Facilities Planning

- Unit 07

Layout Design: Systematic Layout

Planning

Requirements of a Good
Layout
an understanding of capacity and space

requirements
selection of appropriate material handling
equipment
decisions regarding environment and
aesthetics
identification and understanding of the
requirements for information flow
identification of the cost of moving between
the various work areas
Systematic Layout
Planning - 2

Application of the Engineering Design

Process to Facility Planning
1.

2.

3.

4.

Define (or redefine) the objective of the facility:

Specify quantitatively the products to be produced or
service to be provided.
Specify the primary and support activities to be
performed in accomplishing the objective:
Requirements for primary activities include operations,
equipment, personnel, and material flows.
Determine the interrelationships among all activities:
Both qualitative and quantitative relationships should
be defined.
Determine the space requirements for all activities:
These are determined considering the equipment,
materials, and personnel requirements.

Systematic Layout
Planning - 3

Application of the Engineering Design

Process to Facility Planning
5. Generate alternative facility plans:
Including alternative facility locations and alternative
designs for the facility.
6.
Evaluate alternative facility plans:
Determine the important factors (see list of factors). For
each candidate plan, evaluate if and how those factors
will affect the facility and its operations.
7. Select a facility plan:
Cost may not be the only major consideration.
Use the information in step 6 to determine a plan (pairwise comparison is a good ranking procedure).

Systematic Layout
Planning - 4

Application of the Engineering Design

Process to Facility Planning
8. Implement the facility plan:
Considerable amount of planning must precede the
construction of a facility or the layout of an area.
9. Maintain and adapt the facility plan:
The facility plan must be modified as new requirements are
placed, e.g., new energy saving measures, changes in
product design may require different flow pattern or
handling equipment, etc.
10.
Redefine the objective of the facility:
Similar to step 1.
Changes in product design and/or quantities may require
changes into the layout plan.

Systematic Layout
Planning - 5

Layout Planning Important

Factors
In developing well-thought facilities design alternatives it is
important to look into issues such as:
a) Layout characteristics
- total distance traveled
- manufacturing floor visibility
- overall aesthetics of the layout
- ease of adding future business
b) Material handling requirements
- use for the current material handling equipment
- investment requirements on new equipment
- space and people requirements

Systematic Layout
Planning - 6

Layout Planning Important

Factors
c) Unit load implied
- impact on WIP levels
- space requirements
- impact on material handling equipment

d) Storage strategies
- space and people requirements
- impact on material handling equipment
- human factors risks

e) Overall building impact

- estimated cost of the alternatives
- opportunities for new business

Systematic Layout
Planning - 7

Apples Plant Layout

Procedure
Apple recommended that the following detailed sequence
of steps be used in designing a plant layout
1. Procure the basic data.

11. Determine storage requirements

2. Analyze the basic data.

12. Plan service and auxiliary activities.

3. Design the productive process.

13. Determine space requirements

4. Plan the material flow pattern.

14. Allocate activities to total space

5. Consider the general material handling plan

15. Consider building type

6. Calculate equipment requirements.

16. Consider master layouts

7. Plan individual work stations.

17. Evaluate, adjust and check the layout

8. Select specific material handling equipment

18. Obtain approval

9. Coordinate groups of related operations.

19. Install the layout

10. Design activity relationships.

20. Follow up on implementation of the layout

Systematic Layout Planning - 8

Muthers
Systemati
c Layout
Planning
Procedure

Systematic Layout
Planning - 9

Systematic Layout Planning Procedure

Information Gathering

PQRST items
Product: what is to be produced
Quantity: volume to be produced
Routing: how it is to be produced
Support services: with what will we produce
Timing/Transport: when to produce and how to move
parts in & out
Quantity & Variety often dictate the layout type
(product/process, etc.)
can be used to determine
o which products justify their own lines,
o which families justify their own cells.
Systematic Layout
Planning - 10

Systematic Layout Planning Procedure

Information Gathering
Schedule design decisions tell us how much to
produce and when to produce.

Market
Forecast

Productio
n
Demand

Product Mix
+
Production Rate

Systematic Layout
Planning - 11

Productio
n Rate

Number
of
Machines

Continuous or
Intermittent
Production

Systematic Layout Planning

Procedure
Evaluation
Factor-analysis method (evaluating the layout
alternatives)
List all of the factors to be considered important
Weight the relative importance of each of these
factors to each other
Rate the alternative plans against one factor at a
time
Calculate the weighted rating values and sum up
those values to obtain the total value for each of
the alternatives
Select the alternative with the highest total value
Factors
Systematic Layout
Cost, flexibility, maintainability, expandability
Planning - 12