IE271

Operations Analysis
and Design
Lecture Notes 09
Plant Layout
Facility Layout
Refers to the size and shape of a facility as
well as the relative locations and shapes of
the functional areas (e.g., departments),
equipment, workstations, storage spaces,
aisles, and common areas (e.g., restrooms)
Concerned with problems of
Laying out a new facility
Making changes in an existing facility
Also called plant layout
Usually associated with production plants
Objectives in Layout Planning
Efficient movement of materials and people
Logical work flow and minimum travel
distances
Efficient utilization of space
Safety and satisfaction of those who use the
facility
Flexibility to meet changing future
requirements
Advancing the operational mission of the
facility
Systematic Layout Planning
Developed by Richard Muther
Most widely used layout planning approach
Most applicable to process layout design
Most appropriate for designing a new plant
Steps in SLP
Determine requirements and collect data
Analyze material flows
Define activity relationships and develop
activity relationship chart
Construct activity relationship diagram
Determine space requirements
Construct space relationship diagram
Make adjustments and add allowances
Develop block layout
Develop detailed layout
Step 1. Requirements and Data
Starting specifications in plant layout design:
Specific product or set of products will be
produced
Particular set of manufacturing and/or assembly
processes will be performed
Specified quantities of parts and products will be
produced
Rarely are specifications for two plants the
same
Step 2. Analyze Material Flows
Possible charting techniques to analyze material
flows:
Operation chart - shows sequence of processing,
assembly, and inspection operations for products
Flow process chart - shows processing steps and
other details for parts production
From-To chart - shows quantities and directions of
material flows between departments
Part routing matrix - shows which operations each
part is routed through during production
 From To Charts
Item A: R.M. Saw Drill Mill F.G. 8 pallets/day
Item B: R.M. Drill Saw Mill F.G. 2 pallets/day
Item C: R.M. Saw Mill Saw F.G. 7 pallets/day
 From To Charts
Item A: R.M. Saw Drill Mill F.G. 8 pallets/day
Item B: R.M. Drill Saw Mill F.G. 2 pallets/day
Item C: R.M. Saw Mill Saw F.G. 7 pallets/day
R.M. Saw Drill Mill F.G.
R.M. 15 2
Saw 8 9 7
Drill 2 8
Mill 7 10
F.G.
 From Between Chart

R.M. Saw Drill Mill F.G.

R.M. 15 2
Saw 10 16 7
Drill 8
Mill 10
F.G.
Step 3. Activity Relationships
Indicate relative need to place activities or
departments in close proximity to each other
Defined by closeness ratings
A - absolutely necessary for departments to be
next to each other
E - especially important
I - important
O - ordinary
U - unimportant
X - Undesirable to locate departments near each
other
Activity Relationship Chart
Activity Relation Chart
Closeness Rating Factors
Material flow - most important, sometimes
the only factor
Need for contact between personnel
Use of same equipment
Sharing of common records
Sharing of supervision or technical staff
Use of same utilities
High noise level
Emission of fumes, odors
Step 4. Activity Relationship
Diagram
Graphical means of displaying the closeness ratings
among pairs of activities (departments)
Uses nodes to represent activities
Nodes are connected by lines indicating the
closeness ratings
Closeness ratings are identified by
Color
Different types of lines
Analyst attempts to rearrange nodes so that nodes
with high closeness ratings are located near each
other
Activity Relationship Diagram

Blocks represent
departments
Lines represent
closeness ratings
Revised Activity Relationship
Diagram

Blocks rearranged
to bring
departments with
high closeness
ratings closer
together
Relationship Diagram
An Improved Design
Step 5. Space Requirements
Objective is to determine area requirements
for each activity (department)
Procedure:
List all workstation types
Identify by subscript i
Determine floor space requirement for each
station type
Let Ai = area for station type i
Determine number of stations of each type
ni = Min Int WLi / ATi
Space Requirements
If workload for station i consists of multiple
parts or products,
WLi = QijTcij
where Qij = quantity of part type j, Tcij =
cycle time of part type j

Determine total area required for each

workstation type
TAi = niAi
Space Requirements
Determine total are in each department by
summing areas for all station types in that
department
DAk = TAi
where DAk = area of department k and
summation is carried out over all
workstation types in department k
Step 6. Space Relationship
Diagram
Extension of activity relationship diagram in
which nodes representing departments are
now assigned areas that are proportional to
areas calculated in previous step
Shapes of nodes may be changed to fit the
nodes into the diagram (e.g., use rectangular
blocks rather than round nodes)
But relative positions of blocks remain as in the
last iteration of the activity relationship diagram
Space Relationship Diagram

Same diagram as
before but block
sizes are
proportional to
areas
Step 7. Adjustments and
Allowances
Personnel requirements - rest rooms, locker rooms,
food services, plant entrances and exits
Material handling methods - may affect floor space
and building height
Storage facilities - treat as separate department or
add allowance
Aisle space - add a percentage allowance
Offices - for individual departments
Building features - walls, column locations
Site conditions - parking, landscaping
Limitations
Budget - construction costs may impose
limitation on building size
Building codes - may affect location of
building on property as well as structural and
utility details
Safety requirements - some included in
building codes, others covered by OSHA
Existing building - if layout is planned around
an existing building, then shape and size of
building is a limitation on plant layout design
Step 8. Develop Block Layout
Develop alternative layout plans based on
space relationship diagram
Different shapes and aspect ratios
Evaluate alternatives
Select the best
Compromise between competing objectives,
modifying considerations, and practical limitations
Block Layout

Rectangular
building
shape
Block Layout

Approximates
space
relationship
diagram
Evaluating the Layouts
Numerical scoring methods to evaluate the
block layout:
Adjacency score
Layout efficiency rating
Adjacency Score
Computed by summing the numerical
closeness rating values for all contacting
pairs of departments
AS xij CRij
n n

i 1 j 1

where xij = adjacency variable (= 1 if common

border, 0 if no common border), CRij =
numerical value of closeness ratings (A = 4,
E = 3, I = 2, O = 1, U = 0, X = -5)
Layout Efficiency Rating
LER = AS / ASmax
where AS = adjacency score, and

n n
ASmax CRij
i 1 j 1

where CRij = CRij if CRij > 0, and

= 0 if CRij 0
Distance-based Scoring
cij: total cost per unit distance of flow between
activities i and j
Dij be the distance between activities i and j

m 1 m
s cij Dij
i 1 j i 1
Constructing the Layout
We can construct a feasible layout from
scratch
For i = 1 to n
SELECT an activity not placed yet
PLACE the selected activity
Next i

SELECT and PLACE procedure differ among

algorithms
Planet Method A
Select the two departments having the
strongest relationship with each another
Place the department with the strongest
relationship with a previously selected
department
Break ties arbitrarily
Planet Method A

A B C D E
A - 0 36 18 0 A-C: 36
B - 9 10 0 D 18 with A
C - 12 8 B 10 with D
D - 5
E -

Placement Order: A-C-D-B-E

Planet Method B
Select the two departments having the
strongest relationship with each another

Place the department with the strongest total

relationship with all of the previously selected
departments
Planet Method B A-C: 36

A B C D E B: 0 + 9 = 9
A - 0 36 18 0 D: 18 + 12 = 30
B - 9 10 0 E: 0 + 8 =8
C - 12 8
D - 5 B: 0 + 9 + 10 = 19
E - E: 0 + 8 + 5 = 13

Placement Order: A-C-D-B-E

An Example:
Placement of Dept D 2 1

3 A C 6

Cost of flow b/w A&C: 1x36=36 4 5

Placement of D
Flow (AD, CD) = (18, 12)
Distances of location 1-6 from A: (2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2)
Distances of location 1-6 from C: (1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1)
Cost of flow when D is placed in location 1-6:
(48, 42, 42, 42, 48, 48)
Select location 2, 3 or 4. Arbitrarily choose 4.
 2 1
PLANET Example: A C
3 7
Placement of Dept B
4 D 6

5
Flow (AB, BC, BD) = (0, 9, 10)
Distances of location 1-7 from A: (2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2)
Distances of location 1-7 from C: (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 1, 1)
Distances of location 1-7 from D: (3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3)
Cost of flow when b is placed in location 1-7:
(39, 38, 38, 37, 37, 19, 39)
Select location 6.
PLANET Example: Final Layout

A C E

D B

Total Cost: 36 + 42 + 19 + 23 = 120

Step 9. Develop Detailed Layout
Filling in the block layout with the details of
how each department will be arranged
Locations and areas of workstations and
equipment, aisles, department offices,
storage areas, etc.
Layout design provides a check on the
original calculations
If details do not fit into spaces correctly, then
there may be an error in original space
calculations