Facilities Planning and Material Handling
Facilities planning covers location, layout, and material handling. Candidates must know layout types: process (functional) layout for low-volume/high-variety, product (line) layout for high-volume/low-variety, fixed-position layout for large immovable products, and group technology/cellular layouts. The systematic layout planning (SLP) procedure uses relationship charts and closeness ratings (A, E, I, O, U, X) to develop block layouts, then space and adjust.
Quantitative tools are tested. From-to charts and load-distance analysis evaluate flow: minimize the sum of flow × distance. The centroid method for single-facility location uses weighted coordinates: X = Σ(wᵢxᵢ)/Σwᵢ and Y = Σ(wᵢyᵢ)/Σwᵢ. The transportation method and factor-rating method are also used for location decisions. Assembly line balancing: cycle time = available time / required output; the theoretical minimum number of stations = total task time / cycle time (round up); assign tasks by largest-candidate rule respecting precedence and cycle-time constraints; compute efficiency = total task time / (stations × cycle time).
Traps: mixing up cycle time with takt time (takt = available time / customer demand; cycle time is what the line is designed to achieve); forgetting to round the minimum station count up; and using Euclidean distance when rectilinear is specified. Material handling principles include minimizing handling, using gravity, unit load, and mechanization where justified.
Worked example
Available time = 480 min/day, demand = 240 units/day. Takt = 2.0 min/unit. Total task time = 8.0 min. Minimum stations = 8.0/2.0 = 4. If assignment requires 5 stations, efficiency = 8.0/(5×2.0) = 80%.