Department of Mechanical Engineering

MET 304: Operations Planning and Control

Tutorial 3: Facilities Location and Layout
1. XYZ limited is considering four locations (L1, L2, L3, L4) for setting up a plant. The management
consider nearness to raw material (RM), availability of transport facilities (AT), availability of
power (AP), facilities for the employees (FE) and cost of land (CL) with importance weights as 0.2,
0.25, 0.1, 0.3, 0.15 respectively. The scores (1 being the lowest and 9 highest) for each facility with
respect to the factors are given below.

Location RM AT AP FE CL (Rs per square

meter)
L1 4 5 6 7 4000
L2 7 3 6 5 7000
L3 2 8 7 6 5000
L4 9 6 5 4 6000

Use SAW method to decide the location of the plant.

2. Existing facilities are located as follows: P1= (4, 4); P2= (4, 10); P3= (6, 5); P4= (10, 5); P5= (10, 9);
P6= (12, 3). It is desired to locate one new facility with respect to the existing facilities. Travel
between facilities is along a rectilinear aisle structure. The amount of item movement between the
new facility and each existing facility are given as w1= 4; w2= 4; w3= 2 w4= 3 w5= 5; w6= 6. Where
the new facility should be located to minimize weighted travel?

3. A telecommunications system is going to be installed at a company site. The switching center that
governs the system must be located in one of the five buildings to be served. The locations of the
buildings are given below. The goal is to minimize the amount of underground cabling required. In
which building should the switching center be located? Assume a straight line distance measure.

Building Location
1 (10,10)
2 (0,4)
3 (6,15)
4 (8,20)
5 (15,0)

Resolve the problem if the weights for the facilities are 3, 2, 4, 5, 6 respectively.

4. A Manufacturing facility consists of five departments: A, B, C, D, and E. At the current time, the
facility is laid out as in figure below. Develop a from-to distance chart for this layout. Estimate the
distance separating departments based on the flow pattern of the materials handling system in the
figure. Assume that all the departments are located at their centers as marked in Figure. The
Routings and forecasted production per week are given in Table

1
 20 45 25 10

20
Product Routing Forecasted
A B C 40
Production (Units
/Week)
55

E 1 A-B-C-D-E 200
50

2 A-D-E 900
D
25 3 A-B-C-E 400
10

4 A-C-D-E 650
10 65 25
20 0

All dimensions are in feet

Assuming all products are produced in batches of size 50

a) Create a from-to chart showing material handling trips per week
b) Create from-to chart showing materials handling cost per week given the cost of transportation Rs
100 per foot.
c) Develop an activity relationship diagram for the facility based of material handling cost
d) Based on the above, suggest a better layout

5. Two attorneys are planning on a new office in a suburb of a major city. It will provide space for four
persons: the two attorneys, a secretary, and a clerk-typist-receptionist. Space is also needed for storing
files, meeting with clients, and copying. The space requirements for the facilities are given as below:

Space
Activity
(ft2)
Attorney A 250
Attorney B 250
Secretary 175
Reception area 750
Conference Room 1350
Store 125
Copying room 100

The space available is 50 ft X 60 ft with the windows along one of the short walls and access to the
office along the other short wall.

a) Using your own judgment, construct an activity relationship diagram for the law firm.
b) Develop a block layout for the law office.
c) Use CRAFT logic to improve upon the proposed layout.
d) Use ALDEP logic to create and evaluate three layouts.