6

Process Selection
and Facility Layout

Copyright © 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). All rights reserved.

 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

6-4
 Process Strategy
 Key aspects of process strategy
Capital intensive – equipment/labor
Process flexibility
Technology
Adjust to changes
– Product design
– Volume
– Technology

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 Kinds of Technology
 Operations management is primarily
concerned with three kinds of technology:
 Product and service technology
 Process technology
 Information technology
 All three have major impact on:
 Costs
 Productivity
 Competitiveness

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Technology Competitive Advantage
 Innovations in
 Products and services
 Cell phones
 PDAs
 Wireless computing
 Processing technology
 Increasing productivity
 Increasing quality
 Lowering costs

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 Technology Acquisition
 Technology can have benefits but …
 Technology risks include:
 What technology will and will not do
 Technical issues
 Economic issues
 Initial costs, space, cash flow, maintenance
 Consultants and/or skilled employees
 Integration cost, time resources
 Training, safety, job loss

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 Process Selection

Selection based on: Batch

 Variety
 How much
Job Shop Repetitive
 Flexibility
 What degree
 Volume Continuous
 Expected output

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 Process Types
 Job shop
 Small scale
 Batch
 Moderate volume
 Repetitive/assembly line
 High volumes of standardized goods or
services
 Continuous
 Very high volumes of non-discrete goods

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 Product and Service Processes
Figure 6.2
Low Volume High
Process Type
Job Shop Appliance repair Ineffective
Emergency room
Batch Commercial
bakery
Classroom
lecture
Repetitive Automotive
assembly
Automatic
carwash
Continuous Ineffective Steel production
Water purification
(flow)
Refinery
 Automation
 Automation: Machinery that has sensing
and control devices that enable it to
operate
 Fixed automation
 Programmable automation

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 Automation
 Computer-aided design and
manufacturing systems (CAD/CAM)
 Numerically controlled (NC) machines
 Robot
 Manufacturing cell
 Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
 Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)

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 Facilities Layout
 Layout: the configuration of
departments, work centers, and
equipment, with particular emphasis on
movement of work (customers or
materials) through the system.

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 Objectives of Layout Design
1. Facilitate attainment of product or service
quality
2. Use workers and space efficiently
3. Avoid bottlenecks
4. Minimize unnecessary material handling costs
5. Eliminate unnecessary movement of workers
or materials
6. Minimize production time or customer service
time
7. Design for safety

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 The Need for Layout Decisions

Inefficient operations
For Example: Changes in the design
High Cost of products or services
Bottlenecks

Accidents
The introduction of new
products or services

Safety hazards

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 The Need for Layout Design
Changes in
environmental Changes in volume of
or other legal output or mix of
requirements products

Morale problems
Changes in methods
and equipment

6-21
 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

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 Product Layout
Figure 6.4

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

6-24
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

6-25
 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

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 A U-Shaped Production Line
Figure 6.6

In 1 2 3 4

Workers

Out 10 9 8 7

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 Process Layout
Figure 6.7
Process Layout
(functional)

Dept. A Dept. C Dept. E

Dept. B Dept. D Dept. F

Used for Intermittent Processing

Job Shop or Batch Processes

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 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

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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
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 Fixed-Position Layouts
 Fixed-position Layout: Layout in which the
product or project remains stationary, and
workers, materials, and equipment are
moved as needed
 Nature of the product dictates this type of
layout
 Weight
 Size
 Bulk
 Large construction projects
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 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

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 Service Layouts
 Service layouts must be aesthetically
pleasing as well as functional

 Types;
 Warehouse and storage layouts
 Retail layouts
 Office layouts

6-35
 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.

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 Design Product Layouts:
Line Balancing
1.Identify Task Times and Precedence
Relationships

2.Determine Cycle Time

3.Determine Theoretical Minimum

Number of Workstations

4.Assign Tasks to Workstations

5.Compute Efficiency, Percent Idle time

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 Cycle Time

Cycle time is the maximum time

allowed at each workstation to
complete its set of tasks on a unit.

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Determine Maximum Output

OT
Output rate =
CT

OT  operating time per day

D = desired output rate

OT
CT = cycle time =
D
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Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required
(  t)
N=
CT

 t = sum of task time

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Determine the Minimum Number
of Workstations Required
0.1 Min 0.7 Min 1.0 Min 0.5 Min 0.2 Min

Cycle time = 1.0 Min ( minimum) to 2.5 min ( maximum)

Output Rate = Operating time per day / Cycle Time

= 480 minutes per day / 1.0 min to 2.5 min
= 480 units/day to 192 units/day

As a rule Cycle time is determined by the desired output, so if

desired output is 480 units/day. Cycle time
= 480 minutes per day / 480 units per day
= 1.0 minutes per unit

Minimum number of work stations = sum of task time/ cycle time

= 2.5 min per unit / 1.0 min per unit per station
= 2.5 stations or rounded up to 3
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 Precedence Diagram
Figure 6.11

Precedence diagram: Tool used in line balancing to

display elemental tasks and sequence requirements
0.1 min. 1.0 min.
A Simple Precedence
a b Diagram

c d e
0.7 min. 0.5 min. 0.2 min.

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 Example 1: Assembly
Line Balancing
 Arrange tasks shown in Figure 6.11
into three workstations.
 Use a cycle time of 1.0 minute
 Assign tasks in order of the most number
of followers

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 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 – – 0.5

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 Calculate Percent Idle Time

Idle time per cycle

Percent idle time =
(N)(CT)
= 0.5 min / ( 3 workstations x 1.0 min/workstation)
= 0.167 or 16.7%

Efficiency = 1 – Percent idle time

= 1 - 0.167 or 83.3%

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 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.

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 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

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 Solution to Example 2

Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4

a b e
f g h
c d

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 Bottleneck Workstation

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

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

Bottleneck

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 Parallel Workstations

30/hr. 2 min. 30/hr.

60/hr. 60/hr.
1 min. 1 min. 1 min.
30/hr.
2 min. 30/hr.

Parallel Workstations

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 Designing Process Layouts
Information Requirements:
1. List of departments
2. Projection of work flows
3. Distance between locations
4. Amount of money to be invested
5. List of special considerations
6. Location of key utilities

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 Example 3: Interdepartmental Work
Flows for Assigned Departments
Figure 6.13

30

170 100
1 3 2

A B C

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 Additional Example:
Process Layout
Milling

Assembly
Grinding
& Test

Drilling Plating
Process Layout – work travels
to dedicated process centers

6-53
 Additional Example:
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

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 Additional Example:
Cellular Manufacturing Layout
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

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