Chapter 6

Process Selection and

Facility Layout
 Introduction
 Process selection
 Deciding on the way production of goods or
services will be organized
 Major implications
 Capacity planning
 Layout of facilities
 Equipment
 Design of work systems
Process Selection and System Design

Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design
 Process Selection

Batch
 Variety
 How much
Job Shop Repetitive
 Flexibility
 What degree
 Volume
Continuous
 Expected output
 Types of Operations

Project/ Unit or Batch Mass/ Continuous

Job Shop
Assembly

INCREASED VOLUME
Process Design
 Project Processes (Fixed Position)
 Intermittent Flow Processes (Batch
Shops)
 Continuous Flow Processes (Flow
Shops)
 Processing Industries (Continuous)
Job Shop (Fixed Position)
 People and material move
 Have limited duration
 Small scale
 Examples
 Housing
 Ship building
 Dam
 Appliance Repair
Intermittent Flow Processes
(Batch Shops)
 No pattern exists between process of
different products
 Appropriate to service organizations
 Moderate volume
 Example:
 Machine Shops
 Auto Repair Shops
 Commercial Bakery
 Classroom Lecture
Continuous Flow Processes
(Flow Shops)
 Sequences are the same (Standard
Routes)
 High volumes of standardized goods or
services
 Examples:
 Assembly Lines
 Car Wash
Processing Industries (Continuous
Flow)
 One primary input (gas, wheat, etc) is
converted to multiple outputs
 Very high volumes of non-discrete
goods
 Example:
 Petroleum
 Chemicals
 Food Industries
 Process Characteristics

Characteristics Project Intermittent Continuous

PRODUCT
Continuous or
Order Type Single Unit Batch large batch
Flow of Product None Jumbled Sequence
Product Variety Very High High Low
Market type Unique Custom Mass
Volume Single Unit Medium High
 Process Characteristics
Characteristics Project Intermittent Continuous
CAPITAL
Inventory Medium High Low
General General Special
Equipment Purpose Purpose Purpose
LABOR
Skills High High Low
Task Type Non-routine Non-routine Repetitive
 Process Characteristics

Characteristics Project Intermittent Continuous

CONTROL
Production Difficult Difficult Easy
Quality Difficult Difficult Easy
Inventory Difficult Difficult Easy
General General Special
EQUIPMENT Purpose Purpose Purpose
 Automation
 Automation: Machinery that has sensing
and control devices that enables it to
operate
 Fixed automation
 Programmable automation
 Automation

• Computer-aided design and

manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
• Numerically controlled (NC) machines
• Robot
• Manufacturing cell
• Flexible manufacturing systems(FMS)
• Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Functional Areas Being Linked to
Manage the Flow of Information
 Design
 Handling of Materials
 Storage and Retrieval of Information
 Control of Machine Tools
Design
 CAD
 No longer limited to the top, side and front
views
 Can observe the rotation of the part about any
axis on the screen
 Generally, improves productivity in the drafting
room by a factor of 3 or more
 At GM, the redesign of a single auto model
requires 14 months instead of 24 months
 The time needed to design custom values
reduced from six months to one
Handling of Materials
 Data processing technology can be
applied to the control of 3 general kids
of machines in the factory:
 Machines that store, retrieve, or transport
materials
 Machines that process the materials
 Robots
Handling of Materials
 Automatic storage and retrieval systems
transfer pallets of material into or out of
storage rack up to 100 feet high
 Mini Loaders
 Hold drawers of small parts
 Automatic Warehouse
 Automatic shuttle takes the place of the fork-lift
truck and its human operations
Storage and Retrieval
of Information
 GT
 The formation of part families based on design or
manufacturing similarities (or both)
 Classification of parts speed up the design of
similar parts in the company
 Only 20% of the parts actually need new design.
40% could be built from an existing design and
the other 40% could be created by modifying an
existing design.
 Automatic guided vehicle
Control of Machine Tools
 NC
 Machine tools run by programs
 DNC
 Direct numerically controlled machine tools
 Several computerized, NC machine tools
are linked by a hierarchy of computers
Control of Machine Tools
 FMS
 Flexible Manufacturing System
 It consists of an integrated collection of:
 Automated Production Processes
 NC
 Robots
 A material transport system
 An automated transfer line
 Robots
Control of Robots
 Robots
 A programmable machine capable of moving
materials and performing repetitive tasks.
 Main features:
 They are flexible
 They eliminate the need for operators
 Applications
 Loading and unloading of machine tools
 Jobs that are dirty, hazardous, unpleasant, or
monotonous
The Operating Capabilities of
the Factory of the Future
 Economic order quantity approaches 1
 Variety has no cost penalty (economy of slope)
 Rapid response to changes in product design, market
demand, and production mix
 Unmanned and continuous operation is standard
 Consistent high levels of quality and accuracy and
repeatability introduce higher levels of certainty into
the production planning and control activity
Facilities Layout

 Layout: the configuration 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
 Basic Layout Types
 Product layout
 Layout that uses standardized processing
operations to achieve smooth, rapid, high-
volume flow
 Process layout
 Layout that can handle varied processing
requirements
 Fixed Position layout
 Layout in which the product or project
remains stationary, and workers, materials,
and equipment are moved as needed
 Product Layout

Raw
Station Station Station Station Finished
materials 1 2 3 4 item
or customer
Material Material Material Material
and/or and/or and/or and/or
labor labor labor labor

Used for Repetitive or Continuous Processing

 Advantages of Product Layout

 High rate of output

 Low unit cost
 Labor specialization
 Low material handling cost
 High utilization of labor and equipment
 Established routing and scheduling
 Routing accounting and purchasing
Disadvantages of Product Layout

 Creates dull, repetitive jobs

 Poorly skilled workers may not maintain
equipment or quality of output
 Fairly inflexible to changes in volume
 Highly susceptible to shutdowns
 Needs preventive maintenance
 Individual incentive plans are impractical
Assembly Line Balancing
 Cycle time
 The time required to produce one part is
called the cycle time, or the maximum time
allowed at any one work station
 Assembly Line Balancing
 Given a cycle time, find the minimum
number of work stations or minimize the
cycle time for a given number of work
stations
Assembly Line Balancing - Example

Task Time (min) Immediate Predecessors

A 0.2 -----
B 0.3 A
C 0.2 A
D 0.25 A
E 0.15 B,C
F 0.3 D,E
Total 1.4
Assembly Line Balancing
Assembly Line Balancing
CYCLE TIME
.30 C  1.40
C = productive time/output rate
C = (8hr x 60min) =.5 min
960
Number of work stations, N = total time/C
N = 140 = 2.8 =3
.5
 Solution to Assembly Line
Balancing Problem

Station Tasks Assigned Total Task Time Idle

Time
1 A, B 0.5 0
2 C, D 0.45 0.05
3 E, F 0.45 0.05
TOTAL 1.4 0.1
 Line Balancing Rules
Some Heuristic (intuitive) Rules:
 Assign tasks in order of most following
tasks.
 Count the number of tasks that follow
 Assign tasks in order of greatest
positional weight.
 Positional weight is the sum of each task’s
time and the times of all following tasks.
Assembly Line Balancing Solution
 Line Efficiency = Total Work Content
CxN
 Efficiency = 1.40 = .93 or 93%
.5 x 3
 Balance Delay = 1 – efficiency = 1-.93
= 7%
Example 2

0.2 0.2 0.3

a b e

0.8 0.6
c d f g h
1.0 0.4 0.3
 Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d
 A U-Shaped Production Line

In 1 2 3 4

Workers

Out 10 9 8 7
Process Layout (functional)
 Assume we have the following
departments:
 Accounting (A)
 Production Planning (P)
 Customer Service (C)
 Sales (S)
 What arrangement would be better?
Used for Intermittent processing
Job Shop or Batch

A P S C
C S A P
Intermittent Process
 Criteria
 Desirability ranking
 Volume of interaction
 Cost of interaction
 Distance
 Time
 Safety
 Facility Limitations
 Advantages of Process Layouts
 Can handle a variety of processing
requirements
 Not particularly vulnerable to equipment
failures
 Equipment used is less costly
 Possible to use individual incentive plans
Disadvantages of Process Layouts
 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 and purchasing are more
involved
Cellular Layouts
 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
Process Layout - Example
Milling

Assembly
Grinding
& Test

Drilling Plating
Process Layout - work travels
to dedicated process centers
 Functional Layout

222 222 222

111 Drill Grind
444 Mill 3333
444

1111 2222 Assembly

111 333

111 111
Heat 111 Gear
333 Lathes
treat cutting 444
 Cellular Manufacturing Layout –
Group Technology

Heat Gear
-1111 Lathe Mill Drill -1111
treat cut

Heat

Assembly
222222222 Mill Drill Grind - 2222
treat

Heat
3333333333 Lathe Mill Grind - 3333
treat

44444444444444 Mill Drill Gear - 4444

cut