UNIT -II

FACILITY LAYOUT
FACILITY LAYOUT
• Facilities layout design refers to the arrangement of all
equipment, machinery, and furnishings within a building
envelope after considering the various objectives of the
facility.
• The layout consists of production areas, support areas, and
the personnel areas in the building
Need of Facility Layout Design
The need for facilities layout design arises both in the process of
designing a new layout and in redesigning an existing layout.
Reason For redesigning an existing layout :
1. change in the product design,
2. obsolescence of existing facilities,
3. change in demand,
4. frequent accidents,
5. more scrap and rework,
6. market shift,
7. introduction of a new product etc.
Objectives of Facilities Layout Design

Primary objectives of a typical facility layout include

• Overall integration and effective use of man, machine, material, and
supporting services,
• Minimization of material handling cost by suitably placing the facilities
in the best possible way,
• Better supervision and control,
• Employee's convenience, safety, improved morale and better working
environment,
• Higher flexibility and adaptability to changing conditions and
• Waste minimization and higher productivity.
Types of Layout
The basic types of layouts are:
• Product layout
• Process layout
• Fixed position layout
• Cellular layout
Product layout
This type of layout is generally used in systems where a product has to
be manufactured or assembled in large quantities.
In product layout the machinery and auxiliary services are located
according to the processing sequence of the product without any buffer
storage within the line itself.
Advantages And Disadvantages of Product Type
of Layout:
Advantages
• Low material handling cost per unit
• Less work in process
• Total production time per unit is short
• Low unit cost due to high volume
• Less skill is required for personnel
• Smooth, simple, logical, and direct
flow
• Inspection can be reduced
• Delays are reduced
• Effective supervision and control
Disadvantages
• Machine stoppage stops the line
• Product design change or process
change causes the layout to become
obsolete
• Slowest station paces the line
• Higher equipment investment usually
results
• Less machine utilization
• Less flexible
Process layout:
Process type of layout all drills are located in one area of the
layout and all milling machines are located in another area. A
manufacturing example of a process layout is a machine shop.
Process layouts are also quite common in non-manufacturing
environments.
• Examples include hospitals, colleges, banks, auto repair
shops, and public libraries ( Muther, R, Systematic Layout
Planning, Second Edition , CBI Publishing Company, Inc.
Boston, 1973 ).
Process layout:
ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE PROCESS LAYOUT:
ADVANTAGE
• Better machine utilization
• Highly flexible in allocating personnel and
equipment because general purpose
machines are used.
• Diversity of tasks for personnel
• Greater incentives to individual worker
• Change in Product design and process
design can be incorporated easily
• More continuity of production in
unforeseen conditions like breakdown,
shortages, absenteeism
DISADVANTAGE
• Increased material handling
• Increased work in process
• Longer production lines
• Critical delays can occur if the part
obtained from previous operation is faulty
• Routing and scheduling pose continual
challenges
Fixed location layout
• In this type of layout, the product is kept at a fixed position
and all other material; components, tools, machines,
workers, etc. are brought and arranged around it. Then
assembly or fabrication is carried out.
• It is used in aircraft assembly, shipbuilding, and most
construction projects.
ADVANTAGE
• Material movement is reduced
• Promotes pride and quality
because an individual can complete
the whole job
• Highly flexible; can accommodate
changes in product design, product
mix, and production volume
DISADVANTAGE
• May result in increase space and
greater work in process
• Requires greater skill for personnel
• Personnel and equipment
movement is increased
• Requires close control and
coordination in production and
personnel scheduling
Cellular type layout

This type of layout is based on the grouping of parts to form

product / part families. Similar parts may be grouped into
families based on common processing sequences, shapes,
tooling requirements.
This type of layout is used when various products have to be
produced in medium to large quantities.
ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

Higher machine utilization Greater labor skills required

Smoother flow lines and shorter travel Flow balance required in each cell
distances are  
expected than for process layout Has some of the disadvantages of
  product and process type of layout; it is
Offers some benefits of both product a compromise between the two
and process type of layout because it is a
compromise between the two
 
Encourages consideration of general
purpose equipment
 
Factors Influencing Facility
Layout
Some of the major factors which affect plant layout are:
(1) Policies of management
(2) Plant location
(3) Nature of the product
(4) Volume of production – Job production, Mass production, Batch
production.
(5) Availability of floor space
(6) Nature of manufacturing process - Synthetic process, Analytical
process, Conditioning process, Extractive process
(7) Repairs and maintenance of equipment and machines.
 Planning tools and techniques in facility layout:

• The techniques arrange the quickest flow of material at lower cost and with lesser
handling in processing the product from the acknowledged of the raw material to the
shipment of finished product.
The following tools are used, in layout planning:
•Operation process charts
•Flow process charts
•Flow diagrams
•String diagram
•Machine data cards
•Templates
•Scale models
•Layout drawings
 Layout Design Procedure
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 layout.
FACILITY LOCATION:
• Facility location determination is a business critical strategic
decision. There are several factors, which determine the
location of facility among them competition, cost and
corresponding associated effects.
• Facility location is a scientific process utilizing various
techniques.
 NEED FOR SELECTING A
SUITABLE LOCATION
I. When starting a new organisation, i.e., location choice for the first time -
Identification of region, Choice of a site within a region, Dimensional
analysis
II. In case of existing organization- 1. Plant manufacturing distinct
products,
2. Manufacturing plant supplying to specific market area,
3. Plant divided on the basis of the process or stages in manufacturing.
4. Plants emphasizing flexibility.
III. In case of Global Location - Virtual proximity, virtual factory
FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT LOCATION/FACILITY LOCATION
 Specific Locational Factors for Manufacturing Organisation:`

Dominant Factors
Factors dominating location decisions for new manufacturing plants can be
broadly classified in five groups. They are listed in the order of their
importance as follows.
1. Favourable labour climate
2. Proximity to markets
3. Quality of life
4. Proximity to suppliers and resources
5. Utilities, taxes, and real estate costs
SECONDARY FACTORS

Including room for expansion, construction costs, accessibility

to multiple modes of transportation, the cost of shuffling
people and materials between plants, competition from other
firms for the workforce, community attitudes, and many
others.
For global operations, firms are emphasizing local employee
skills and education and the local infrastructure.
 Specific Locational Factors for Service Organisation

• DOMINANT FACTORS
Proximity to customers
Transportation costs and proximity to markets
Location of competitors
• SECONDARY FACTORS - Retailers also must consider the level of
retail activity, residential density, traffic flow, and site visibility.
 LOCATION THEORIES

ALFRED WEBER’S (1868–1958) - THEORY OF THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRIES

• Following are the point given by ALFRED WEBER’S for locating an industry
that minimizes costs of transportation and labour requires analysis of
three factors:
1. The point of optimal transportation based on the costs of distance to the
‘material index’—the ratio of weight to intermediate products (raw
materials) to finished product.
2. The labour distortion, in which more favourable sources of lower cost of
labour may justify greater transport distances.
3. Agglomeration(Arranging all the production resources in one place) and
deagglomerating( Separating the production resources from one place)
based on production cost.
 Steps in Location Selection and Location Decision Process:

• Define the Location Objectives and Associated Constraints

• Identify the Relevant Decision Criteria

• Relate the Objectives to the Criteria Using Appropriate Models

• Evaluate Alternative Locations

• Select the Location that Best Satisfies the Criteria

 LOCATION MODELS:

Factor Rating Method

The process of selecting a new facility location involves a series of following
steps:
1. Identify the important location factors.
2. Rate each factor according to its relative importance, i.e., higher the
ratings is indicative of prominent factor.
3. Assign each location according to the merits of the location for each factor.
4. Calculate the rating for each location by multiplying factor assigned to
each location with basic factors considered.
5. Find the sum of product calculated for each factor and select best location
having highest total score.
ILLUSTRATION 1: Let us assume that a new medical facility, Health-care,
is to be located in Delhi. The location factors, factor rating and scores
for two potential sites areshown in the following table. Which is the
best location based on factor rating method?
Weighted Factor Rating Method

• In this method to merge quantitative and qualitative factors, factors

are assigned weights based on relative importance and weightage
score for each site using a preference matrix is calculated. The site
with the highest weighted score is selected as the best choice.

ILLUSTRATION 2: Let us assume that a new medical facility, Health-care, is to be located in Delhi. The
location factors, weights, and scores (1 = poor, 5 = excellent) for two potential sites are shown in the following
table. What is the weighted score for these sites? Which is the best location?
SOLUTION: The weighted score for this particular site is calculated by multiplying each factor’s weight by its
score and adding the results:
Weighted score location 1 = 25 × 3 + 25 × 4 + 25 × 3 + 15 × 1 + 10 × 5
= 75 + 100 + 75 + 15 + 50 = 315
Weighted score location 2 = 25 × 5 + 25 × 3 + 25 × 3 + 15 × 2 + 10 × 3
= 125 + 75 + 75 + 30 + 30 = 335
Location 2 is the best site based on total weighted scores.
Load-distance Method

• The load-distance method is a mathematical model used to evaluate

locations based on proximity factors. The objective is to select a
location that minimizes the total weighted loads moving into and out
of the facility. The distance between two points is expressed by
assigning the points to grid coordinates on a map. An alternative
approach is to use time rather than distance.
Centre Of Gravity
• The centre of gravity is defined to be the location that minimizes the
weighted distance between the warehouse and its supply and
distribution points, where the distance is weighted by the number of
tones supplied or consumed.
• The first step in this procedure is to place the locations on a
coordinate system.
• The origin of the coordinate system and scale used are arbitrary, just
as long as the relative distances are correctly represented.
• This can be easily done by placing a grid over an ordinary map. The
centre of gravity is determined by the formula.
The centre of gravity is determined by the formula.
 
Break-even Analysis

• Break even analysis implies that at some point in the operations, total
revenue equals total cost. Break even analysis is concerned with
finding the point at which revenues and costs agree exactly. It is called
‘Break-even Point’.
• Break even point is the volume of output at which neither a profit is
made nor a loss is incurred. The Break Even Point (BEP) in units can be
calculated by using the relation: