“Business performance always depends on facility location decisions”

Abstract:
In this debate we will be discussing about the importance of facility location, Facility Location is the right
Location for the manufacturing facility, it will have sufficient access to the customers, workers,
transportation, etc. For commercial success, and competitive advantage and as well we will be justifying
How business performance will depend on facility location decisions.

Introduction:
Plant location or the facilities location problem is an important strategic level decision making
for an organization. One of the key features of a conversion process (manufacturing system) is the
efficiency with which the products (services) are transferred to the customers. This fact will include the
determination of where to place the plant or facility.
1. The selection of location is a key-decision as large investment is made in building plant and
machinery. It is not advisable or not possible to change the location very often. So an improper
Location of plant may lead to waste of all the investments made in building and machinery,
equipment.
2. Before a location for a plant is selected, long range forecasts should be made anticipating
future needs of the company. The plant location should be based on the company’s expansion
plan and policy, diversification plan for the products, changing market conditions, the changing
sources of raw materials and many other factors that influence the choice of the location
decision.
3. The purpose of the location study is to find an optimum location one that will result in the
greatest advantage to the organization.

A1.1 Identification of various factors for selection of a facility location

The various factors which influence the plant location or facility location on the basis of the nature of
the organization are
1.General locational factors, which include controllable and uncontrollable factors for all type of
Organizations.
2.Specific locational factors specifically required for manufacturing and service Organizations.

General Locational Factors

Following are the general factors required for location of plant in case of all types of organizations.
CONTROLLABLE FACTORS UNCONTROLLABLE FACTORS
1. Proximity to markets 7. Government policy
2. Supply of materials 8.Climate conditions
3. Transportation of materials 9.Supporting industries and services
4. Infrastructure availability 10.Community and labor attitudes
5. Labor and wages 11. Community Infrastructure
6. External economies
7. Capital

Specific Locational Factors for Manufacturing Organization

DOMINANT FACTORS
Factors dominating location decisions for new manufacturing plants can be broadly classified in
five groups. They are listed in the order of their importance as follows.
1. Favorable labor climate
2. Proximity to markets
3. Quality of life
4. Proximity to suppliers and resources
5. Utilities, taxes, and real estate costs
 SECONDARY FACTORS
There are some other factors needed to be considered, including room for expansion, construction
costs, accessibility to multiple modes of transportation, the cost of shuffling people and materials
between plants, competition from other firms for the workforce, community attitudes, and many
others.

A1.2 Inter-relationship of facility location decision and business performance of a company

A1.3 Justification of stance taken with an example

ABSTRACT:
Industries today are facing numerous challenges to maintain the health and performance of employees
while attempting to integrate new technologies. The health related problems such as Musculoskeletal
Disorders (MSD) and Repetitive Motion Disorders (RMD) are prevalent in workers due to monotonous
working on the shop floor.
 Hence there is a need to document the worker’s problems related to their work area and
evaluate the results obtained from the survey.
 Ergonomic assessments confirm that a worker's workstation is ergonomically designed to detract
the risk of injury and escalate productivity.
 Ergonomic assessment tools such as RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) and REBA (Rapid
Entire Body Assessment) were used for the postural analysis of the workers working on the
workstation. Images on various activities of the workers were prepared and used it for the
analysis.
 The results of RULA and REBA assessment worksheets first showed major signs of risk to the
health of workers and after suggesting a suitable mechanism , again the results were calculated
which showed signs of low risk comparatively.
 This led to an increase in the productivity of the manufacturing company and also reduced the
fatigue of workers considerably which is discussed further in this debate (question)

B2.1 Introduction to the problem in the case study

Small scale industry plays a vital role in development in countries like India; they play an important role in
employing the majority of the industrial workers.
1. The majority of workers are suffering from musculoskeletal disorders which are a most common
work-related problem in India. In small scale industries most of the work is still carried out
standing and manually hence issues of work related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries in
different parts of the body are of great concern.
2. RULA (rapid upper limb assessment) is a survey method developed for use in ergonomics
investigations of workplaces where work-related upper limb disorders are reported.
3. The REBA is a postural analysis tool sensitive to musculoskeletal risks in a variety of tasks and
assessment of working postures found in health care and other service industries.
4. Performing jobs in prolonged standing has contributed numerous health effects such as work-
related musculoskeletal disorders, chronic venous insufficiency, preterm birth and spontaneous
abortion, and carotid atherosclerosis. However, those injuries can be minimized through
application of engineering and administrative controls.
5. Workers work under tough conditions to perform the desired task. These tough conditions
normally give rise to various musculoskeletal disorders within the workers.
6. These disorders emerge within the workers body due to repetitive lifting, differential lifting
height, ambient conditions etc.
7. Awkward posture, lifting, forceful movement and manual work at rapid rate contribute to
musculoskeletal disorder.
8. Present study is focused on assessing the work posture of worker engaged in different activities.
 9. The application of ergonomic principles would help to increase machine performance and
productivity, but mostly help human operator to be comfortable and secure.

B2.2 Presentation of the case study including physical tasks involved, REBA/RULA score, suggestions
made to improve the score and methodology of implementation

This study was conducted in Bharat Forge Ltd. (Bangalore). 5 workers were selected for study of average
Stature 1.673m ±0.27 S.D. (Standard Deviation), average age 35.7 years ±3.02 S.D., average weight
63.5kg ±6.65 S.D. and average experience 11.3 years.
1. Retainers weighing 200kg were assembled on the shop floor due to which workers had to bend a
lot which caused fatigue.
2. Video of their postures showing movements of the workers handling the retainers was recorded.
After recording, the video was cropped to get snapshots for the analysis of posture of the worker.
Snapshots of 5 workers performing their work were obtained.
3. The snapshots were analyzed to fill the scores in RULA and REBA; score sheets.
4. The first step was overall body posture assessment using REBA method. Immediate corrective
actions and necessary changes were recommended for activities scored higher to keep away
from any risk.
5. To define the initial body segment codes, specified simple tasks were analyzed with variations in
the load, movement distance and height.
6. Data was collected and analyzed using RULA and REBA.

ACTUAL SITE PHOTOGRAPHS

 Parameters Figure No. 1 Figure No.2 Figure No.3 Figure No.4
Worke Worker Worker Worke
r1 2 1 r
2
L R L R L R L R L R L R
Upper Arm 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3
Position
Lower Arm 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Position
Wrist Position 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3
Wrist Twist 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Posture Score 3 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4
(Table A)
Muscle Use 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Score
Force/Load 3 3 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Score
Wrist & Arm 6 6 5 3 5 5 5 5 6 6 8 8
Score
Neck Position 4 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 2 2
Trunk Position 4 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Legs 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Posture Score 7 7 5 5 7 7 7 7 8 8 5 5
(Table B)
Muscle Use 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Score
Force/Load 3 3 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Score
Neck, Trunk & 10 10 6 6 1 10 1 10 12 12 9 9
Leg 0 0
Score
RULA Score 7 7 7 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
 Risk Level Very high Mediu Very high
m

Table no.1 RULA Score Table (Before)

SUGGESTED MECHANISM
The table shows that the maximum number of workers are at a high risk level and need an investigation
and change immediately.
 The results of the posture analysis using RULA is shown in Table 1 and using REBA is shown in
Table 2.
 These results reveal that a risk level exists in most of the job postures. The study was done on
workers working in a particular section of the industry where maximum cases of worker stress
and fatigue were mentioned.
 The posture analysis was done using the same sequence of RULA and REBA. Using the REBA
analysis method, it was observed that the workers were working in unacceptable posture at high
risk levels.
 It was found that, if the workers continued to work in the same posture they suffer from the
MSDs related to neck, trunk and wrist in the near future.
 The workers were suggested to keep their trunk straight while working. Also, in some jobs the
workers were bending their trunk to a higher degree which was not acceptable and they needed
a necessary change.

A further investigation of the operation for which the assessment was made, concluded that a
material handling device such as an electric chain hoist could be assistive to the workers and a
suggestion was made to the company. After the installation of the hoist the entire ergonomic
assessment was carried out again in order to obtain a comparative study of the RULA and REBA
scores.

Table no.2 REBA Score Table (Before)

Fig.5 Schematic Diagram of suggested hoist mechanism
 Table no.3 RULA Score Table (After)

Table no.4 REBA Score Table (After)

B2.3 Suggestion of an alternative method of operation for improving the REBA/RULA score
There is no alternative method of operation for improving the REBA/RULA score because to improve Work
Posture several studies have been conducted to assess exposure to ergonomic risk factors in worker
populations therefore Numerous assessment tools are present for evaluating the work postures of workers
such as
 Quick Exposure Checklist (QEC)
 Manual Task Risk Assessment tool (manTRA)
 Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)
 Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA)
 Ovako Working posture Assessment System (OWAS)
 Loading of Upper Body Assessment (LUBA)
 The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equation.

When any three assessment tools were carried in a company all the tools results showed low-risk,
medium-risk, and high-risk levels that were identified by REBA, LUBA, and RULA, respectively.
Considering the importance of risk identification before the appearance of MSDs, RULA and REBA is
the best method for the assessment of MSDs among all the methods because the results of this
study generally show that REBA and RULA method, among the three methods, is the most
appropriate one for the assessment of MSDs, as RULA risk assessment levels have maximum
correlation with MSDs, instead of the other two methods. In addition, when the analysis was
carried out separately in each industry, the results showed that REBA and RULA method, among the
three methods, is the most appropriate one for the assessment of MSDs in the assembly industries

Conclusions:
The evaluation of body posture has been carried out for this particular manufacturing unit by RULA
and REBA tools, it can be concluded that; significant proportion of the workers are working in
uncomfortable and painful postures as found by analysis. This is due to lack of ergonomics
knowledge and awareness in small scale industry. Thus the workers are under moderate to high risk
of musculoskeletal disorders as determined from REBA and RULA risk level. This study recommends
the immediate implementation of ergonomics interventions with proper knowledge among workers
and health education on common postural change, implementation and monitoring of laws among
industries are recommended to take down morbidity due to musculoskeletal disorders.