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
Inputs Outputs

Facilities and
Forecasting Capacity Equipment
Planning

Product and Layout

Service Design

Process
Technological Selection Work
Change Design
 Process Strategy
Key aspects of process strategy
– Capital intensive – equipment/labor
– Process flexibility
– Adjust to changes
– Design
– Volume
– Technology
 Process Selection
• Variety
– How much Batch
• Flexibility
– What degree
• Volume
– Expected output Job Shop Repetitive

Continuous
Process types
 Process types and volume
• Job shop
– Small scale, wide variety of goods
• Batch
– Moderate volume, flexible
• Repetitive or assembly line
– High volumes of standardized goods or services
• Continuous
– Very high volumes of non-discrete goods

• Projects
– Non-routine work, unique set ob objectives, limited
timeframe and resources
Product – Process Matrix

The diagonal of the matrix

represents the ideal choice
of processing system for a
given set of circumstances.
Functions/activities affected by process
choice

Job variety, process flexibility, unit cost Limited

(not ongoing)

Volume
 Some examples
(find the process type of each)
Movie production Project
Bakery Batch
Restaurant Batch
(non fast food)
University Batch
Car repairing Job shop
(car mechanic shop)
Oil mining Continuous
Producing office tools Repetitive
Veterinarian Job shop
 Product and service life cycles
• Alongside the life cycle the sales and with it
the production volume can change.
• Thus managers must be aware of the change
in the optimal processing system.
(the necessity of change is highly dependent
on the particular good or service)
 Example
• Computer building shop in a garage (working for
order only, one computer at a time for given
purposes) Job shop

• The shop hires some workers and producing

some dozens of computers for one customer at
a time Batch
• Computer factory is established, creating large
number of computer series Repetitive
• The R&D function of the firm invents a new
computer prototype Project
 Product/Service Profiling
• Linking key product or service requirements to
process capabilities.
• Design the process with taking into
consideration the following:
– Range of products/services
– Expected order size
– Pricing
– Expected frequency of changes in schedules etc.
– Order-winning requirements
–…
 Sustainable production
• Non-polluting
• Conserving natural resources & energy
• Economically efficient
• Safe and healthful for workers, communities
and consumers
• Socially and creaqtively rewarding for workers
Automation of production and services
• Automation: Machinery that has sensing and
control devices that enables it to operate
– Fixed automation
– Programmable automation
 Advantages of automation
• Low variability in performance and quality
• Machines do not
– get bored or distracted
– go out on strike or ask for higher wages
– lower variable costs
 Disadvantages
• Higher initial (investment) cost and
• Higher fixed costs
• Lower felxibility
• Higher skills needed
• Lower morale of human workforce
• Need for standardisation
– Products
– Processes
– Equipment and materials etc.
 Automation
• Computer-aided design and manufacturing
systems (CAD/CAM)
• Numerically controlled (NC) machines
• Computerized numerical control (CNC)
• Direct numerical control (DNC)
• Robot: mechanical arm + power supply + controller
• Manufacturing cell
• Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
• Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
 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
 The Need for Layout Decisions

• Inefficient operations
• High (variable) cost
• Bottlenecks
• Changes in the design of products or services
• The introduction of new products or services
• Safety
• Changes in environmental or other legal
requirements
• Changes in volume of output or mix of products
• Changes in methods and equipment
• Morale problems
 Objectives of facility layout
Main: smooth flow of work, material and information
Supporting objectives:
 Basic Layout Types
• Product layouts
• Process layouts
• Fixed-Position layout

• Combination layouts:
– Cellular layout (& group technology)
– Flexible manufacturing systems
 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

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
A U-Shaped Production Line
 Advantages/disadvantages of
U-shaped lines
• Shorter distances for • If lines are highly
workers & machines automated, there is no
• Permits communication need for communication
thus facilitates teamwork and travel
• More flexible work • If entry points are on the
assignments opposite side as exit points
• Optimal if the facility has • Noise and contamination
the same entry and exit factors are increased in the
point U-shape
 Process Layout

Process Layout
(functional)

Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E

Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F

Used for Intermittent processing

Job Shop or Batch
 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
 Fixed-position layouts
• The product or project remains stationary and
workers, materials, and equipment are moved
as needed.
• If weight, size, bulk, or some other factor
makes it undesirable or extremely difficult to
move the product.
• E.g. firefighting, road-building, home-building,
drilling for oil etc.
 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
– Makes cellular production much more effective
 Cellular layout

Traditional process layout

 Functional vs. Cellular Layouts

Dimension Functional Cellular

Number of moves many few
between departments
Travel distances longer shorter
Travel paths variable fixed
Job waiting times greater shorter
Throughput time higher lower
Amount of work in higher lower
process
Supervision difficulty higher lower
Scheduling complexity higher lower
Equipment utilization lower higher
 Flexible manufacturing systems
• FMS: a group of machnies designed to handle
intermittent processing requirements and
produce a variety of similar products.
• CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing): a
system of linking a broad range of
manufacturing activities through an
integrating computer system
 Service Layouts

• Warehouse and storage layouts

– Minimizing movement & picking time and cost
• Retail layouts
– Presence & influence of customers
• Office layouts:
– Information is computerized, image of openness
Design Product Layouts: Line Balancing
Line Balancing is the process of assigning
tasks to workstations in such a way that the
workstations have approximately equal time
requirements.
This way the idle time will be minimized,
utilization will be maximized.

Specialization: dividing work into elemental

tasks that can be performed quickly and
routinely.
 Cycle Time
Cycle time is the maximum time allowed at
each workstation to complete its set of
tasks on a unit.

tmax < Cycle time < ∑t

 Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required

(rounded up to the next integer)

Theoretical Nmin is not necessarily will be the

Nactual. The latter is affected by other technical
and practical considerations, too. Nmin ≤ Nactual
 Precedence Diagram
A diagram that shows elemental tasks and their
precedence requirements.

0.1 min. 1.0 min.

A simplified precedence
a b diagram

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.
 Example 1: Assembly Line Balancing
Assume that the desired output is 480 units per day.
The facility is working 8 hours a day. The elemental
tasks and their connections are shown on the
previous slide.

• Calculate the cycle time.

• Calculate the minimum number of workstations.
• Arrange the tasks to these workstations in the order
of the greatest number of following tasks.
 Example 1 Solution

Revised
Time Assign Time Station
Workstation Remaining Eligible Task Remaining Idle Time
1 1.0 a, c * a 0.9
0.9 c ** c 0.2
0.2 none*** - 0.2
2 1.0 b b 0.0 0.0
3 1.0 d d 0.5
0.5 e e 0.3 0.3
0.3 - - Total: 0.5

* Tasks that have no predecessors.

** b is not eligible, because it needs more time than than the remaining.
*** Every available task needs more time than 0.2.
Calculate Percent Idle Time and efficiency

Efficiency %= 100 x (1 – Percentage of idle time)

Line balancing procedure
 Line Balancing Heuristics

• Assign tasks in order of most following

tasks.
– Count the number of tasks that follow
• Assign tasks in order of task time.
• Assign tasks in order of greatest positional
weight.
– Positional weight is the sum of each task’s time
plus the times of all following tasks.
 Example 2

Working day is 8 hours and the desired output rate is 400 units per day.

Draw the precedence diagram.

Compute the cycle time & the minimum theoretical number of
workstations required.
Assign tasks to workstations according to the greatest number of
following tasks. Tiebreaker: longest processing time goes first.
Calculate Percent idle time & efficiency.
 Solution 2
a b e

c d f g h

CT = (8*60)/400= 1.2; Nmin = ∑ti / CT = 3.17 → 4

Work station Tasks assigned Idle time
WS1 a,c,b 0
WS2 d,e 0.3
WS3 f 0.2
WS4 g,h 0.5

Percentage idle time = 1.0 / (4*1.2) = 20.83%

Efficiency = 100 – 20.83 = 79.17%
 Other approaches
• Paralell workstations
• Cross-train workers (dynamic line balancing)
• Mixed model line
(more product on the same line)
 Parallel Workstations

30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr. 30/hr.

1 min. 1 min. 2 min. 1 min.

Bottleneck

30/hr. 2 min. 30/hr.

60/hr. 60/hr.
1 min. 1 min. 1 min.
30/hr.
30/hr.
2 min.
Parallel Workstations
1 min.
on average
Thank you for your attention