Flow Systems, Activity Requirements, and Space Requirements PDF

FLOW SYSTEMS, ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS, AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS Designing workplace facilities that offer chances for the broadest potential-workforce makes excellent business logic. This facilitates employers to choose the most qualified people from the largest possible applicant pool. It may also per...

FLOW SYSTEMS, ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS, AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS Designing workplace facilities that offer chances for the broadest potential-workforce makes excellent business logic. This facilitates employers to choose the most qualified people from the largest possible applicant pool. It may also perk up work efficiency, employee productivity, workplace safety, and quality of work. FLOW SYSTEMS It is the movement of goods, materials, energy, and/or people. For a facilities planner, flow systems are exceptionally essential. There are usually a lot of examples of a flow system. The movement of refrigerators from the manufacturer through the different distribution channels to the final end-consumer is a case of the product flow process. An information flow process could be illustrated by the communication of sales orders from the sales department to the production department. Flow processes consisting of people could be demonstrated through the movement of patients, staff, and visitors through a hospital. These examples are called discrete flow processes where discrete or separate items travel through the flow process. Continuous Flow Process The opposite of a discrete flow process. Is where products continuously travel through successive production states. The flow of electric current, chemical flow through a processing facility and oil flowing through a pipeline are illustrations of continuous flow processes. A flow process could be detailed using the following terms: 1. The subject of flow- It is the item to be processed. 2. The resources that bring about the flow-These are the processing and transporting facilities needed to complete the required flow. 3. The communications that coordinate the resources - These consist of the procedures that are used in managing the flow process. The viewpoint implemented for a flow process depends on the breadth of subjects, resources, and communication that are present in specific circumstances. The categories for discrete parts processes in flow systems are based on the supply, manufacture, and distribution cycles. Here are the categories: 1. Materials management system 2. Material flow system 3. Physical distribution system Logistics system These categories of materials management system, material flow system, and physical distribution system could be put together into one overall flow system. Supply chain management systems Activities linked to the material flow system and physical distribution system. Types of Flow Patterns In the facilities layout problem, the decision regarding the placement of the machines is typically made. Depending on the application and availability of space, the machines are placed in one of the following patterns: 1. Straight-Line Flow Normally used when producing products are produced in large quantities and the number of steps required for their production is few. Moreover, the shipping and receiving sections are on opposite sides. 2. U-shaped Flow Often used when it is necessary to keep the beginning (receiving) and end (shipping) of the line at the same side and same end of the plant. U-shaped patterns are also preferred in just-in-time layouts. Workers are generally placed in the center of the U. From there they can monitor more than one machine at a time. 3. S-shaped Flow Used for long assembly processes that have to fit in the same area as well as when it is necessary to keep the receiving and shipping ends on opposite sides. 4. W-shaped Flow Like the S-shaped pattern, it is also used for long assembly processes, which have to fit in the same area. When it is also necessary to keep the receiving and shipping ends on the same side, the W-shaped pattern is preferred. The major steps that needed to be followed in the layout design are: 1. Statement of the problem in terms of its objective, scope, and factors to be considered. 2. Collection of basic data on sales forecast, production volume, production schedules, part lists, operations to be performed, etc. 3. Calculation of production rate and equipment requirements. 4. Data analysis and its presentation in the form of various charts. 5. Calculations of space requirements and allocation of activity areas 6. Development of block plan, plot plan, and detailed layout, 7. Evaluation, selection, and installation of the layout. MATERIALS FLOW SYSTEMS The materials management system is a flow process that considers the flow of materials into a manufacturing facility. Materials, parts, and supplies purchased by a firm and needed to produce its product are the subjects of materials management systems. The resources included in materials management systems are the following: 1. The production control and purchasing functions. 2. The vendors 3. The transportation and material handling equipment needed to travel the materials, parts, and supplies.  4. The receiving, storage, and accounting functions Protection forecasts, inventory records, stock requisitions, purchase orders, bills of lading, move tickets, receiving reports, kanban's, electronic data interchange (EDI), and order payment are the communications within materials management systems. On the other hand, the process of a material flow system is the flow of materials, parts, and supplies within a manufacturing facility that is to be the subject of the flow process. Materials, parts, and supplies being used by a company in manufacturing products and components within its facility are the subjects of material flow systems. The resources included in the material flow systems are the following: 1. The production control and quality control departments 2. The manufacturing, assembly, and storage departments 3. The material handling equipment needed to travel materials, parts, and supplies. 4. The factory warehouse. Production schedules, work order releases, move tickets, kanban's, bar codes, route sheets, assembly charts and warehouse tickets are the communication within the material flow system. DEPARTMENTAL PLANNING Planning departments consist of production, support, administrative, and service areas. Production planning departments are clusters of workstations to be assembled collectively during the facilities layout process. The concept of planning departments must be analogous to the creation of organizational units. If there will be violations of organizational objectives in the assignment of workstations, layout modifications should be made. As a rule of thumb, the determination of planning departments can be done through the combination of workstations that carry out similar functions. However, the complexity in applying the rule is the parameter to be used in finding out similarities in functions. The similarity could be in the form of workstations executing operations on the same products or components or of workstations executing the same processes. Product, fixed materials location, product family (otherwise known as group technology), or process planning departments are the classifications of the production planning departments based on product-volume variety. In grouping workstations into departments, a systematic approach must be utilized. Every product and component must be appraised, and the finest approach identified for grouping workstations into planning departments. A combination of workstations executing operations on the same products or components like engine block production line departments, aircraft fuselage assembly departments, and uniform flat sheet metal departments are illustrations of production planning departments. Product planning departments may be further subdivided using the features of the products being manufactured. In the case of a huge, steady demand for a standardized product produced in a manufacturing facility, the workstations must be merged into a planning department so that the entire workstations needed to produce the product are combined. The resulting product planning department is known as a production line department. Or, in the case of a low, infrequent demand for a product that is large and immovable, the workstations must be merged into a planning department that consists of the entire workstations needed to produce the product and the staging area. This particular nature of the product planning department is known as the fixed materials location department. However, the planning department may not always be used with very large products such as some commercial aircraft wherein the whole airplane could be moved using several fixed repair stations. Another type of product planning department is the one with a medium demand for a modest quantity of like components. As components form a family of components such as in group technology may be manufactured using a "group" of workstations. The mixture of the group of workstations yields a product planning department known as a product family department. Metal-cutting departments, gear-cutting departments, and hobbing departments are examples of planning departments from the mixture of workstations with similar processes. These planning departments are known as process departments owing to being formed by combining workstations that execute similar processes. The interpretation of the term "similar" poses a problem in describing process departments. To illustrate a facility specializing in the production of gears, gear hobbing, gear shaping, and shaft turning may be regarded as similar so they can be grouped into one planning department. Identifying which workstations are grouped as similar is based on the workstations and the relationships among and between workstations and the overall facility. The majority of facilities include a group of product and process planning departments. For instance, in a facility with mostly process planning departments manufacturing a huge assortment of unrelated products, the comprehensive placement of individuals in a process department may come from the philosophy of the product planning department. Just like in all paintings works may be combined collectively in a painting process department. In contrast, in a facility with mostly process planning departments manufacturing a few high-volume, standard products, there will be several "specialized" components produced in process planning departments. Offices and areas for storage, quality control, maintenance, administrative processes, cafeterias, restrooms, lockers, and others are facilities under the support, administrative, and service planning departments. Customarily, support, administrative, and service planning departments are considered process departments due to the reason that they perform the same activities in designated areas. In order to form integrated production-support-administrative-service planning departments companies utilizing modern manufacturing approaches are mixing production, support, administrative, and service planning departments. A manufacturing cell for the production of a family of parts with support and administrative personnel and services being an integrated planning department is a good illustration. Training are provided by companies to their operators in most of the support, administrative, and managed functions in order to be self-directed. The objective of the training is for the operators and facilitator-coordinator to successfully supervise the operation of the manufacturing cell with minimal external support. Most organizations using modern manufacturing approaches are transforming their facilities to combinations of product and product family (group technology) planning departments. Product family or group technology are merged with just-in-time (JIT) concepts in cellular manufacturing arrangements. ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS One of the most essential elements in the layout of departments within a facility is measuring the activities among departments. Activities relationships must be established in order to assess alternative arrangements. A quantitative or qualitative approach could be used to specify active relationships. Pieces per hour, moves per day, or pounds per week are some examples of quantitative measures. Qualitative measures may be in terms of the necessity that two departments be proximate to each other or the reverse. A quantitative measure of flow is applicable as the basis for the arrangement of departments if facilities have large volumes of materials, information, and people moving between departments. In contrast, in facilities with very little actual movement of materials, information, and people moving between departments with significant communication and organizational interrelationships qualitative measures will normally serve as the basis for the arrangement of departments. However, a facility may require the use of both measures of flow. Quantitative Flow Measures Flows may be computed quantitatively with the amount moved between departments. A from-to-chart is the chart often utilized to record these flows. The from-to-chart is a square matrix but seldom symmetric. The absence of symmetry is due to having no specific reason for the flows from stores to milling to be the same as the flows from milling to stores. A From-to Chart is constructed as follows: 1. List all departments down the row and across the column following the overall flow pattern. 2. Establish a measure of flow for the facility that accurately indicates equivalent flow volumes. If the items moved are equivalent with respect to ease of movement, the number of trips may be recorded in the from-to chart. If the items moved vary in size, weight, value, risk of damage, shape, and so on, then equivalent items may be established so that the quantities recorded in the from-to chart represent the proper relationships among the volumes of movement. 3. Based on the flow paths for the items to be moved and the established measure of flow, record the flow volumes in the from-to chart. An activity relationship chart (ARC) is another useful quantitative flow measure. An activity relationship chart is a tabular means of displaying the closeness rating among all pairs of activities or departments. In an ARC there are six closeness ratings that may be assigned to each pair of departments, as well as six reasons for those ratings (each is assigned by a reason code). It is vital that the procedure to develop a relational chart must be followed. The procedure is as follows: 1. List all departments on the relationship chart. 2. Conduct interviews of surveys with people from each department listed on the relationship chart and with the management responsible for all departments.  3. Define the criteria for assigning closeness relationships and itemize and record the criteria as the reasons for relationship values on the relationship chart. 4. Establish the relationship value and the reason for the value for all pairs of departments. 5. Allow everyone to have input into the development of the relationship chart and an opportunity to evaluate and discuss changes in the chart. The facilities planner synthesizes the relationship among departments. The department heads are permitted to assign close relationships with another department, which is the reason for the development of inconsistencies. The inconsistencies follow from the form of the chart. It is a requirement in developing the relationship chart that the relationship value between departments A and B be equal to the relationship value between departments B and A. An inconsistency would exist if two department heads assign differing values. It is vital to avoid these inconsistencies by having the facilities planner assign relationship values with important parties as input and then the same parties assess the concluding results. From the viewpoint of facilities planning, activity relationships are usually translated into proximity requirements. To illustrate, it is highly recommended that two activities with strong and positive relationships be located close together, if not adjacent to each other. Similarly, it is extremely suggested that two activities with strong and negative relationships be separated and situated far apart from each other. Other than physical separation activity relationships could be stressed satisfactorily. For instance, information relationships could be satisfied with communication links which consist of live television hookups, computer ties, pneumatic tube delivery systems, and so on. Similarly, deafening areas can be enclosed, fumes can be vented, and other environmental relationships can be dealt with using special facilities aside from distance separation. It is wise to create separate relationship charts for each important relationship being measured due to the multiplicity of involved relationships. For instance, a separate relationship chart must be created for material flow, personnel flow, and information flow and for organizational, control, environmental, and process relationships. SPACE REQUIREMENTS The amount of space needed in the facility is the most difficult determinant in facilities planning. Designing a facility normally takes around five to ten years to complete. For the future the impact of technology, changing product mix, changing demand levels, and organizational designs that cause uncertainties ought to be given concerns. Due to several uncertainties that are present, the facilities planner then has difficulty projecting true space requirements for the uncertain future. Parkinson's Law is another matter that complicates space requirements in the future. The law states that things will expand to fill all available capacities sooner or later. Although there is enough space constructed for the facility in the future, when the future arrives no space will be available for it. Workstation Specification A workstation consists of the fixed assets needed to perform a specific operation/s. The equipment space consists of space for: 1. The equipment 2. Machine maintenance 3. Machine travel 4. Plant services Equipment space requirements are available from machinery data sheets (provided by the supplier). If this data is not available, the following information must be obtained for each machine: 1. Machine manufacturer and type 2. Machine model and serial number 3. Maximum travel to the right 4. Location of machine safety stops 5. Static depth at the maximum point 6. Floor loading requirement 7. Maximum travel toward the operator 8. Static height at the maximum point 9. Maximum travel to the left 10. Maximum travel away from the operator 11. Maximum vertical travel 12. Maintenance requirements and areas 13. Static width at the maximum point 14. Plant service requirements and areas Area requirements for a machine: 1. Total width = (static width) + (max. travel to left) + (max. travel to right) 2. Total depth = (static depth) + (max. travel toward operator) + (max. Travel away from operator) 3. Area (machine + machine travel) = (total width) × (total depth) The materials areas consist of space for: 1. Receiving and storing materials 2. In-process materials 3. Storing and shipping materials 4. Storing and shipping waste and scrap 5. Tools, fixtures, jigs, dies, and maintenance materials The personnel areas consist of space for: 1. The operator 2. Material handling  3. Operator ingress and egress General Guidelines for Design of Workstations 1. The operator should be able to pick up and discharge materials without walking or making long or awkward reaches. 2. The operator should be utilized efficiently and effectively. 3. The time spent manually handling materials should be minimized. 4. The safety, comfort, and productivity of the operator must be maximized. 5. Hazards, fatigue, and eye strain must be minimized. 6. A workstation sketch is required to determine total area requirements. 7. Department area requirements are not simply the sum of the areas of the individual workstations included in each department. 8. Machine maintenance, plant services, incoming and outgoing materials, and operator ingress and egress areas for various workstations must be combined. 9. Additional space is required for material handling within the department. 10. Space requirements for aisles can be approximated since the relative sizes of the loads to be handled are known. Other Methods to Determine Space Requirements 1. Converting Method-The present space requirements are converted to those required for the proposed layout. It is important to establish valid assumptions because the total space required is not a linear function of the production quantity. This method is used to determine space requirements for supporting services, storage areas, etc. 2. Roughed-out Layout Method-Templates or models are placed on the layout to estimate the general configuration and space requirements. 3. Space-Standards Method-In certain cases industry standards can be used to determine space requirements. Standards may be established based on past successful applications. 4. Ratio Trend and Projection Method-One can establish a ratio of square feet to some other factor that can be measured and predicted for the proposed layout. For example, a. square feet per machine b. square feet per operator c. square feet per unit produced d. square feet per labor-hour