Facility Layout and Assembly Line Balancing

Chapter 20

 The basic meaning of facility is the space in which a business's activities take
place.
 Facility layout and design is an important component of a business's overall
operations, both in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of the production
process and meeting the needs of employees

What is Facility Layout Planning?

The objective of plant layout planning is a more effective work flow at
the facility, allowing workers and equipment being more productive.

 Facility layout and design is an important component of a business's overall

operations, both in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of the production
process and meeting the needs of employees.

 The basic objective of layout is to ensure a smooth flow of work, material, and
information through a system.
Eliminate
o Bottlenecks
o waste or redundant movement

Relative location of Facilities problem

 Consider the problem of finding suitable locations for machines, workstations,

storage areas and aisles within a plant.

 How to find suitable locations for departments.

 The layout problem may also occur in other places such as grocery stores,
hospitals, airports, etc.

Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities Technique (CRAFT) methodology

was utilized in this case as part of the strategy to portrait the relationship between each
department to generate improved layout alternatives.