Facility Layout and Material Flow

• The presentation covers flow, space, and activity relationships in facility planning.
• It was created in June of 2021.

Considerations in Determining Facility Requirements

• Flow, space, and activity relationships are each key.
• Departmental planning considers flow, space, and activity relationships.
• Departmental planning can be applied to production, support, administrative, and service areas.
• Departmental planning may be determined by combining workstations that perform similar functions.
• Production Planning Departments are collections of workstations grouped together during the facilities layout process.
• Volume-Variety Layout Classification shows the relationship between product volume and variety for different layout types.

Flow

• Key factors include lot sizes, material handling equipment and strategies, layout arrangement, and building configuration.

Space

• Lot sizes, the storage system, production equipment type and size, layout arrangement, building configuration, housekeeping, and organization are key factors

Activity Relationships

• Consider material or personnel flow, environmental factors, organizational structure, continuous improvement methodology, control issues, and process requirements
• Activity relationships provides a baseline for many decisions in the facility planning process.
  • These relationships can be expressed either quantitatively or qualitatively.
  • Quantitative Relationships may be based on measuring flow.
  • Qualitative Relationships may be based on subjective assessment.

Production Planning Department

• Classifications include:
  • Product Planning Departments (Production Line Department, Fixed Material Location Planning Departments, Product Family Planning Department using Group Technology).
  • Process Planning Departments.

Procedural Guide for Combining Workstations

• Standardized products with large demand should utilize product planning within a Production Line Department, combining all necessary workstations.
• Physically large/awkward products should use product planning within a Fixed Material Location Department and combine all necessary workstations.
• Products grouped into similar families should use product planning utilizing Product Family Department.
• Products not easily grouped should utilize a process department by combining identical workstations, keeping interrelationships clear.

Material Flow Systems

• Systems exist for Product Planning Departments, Fixed Material Locations, Product Family Planning Departments, and Process Planning Departments.

Process-Oriented Layout

• Place departments with large flows of material or people together.
• Department areas should have similar processes located in close proximity.
  • An example of this is all x-ray machines in the same area.
• It is used with process-focused processes.

Emergency Room Layout

• Example layout features include an emergency room with triage, surgery, and radiology.
• Hallways allow movement between areas and designated areas exist for Admissions, ER Beds, pharmacy, and billing/exit.
• Potential patient flow scenarios can differ.

Types and Components of Flow

• Types can be discrete or continuous.
  • Discrete involves movement of individual items.
  • Continuous involves perpetual movement (e.g., electricity, oil in a pipeline).
• Components include the subject to be processed/moved, resources (processing and transporting facilities), and communications (procedures for resource coordination).

Logistics System

• An overall flow system, combining material management, material flow, and physical distribution.
• Material management relates to the flow of materials into a facility.
• Material flow relates to movement processing of materials inside the manufacturing facility.
• The system will have a Physical Distributation from a manufacturing facility

Flow Patterns

• Flow may occur
  • Within workstations
  • Within departments
  • Between departments.
• Flow within workstations involves motion studies and ergonomic considerations, aiming for simultaneous, coordinated, symmetrical, natural, rhythmical, and habitual movements.
• Flow within departments depends on the type of department, either product or process oriented.
• Flow between departments is used to evaluate overall facility flow.

Flow within Product Departments

• A number of layouts possible include:
  • End-to-End
  • Back-to-Back
  • Front-to-Front
  • Circular
  • Odd Angle

Flow within Process Departments

• Three patterns:
  • Parallel
  • Perpendicular
  • Diagonal
• Little flow between workstations, and flow occurs between workstations and aisles.

Flow Patterns - Within Departments

• Patterns include straight (I-flow), U-flow, W-flow, and O-flow.
• With material handling considerations, patterns can be Line flow, Spine, Tree, and Loop.

Flow Patterns - Between Departments

• Flow is evaluated within a facility considering the locations of entrance and exit.
• Pattern categories include conventional, loop, spine, tandem and segmented structures.

Flow Planning Hierarchy

• Effective flow between departments depends on effective flow within departments. – Effective flow within departments depends on effective flow within each workstation.

Signs of a Good General Flow Pattern

• A flow starts at receiving and finishes at shipping
• The Lines of flow are straight and short
• There should be minimum backtracking
• Material is moved directly to point of use
• There is to be Minimizing work in progress
• The Flow pattern should be easily expandable, new processes can easily be merged in.

Impacts, Work Simplification, and Principles of Flow

• Maximize directed (uninterrupted) flow path.
• Eliminate flow by planning the delivery of materials to the point of ultimate use.
• Minimize flow between two points.
• Combine flows and operations.
• Minimize backtracking to avoid increasing the flow path length.
• Maximize directed flow path.
• Minimize the cost of the flow by reducing material handling and empty carrier trips.

Flow Measurement

• Measurement can be Quantitative (large volumes of materials/people/information) or Qualitative(levels of organizational interrelation)
• Measurements are usually a combination of both.

Flow Analysis vs Activity Analysis

• Flow analysis quantitatively measures the flow of people between departments or activities.
• Activity analysis focuses on non-quantitative factors influencing department locations within a facility.

Flow Matrix (From-To Chart)

• It is used in order to find alternative layouts.

Steps in Developing a Layout - Flow Analysis

• Construct a From-To Matrix.
• Determine space requirements for each department.
• Develop an initial schematic diagram.
• Determine the cost of the layout.
• By trial-and-error, try to improve the initial layout.
• Prepare a detailed plan evaluating factors beyond transportation cost.

Layout Evaluation Formula

• Min Z = ∑∑ fijCijdij
• i, j = individual departments
• fij = number of loads moved from department i to j
• Cij: cost to move a load between department i and j
• dij = distance between department i and j

Activity Relationship Chart

• It measures the flows qualitatively using the closeness relationships values.
• Activity Relationship Charts may also include the reasons for including departments

Development of Layout - Activity Analysis

• List all departments or activities to be included.
• Obtain closeness ratings via interviews or surveys.
• Determine reasons for closeness ratings and record in the Relationship chart.
• Assign a closeness rating for each pair of activities.
• Apply Rules of Thumb, for example: no more than 5% of the closeness ratings to be absolutely necessary "A" or undesirable "X".

Systematic Procedure

• Departments are placed amoung those that show positive relationship
• Add the departments showing "E".
• Continue systematically place the departments showing "I" and finally"O".
• Verify if all the departments are placed and if the relations are respected

Space Requirements

• The most difficult task is in the facilities planning
• The design timeline needs to be a 5-10 projection
• Things that need to be considered include:
  • Workstation Specification
  • Department Specification
  • Aisle arrangement (these should be located in a facility to promote effective flow)

Parkinson's Law

• The law states that resources or things, will expand to fill the space or capacity
• It will fill the space faster than planned
• Even though there may be room in the future, that future arrives there will be no future space

Workstation Requirements

• Considerations for the amount of space required should include equipment space, and plant services.

Departmental Specification

• Departmental area includes areas for workstations, equipment maintenance, tooling/plant services, storage, spare parts, and material handling within the department.
• Percentage Is (referring to percentage of space that should be dedicated to aisles), is based on different size of material loads.
• The total estimated area needs a Departmental Service requirement sheet

Questions about maximizing flow paths, minimizing material handling, and work simplification in a manufacturing plant. Also covers facility layout, departmental planning and space requirements. Understanding material flow patterns.