Scientific Journal of Impact Factor (SJIF): 4.

14
e-ISSN (O): 2348-4470
p-ISSN (P): 2348-6406

International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research

Development
Volume 3, Issue 3, March -2016

Facility Layout Optimization Using Simulation: A Case Study of a Steel Utensils

Industry
Miss. Rashi Mathur Dr. Dinesh Shringi Dr. Arvind Kumar Verma
M. E. Mechanical Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Production and
(Production and Industrial) M. B. M. Engineering College, Industrial
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jodhpur, India. M. B. M. Engineering College,
M. B. M. Engineering College, Jodhpur, India.
Jodhpur. India

Abstract- Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is one of the essential problems of several types of manufacturing and service
sector. It is an optimization problem on which the main objective is to obtain the efficient locations, arrangement and
order of the facilities. The utensils industry in this study is a typical instance of a work-flow shop based production
system. The efficiency of production system depends on how well the various machines, services production facilities and
employee’s amenities are located in a plant. This research paper aims to study and improve the current plant layout. An
attempt is made to simulate the current and the proposed factory layouts by using ARENA software. The efficiency of the
current and the proposed plant layouts are compared.

Keywords: Computer simulation, Factory Layout, facility-layout problem, Manufacturing system, ARENA, Layout
design.

1. Introduction
Plant layout is the arrangement of facilities such as machinery, equipment, furniture etc. within the factory building for
flow of material at the lowest cost and with the minimum material handling in processing the product from the raw
material to the finished product [1].
A good facility-layout problem (FLP) is known for to make significant impact on the manufacturing costs, work in
process, lead-time and productivity. A good facility layout affect the overall efficiency and as well as reduced total
operating costs up to 50% [2]. FLP used to finding the optimal facility-arrangement in the existing layout in such a
manner that a set of criteria is met and/or some objectives are optimized. Also, it is a fundamental optimization-problem
can be used in many industry such as manufacturing and service organizations [3].
This study focuses on developing a new production layout for a utensils industry in view of the need to increase the
production capacity .The simulation is used to solve facility layout problem and hence minimizing the total material
handling cost.
2. Literature review
Spending a little time to plan the arrangement before installation can prevent unnecessary losses [4. Producing products
with high quality and provides good service with low cost in short time using the fewest resources is the objective of
properly managing a facility [5]. It is important that the facilities must be managed properly in order to attain the
objective. [6]
Stefan Bock [7], proposed the detailed layout-planning by simulation for determining machine-arrangement and
transportation-paths. Facilities planning could be arranged the entire layout may have irregular shapes and sizes [8].Iqbal
and Hashimi [9] demonstrate that factory-layout is the focal point of facility-design. It dominates the thinking of most
managers.
Simulation is applied in various field such as manufacturing, services, defense, healthcare, and public services, etc.
Simulation is recognized as the second mainly used technical instrument in the field of operations management [10].
Fox [11] presented the definition of factory simulation is defined as “extendable and interactive discrete simulation
system constructed to interpret the factory model directly. It allows the user to dynamically query the simulation for
state information (e.g., state of a machine, process, etc.), where objects are located (e.g., what operation is being carried
out on an order), and regular statistical analyses. It also allows the user to alter the factory model before and during
simulation. The factory can be simulated and displayed at variable levels of detail”.
Bobby John et al simulate the factory layout using the software ARENA (student’s version). They defines that
production efficiency depends on various factors such as machines, production facilities and employee’s amenities. A
simulation study was under taken to find out the efficiencies of the machines in the industry [12].
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 International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD)
Volume 3, Issue 3, March -2016, e-ISSN: 2348 - 4470, print-ISSN: 2348-6406

3. Methodology
This research work has been done in respect of a small scale industry known as Chopra Industry Private Limited,
Jodhpur. This industry basically manufactures steel utensils. The first task which this researches accomplished was to
acquire the manufacturing lead time from current layout. This was done using ARENA software [13]. The

layout that I proposed in this research work was meant for improving the current layout.
The industry, under reference, namely, Chopra Industry is located in Industrial Area, Jodhpur. It manufactures three
different types of utensils to meet customer demand. The three types are bowls, small plates and Pans. The industry
produces 8000 pieces per day.
While working for this research work with the Chopra Industry, Jodhpur. I came across certain basic weakness in the
existing layout (figure 1 and 2). They are as follows-
a. The distance from the last manufacturing process which is the designing process is too far from the warehouse.
This has resulted in a longer material handling time to transport the finished products to the warehouse.
b. The products from all Pressing Machine to the next production processes for cutting, beading-curling process, polishing
process and designing process. The arrangement of machine are irregular which caused high level of delay at
production.
c. The floor condition increase the material handling and increase the time delay.
The components of factory-layout that will be taken into account for factory simulation modelling are as follows:
a. Complete department layout, including the distance between raw material storage with production area, distance
between machines and distance between manufacturing areas with the warehouse.
b. Machines production rates and capability.
c. Raw materials and work part transfer.
d. Daily production target.
Summary of Existing Layout calculations and values that will be used in factory layout simulation modelling is shown in
Table 1 (all dimension in seconds):

[Link]. Description Part-1 Part- Part-3

2
1. Material-handling 10 13 80
time from Raw
Material Storage to
Pressing Machine

2. Processing time on 3 15 3
pressing machine

3. Material-handling 60 10 10
time from pressing
machine to cutting
machine

4. Processing time on 5 5 5
cutting machine

5. Material- handling 35 35 35
time from cutting
machine to beading
machine

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 International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD)
Volume 3, Issue 3, March -2016, e-ISSN: 2348 - 4470, print-ISSN: 2348-6406

6. Processing time on 4 - -
beading machine

7. Material-handling 420 420 420

time from beading
machine to polishing
machine

8. Processing time on 10 10 10
polishing machine

9. Material- handling 70 70 70
time from polishing
machine to designing
machine and riveting
machine

10. Processing on 3 - 3
designing machine

11. Processing on - 5 -
riveting machine

12. Material-handling 25 25 25
time from designing
machine and riveting
machine to packing

13. Processing time on 55 55 55

packing

14. Material-handling 120 120 120

time from packing
department to
warehouse

i) Proposed layout-
In the proposed layout (figure 3), there is a change in the arrangement the machines on the ground floor are to be shifted
to the first floor. The three pressing machines which were placed in a scattered manner are now proposed to be shifted
to one place on the ground floor and installed in a parallel manner. The beading machine is now to be placed near the
cutting [Link] is also proposed to shift the all polishing machines, designing machine, and riveting machine on
ground floor.
Summary of the Proposed Layout calculations and values that will be used in Factory Layout simulation modelling is
shown in Table 2 below (all dimension in seconds)-

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 International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD)
Volume 3, Issue 3, March -2016, e-ISSN: 2348 - 4470, print-ISSN: 2348-6406
[Link]. Description Part- Part-2 Part-
1 3
1. Material-handling 4 4 4
time from Raw
Material Storage to
Pressing Machine

2. Processing time on 3 15 3
pressing machine

3. Material-handling 15 15 15
time from pressing
machine to cutting
machine

4. Processing time on 5 5 5
cutting machine

5. Material-handling 0 0 0
time from cutting
machine to beading
machine

6. Processing time on 4 - -
beading machine

7. Material-handling 20 20 20
time from beading
machine to
polishing machine

8. Processing time on 10 10 10
polishing machine

9. Material-handling 10 10 10
time from polishing
machine to
designing machine
and riveting
machine

10. Processing on 3 - 3
designing machine

11. Processing on - 5 -
riveting machine

12. Material-handling 15 15 15
time from designing
machine and
riveting machine to
packing

13. Processing time on 55 55 55

packing

14. Material-handling 0 0 0
time from packing
department to
warehouse

ii) Result and Discussion-

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 International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD)
Volume 3, Issue 3, March -2016, e-ISSN: 2348 - 4470, print-ISSN: 2348-6406

The result we draw from ARENA Simulation for the existing layout and for the proposed layout is 43 and 46 average
pieces per day respectively. It may be noted that I have use ARENA Simulation (Student Version) as my research tool
which is a limited version, that is why I first reduced the input value by 10 times and I made a batch of 20 pieces which
were forwarded further resulting in a reduction in value by 20 times.
Now finally our result for existing layout is 8600 and for proposed layout is 9200 pieces per day. The overall
improvement in production is 6.9%.
The further discussion in this regard in terms of per piece production-improvement is to be as follows –
Existing layout- 8600 pieces in an 8 hours shift-one piece to be manufactured in 3.34 seconds.
Proposed layout- 9200 pieces in an 8 hours [Link] piece to be manufactured in 3.13 seconds.
Total time saved for one piece comes to be 0.21 seconds.
Percentage of improvement per piece comes to be 6.2%.
4. Conclusion
This research study has provided a good exposure to facility planning and layout designs for the improvement of
the efficiency in an industry. The correct choice of the type of facility-layout method to be adopted in this
context can have a significant impact on the long-term success of an industry. The study of facility-layout
therefore has become extremely important. The most common objective of layout design, that is to minimize
distance travelled.
The production-efficiency of layout depends upon how well machines, men and materials are located in a plant.
Therefore, there should be an optimum relationship among the output, floor area and manufacturing process.
According to my analysis of the operation sequence of each product in manufacturing industry, it was found that
for a convenient workflow-the pressing, cutting, polishing and designing machines involved should be modified.
By this modification it was found that the total distance of workflow is was reduced. It was also found that the
improvement in workflow resulted in the reduction of accidents. Finally the rearrangement of the layout
decreased distance-travel-time consumed in transportation and also cost of flow of material, resulted in an
increase in productivity.
5. References
1. Orville Sutari, Satish Rao U, 2014, Development of Plant Layout Using Systematic Layout Planning
(SLP) to Maximize Production – A CASE STUDY. Proceedings of 07th IRF International Conference at
Bengaluru, India. Page: 124-127.
2. Xie, W. & Sahinidis, N.V. 2008. A branch-and-bound algorithm for the continuous facility layout problem.
Computers & Chemical Engineering, 32(4), 1016-1028.
3. Wong, K.Y. & Komarudin, M. 2010. Solving facility layout problems using Flexible Bay Structure
representation and Ant System algorithm. Expert Systems with Applications, 37(7), 5523-5527.
4. Muther R. Systematci Layout Planning. Cohners Publishing Company, 1973.
5. Heragu SS. Facilities Design. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, 2008.
6. Yosra Ojaghia, Alireza Khademia, Noordin Mohd Yusofa,, Nafiseh Ghorbani Renania, Syed Ahmad
Helmi bin Syed Hassana,2015, Production Layout Optimization for Small and Medium Scale Food Industry. 12th
Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing. Procedia CIRP 26 (2015).Page 247 – 251.
7. Uttapol Smutkupt, and Sakapoj Wimonkasame, Plant Layout Design with Simulation. Proceedings of
the International Multi Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists 2009 Vol II, IMECS 2009, March 18 -
20, 2009, Hong Kong.
8. R. D. Vaidya, P. N. Shende, N. A. Ansari, S. M. Sorte, 2013, Analysis Plant Layout for Effective
Production, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), Volume-2(3),Page-500-
504.
9. Iqbal, G.M. and Hashmi, M.S.J., (2001), “Design and analysis of a virtual factory layout”, Journal of
Materials Processing Technology, 118: 403-410.
10. Khodakaram Salimifard and Mehdi Ansari, 2013, Modeling and Simulation of Urban Traffic Signals.
Vol.3 (2), Page-172-175.
11. Fox M.S., (1981), "SRL: Schema Representation Language", Technical Report, the Robotics Institute,
Carnegie-Melion.

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12. Manivel Muralidaran V, Sandeep D, 2014, Layout Planning in a Pump Manufacturing Industry Using
ARENA. Volume 5, Issue 5, Page-432-435.
13. Kelton W.D., Sadowski R.P. & Sturrock D.T. 2007. Simulation with ARENA. 4th Ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill

Figure: 1: Existing Layout Ground Floor

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Figure: 2: Existing Layout First Floor

Figure: 3: Proposed Layout

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