Facility Layout

Dr. Everette S. Gardner, Jr.

Machine shop process layout

Receiving Mills Raw matl. ders Grin-

Large number
Assem-

of
storage bly

low volume

products
Drills

Planers Finished Lathes Inspecgoods Automatics tion storage

Part A Part B
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Product layout
Receiving Raw matl. storage Fabrication line-part B Fabrication line-part A Drill Mill Mill Drill Grinder Mill Assembly line Automatic

Planer Lathe

Finished goods storage

Small number of high volume products

Facility Layout

Possible solutions to the process layout problem

6 Department problem has 6! or 720 possible solutions: A B C

I.E., there are 720 different arrangements of the 6 departments on the 6 locations on the grid.
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Possible solutions to the process layout problem (cont.)

Problem complexity grows exponentially: Nbr. depts. 10 15 20 50 Solutions 3,628,800 1.31 x 10^12 2.43 x 10^18 3.04 x 10^64

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Solutions considered by Craft

N! solutions to problem with N depts. Craft considers only N(N-1) pairs of exchanges, 2 starting with each dept.

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Craft initial layout of furniture plant

A D F I J TOTAL COST = $2524.68
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B E G

Craft final layout

A E

G F B H J D

TOTAL COST = $766.68

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Synopsis of assembly line balancing

1. Set up a precedence table. 2. Compute required cycle time: C = (production time) / (required output in units) 3. Compute minimum cycle time: CMIN = time for longest task 4. Compute minimum number of stations: SMIN = (sum of all times) / C
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Synopsis of assembly line balancing (cont.)

5. Select rule by which tasks are assigned to work stations. Examples: (1) select tasks with longest operation times first or (2) select tasks with largest number of following tasks first Assign tasks to the first work station until the sum of the task times are equal to the cycle time, or no other tasks are feasible. Repeat for stations 2, 3, until tasks are assigned. Evaluate the efficiency of the balance: E = (sum of all times) / (actual nbr. of stations x C)
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6.

7.

Line balancing quiz

0.4 1.1 A 0.3 B 0.5 E C 1.2 0.4 D F 1.1 G 0.8 H 0.7 I J 0.3

Balance this production line to achieve an output of 367 units per day. Available production time is 8 hrs. less a 40 min. lunch break. Use the largest number of following tasks rule to select tasks for work stations. Break ties with the longest operation time.
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Multiple solutions in line balancing

6 B 7 3 A C 5 D 2 E 5 G 5 H 4 F

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Multiple solutions in line balancing (cont.)

Number of solutions
84

25 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13

Stations
Facility Layout

Volvo layouts
Rotating round table with definite cycle time -facilitates teamwork

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Volvo layouts (cont.)

Horseshoe conveyor sections to enable worker communications

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Volvo layouts (cont.)

Interim storage areas to separate line into definite supervisory groups
Supervisor A

Storage

Supervisor B

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Volvo layouts (cont.)

Machines grouped in banks of 3 so workers can exchange jobs and assist each other in set-up

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Volvo continued
E S E S E
Connections of subassembly islands feed parts/components to end-assembly islandseach island functions as a separate team

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