Chapter-05

Process Selection and

Facility Layout
 Process types, process
selection and automation
 The ways organizations choose to produce or
provide their goods and services.
 It involves choice of technology, type of
processing, and so on.
 It influences
◦ Capacity planning
◦ Layout of facilities
◦ Equipment
◦ Design of work systems
Process Selection and System Design
Inputs Outputs

Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design
 Variety Batch

◦ How much
Project Job Shop Repetitive
 Flexibility
◦ What degree
Continuous
 Volume
◦ Expected output
 Project: A non-repetitive set of activities directed toward a
unique goal within a limited time frame
◦ Unique
◦ Examples: Building a bridge, consulting
 Job shop: provides unit or lot production or service with
changeable specifications, according to customer needs
◦ Small scale
◦ Examples: Machine shop, dentist’s office
 Batch: Produces many different products in groups (batches)
◦ Low or Moderate volume
◦ Examples: Bakeries, movie theaters, classrooms
 Repetitive: provides one or a few highly standardized
products or services
◦ High volumes of standardized goods or services
◦ Examples: automobiles, computers, cafeteria, car wash
 Continuous: produces highly uniform products or continuous
services, often performed by machines
◦ Very high volumes of non-discrete goods
◦ Examples: refineries, chemical plant, flour, sugar, electricity
supplying and the internet
 Job Shop Batch Repetitive Continuous Projects
Cost Difficult Somewhat routine Routine Routine Simple to
estimation complex
Cost per unit High Moderate Low Low Very high
Equipment General General purpose Special Special Varied
used purpose purpose purpose
Fixed costs Low Moderate High Very high Very high

Variable High Moderate Low Very low High

costs
Labor skills High Moderate Low Low to high Low to high
Marketing Promote Promote Promote Promote Promote
capacities capacities; Semi- standardized standardized capacities
standard goods/ goods/ goods/ services
services services
Scheduling Complex Moderately Routine Routine Complex,
complex subject to
change
Work-in- High High Low Low Varied
process
inventory
 Automation: Machinery that has sensing and control
devices that enables it to operate automatically
 Standardized goods and services
 Examples:
◦ Goods: Automobile factories, semiconductors
◦ Services: Package sorting, e-mail, on-line banking
 Advantages of automation
• Low variability in performance and quality
• Machines do not
– get bored or distracted
– go out on strike or ask for higher wages
– lower variable costs
 Disadvantages
• Higher initial (investment) cost and
• Higher fixed costs
• Lower felxibility
• Higher skills needed
• Lower morale of human workforce
• Need for standardisation
– Products
– Processes
– Equipment and materials etc.
 Fixed automation
◦ Specialized equipment for a fixed sequence of operations

 Programmable automation
◦ Computer-aided design and manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
◦ Numerically controlled (NC) machines: Machines that perform
operations by following mathematical processing instructions.
◦ Robot: A machine consisting of a mechanical arm, a power supply
and a controller

 Flexible automation
◦ Manufacturing cell
◦ Flexible manufacturing systems
◦ Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
FMS are more fully automated versions of cellular
manufacturing: A computer controls the transfer of
parts from machine to machine as well as the start of
work at each machine
Produce a variety of similar products
 Classification of production
systems and types of layouts
The arrangement of departments, work centers,
and equipment, with particular emphasis on
movement of work (customers or materials)
through the system.
 Importance of Layout Decisions
• Requires substantial investments of money
and effort
• Involves long-term commitments
• Has significant impact on cost and
efficiency of short-term operations
 The Need for Layout Decisions

• Inefficient operations
• High (variable) cost
• Bottlenecks
• Changes in the design of products or services
• The introduction of new products or services
• Safety
• Changes in environmental or other legal
requirements
• Changes in volume of output or mix of products
• Changes in methods and equipment
• Morale problems
 Objectives of facility layout
Main: smooth flow of work, material and information
Supporting objectives:
 Product Layouts most helpful to repetitive processing
 Process Layouts used for irregular processing
 Fixed-position layouts used when projects require layouts
 Hybrid layouts combinations of these above types
• Cellular manufacturing
• Group technology
• Flexible Manufacturing Systems
 Product layout: Layout that uses standardized processing
operations to achieve smooth, fast, high-volume flow

 Made possible by highly standardized goods or services that

allow highly standardized, repetitive processing

 The work is divided into a series of standardized tasks, permitting

specialization of equipment and division of labor

 The large volumes handled by these systems usually make it

economical to invest substantial sums of money in equipment
and in job design.
Raw Finished
Station
Station Station
Station Station
Station Station
Station
materials item
11 22 33 44
or customer

Materials Materials Materials Materials

and/or
and/or and/or labor and/or
labor labor labor

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

Example: automobile assembly lines, cafeteria serving line
In 1 2 3 4
5
Workers
6
Out 10 9 8 7
 High rate of output
 Low unit cost
 Labor specialization
 Low material handling cost
 High utilization of labor and equipment
 Established routing and scheduling
 Routine accounting, purchasing and inventory control
 Creates boring, repetitive jobs
 Poorly skilled workers may not maintain equipment or
quality of output
 Fairly inflexible to changes in volume
 Highly inclined to shutdowns
 Needs preventive maintenance
 Individual incentive plans are impractical
 Process layouts: Layouts that can handle various
processing requirements
 The layouts feature departments or other functional
groupings in which similar kinds of activities are performed
 Examples: Machine shops usually have separate
departments for milling, grinding, drilling, and so on
 Different products may present quite different processing
requirements and sequences of operations
 Milling

Assembly
& Test Grinding

Drilling Plating

Process Layout - work travels to dedicated process centers

 Can handle a variety of processing requirements
 Not particularly at risk to equipment failures
 Equipment used is less costly
 Possible to use individual incentive plans
 In-process inventory costs can be high
 Challenging routing and scheduling
 Equipment utilization rates are low
 Material handling slow and inefficient
 Complexities often reduce span of supervision
 Special attention for each product or customer
 Accounting, inventory control and purchasing are
more involved
 Fixed-Position Layout: Layout in which the product or
project remains stationary, and workers, materials, and
equipment are moved as needed
Examples:
◦ Large construction projects (buildings, power plants,
dams)
◦ Shipbuilding, production of large aircraft
◦ Rockets used to launch space missions
 The three basic layout types may be altered to satisfy the
needs of a particular situation
 Examples:

◦ Supermarket layouts: primarily process layout, have

fixed-path material-handling devices as well (roller-
type conveyors and belt-type conveyors)
◦ Hospitals: process layout, fixed-position layout as well
(patient care)
◦ Off-line reworking (customized processing) of faulty
parts in a product layout
 Cellular Production
◦ Layout in which machines are grouped into a cell that
can process items that have similar processing
requirements
 Group Technology

◦ The grouping into part families of items with similar

design or manufacturing characteristics
Design characteristics: size, shape and function.
Manufacturing or processing characteristics: type
and sequence of operations required.
 Flexible manufacturing systems
• FMS: a group of machnies designed to handle
intermittent processing requirements and
produce a variety of similar products.
• CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing): a
system of linking a broad range of
manufacturing activities through an
integrating computer system
 Service Layouts

• Warehouse and storage layouts

– Minimizing movement & picking time and cost
• Retail layouts
– Presence & influence of customers
• Office layouts:
– Information is computerized, image of openness
Line Balancing
Line Balancing is the process of assigning tasks to
workstations in such a way that the workstations have
approximately equal time requirements.

 Tasks are grouped into manageable bundles and

assigned to workstations with one or two operators

 Goal is to minimize idle time along the line, which leads

to high utilization of labor and equipment

 Perfect balance is often impossible to achieve

Line balancing procedure
Cycle time is the maximum time allowed
at each workstation to complete its set
of tasks on a unit.
 0.1 min. 0.7 min. 1.0 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

With 5 workstations, CT = 1.0 minute.

Cycle time of a system = longest processing time in a workstation.

0.1 min. 0.7 min. 1.0 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

With 1 workstation, CT = 2.5 minutes.

Cycle time of workstation = total processing time in of tasks.

With 3 workstations, can CT = 1.0 minute?

0.1 min. 0.7 min. 1.0 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

Workstation 1 Workstation 2 Workstation 3

 OT
Output capacity =
CT
OT = operating time per day

CT = cycle time

Example: 8 hours per day

OT = 8 x 60 = 480 minutes per day
Cycle Time = CT = 1.0 min
Output = OT/CT = 480/1.0 = 480 units per day
Cycle Time = CT = 2.5 min
Output = OT/CT = 480/2.5 = 192 units per day
 OT
CT = cycle time =
D
D = Desired output rate

Example: 8 hours per day

OT = 8 x 60 = 480 minutes per day
D = 480 units per day
CT = OT/D = 480/480 = 1.0 Minute
 t
Nmin =
CT
 t = sum of task times
Nmin = theoretical Minimum Number of
Workstations Required

Example: 8 hours per day, desired

output rate is 480 units per day
CT = OT/D = 480/480 = 1.0 Minute
Nmin = ∑t /CT = 2.5/1.0 = 2.5 stations
≈ 3 stations
Designing Process
Layouts
 The main issue in design of process layouts concerns the
relative positioning of the departments involved.

 Departments must be assigned to locations.

 The problem is to develop a reasonably good layout; some

combinations will be more desirable than others.
 Some departments may benefit from adjacent locations
• Sharing expensive tools or equipments.

 Some departments should be separated

• A lab with delicate equipment should not be located near a
department that has equipment with strong vibrations.

• Sand blasting department and painting department.

• Flammable materials near a furnace.

 One advantage of process layouts: satisfy a variety of processing
requirements

 Customers or materials in these systems require different

operations and different sequences of operations

 One of the major objectives in process layout is to minimize

transportation cost, distance, or time

 This is usually accomplished by locating departments with relatively

high interdepartmental work flow as close together as possible