Layout Strategies

Heizer, Render and Munson, 2017

 The Objective of Layout Design

The objective of layout strategy is to develop an effective and efficient layout

that will meet the firm’s competitive requirements.
Layout design must consider how to achieve:
• Higher utilization of space, equipment, and people
• Improved flow of information, materials, and people
• Improved employee morale and safer working conditions
• Improved customer/client interaction
• Flexibility (whatever the layout is now, it will need to change)
 Types of Layout
1. Office layout: Positions workers, their equipment, and spaces/offices to provide
for movement of information.
2. Retail layout: Allocates display space and responds to customer behavior.
3. Warehouse layout: Addresses trade-offs between space and material handling.
4. Fixed-position layout: Addresses the layout requirements of large, bulky projects
such as ships and buildings.
5. Process-oriented layout: Deals with low-volume, high-variety production (also
called “job shop,” or intermittent production).
6. Work-cell layout: Arranges machinery and equipment to focus on production of a
single product or group of related products.
7. Product-oriented layout: Seeks the best personnel and machine utilization in
repetitive or continuous production.
Good Layout Considerations

1. Material handling equipment

2. Capacity and space requirements
3. Environment and aesthetics
4. Flows of information
5. Cost of moving between various
work areas
Layout Strategies
 Office Layout

• Grouping of workers, their

equipment, and spaces to provide
comfort, safety, and movement of
information
• Movement of information is main
distinction
• Typically in constant flux due to
frequent technological changes
Relationship Chart
Five Versions of The Office Layout
 Supermarket Retail Layout
▪ Objective is to maximize profitability per square foot of floor space
▪ Sales and profitability vary directly with customer exposure
Five Helpful Ideas for Supermarket
Layout
1. Locate high-draw items around the periphery of the store
2. Use prominent locations for high-impulse and high-margin
items
3. Distribute power items to both sides of an aisle and
disperse them to increase viewing of other items
4. Use end-aisle locations
5. Convey mission of store through careful positioning of
lead-off department
 Servicescape considerations
1. Ambient conditions, which are background characteristics
such as lighting, sound, smell, and temperature. All these
affect workers and customers and can affect how much is
spent and how long a person stays in the building.
2. Spatial layout and functionality, which involve customer
circulation path planning, aisle characteristics (such as width,
direction, angle, and shelf spacing), and product grouping.
3. Signs, symbols, and artefacts, which are characteristics of
building design that carry social significance (such as
carpeted areas of a department store that encourage
shoppers to slow down and browse).
 Warehouse Layout
▪ The objective of
warehouse layout is to find the optimum trade-
off between handling cost and costs associated with warehouse
space.
▪ Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRSs)
▪ Cross-docking : avoiding placing materials or supplies in storage by
processing them as they are received. It reduces product handling,
inventory, and facility costs, but requires both (1) tight scheduling and
(2) accurate inbound product identification.
▪ Random stocking: locating stock wherever there is an open location.
▪ Customizing: Using warehousing to add value to a product through
component modification, repair, labelling, and packaging.
Fixed-Position Layout
Process-Oriented Layout

▪ Process-oriented layout groups machinery and

equipment according to their functions.
▪ Facilitates production of a variety of nonstandard
items in relatively small batches.
▪ Process layouts accommodate a variety of
production functions and use general-purpose
equipment that can be less costly to purchase and
maintain than specialized equipment.
 Process-Oriented Layout Example (1)
Patient Routes in An Emergency Room
Patient A - broken leg
ER
triage Emergency room admissions
room
Patient B - erratic heart
Surgery pacemaker

Laboratories

Radiology ER Beds Pharmacy Billing/exit

 Process-Oriented Layout Example (2)
Arnold Palmer Hospital
Pie-shaped
Central break rooms
and medical
supply rooms

Local linen Central nurses

supply station

Local
nursing pod
 Process-Oriented Layout

◆ Arrange work centers so as to minimize the costs

of material handling
◆ Basic cost elements are
◆ Number of loads (or people) moving between centers
◆ Distance loads (or people) move between centers
Process-Oriented Layout: The Model

n n

Minimize cost = ∑ ∑ Xij Cij

i=1 j=1

where n = total number of work centers or

departments
i, j = individual departments
Xij = number of loads moved from
department i to department j
Cij = cost to move a load between
department i and department j
 Process Layout Model Example
Arrange six departments in a factory to minimize
the material handling costs. Each department is 20
x 20 feet and the building is 60 feet long and 40 feet
wide.
The process layout procedure involves six steps:
1. Construct a “from-to matrix”
2. Determine the space requirements
3. Develop an initial schematic diagram
4. Determine the cost of this layout
5. Try to improve the layout
6. Prepare a detailed plan
 Process Layout Model Example
Number of loads per week
Department Assembly Painting Machine Receiving Shipping Testing
(1) (2) Shop (3) (4) (5) (6)

Assembly (1) 50 100 0 0 20

Painting (2) 30 50 10 0

Machine Shop (3) 20 0 100

Receiving (4) 50 0

Shipping (5) 0

Testing (6)
 Process Layout Model Example
Area 1 Area 2 Area 3

Assembly Painting Machine Shop

Department Department Department
(1) (2) (3)

40’

Receiving Shipping Testing

Department Department Department
(4) (5) (6)

Area 4 Area 5 Area 6

Figure 9.5
60’
 Process Layout Model Example
Interdepartmental Flow Graph
100

Assembly 50 Painting 30 Machine

(1) (2) Shop (3)

10
100

Receiving Shipping Testing

(4) (5) (6)
50
Process Layout Model Example
n n

Cost = ∑ ∑ Xij Cij

i=1 j=1

Cost = $50 + 2x$100 + 2x$20

(1 and 2) (1 and 3) (1 and 6)
+ $30 + $50 + $10
(2 and 3) (2 and 4) (2 and 5)
+ 2x$20 + $100 + $50
(3 and 4) (3 and 6) (4 and 5)

= $570
 Process Layout Model Example
Revised Interdepartmental Flow Graph
30

Painting 50 Assembly 100 Machine

(2) (1) Shop (3)

50 100

Receiving Shipping Testing

(4) (5) (6)
50
Process Layout Model Example
n n

Cost = ∑ ∑ Xij Cij

i=1 j=1

Cost = $50 + $100 + $20

(1 and 2) (1 and 3) (1 and 6)
+ 2x$30 + $50 + $10
(2 and 3) (2 and 4) (2 and 5)
+ 2x$20 + $100 + $50
(3 and 4) (3 and 6) (4 and 5)

= $480
Process Layout Model Example
Area 1 Area 2 Area 3

Painting Assembly Machine Shop

Department Department Department
(2) (1) (3)

40’

Receiving Shipping Testing

Department Department Department
(4) (5) (6)

Area 4 Area 5 Area 6

60’
 Work-Cell Layout
• An arrangement of machines and personnel that focuses
on making a single product or family of related products.
• Advantages of Work Cells:
1. Reduced work-in-process inventory
2. Less floor space required
3. Reduced raw material and finished goods inventory
4. Reduced direct labor
5. Heightened sense of employee participation
6. Increased use of equipment and machinery
7. Reduced investment in machinery and equipment
Improving Layouts Using Work Cells
 Requirements of Work Cells

1. Identification of families of products

2. A high level of training, flexibility and empowerment
of employees
3. Being self-contained, with its own equipment and
resources
4. Test (poka-yoke) at each station in the cell
 Staffing and Balancing Work Cells
Procedure:
Determine the takt time

Total work time available

Takt time =
Units required
Takt time is the pace (frequency) of production
units necessary (time per unit) to meet customer orders
Determine the number of operators required

Workers required = Total operation time required

Takt time
 Staffing Work Cells Example

Stephen Hall’s company in 60

50
Dayton makes auto mirrors. The 50

Standard time required (seconds)

45
major customer is the Honda
40
plant nearby.
Honda expects 600 mirrors 30

20
delivered daily, and the work cell 20
15
producing the mirrors is 10
10
scheduled for
8 hours 0
Assemble Paint Test Label Pack for
shipment
Operations
 Staffing Work Cells Example

Total operation time required

= 50 + 45 + 10 + 20 + 15 = 140 seconds
Takt time = (8 hrs x 60 mins) / 600 units
= .8 mins = 48 seconds

Total operation time required

Workers required =
Takt time
= 140 / 48 = 2.92  3
With 3 operators this work cell will be producing each unit every
46.67 seconds (140 seconds/3 employees = 46.67)
 Product Layout
▪ Product layout sets up production equipment along a product-
flow line, and the work in process moves along this line past
workstations.
▪ Efficiently produces large numbers of similar items.
 Product-Oriented Layouts
◆ Fabrication line
◆ Builds components on a series of machines
◆ Machine-paced
◆ Require mechanical or engineering changes
to balance
◆ Assembly line
◆ Puts fabricated parts together at a series of
workstations
◆ Paced by work tasks
◆ Balanced by moving tasks
Both types of lines must be balanced so that the
time to perform the work at each station is the same
 Product-Oriented Layouts
Advantages
1. Low variable cost per unit
2. Low material handling costs
3. Reduced work-in-process inventories
4. Easier training and supervision
5. Rapid throughput
Disadvantages
1. High volume is required
2. Work stoppage at any point ties up the whole operation
3. Lack of flexibility in product or production rates
McDonald’s Assembly Line
 Assembly-Line Balancing
◆ Objective is to minimize the imbalance
between machines or personnel while
meeting required output
◆ The line balancing procedure involves 4
steps
1. Starts with the precedence relationships
2. Determine cycle time
3. Calculate theoretical
minimum number of
workstations
4. Balance the line by © 2011 Pearson
Education, Inc.
assigning specific publishing as
Prentice Hall
tasks to workstations
 Line Balancing Example
(Boeing-Wing Component)
Performance Task Must Follow
Time Task Listed
Task (minutes) Below
A 10 —
B 11 A This means that
C 5 B tasks B and E
cannot be done
D 4 B until task A has
E 11 A been completed
F 3 C, D 5
G 7 F C
10 11 3 7
H 11 E
I 3 G, H A B F G
4
3
Total time 65 D
11 11 I
E H
 Line Balancing Example
(Boeing-Wing Component)
Performance Task Must Follow 480 available
Time Task Listed mins per day
Task (minutes) Below 40 units required
A 10 —
B 11 A
C 5 B Production time
D 4 B Expected takt time = available per day
E 11 A Units required per day
F 3 C, D 5 = 480 / 40
G 7 F C = 12 minutes per unit
10 11 3 n 7
H 11 E
A B F ∑ Time
G for task i
I 3 G, H Minimum number4 of i=1 3
Total time 65 workstationsD =
12 11
Expected
I takt time
E = H65 / 12
= 5.42  6 stations
 Line Balancing Example
(Boeing-Wing Component)
480 available mins per day
40 units required
Performance Task Must Follow
Time Task Listed Expected takt time = 12 mins
Task (minutes) Below ∑ Task Minimum
times
Efficiency = = 5.5 or 6
A 10 (Actual number —of workstations) x (Largest total proccessing time)
workstations
B 11 A
C Station 5 = 65
5 minutesB/ (6 stations) x (12 minutes)
2
D 4 =C 90.3% B
10 E Idle11 time 12= (6 stations) x (12 3
A minutes) – 765 minutes = 7 minutes
A F B 3 C, DF G
4 3
G 7 F
Station 3
H 11 D StationE3 I
I 3 G, H
11 11 Station 6 6
Station Total time 66 Station
1 E H
Station Station
4 5
Ranked Positional Weight Technique Procedure
(Helgeson and Birnie (1961) in Biegel (1974, pp. 183-187)) :
1. Draw the precedence relationships for the production process
2. Assign a positional weight to each operation/task. The positional
weight is the sum of the times for all following operations/tasks plus
the time of the operation/task itself.
3. Order the operations/tasks in the sequence of descending positional
weights
4. Calculate the expected takt time
5. Assign the operations/tasks to workstations, based on the expected
cycle time.
6. Find a better balanced solution, if possible.
 Line Balancing Using Ranked Positional
Weight Technique Example
(Helgeson and Birnie (1961) in Biegel (1974))
Production process of a product requires 16 tasks described as follows
20 minutes 43 minutes
1 2
22 minutes
23 minutes 11 14 86 minutes
3 F
22 minutes
S 10 I
21 minutes
T 90 minutes
15
63
16minutes N
4
A I
R 30 minutes S
5 33 minutes
T 6 H
21 minutes 37 minutes 22 minutes 22 minutes
7 8 12 13
45 minutes
9
Step 2: Assign the positional weights
Operation Positional Weight (minutes) Operation Positional Weight (minutes)

1 255 9 173

2 235 10 214
3 237 11 192
4 304 12 128

5 277 13 106
6 247 14 170

7 186 15 84
8 165 16 63
 Step 3: Descending order of positional
weights
Operation Positional Weight (minutes) Operation Positional Weight (minutes)

4 304 7 186

5 277 9 173

1 255 14 170

6 247 8 165

3 237 12 128

2 235 13 106

10 214 15 84

11 192 16 63
 Step 4: Calculate the cycle time
▪ Total time for one unit of product:  (task time) = 600 minutes (10 man-hours)
▪ 1500 units needed annually (28 unit per week)
▪ The longest processing time is 90 minutes for task 4, therefore if expected
takt time is 90 minutes, the minimum number of workstations is:
Total task time required
Minimum number of workstations = = 600/90 = 6.67  7
Expected takt time

▪ However, if there are 7 workstations in the facility, and the workstations

equally balanced, the expected cycle time should be 86 minutes (= 600/7)
 Step 5: Assign the operations/task to
workstations
Descending order: 4-5-1-6-3-2-10-11-7-9-14-8-12-13-15-16
20 minutes 43 minutes
1 2 22 minutes

23 minutes 11 14 86 minutes
3 F
22 minutes
S 10 I
21 minutes 63 minutes
90 minutes N
T 4 15 16
A I
R 30 minutes 33 minutes
S
5 6 H
T
21 minutes 37 minutes 22 minutes 22 minutes
7 8 12 13
45 minutes
9
 Step 5: Assign the operations/tasks to
workstations
Workstation Operations/task Assigned Time (minutes) Workstation Efficiency (%)

1 4 90 100

2 5,1,6 30+20+33 = 83 92.22

3 3,2,10 23+43+22 = 88 97.78

4 11,7,9 22+21+45 = 88 97.78

5 14 86 95.56

6 8,12,13 37+22+22 = 81 90
7 15,16 21+63 = 84 93.33

Total 600 95.24

Step 6: Possible better-balanced solution

20 minutes 43 minutes
1 2
22 minutes
23 minutes 11 14 86 minutes
3 F
22 minutes
S 10 I
21 minutes 63 minutes
T 4
90 minutes
15 16 N
A I
R 30 minutes 33 minutes
S
5 6 H
T
21 minutes 37 minutes 22 minutes 22 minutes
7 8 12 13
45 minutes
9
Step 6: Possible better-balanced solution
Workstation Operations/task Assigned Time (minutes) Workstation Efficiency (%)

1 4 90 100

2 5,6,7 30+33+21 = 84 93.33

3 1,2,3 20+43+23 = 86 95.56

4 8.9 37+45 = 82 91.11

5 10,11,12,13 22+22+22+22=88 97.78

6 14 86 95.56

7 15,16 21+63 = 84 93.33

Total 600 95.24