LESSON 7

FACILITY AND WORK DESIGN

Facility Layout

Facility layout refers to the specific arrangement of physical facilities. Facility-layout

studies are necessary whenever: a new facility is constructed, there is a significant
change in demand or throughput volume, a new good or service is introduced to the
customer benefit package, or different processes, equipment, and/or technology are
installed.

Essentially, a good layout should support the ability of operations to accomplish its
mission. If the facility layout is flawed in some way, process efficiency and effectiveness
suffers. In manufacturing, facility layout is generally unique, and changes can be
accomplished without much difficulty. This makes it extremely important that the layout
be designed properly, as changes can be extremely costly.

Types of Facility Layout

Product Layout – Advantages of product layouts include lower work- in-process

inventories, shorter processing times, less material handling, lower labor skills, and
simple planning and control systems. Disadvantages include that a breakdown at one
workstation can cause the entire process to shut down; a change in product design or
the introduction of new products may require major changes in the layout, limiting
flexibility.

Exhibit 1. Product Layout for Wine Manufacturer

Process layout – It consists of a functional grouping of equipment or activities that do
similar work. Examples: legal offices, shoe manufacturing, jet engine turbine blades,
and hospitals use a process layout.

Advantages of process layouts include a lower investment in equipment, and the

diversity of jobs inherent in a process layout can lead to increased worker satisfaction.
Disadvantages include high movement and transportation costs, more complicated
planning and control systems, longer total processing time, higher in-process inventory
or waiting time, and higher worker-skill requirements.

Exhibit 2. Process Layout for a Machine Shop

Cellular Layout

Cellular layouts are used to centralize people expertise and equipment capability.
Examples: groups of different equipment (called cells) needed for producing families of
goods or services, group legal (labor law, bankruptcy, divorce, etc.), or medical
specialties (maternity, oncology, surgery, etc.).

Exhibit 3. Cellular Manufacturing Layout

Fixed-Position Layout

A fixed-position layout consolidates the resources necessary to manufacture a good or

deliver a service, such as people, materials, and equipment, in one physical location.
The production of large items such as heavy machine tools, airplanes, buildings,
locomotives, and ships is usually accomplished in a fixed-position layout.

Exhibit 4. Comparison of Basic Layout Patterns

Facility Design in Service Organizations

Service organizations use product, process, cellular, and fixed-position layouts to

organize different types of work. Process Layout Examples Libraries place reference
materials, serials, and microfilms into separate areas; hospitals group services by
function also, such as maternity, oncology, surgery, and X-ray; and insurance
companies have office layouts in which claims, underwriting, and filing are individual
departments.

Designing Product Layouts

Flow-blocking delay occurs when a work center completes a unit but cannot release it
because the in-process storage at the next stage is full. The worker must remain idle
until storage space becomes available. Lack-of-work delay occurs whenever one stage
completes work and no units from the previous stage are awaiting processing.

Exhibit 5. Product Layout for a Pizza Kitchen

Assembly-Line Balancing

An assembly line is a product layout dedicated to combining the components of a good

or service that has been created previously. Assembly line balancing is a technique to
group tasks among workstations so that each workstation has—in the ideal case—the
same amount of work. Examples: winemaking industry, credit card processing, Subway
sandwich shops, paper manufacturers, insurance policy processing, and automobile
assembly lines.

To begin, we need to know three types of information to balance an assembly line:

1. the set of tasks to be performed and the time required to perform each task,
2. the precedence relations among the tasks—that is, the sequence in which tasks must
be performed, and
3. the desired output rate or forecast of demand for the assembly line.

Exhibit 6. Three-Task Assembly Line

Workplace Design

Example questions that must be addressed at the workstation level include: Who will
use the workplace? Will the workstation be shared? How much space is required? How
will the work be performed? What tasks are required? How much time does each task
take? How much time is required to setup for the workday or for a particular job? How
might the tasks be grouped into work activities most effectively?

What must the employee be able to see?

What technology is needed? Employees may need a computer or access to customer

records and files, special equipment, intercoms, and other forms of technology. What
must the employee be able to see? What must the employee be able to hear? What
environmental and safety issues need to be addressed?

Exhibit 7. Pizza Preparation Workplace Design

A job is the set of tasks an individual performs.

Ergonomics is concerned with improving productivity and safety by designing

workplaces, equipment, instruments, computers, workstations, and so on that take into
account the physical capabilities of people. A job is the set of tasks an individual
performs. Job design involves determining the specific job tasks and responsibilities, the
work environment, and the methods by which the tasks will be carried out to meet the
goals of operations.

Job enlargement is the horizontal expansion of the job to give the worker more variety—
although not necessarily more responsibility. Job enrichment is vertical expansion of job
duties to give the worker more responsibility. A team is a small number of people with
complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance
goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.