Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

Layout Strategy: Specifies the arrangement of processes, the related equipment and work areas, including customer service and storage areas: Facilitates the flow of materials and people within and between areas.

Determines long run efficiency of the plant Objective is to develop an economic layout that will meet the requirements of 1. Product design and volume 2. Process equipment and capacity 3. Quality of work life 4. Building and site constraints Arrange the system to operate at peak effectiveness and efficiency Layout Depends on Types of Production Systems Job production (Process Focused System) Involves manufacture of products to meet specific customer requirements of special orders. The quantity is normally small, usually one off and is normally concerned with special projects, models, prototypes, special machinery to perform specialised tasks. E.g. boilers, bridge, house, ship Fixed layout is adopted i.e. the product is fixed and labour moves around it Batch production system (Product Focussed system)
Involves the manufacture of a number of identical products either to meet a specific order or to satisfy continuous demand. When production of the batch is finished the plant is available for the production of similar or other products

The batch may be produced once or at irregular intervals. This type of production is very common and involves the use of flexible systems. Continuous production systems Involves the manufacture of identical products on which the plant is fully engaged. Two types Mass production systems where the equipment are not specially designed for one component alone. After the manufacture of one component for a large quantity,

Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

operations can be switched to another but will require major tooling changes. Eg Toyota car types) Flow production systems where the equipment and layout have been primarily designed to manufacture one component and changes in components are not possible without substancial changes in plant layout and tooling. E.g sugar, chemicals, petrol, electricity) Jobbing Batch Line/Mass Flow Plant Layout A good layout requires determining Capacity and space requirements Material handling equipment Environment and aesthetics Flow of information Cost of moving between the various work areas
Strategies Fixed position layout (ship building, construction sector) Process oriented layout (low volume, high variety processes) Product oriented layout (high volume, low variety, best m/c util.) Retail/service layout, Warehouse layout

Increased dedication to product Increased inflexibility Increased interdependancy on machines Increased production rate/quantity Increased need for special tooling Less and less skillful labour needed General to special equipment/tooling needed Process to product type of Layout Decreased cost per unit

Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

Fixed Position Layout

Mostly for jobbing type of production. Project remains stationary and requires workers and equipment to come to the one work area. Layout decided upon on an ad hoc basis Limitations 1. There is limited space at virtually all sites 2. At different stages of the project, different material is required 3. The volume of material required is dynamic Alternative Use of Group Technology for off site manufacturing of components
Process Oriented Layout

Mostly used for batch type of production (low volume, high variety) Transformation resources or similar functions are grouped together in the same work centre usually a department, under the management and control of a functional specialist. E.g engineering production, garage services, film processing etc

Grinding Drilling

Store

Painting/Electroplating

lathes

Assembly

Inspection

Shipping

The most common tactic is to arrange departments or work centres in the most economical locations, minimising material handling costs Place departments with large interdepartmental flow of parts or people next to one another.
Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

Material handling costs depend on The number of loads to be moved during some period of time between two departments The distance related costs between departments Minimise cost = Xij Cij For i and j ranging from 1 to n, where, n i,j Xij Cij = total number of work centres or departments = individual departments = number of loads moved from department i to j = cost to move a load between department i and department j

Example Procedure 1. Determine the number of trips between each department and construct a from to matrix 2. Determine space requirements and distance between each department 3. Develop an initial schematic diagram 4. Determine the cost of this layout (multiply trips by distance) 5. By trial and error try to improve the layout 6. Prepare a detailed plan that evaluates other factors Advantages of Process oriented Layout 1. It enables changes in quantity and type of products manufactured to be introduced easily 2. Flexibility in terms of production types and ranges 3. Less duplication of specialised equipment (lower investment) 4. Workers and supervisors can become highly skilled in the operation of a single type or group of production resources
Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

5. Machine breakdown would not normally hold up production as a job could be switched to another similar machine 6. Machines can be kept busy most of the time and low and medium volume production costs cab be held down 7. Higher effective machine utilisatiion Disadvantages
1. Scheduling work in the work centres is usually complex and tedious

2. Production throughput time is usually larger 3. Queues of work build up at some centres while others are underutilised (deliberate queuing policy) 4. Balancing work load is usually difficult
Arrange departments or work centres in the most economical locations (minimise material handling costs) Place departments with large interdepartmental flows of people and/or parts next to each other (number of loads to be moved, the distance to be travelled). Minimise Cost = i,j = individual departments Xij = number of loads moved from department i to j Cij = cost to move a load b/w department i to j Example

i=1

j=1 Xij Cij

where n = total number of work centres or departments

Work Cells (Group Layout special case of process layout) New production management philosophy component thinking rather than product thinking (Each cell capable of producing a family of components) Based on the Group Technology philosophy Achieves some of the advantages of product layout and the flexibility of process layout strategies. GT a manufacturing philosophy in which similar parts are identified and grouped together to take advantage of their similarities in manufacturing and design.

Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

Processing of each member of a given family would be similar, resulting in manufacturing efficiencies Arrange production equipment into machine groups or cells to facilitate work flow Similarities in terms of design attributes or manufacturing attributes Part family collection of parts which are similar either because of geometric shape and size or because similar processing steps are required in their manufacture

Product Oriented Layout

Organised around a product or a family of similar high volume, low variety products: Volume adequate for high equipment utilisation Product demand is stable enough to justify investment in highly specialised equipment Product is standardised Supplies of raw material and components are adequate and of uniform quality Fabrication or assembly lines Line balancing (high personnel and facility utilisation and equity between employees work loads
Example of line balancing 1. List the tasks to be accomplished 2. Construct precedence chart and diagram 3. Calculate cycle time (time the product is available at each work station) Cycle time = Production time available per day / demand per day or production rate per day 4. Calculate the theoretical minimum number of workstations (total task duration time divided by cycle time) = (time for task i) / cycle time (i = 1 to m) 5. Perform the line balancing task Identify a master list of work elements and separate the available work elements from the unavailable work elements
Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04

Lecture 7 Layout Strategy

Eliminate those work elements that have been assigned Eliminate those work elements whose precedence relationship has not been satisfied Eliminate those work elements for which there is inadequate time available at the workstation Identify a unit of work that can be assigned, such as the first unit of work in the list, the last unit of work, the unit of work with the shortest time, with the longest time, or other criterion Switch the work elements to find the best balance available

Other Production Concepts

Production: Series of individual steps including processing, assembly operations, material handling, storage, delays, inspection and other non productive activities. Operation and non-operation elements (value added and non value added elements:

To : Tno: nm: Q: Tsu:

Time per operation at a given machine or workstation non operation time associated with the same machine number of separate machines or operations through which product has to be routed Number of units in a batch Set up time

Compute: 1. Manufacturing Lead time MLT 2. Production Rate 3. Components of Operation time 4. Capacity 5. Utilisation and Availability 6. Work in progress See Example

Prepared by: Dr D.K.Hurreeram August 04