THE EFFECTS OF FLOW AND

MOVEMENT ON PLANT OUTPUT

CHAPTER 3
 1. WORKFLOW AND MATERIAL
MOVEMENT
• Warehouses, factories, banks, hospitals, etc., all have a common
requirement: in order to operate most efficiently they require an
orderly flow of materials-regardless of the fact that the materials
may be orders to be filled, food to be prepared and served.
• Today, these same, large mail-order houses now employ sortation
systems and, in some instances, have even installed computer-
operated stacker crane retrieval systems in order to improve the
control of merchandise moving into and out of storage.
• By providing an orderly flow of materials through a system it is
possible to avoid one of the common errors of material handling,
namely, back-hauling or the back-tracking of materials. This
simply means that once material has passed through an operation
it maintains its direction and does not retrace its path.
Straight – line flow in a plant
Back-tracking in a plant
 2. CONDUCTING A PLANT
MATERIALS HANDLING
The following 16 areas in materials handling will be
discussed:
1) General Materials Handling
- Do aisles permit easy passage of MH equipment?
- Are aisles adequately marked?
- Are any aisles blocked?
- Are safe operating speeds of MH equipment practiced?
- Do intersecting aisles permit easy passage of equipment?
- Is there interference with MH equipment and walking traffic?
- Does good housekeeping prevail?
- What is the condition of floors: - in working aisles? – In main
aisles? – Around machinery?
2) Manufacturing MH
- Is the handling of materials by direct labor held to a
minimum?
- Is there an adequate supply of materials at the
workplace?
- Are materials delivered to and removed from the
workplace without interruption in the work cycle?
- Is there good use of mechanical devices for loading,
and unloading machines?
- Are waste materials removed from the workplace
without interruption in the work cycle?
- Are department in-process storage areas: adequate?
Excessive?
- Are methods employed to load and unload the
following systems adequate: Washing and cleaning?
Painting? Heat treating? Shot blast?
- Are materials readily accessible to: assemblers?
machine operators?
- Is there good utilization of racks for storage of
materials on the assembly line or in the assembly area?
- Are subcomponents conveniently and effectively
located and arranged in relation to the assembly area?
- Are containers matched to materials storage?
- Are line shortages held to a minimum?
3) Warehousing MH
• Are racks properly designed for pallet and container dimensions?
• Are racks components standardized?
• Are there designated locations in the warehouse area for incoming
and outgoing materials?
• Are there staging areas: adequate? Excessive?
• Is a locator system used for storing materials?
• Are misallocated materials held to a minimum?
• Are there written operating procedures for the warehousing
functions?
• Are fixtures stored and located properly?
• How much attention is given to fixture purging, obsolescence,
repair, preservation?
• Is MH equipment effectively used within the warehouse operation?
• Are special racks used for high-volume part?
• Is there effective use made of tote boxes, pallet racks, bins, etc.?
4) Packaging MH
• Does the plant have a packaging engineer?
• Does he effectively perform the in-plant functions of a packaging engineer?
• Does he communicate with other plant packaging engineers effectively?
• Is the unit load concept in effect within the materials handling operation?
• If so, are the unit loads properly designed for use through the entire
manufacturing cycle?
• Have plant packaging and shipping guidelines been established?
• What percent effectiveness in terms of supplier cooperation has been
achieved with these guidelines?
• Are unit loads identified correctly?
• Are packaging materials being recycled?
• How much dunnage is being incinerated, or otherwise disposed of, that
could be recycled?
• Is blocking and bracing of outgoing shipments being performed
effectively?
• Does the packaging take into consideration the unit of issue, and is it
possible to obtain modular units?
5) MH Equipment
• Does this facility maintain an up-to-date MH equipment list?
• If yes, does the listing contain: (i) Equipment number? (ii)
Manufacturer? (iii) Year purchased? (iv) Equipment
specification? (v) Area assigned? (vi) Probable replacement
date? (vii) Initial cost? (viii) Attachments added? (ix) Total dollar
value of fleet?
• How precise are maintenance cost records, and how effectively
is cost control practiced? How precise is cost per hour of
operation for each vehicle?
• How well is the scheduled preventive maintenance (PM)
program working at this facility?
• Is the maintenance area(s) adequate?
• Is breakdown maintenance the only or main type of maintenance
• performed?
• Is a daily operators checklist required to be completed by each
operator?
• If yes, is a reasonably effective control established to see whether there is
compliance?
• In general, is the proper MH equipment used to perform MH tasks?
• Is MH equipment standardized throughout the plant?
• Are hour meters being used effectively?
• Is MH equipment being properly utilized through the use of hour meter
readings?
• Are material movements planned so that forklift equipment travel is less
than 300 feet per carry?
• Is standby/exchange equipment available?
• Are standby/exchange units color-coded according to a standard?
• Are standby/exchange units properly exchanged for PM purposes?
• Are mobile materials handling equipment units assigned to the operating
units by the MH engineer?
• Are MH equipment forecasts made sufficiently in advance to avoid fiscal
(not forecasted) Problems?
• Are replacement vehicles and equipment tied in with add-on equipment?
6) MH Manpower Utilization
• Is there a manning table, or the equivalent, for indirect labor
functions in this facility?
• Is manual handling of materials held to a minimum?
• Is walking long distance for or with materials held to minimum?
• Are "put and take" or mechanical manipulators used for
machine loading and unloading (or press feeding) operations
wherever possible?
• Do supervisors have control over the assigned labor force?
• Is there a duplication of activities or assignments?
• Is the labor force assigned to a particular department or work
area in accordance with the work load?
• How much demurrage has been incurred during the past
12months?
• Rate work pace for materials handling in this facility.
7) Shipping MH
• Is dock space adequate for handling materials?
• Are truck spots, dock plates, levelers, doors, or dock lights
adequate?
• Is shipping space congested, and do queuing problems exist?
• Are blocking and bracing, and other shipping materials,
conveniently located to the shipping floor.
• Can block and dunnage preparation be performed more
economically by a subcontractor or local sheltered workshop?
• Are there idle employees awaiting job assignments?
• Are shipping activities performed relatively close to the last
operations?
• In general, if snipping is performed in more than one location
at this
• facility, can physical locations be optimized?
8) Receiving MH
• Is there the least possible amount of hand unloading of incoming
materials?
• ls proper equipment used to handle incoming materials?
• Is the space allocated for receiving adequate?
• Is there more than one major receiving area al this facility? Can receiving
locations be optimized?
• Are there idle employees awaiting job assignments?
• Are truck spots, dock plates, dock levelers, doors, or dock lights
adequate?
• Is receiving space congested, and do queuing problems exist?
• Are dunnage and packaging material disposal problems in evidence? Or
does the facility have a systematized method for handling trash?
• Is there much difficulty with supplier packing lists and checking of
materials?
• Are the inspection, quality, and receiving functions properly coordinated?
9) Plant Layout – General
• What input does the materials handling engineer have in
planning new layouts or in revising existing layouts?
• Is a team approach used by the materials handling engineer and
the layout planner and processor in developing new layouts?
• Are work measurement studies made of existing indirect labor
methods before and after method changes are made?
• Is there a layout detailing storage location plantwide?
• When was the last survey made indicating how much plant space
was dedicated for storage?
(i) Less than one year ago?
(ii) Over one year ago?
• What possibilities exist for adding fixed path handling
equipment?
• Can layout changes be made to improve work flow?
10) Plant Layout – flow of Materials
• Has the flow of materials been planned?
• Does material flow in a straight line?
• Can back-hauling of materials be held to a minimum?
• Are aisles adequate to handle the flow of materials?
11) Plant Layout – Space Utilization
• Is there effective use of available floor space?
• Is there effective use of available cube?
• Are outside storage areas effectively used for material storage?
• Is outside material stored adjacent to the point of use?
• Is outside storage material adequately protected?
• How much is spent on rust and corrosion removal?
• How much scrap, obsolescent material, or spoiled inventory has
been
• generated this past year because of unrotated stock?
12) Equipment Arrangement and Workplace layout
• Are machines and equipment arranged for easy delivery of
material?
• Are machines and equipment arranged for maximum operator
• efficiency?
• Are machines and equipment arranged to make full use of machine
capacity?
• If conveyors are used, are they at the proper height for the
operator?
• Does the operator have to bend into a container or tub? Or can a
tub tilter be used effectively?
• Can the operation be supplied by a hopper tub? Or chute ?
• Can special trays or racks improve the efficiency of operations of a
particular activity or subsequent operations either in this facility or
interplant?
• Are machines arranged so that over-travel does not extend into
aisles or interfere with operators?
• Are machines and equipment arranged to permit maximum
flexibility for production changes?
• Is the work station arranged to hold the operator's walking to a
minimum?
• Is there adequate sit-down area for materials at the workplace?
• Are materials placed as close to the operator as is safe? Or, as is
practical?
• Does the location of the supervisor permit overseeing his area?
• What is the precision of piece counting, and what is its effect on
inventory, scheduling, and production control?
• Is good housekeeping practiced?
13) Planning
• Is there a materials handling plan? (i) Short range? (ii) Long range?
• Is there layout planning? (i) Short range? (ii) Long range?
• Do the plans establish goals and priorities utilizing project
planning techniques
14) Records and Report
• Are cost reduction savings monitored?
• ls there a procedure, or form, used for monitoring savings?
• Are materials handling process reports required by this plant's
management? How often?
• Is there a lifting for total plant space and its allocation by function,
viz., manufacturing, storage’ maintenance etc.?
• Is a monthly, quarterly, or yearly report issued to management
indicating the cost of maintaining and operating MH equipment?
15) Materials Handling Awareness
• Does this plant have a designated materials handling
engineer (MHE)?
• Does he effectively perform the function of a plant MHE?
• Does the materials Handling engineer review all layouts as
to their effect on all materials handling activities?
• Is there integration and coordination (exchange of
information) between the materials handling engineer and all
other manufacturing engineering functions, materials
control, product design, maintenance, production control,
inventory control, purchasing, data processing, other
physical distribution operations, etc.?
• Are follow-up audits performed on all materials handling
and plant layout projects, and is appropriate corrective action
taken when necessary?
• Is there an awareness of good materials handling practice at all levels
of management?
• Are industrial engineering techniques employed in solving materials
handling problems?
16) Training
• Have materials handling line supervisors received adequate classroom
and on-the job training in the functional responsibilities of their job?
• Have MH equipment operators received sufficient and periodic
training in the safe operation of their equipment and job
responsibilities?
• Is there a continuous program of in-house training to improve the
overall proficiency of materials handling in the areas of supervisory
and other staff personnel?
• Is there a training program for improving and/or developing the
techniques of layout Planning?