Facilities Design for Manufacturing System

INTRODUCTION

Manufacturing

- as a whole, is a value adding function

- the efficiency of the manufacturing activities will make a major contribution to the firm’s
short- and long-run economic profitability.

- Greater emphasis on improved quality, decreased inventories, and increased productivity

encourages the design of manufacturing facilities that are integrated, flexible, and responsive.

Key Factors Influencing Facility Layout and Material Handling

➢ Several key factors influence the effectiveness of facility layout and material handling:

Product mix and design changes: Facilities must adapt to shifts in product offerings.

Materials and processing technology: Advancements in materials and technologies

impact the design and flow of production.

Handling, storage, and control technology: Improvements in these areas can streamline
operations.

Production volumes, schedules, and routings: Fluctuations require adaptable layouts.

Management philosophies: The approach to managing production (e.g., lean

manufacturing) influences layout decisions.

Historically, automation was seen as the solution to many manufacturing challenges. The
concept of the "automatic factory" emerged, which is distinct from the "automated factory":

Automatic Factory

- is essentially a paperless factory

- every effort is made to ensure that unusual situations do not arise.

Automated Factory

- automation and mechanization are dominant

- factory personnel resolve unusual situations

Not all facilities planning efforts involving new production plants will result in automatic
factory designs. To the contrary, it is likely that few will justify such levelsof automation, at
least in the short run. Firms producing high-technology products may choose to subcontract
component manufacturing and labor-intensive activities. They may focus only on high-
technology design and processing activities that represent significant value-added
contributions.
External Factors Affecting Facility Planning

Volume of Production: Determines the scale and scope of the facility needed.

Variety of Production: A higher variety may require more flexible systems like job
shops.

Value of Each Product: Affects the investment in automation and advanced technology.

➢ Each of these factors may lead to different types of manufacturing facilities

(e.g., job shop, production line, cellular manufacturing, etc.).
➢ Facilities development often involves an incremental approach to making the transition
from a conventional or mechanized factory to an automated factory.

Incremental Approach to Automation

Transitioning to automated factories is commonly done in phases, especially when capital

investment is limited. While this gradual approach may delay full automation, it allows for
strategic upgrades and can serve as a series of interim steps toward a fully integrated factory
system.

Plant-Wide Control System

- acts as the “brain” and “circulation system” of a modern factory, integrating all automated
hardware subsystems with an automated material handling system.

Software Requirements for Integration

For a successful integrated system, specialized control software must:

• Integrate material handling information with shop floor control data.

• Assign and schedule material handling resources efficiently.
• Provide real-time control over material movements, storage, and retrieval.

The critical types of information needed to integrate a plant-wide material

handling system include:

➢ Identification and quantification of items flowing through the system

➢ Location of each item
➢ Current time relative to some master production schedule

Alternative routing paths and buffer storage

- are two methods that may protect the factory from catastrophic interruptions and delays.

Types of Manufacturing Systems

1. Fixed Automation System

➢ Transfer Line
- materials flow from one workstation to the next in a sequential
manner.
- the production rate for the line is governed by the slowest operation.
- A transfer line is one example of hard automation.
- Transfer lines are often used for high-volume production and are highly automated.
Advantages of Transfer Line

➢ High Production Rates

➢ Consistency and Quality
➢ Increased Efficiency
➢ Reduced Cycle Time
➢ Lower Labor Costs

Disadvantages of Transfer Line

➢ Very high equipment cost
➢ Inflexibility in the number of products manufactured
➢ Inflexibility in layout
➢ Large deviation in production rates in case of equipment failure in the line

➢ Dial Indexing Machine

- One particular implementation of the circular flow;
- where the workstations and the input/output stations are arranged in a circular
pattern.

Although they are not referred to as transfer lines, a number of production systems have
characteristics that are similar to those of transfer lines. A few examples include:

➢ Automated assembly systems for automotive parts

➢ Chemical process production systems
➢ Beverage bottling and canning processes
➢ Heat treatment and surface treatment processes
➢ Steel fabrication processes

2. Flexible Manufacturing Systems

- The word “flexible” is associated with such a system since it is able to manufacture a large
number of different part types.
- Flexible manufacturing systems are designed for small-batch (low-volume) and high-variety
conditions.

Components of Flexible Manufacturing System

1. processing equipment
2. material handling equipment
3. computer control equipment
- The computer control equipment is used to track parts and manage the overall
flexible manufacturing system.

In designing the material handling system for a flexible manufacturing system,

the following design requirements are recommended by Groover [11]:

➢ Random, independent movement of palletized parts between workstations

➢ Temporary storage or banking of parts
➢ Convenient access for loading and unloading
➢ Compatibility with computer control
➢ Provision for future expansion
➢ Adherence to all applicable industrial codes
➢ Access to machine tools
➢ Operation in shop environment
Flexible manufacturing systems are used to cope with change. Specifically, the following
changes are accommodated:

➢ Processing technology
➢ Processing sequence
➢ Production volumes
➢ Product sizes
➢ Product mixes

What makes FMS flexible?

2. Process different part styles in a non-batch mode.
2. Accept changes in production schedule.
3. Respond gracefully to equipment malfunction and breakdowns in the system.
4. Accommodate the introduction of new part designs.

From these conditions, we can say that an automated system is not always flexible (e.g.,
transfer lines), and vice versa, that a flexible system need not be automated (manual assembly
lines).

3. Single-Stage Multimachine Systems

- another alternative in automation in machining systems

- SSMS is described in terms of the resources involved.

1. Manufacturing configuration and machines

2. Parts
3. Tools
4. Part transporter
5. Tool carriers

- they are all automated systems, typically operating without manual intervention

4. Reduction Of Work In Process

➢ In this section, we focus on issues related to handling and storing operations in a

manufacturing environment.
➢ In-process handling includes the movement of material, tooling, and supplies to and from
production units, as well as the handling that occurs at a workstation or machine center.
➢ The term in-process storage can include the storage of material, tooling, and supplies
needed to support production.

Several rules of thumb can be used in designing in-process handling and storage systems.
Among them are the following:

Handling less is best: suggests that handling should be eliminated if possible.

Grab, hold, and don’t turn loose: emphasizes the importance of maintaining
physical control of material
Eliminate, combine, and simplify: suggests the principles of work simplification and
methods improvement are appropriate in designing in-process handling and storage systems.
Moving and storing material incur costs: serves as a reminder that inventory levels should
be kept as small as possible.
Pre-position material.
- Reduction in wasted time increases available machine time.
- Reducing cycle time means that products are completed early
- Control of work in process has been the focus of many manufacturing firms.

5. Just-In-Time Manufacturing

- The just-in-time (JIT) production system was developed more than four decades
ago by Ohno Taiichi at the Toyota Motor Company in Japan.
- JIT applies to all forms of manufacturing

Seven Waste in Manufacturing

1. Transportation
2. Inventory
3. Motion
4. Waiting
5. Over production
6. Over processing
7. Defects

“Just-in-time means having the right part at the right place in the right amount at the right
time.”

Five Elements of JIT

1. Visibility
2. Simplicity
3. Flexibility
4. Standardization
5. Organization
Kanban
- is a card or any signal used to request or authorize production of parts
- it contains information on the part, the processes used, identification of the storage area for
the part, and the number of parts to produce.

JIT Impact on Facilities Design

➢ Reduction of inventories
➢ Deliveries to points of use
➢ Quality at the source
➢ Better communication, line balancing, and multifunctional workers

Reduction of Inventories
➢ Space requirements are reduced
➢ Smaller loads are moved and stored
➢ Storage requirements are reduced

Deliveries to Points of Use

- If products are purchased and produced in smaller lots, they should be delivered to
the points of use to avoid stockouts at the consuming processes.
- Products can be
delivered to the points of use if the building has multiple receiving docks and if a
decentralized storage policy is used.
Quality at the Source

- Every supplying process must regard the next consuming process as the ultimate
customer and each consuming process must always be able to rely on receiving
only good parts from its suppliers
- To achieve the quality-at-the-source concept, the following could be required:

1. Proper packaging, stacking, and wrapping procedures for parts and boxes on
pallets or containers
2. Efficient transportation, handling, and storage of parts
3. A production system, supported by teamwork, that allows the worker to per-
form his or her operation without time pressure

Better Communication, Line Balancing, and Multifunctional Workers

- In many JIT manufacturing systems, U-shaped production lines are being used to
promote better communication among workers, to use the multiple abilities of
workers that allow them to perform different operations, and to easily balance to
production line using visual aids and the team approach.

U-Shaped Flow Lines

- is a variation of the straight-line flow structure
- It follows the concept of group technology, where parts of similar processing characteristics
are grouped together for processing in a common area, or manufacturing cell.
- unique in that it allows more efficient use of operators tending the machines, and it promotes
better communication among workers.

Remarks

The lean manufacturing concept can be summarized as follows:

➢ Eliminate or minimize non-value-adding activities.

➢ Only produce what is demanded.
➢ Minimize the use of time and space resources.
➢ Manufacture in the shortest cycle time possible.

These concepts are consistent with the just-in-time manufacturing philosophy.