Low flexibility.

Line Balancing Technique Steps

1. Draw precedence diagram to identify restrictions on operations.

2. Determine flow and cycle times.

3. Calculate the number of workstations required.

4. Optimize and evaluate workstation efficiency.

Example Calculations

• Cycle Time Calculation:
  C_d = \frac{480 \text{ minutes}}{120 \text{ units}} = 4 \text{ minutes}

• Efficiency:
  E = 1 - \text{Balance Delay}

Key Definitions

• Cycle Time: Max time spent at any workstation.

• Flow Time: Total time to complete all stations.

• Efficiency: Proportion of productive time in relation to total available time, calculated from workstation outputs.

Conclusion

Understanding these concepts is crucial for effective facility layout design aimed at efficiency, cost reduction, and quality enhancement in operations management. The choice of layout directly influences productivity and adaptability in response to market demands.