Table of Contents

Abstract 4

Introduction. 5

Research Question. 5

Analysis Approach. 5

Initial Layout 6

Space, Flow, and Process Requirements. 8

Flow Requirements. 9

Products. 10

Route Sheet 10

Underlying Form-To Activity Chart 11

Department Room Space. 12

Material Handling. 12

Suggestions. 13

Alternative Layout and Requirements of Distance and Adjacency. 14

Generation Method. 14

First Layout Alternative. 14

Second Layout Alternative. 16

Recommended Layout Alternative. 17

Pros and Cons: 18

Conclusion. 19

References. 20

Abstract of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            In this paper, the initial and contemporary layout of the Wooden House is explored and different aspects associated with the layout are evaluated. In addition to the aspects, space, flow, and process requirements are also explained. The material handling system in the context of existing factory layout is also explained. Other than the handling system of materials, alternative layouts are also evaluated. They will be analyzed and it will be determined whether the current facility layout is capable of satisfying the future requires of the organization or not. If the present layout is not suitable then an alternative will be proposed which can be implemented within the organization to satisfy the future needs of Wooden House.

Introduction of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            The Wooden House is a Kuwaiti Organization and it deals with the manufacturing of wooden furniture. In the previous or progress report, the existing or current layout of the organization will be analyzed and it will be explained. In this report, it will be further evaluated and some requirements associated with space, flow, and process will also be explained. Additionally, the process of assembly will be explained and different alternative layouts will be evaluated. It will also be determined whether the current layout is better for the organization or the proposed layout in terms of future needs. Other than determining the best suitable layout, the benefits of implementing the alternative layout will be explained as well.

Research Question of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            As explained in the previous report, the research question is concerned with whether the existing layout of the Wooden House is suitable for meeting the future needs of the organization or not.

Analysis Approach of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            In this paper and for the layout of the production facility, SLP or Systematic Layout Planning is utilized which is considered one of the most important tools in evaluating the design layout of a facility or a firm. It helps in determining the requirements of space in accordance with the required processes and also enables the designer to analyze if the current layout is suitable for the facility or not. This tool can be utilized in different practical environments and scenarios in which the layout is to be considered and analyzed (Wang, Wang, & Kong, 2013).

Initial Layout of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

Figure 1: Initial Layout

            As explained in the previous report, this layout is not effective because there is space for a bedroom involved in this layout which is not necessary for the organization. In fact, it is a facility for producing furniture products and it doesn’t really need a bedroom in the facility.

Design Constraints and Engineering Standards

            As explained in the previous report, following are the constraints:

Space, Flow, and Process Requirements

            In the current layout of Wooden House, dimensions and description of processes, space, and flow are already determined. For instance, the parking space for an individual small car is 8 feet in width and 15 feet in length. When it comes to large cars, space is increased to 10 feet width and 20 feet length. These are the current dimensions of the parking lot and when it comes to the doctor office, it is developed in the space of 200 square feet while the nurse office encompasses the space of 150 square feet. Lastly, the waiting area is encompassed in the space of 50 square feet.

            For instance, in order to develop a simple cabinet, the existing time consumed in each and every step is: 15 minutes are consumed in beam panel saw, 3 minutes are consumed by the drilling machine for performing the task of drilling, 3 minutes are consumed in the preparation of surface and sander and these processes are included in the wide belt sander, 5 minutes are consumed in painting the product and 30 minutes are consumed in the process of drying, sanding manual consumed 30 minutes, re-painting consumes 5 minutes, drying the product again takes 30 minutes while 45 minutes are consumed in sanding, the first coat of paint lacquer takes 5 minutes while drying takes 30 minutes, light sanding consumes 20 minutes and the second coat of paint takes 5 mines while drying takes thirty minutes, and final fitting consumes 20 minutes. Overall, the whole process consumes approximately 5 hours and 15 minutes. And without drying time, it will be approximately 3.1 hours.

Table 1: Current Process Requirements

Flow Requirements

            There are different departments within the organization such as quality control and accounting departments. In order to perform different operations and processes, it is important for an effective flow to be established among these departments. At present, the flow is not efficient because the department of operational management is not effective in such a manner that it doesn’t communicate different processes and results with other departments.

Products of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            Some of the products which are manufactured by Wooden House include cabinets, tables, and furniture associated with bedrooms. In order to build these products, the above-outlined processes are performed and these processes consume 3.1 hours to build products. It is, however, important to note that the time consumed might change for different products.

Route Sheet of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

Table 2: Current Routes

Underlying Form-To Activity Chart

Figure 2: From-To Activity

            The above-given figure illustrates the relationship between different processes and department, and the time consumed in performing all of these processes. For instance, the very first process is receiving the raw materials in the form of wood and other materials which are required in the process of manufacturing furniture. 2 hours are consumed in unloading the raw materials from different sources and taking them to the quarantine area. There are three receiving areas and the collective time which would be consumed in extracting the raw materials and storing them into the quarantine area. Considering the fact that there are three receiving areas, two hours is sufficient enough time but this time can be reduced as well. From the quarantine area, the raw materials are taken into the inventory of raw material and this process takes 30 minutes. Similarly, these processes and sectors are interlinked with each other.

            Lastly, with all of these processes, all of the departments within the organization are interlinked and they control and monitor these processes. If there is an issue within these processes then these departments identify the issue and make sure that it is resolved as soon as possible.

Department Room Space of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

The departments which are involved in the above processes include receiving office, shipping office, quality control department, break room, meeting room, production department, department of inventory control, purchasing department, customer service, IT department, accounting, and sales department. All of these departments are built in a specific space which is 200 square feet. This space is considered sufficient enough for performing different operations associated with each department.

Material Handling of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            As explained above, the very first process is concerned with receiving the raw materials in the form of wood and other materials which are required in the process of manufacturing furniture. 2 hours are consumed in unloading the raw materials from different sources and taking them to the quarantine area. There are three receiving areas and the collective time which would be consumed in extracting the raw materials and storing them into the quarantine area is two hours. Considering the fact that there are three receiving areas, two hours is sufficient enough time but this time can be reduced as well. From the quarantine area, the raw materials are taken into the inventory of raw material and this process takes 30 minutes.

            Carrying vehicles are used to carry the raw material from the inventory to the production staging area. These raw materials are then taken to the production area which consumes only 15 minutes. In the production area, raw materials are worked upon and are converted into the products. 3.1 hours are consumed in producing different products and then transferring them from the production area to the inventory of finished products consumes 30 minutes. After storing the products in racks, further 30 minutes are consumed in taking the products to the staging area. During all of these processes, it is ensured that processes and handling are carefully performed. The departments are monitoring these processes and issues are identified immediately not to let them influence the processes adversely.

Suggestions of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            The above-explained processes are effective and there are no improvements which can be made to these processes. However, the time consumed in these processes can be reduced to save time. In order to decrease the time consumed in these processes, the implementation of latest carriage technologies and processes should be implemented. With the introduction of project management applications and the distribution of tasks, the time consumed in different processes can be reduced. If the time is reduced then it can be invested in other significant processes and operations such as quality control.

Alternative Layout and Requirements of Distance and Adjacency
Generation Method of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

            In this paper, layouts are created with the use of AutoCAD as it was a suitable method to create the diagrams. The reason why this particular application was selected for making these layouts is that results produced by it are precise and they can be made according to the requirements.

First Layout Alternative

Figure 3: First Layout Alternative

            In this alternative, different aspects of the existing layout of Wooden House are utilized and they are kept the same. However, the whole layout is not the same as different aspects have been changed. For instance, the underlying activities have been changed in such a way that different processes and tasks related to the management and development of products is facilitated and time is decreased. As explained above, the space for parking was not enough and in this layout, the available space for parking cars has been increased significantly. There are four parking areas and it enables numerous cars and other vehicles to be parked within the parking lot.

            In this layout, office space has been increased to 250 square feet which is more than enough for both the President and Vice President to perform their tasks. In order to increase the space, different aspects have been removed such as the office of vice president. In addition to it, a meeting room has been incorporated in this layout to ensure that if an issue is identified within the facility, it can be discussed right away with other departments. A collective space has been created for departments in which several portions are available for different departments. This place is chosen as it has made the process of monitoring operations easier. It will also make it easier for effective flow to be developed among the departments and share their ideas and different concepts with each other.

            In addition to it, an important change is that production area and storage have been incorporated into each other in such a manner that time consumed in storing products is decreased significantly. The sectors and areas are adjacent with each other which satisfies the requirement of adjacency and distance. It has been determined that this layout satisfies the condition of adjacency and is considered a sustainable option.

Second Layout Alternative

Figure 4: Second Layout Alternative

            This alternative layout is quite different from the previous one and one of the most significant differences is that storage space is separate from the production sectors. In addition to it, the production area is divided into different sectors and there is a separate sector for inspection of different areas. Another difference is that receiving and shipping areas are not created due to which space for parking and offices is increased. However, this has also created the issue that both of these sectors are combined and processes could be overlapped. This issue is not addressed in this layout and that is the reason why the previous layout is considered more effective than this one. In this layout, the space for parking is 500 square feet while the office is 250 square feet which is more than enough to resolve the issues prevalent in the initial layout of the organization. Similar to the above layout, the requirements of distance and adjacency are also satisfied by this layout.

            In this layout, the connected walls are adjacent which satisfies the adjacency and distance conditions. Thus, this option or layout is also considered feasible to be implemented within the organization.

Recommended Layout Alternative

The first alternative is recommended for Wooden House to implement in order to meet the future needs and achieve future goals.

Figure 5: First Layout Alternative

The above-illustrated layout is recommended to be implemented within Wooden House to ensure that future objectives are achieved in an effective manner. In order to further understand this layout, some aspects should be understood. There are three receiving bays and the same can be said about shipping areas. There is a quarantine area which is utilized for storing raw materials and there are four racks in the inventory where raw materials can be stored. In addition to it, there is a production which encompasses not only production processes but also storage areas. For instance, the storage racks are present within the area specified for production. After the products have been developed and have been finished, there is a staging area from where the packing station obtains the products to pack them. Lastly, these products are taken to shipping areas to be delivered to different locations.

What makes this layout effective is that it ensures that time consumed in each and every process is less in comparison with the initial layout and the space for all departments and sectors is also more. This would enable the organization to meet future needs in an efficient manner. 

Pros and Cons of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House:

            Considering the fact that only one alternative is considered the best solution to replace the initial layout of the organization, benefits and drawbacks are considered in the context of only this alternative.

Following are the benefits of this layout:

·         It reduces the time taken to complete each and every production process.

·         It enables all the organizational departments to be connected with each other in such a manner that information can be shared in an effective manner.

·         It enables the departments to monitor the progress of each and every process efficiently while identifying the issues.

·         It provides sufficient enough space for the organization to meet its future needs.

The drawbacks of this layout are as follow:

·         It will need a significant amount of time to be implemented.

·         Personnel will have to be trained in order to keep up with different processes.

·         This layout will need extensive modifications and a significant amount of investment.

Conclusion

            Overall, it can be said that the current layout of the Wooden House is not suitable for fulfilling the future needs of the organization. In addition, it doesn’t allow the organization to achieve its future objectives. Therefore, in order to fulfill the future needs, a new layout for the organization has been proposed. In this paper, it was determined that the recommended layout is capable of enabling the organization in achieving future objectives. The recommended layout has sufficient enough space for enabling the firm to produce products at a large scale. Another issue which was resolved with this recommended layout was that it provided enough parking space for employees to park their vehicles without facing issues.

            In the future, the recommended layout will the time which is consumed in performing each and every process. In addition to it just reducing the time consumed in these processes, it will also enable the departments to have effective flow established among them. For instance, if there is an issue in the operations then operational management can identify this issue and communicate it with other departments in order to ensure that proper measures against the issue are implemented as soon as possible. Additionally, significant space is provided with the implementation of this system which can ensure that the organization can expand the size of its production facility whenever it needs to do. Therefore, this alternative has been considered better than the existing layout.

References of Factory of contemporary layout of the Wooden House

Wang, X., Wang, H. F., & Kong, J. S. (2013). SLP-based Layout Design for a Reclaimed Rubber Factory. Advanced Materials Research, 111-116.