Manufacturing Layout

Abstract

Designing a layout consists in optimally locating manufacturing facilities in order to reduce the required material handling resources and movement of material. Evidently, this leads to cost reduction. Static layout models are presented in the first part of the chapter. They are used when the environment can be considered as steady. The basic static models and their characteristics are provided. K-mean analysis, often required for designing functional departments, as well as cross-decomposition, used to design cells, are both explained and carefully illustrated. Note that these two approaches are commonly used beyond layout design. The standard approaches (CORELAP, INRIA-SAGEP, CRAFT) to locate manufacturing entities on the space available are reviewed and spotlighted. They close the first part of the chapter. Dynamic layout models make up the second part. These models are studied because they cope well with an ever-changing market environment. Dynamic facility layouts approaches, which are flexible and easy to reconfigure, and robust layout techniques, which can be used efficiently over many product mixes and volumes, complete the chapter.