Introduction to Facilities

Design
Chapter 1
Chronological list of facilities
planning and design activities
Date Event

4000 B.C. Egyptians developed expertise in finding suitable locations for

pyramids according to their astrological calculations

100 B.C. B 100 Romans developed full-fledged methods for the construction of

A.D. temples, arenas, and other buildings. Detailed planning of public

and residential buildings

1700 B 1900 Industrial revolution period

1910 First industrial engineering text book Factory Organization and

Administration published by Hugo Diemer.

1913 First moving automotive assembly line introduced by Henry

Ford.
Chronological list of facilities
planning and design activities
1954 Quadratic assignment problem for micro- andmcro-levl location

problems introduced by Koopmans and Beckman

1955-1995 Optimal and heuristic algorithms for the quadratic assignment

problem

1959 Systematic layout planning approach introduced by Muther

1963 CRAFT (Computerized relative allocation of facilities technique)

introduced by Armour and Buffa

Chronological list of facilities
planning and design activities
Early 1980s The flexible manufacturing system concept is introduced and

attention shifts towards achieving plant-wide flexibility via

medium-volume, medium-variety production using cellular

manufacturing techniques

Late 1980s The term automation introduced to cope with plant flexibility

requirements

1985-present Modern software for facilities design problems

1990s-present Research on new layout concepts including dynamic layouts,

robust layouts, and reconfigurable layouts introduced to support

mass customization techniques

Typical Design and Planning
Problems
Facility Location Type, Number of Material Determining Flow of
Handling Devices Products (People)

Type, Volume of Products Determining Material Scheduling and planning of

to be Manufactured or Handling Methods Jobs (Service steps)
Service to be Provided

Overall System Design

Manufacturing (Service) Layout of Equipment
Processes Required Within Each Cell

Design of Components Layout of Machine Inventory Control

(Service) (Service) Cells

Type, Number of Determination of Machine Distribution of goods

Equipment Required (Service) Cells

Process Planning Tooling, Fixture Quality Control and

Determination Customer Service
 Levels of decisions
• Strategic or Design or Long-term
• Planning or Intermediate
• Operational or short-term
 Why is facilities layout important?
• 20-75% of product cost attributed to
materials handling (Sule, 1991 and
Tompkins et al. 2003)
• Layout of facilities affects materials
handling costs
• Facilities includes machines, departments,
workstations, locker rooms, service areas,
etc.
 Why is facilities layout important?
• Good layout increases productivity
efficiency
• Reducing congestion permits smooth flow
of people and material
• Space utilization is effective and efficient
• Facilitates communication and supervision
• Safe and pleasant working environment
 Constraints in developing facilities
layout
• Some pairs of departments must be
adjacent
• Some pairs of departments must not be
adjacent
• Some departments only in specific
locations
• Existing building constraints
• OSHA regulations, fire codes, etc.
 Types of layout problems – Some
examples
• JIT manufacturer
• Relayout of an existing facility
• Relayout due to increased traffic (resulting from
a merger)
• Consolidation of manufacturing operations from
two or more sites to one
• Leasing of office space in a multi-story building
• Find a better layout in existing space
• Introduction of new product lines
 Types of layout problems
• Layout of a service system
• Layout of a manufacturing facility
• Warehouse layout
• Nontraditional layout
 Applications
• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Service
– Restaurants
– Banks
– Airports
– Entertainment
• Logistics and Distribution
– Ports/Terminals
– Distribution Centers
 Types of Projects
• New Facility
• General Re-layout (retrofit)
– Expansion due to new product(s)
– Expansion due to sales growth in existing products
– Re-organization of work areas (evolutionary design)
– Outsourcing of logistics capability
– Addition of automation technology
– Problem elimination
– Cost reduction
– Product discontinuation
Service system layout – Dentist’s
office

Staff Lounge X-Ray Room Records Room

Orthodontist’s
Dentist’s Room Room

Oral Hygienist’s
Room
Oral Hygienist’s
Room

Men’s Rest Room

Reception
Women’s Rest
Waiting Room
Area
Service system layout – Grocery
store
Operations review for office layouts
(Suskind, 1989)
• Is the company outgrowing its space?
• Is available space too expensive?
• Is building in the proper location?
• How will a new layout affect the organization and
service?
• Are office operations too centralized or decentralized?
• Does the office structure support the strategic plan?
• Is the new layout in tune with the company’s image
• Does customer physically participate in service delivery?
 Office structures
• Closed structure
• Semiclosed structure
• Open structure
• Semiopen structure
Closed structure
Semiclosed structure

Teller Teller Teller

Open structure
Semiopen structure
 Manufacturing layout
• Minimize transportation cost of raw materials,
sub-assemblies, work-in-process inventory,
tools, parts, finished products, etc.
• Facilitate traffic flow
• Improve employee morale
• Minimize or eliminate risk of injury and property
damage
• Ease of supervision and face-to-face
communication
Assembly facility layout
Driveway layout
Warehouse layout
 Nontraditional layout
• Keyboard layout
• IC board layout
• Computer disk storage layout
• Airport gate layout