Fria Lelaine P.

Teves 04/08/2024

BSIE 3rd Year

PROCESS-ORIENTED LAYOUT

Problem 9.2

A Missouri job shop has four departments—machining (M), dipping in a chemical bath (D),
finishing (F), and plating (P)—assigned to four work areas. The operations manager, Mary Marrs, has
gathered the following data for this job shop as it is currently laid out (Plan A).

100s of Workpieces Moved Between Work Areas Each Year Plan A

Distances Between Work Areas (Departments) in Feet

It costs $0.50 to move 1 workpiece 1 foot in the job shop. Marrs’s goal is to find a layout that has the
lowest material handling cost.

a) Determine cost of the current layout, Plan A, from the data above.

Cost = [(6 x 20) + (18 x 12) + (2 x 8) + (4 x 6) + (2 x 10) + (18 x 4)] x $0.50

Cost = $234 or $23,400

b) One alternative is to switch those departments with the high loads, namely, finishing (F) and
plating (P), which alters the distance between them and machining (M) and dipping (D), as
follows:

Distances Between Work Areas (Departments) in Feet Plan B

What is the cost of this layout?

Cost = [(6 x 20) + (18 x 8) + (2 x 12) + (4 x 10) + (2 x 6) + (18 x 4)] x $0.50

Cost = $206 or $20,600

c) Marrs now wants you to evaluate Plan C, which also switches milling (M) and drilling (D),
below.

Distances Between Work Areas (Departments) in Feet Plan C

What is the cost of this layout?

Cost = [(6 x 20) + (18 x 10) + (2 x 6) + (4 x 8) + (2 x 12) + (18 x 4)] x $0.50

Cost = $220 or $22,000

d) Which layout is best from a cost perspective?

After thoroughly evaluating the cost aspects of Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C, it becomes evident that
the most favorable in terms of cost is the one with the lowest figure. When examining the costs
associated with each plan, we find the following:

Plan A: Layout cost = $23,400

Plan B: Layout cost = $20,600

Plan C: Layout cost = $22,000

Upon comparison, it's apparent that Plan B boasts the lowest cost. Therefore, among the three plans,
Plan B emerges as the most economically advantageous layout option.