PLANNING AND PRODUCTIVITY

Facility Layout

Developing Manufacturing Facilities with Lean, Efficent Production as the objective of a good design.

Manufacturing Facilities are too frequently designed by an Architectural / Engineering firm whose objective is delivering an easy to build, low cost design. Unfortunately this often leads to designs and layouts that have given little thought to the Manufacturing Process or best practices. A good example of this is locating production machinery close to the main utility feeds for electricity, water or air. While this helps reduce construction cost, it often significantly disturbs the efficient flow of manufacturing in the facility.

Advent Design can work with your A&E firm, or come in at any time, and work to develop a Facilities Layout that best meets the needs of your process and enhances productivity.

Following is an outline of Advent Design’s approach for developing facility layouts. The defined approach ensures consistent and thorough research into the background information required to evaluate the manufacturing layout and to develop recommended changes. Each of the following steps are typically utilized in the development of a facility layout for a customer. Additional/fewer steps may be necessary as dictated by the specific customer.

Develop the process and manufacturing system What is the product design? What products will be produced in the plant? Do you have all basic components and subassemblies identified? Do you have product and component assembly drawings? What are the preliminary product quality specifications? What is the planned process design (the specific equipment types required to produce your product)? Selecting and identification What production operations are required and what raw materials are planned to be used? What production operations will be in house and which ones will be performed by outside suppliers? What general types of equipment will be used in the process? Do alternatives need to be evaluated? Based on the planned equipment, what are the unit production times and desired equipment utilization? Sequencing Do you have process assembly or operation process charts that show the planned sequence of production operations? What is the "schedule design" for the process? What are the forecasted volumes for each of the products? What is the planned inventory for finished goods and raw materials? What manufacturing cycle times (time in the plant from date of receipt of order to shipment) are required for you product? Will the production schedules be driven by customer orders or by inventory levels (make to stock)? Develop process requirements and proposed Value Stream Map What is the quantity of production units to be produced including scrap and reject allowances? Determine the equipment requirements for each major operation in the process Determine overall process equipment requirements and balance production operations to achieve the required cycle time Determine total equipment required to support the required production throughput including support equipment such as balers, trim systems, dust collection systems, etc. Develop preliminary utility requirements including electrical loads, compressed air, process water, etc. What special environmental conditions are required such as cGMPs, classified particulate areas(clean rooms), sterile areas, special electrical requirements (explosion proof, water washdown, etc.)? What quality testing is required throughout the process? Determine the number of operators required for the process. Draft the Value Stream Map using the data from sections A and B. Identify all plant activities and define their working relationships Offices Production areas Maintenance Utility room Staging areas Warehouse Shipping and Receiving Cafeteria/Break Rooms Locker rooms (as required) Restrooms Quality control and lab Develop flow patterns through the facility Using the Value Stream Map, consider U-shaped vs. "straight through" flow from receiving through production to shipping. Develop space requirements for the process and all plant activities Develop aisle allowances What offices will be required for the plant (production, clerical staff, shipping/receiving, etc.)? Calculate sizes of warehouse and storage areas Develop preliminary block layout options by arranging the activities to achieve the required relationships and flow patterns Develop criteria to evaluate the layout options Compare and evaluate the options Select the preferred block layout Using the preferred block layout, develop a preliminary layout by adding aisles, shipping receiving docks, personnel aisles, etc. Develop Final Layout Recommendations Use the following criteria for developing the final recommended layout. Cost Savings and Economic Justification Facility Size Production Requirements Product Volumes Equipment Recommendations Support Facility Requirements

Other factors may be considered in the final recommendation as dictated by specific customer needs.