Manufacturing Strategy

Process & Layout Selection

Process Types, Layout Types

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 Process Types

Project, Job Shop, Batch, Repetitive, Flow Shop, Continuous Flow

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 Process Selection
 Process selection is demand driven:
 Variety of products
 How much?
 Volume
 Expected output?
 Flexibility of Equipment
 What type and degree?

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 Process Types: Variety, Volume, Flexibility & Unit Cost

Flexibility- Quality
Projects
Job Shop Unit variable costs
generally too high
High Unit Cost

Batch
Moderate Unit Cost

Repetitive
Worker Paced
or
Assembly
Machine
Low UnitPaced
Cost
Utilization of fixed Continuous Dependability-Cost
capital
generally too low Flow
Very Low Unit Cost

Flexibility-Quality Dependability- Cost

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 Product - Process Matrix Examples

Appliance
Job repair
Emergency room
Shop
Book writing
Commercial bakery
Batchlecture
Classroom
Movie theaters
Repetitive
Automobile
assembly
assembly
Automatic carwash
Oil/sugar refinery
Continuous
Water purification
Flow

• Similar processes tend to have similar problems

• There exists a long-term drift from the upper left to the lower right
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 Process Types Overview
 Project
 A set of activities directed toward a unique goal, usually large scale, with a limited time
frame
 Job Shop
 Low-volume, customized, high-variety products
 Uses general-purpose resources that perform many different activities
 Resources grouped by processing activities
 a process -dominated or functional layout.
 Many products simultaneously flowing through the process.
 Varying work flows with large amounts of storage; waiting between activities
 Highly structured information system

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 Process Types (continued 1)
 Batch
 Many different products in groups (batches)
 Moderate volume, customized products
 Bakeries, Canneries, ice cream products
 Repetitive
 Semi-continuous, discrete processes
 Allow some variety; highly similar, but non-identical products

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 Process Types (continued 2)
 Flow Shop
 Limited products in large quantities
 Uses specialized resources to perform a limited number of activities but with a lot of
precision and speed
 Dedicated resources: high fixed-costs, low variable costs
 Resources dictated by processing requirements of the product - a product-dominated
layout
 Continuous
 Operations performed round the clock to avoid costly shutdowns and start-ups
 Refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, continuous casting and rolling operations

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 Characteristics of Processes: Job Shop vs. Batch vs. Flow Shop

 Fill in the boxes with High/Medium/Low to test your understanding

Type of Product Specialized Product Machine Labor Variable

Process Volume Equipment Variety Setup Skills Cost
Frequency
Job Shop

Batch

Flow Shop

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 Service – Process Matrix: By Delivery Process

B- Service Shop C - Professional

Focus Differentiated
Degree of Interaction and Customization

• Hospitals • Doctors
High • Lawyers
• Restaurants
• Auto repair • Accountants
• Architects

A - Service Factory D - Mass Service

Cost Leadership Focus
• Airlines • Retail
Low
• Trucking • Wholesale
• Hotels • Schools
• Retail Banking

Low High

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 Service – Process Matrix: Hospital

B- Service Shop C - Professional

Focus Differentiated
Degree of Interaction and Customization

High
• Single Specialty Hospital • Emergency Care
• Surgery

Hospital
A - Service Factory D - Mass Service
Cost Leadership Focus
Low
• Radiology • Pharmacy
• Pathology

Low High

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 Layout Types

Process, Lean, FMS, Product, Fixed Layouts

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 Layouts
 Layout concerns the configuration of departments, work centers, and equipment,
with particular emphasis on movement of work (customers or materials) through
the system.
 The facility layout is a design problem. Layout decisions are important for three
basic reasons:
 They require substantial investments of both money and effort.
 They involve long-term commitments, which make mistakes difficult to overcome.
 They have a significant impact on the cost and efficiency of short-term operations.

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 Objectives
 Minimize material handling costs.
 Utilize space efficiently.
 Utilize labor efficiently.
 Reduce manufacturing cycle time.
 Eliminate wasted or redundant movement.
 Improve product quality.
 Reduce in-process inventory.

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 The Need for Layout Decisions
 Inefficient operations (e.g., high cost, bottlenecks).
 Accidents or safety hazards.
 Changes in the design of product or services.
 The introduction of new products or services.
 Changes in the volume of output or mix of outputs.
 Changes in methods or equipment.
 Changes in environmental or other legal requirements.

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 Layout Types Overview

Functional
Job or
Process
ShopLayout

Cellular or
Batch
Lean Layout
Repetitive
FMS Layout
assembly
Product
Continuous
Layout
Flow
Fixed Position
Layout
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 Functional or Process Layouts
 Designed to facilitate processing items or providing services that present
variations in their processing requirements
 Different products may present quite different processing requirements and sequences of
operations
 The layouts feature departments or other functional groupings in which similar
kinds of activities are performed
 Example: Machine shops usually have separate departments for milling, grinding, drilling,
and so on

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 Process Layout

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 Process Layouts
 Advantages
 Systems can handle a variety of processing
requirements.
 The system is not particularly vulnerable to equipment
failure.
 General-purpose equipment is often less costly than
the specialized equipment used in product layouts and
is easier and less costly to maintain.
 It is possible to use individual incentive systems.
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 Disadvantages
 In-process inventory costs can be high if batch
processing is used in manufacturing systems.
 Routing and scheduling pose continual challenges.
 Equipment utilization rates are low.
 Material handling is slow and inefficient and more
costly per unit than under product layouts.
 Job complexities often reduce the span of supervision
and result in higher supervisory costs than product
layouts do.
 Special attention for each product or customer
(routing, scheduling, machine setups, and so on) and
low volumes result in higher unit costs than with
product layouts.
 Accounting, inventory control, and purchasing are
much more involved than under product layouts.
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 Product Layouts
 Product layouts are used to achieve a smooth and rapid flow of large volumes of products.
Highly standardized products or services that require highly standardized (repetitive)
processing operations.
 A job is divided into a series of standardized tasks, permitting specialization of both labor and
equipment. The large volumes handled by these systems usually make it economical to invest
substantial sums of money in equipment and in job design.

 Examples: Assembly lines in manufacturing, a cafeteria serving line.

 Less common in service environments.

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 Product Layout

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 Product Layouts : Advantages & Disadvantages
 Advantages
 There is a high rate of output.
 Units costs are low due to high volume; the high cost
of specialized equipment is spread over many units.
 Labor specialization reduces training costs and time
and results in a wide span of supervision.
 Material-handling costs are low per unit, and material
handling is simplified because units follow the same
sequence of operations.
 There is a high utilization of labor and equipment.
 Routing and scheduling are encompassed in the initial
design of the system and do not require much
attention once the system is in operation.
 Accounting, purchasing, and inventory control are
fairly routine.
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 Disadvantages
 The intensive division of labor usually creates dull, repetitive
jobs, which do not provide much opportunity for
advancement and may lead to morale problems.
 Poorly skilled workers may exhibit little interest in
maintaining equipment or in quality of output.
 The system is fairly inflexible in response to either changes in
the volume of output or changes in product or process
design.
 The system is highly susceptible to shutdowns caused by
equipment breakdowns or excessive absenteeism.
 Preventive maintenance, the capacity for quick repairs, and
spare parts inventories are necessary expenses.
 Incentive plans tied to individual output are impractical since
they would tend to cause variations among outputs of
individual workers that would adversely affect high utilization
of labor and equipment.
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 Cellular or Lean Layouts
 Cellular manufacturing is a type of layout in which machines are grouped into what is referred
to as a cell. Groupings are determined by the operations needed to perform work for a set of
similar items, or part familiar, that require similar processing.
 In effect, the cells become miniature versions of product layouts.
 Benefits relate to the grouping of equipment: faster throughput time, less material handling,
less work-in-process inventory, and reduced setup time.

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 Cellular Layout

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 Group Technology
 For cellular manufacturing to be effective, there must be groups of items that have similar
processing characteristics. Moreover, these items must be identified. The grouping process is
known as group technology and involves identifying items that have similarities in either
design characteristics or manufacturing characteristics and grouping them into part families.

 Design characteristics : size, shape and function.

 Manufacturing or processing characteristics: type and sequence of operations required.

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 Group Technology: Design Characteristics

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 Group Technology: Part Routing Matrix

Parts Machines
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

A X X X X X
B X X X X
C X X X
D X X X X X
E X X X
F X X X
G X X X X
H X X X

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 Flexible Manufacturing Systems
 More fully automated flexible machining system: supervisory computer control, automated
material handling, use of robots.
 Reprogrammable controllers enable production of a variety of similar parts. Relatively narrow
range of part variety.
 Longer planning and development times than conventional processing equipment.
 FMS layouts: Line layout (Progressive layout), Closed loop layout, Ladder layout, Open field
Layout.

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 Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS)

A State-of-Art FMS using AGVs and Robots

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 FMS Layouts

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 Fixed Position Layouts
 In fixed-position layouts, the item being worked on remains stationary, and
workers, materials, and equipment are moved about as needed.
 Marked contrast to product and process layouts. Almost always, the nature of the
product dictates this kind of arrangement: weight, size, bulk, or some other
factor makes it undesirable or extremely difficult to attempt to move the product.
 Examples : large construction projects (buildings, power plants, dams), ship
building, production of large aircrafts, rockets used to launch space missions.

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 Manufacturing Strategy: Process & Layout Selection
 Answer these questions before selecting a process and layout:
 Variety of products
 How much?
 Volume
 Expected output?
 Flexibility of Equipment
 What type and degree?

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 Manufacturing Strategy: Process & Layout Selection
(contd.) Functional Focus

 Process Types  Layout Types

 Project  Functional or Process Layout
 Job Shop  Hybrid Layouts
 Batch  Cellular or Lean Layouts
 Repetitive  Flexible Manufacturing Systems
 Flow Shop  Product (Line) Layout
 Continuous  Operator paced
 Equipment Paced
 Fixed Position Layout

Product Focus
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 References
 Production/Operations Management by William J Stevenson, Twelfth Edition,
Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2015

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