operation management chap 7A

process by which the placement of departments, workgroups within departments, workstations, machines, and stock-holding points within a facility are determined

• assembly line (product layout; flow-shop layout)
• work center (process layout; job-shot or functional layout)
• group technology (cellular) layout
• Fixed-position layout

• given: flow (number of moves) to and from all departments, cost of moving, existing or planned physical layout of the plant
• determine: best locations for each department where best means interdepartmental transportation, or flow, costs

compare two departments at a time and exchange them if it reduces total cost of the layout; doesn't guarantee optimal solution, assumes the existence of variable path material handling equipment (forklift trucks)

• grouping parts into families that follow a common sequence of steps
• identifying dominant flow patterns of parts families as a basis for location or relocation of processes
• physically grouping machines and processes into cells

arranging materials and equipment concentrically around the production point in their order of use

maximize net profit per square foot of floor space

• better human relations
• improved operator expertise
• less in-process inventory and material handling
• faster production set up

a technique for solving process layout problems when the use of numerical flow data between departments is not practical. the technique uses an activity relationship diagram that is adjusted by trial and error until a satisfactory adjacency pattern is obtained

moving conveyor that passes a series of workstations in a uniform time interval

problem. assigning all tasks to a series of workstations so that each workstation has no more than can be done in the workstation cycle time, and the unassigned (idle) time across all workstations is minimized

fixes assembly line balancing problem by specifying the order in which tasks must be performance in the assembly process

• 1. specify sequential relationships among task using a precedence diagram
• 2. determine cycle time
• 3. determine theoretical min number of workstations
• 4. select primary and secondary rules
• 5. assign task, one at time
• 6. evaluate efficiency
• 7. if efficiency is unsatisfactory, rebalance using a difference decision rule

• 1. split task into two workstations
• 2. share the task with an adjacent work station
• 3. use parallel workstations (assign to 2 stations parallel to each other)
• 4. use a more skilled worker
• 5. work overtime
• 6. redesign

assembly lines balances frequently result in unequal workstation times; flexible layout deals with this problem

JIT manufacturers. Objective: meet the demand for a variety of products and to avoid building high inventories . Scheduling several different models to be produced over a given day or week on the same line in a cyclical fashion

cellular layouts allocate dissimilar machines into cells to work on products that have similar shapes and processing requirements

• better human relations
• improved operator expertise
• less in-process inventory/material handling
• faster production setup

physical surroundings in which the service takes place and how these surroundings affect customers and employees

• ambient conditions
• spatial layout
• functionality

background characteristics such as noise level, music, lighting, temperature, scent that can affect employee performance and morale as well as customer's opinion

planning the circulation path of the customers and grouping the merchandise- expose them to as much merchandise as possible- aisles at an angle