designed precision castings-project report (1)
TRANSCRIPT
PROJECT
OPTIMIZATION OF PLANT LAYOUT Sh
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REPORT
PREPARED FOR: Jan Holland & Team Olufemi Adegun Karin Lindner Chris Beaver PREPARED BY: Harjinder Chouhan
Abhishek Jalota Kushal Gandhi DATE OF SUBMISSION: 15 Aug, 2014
THE BUSINESS INNOVATION ACCESS PROGRAM A Ministry of Economic Development Pilot Project Initiative
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Table of Contents I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 3
II. THE COMPANY ............................................................................................................................................... 4
III. THE PROJECT ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
IV. OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
V. DELIVERABLES.................................................................................................................................................... 6
VI. FOUNDRY LAYOUT ..................................................................................................................................... 7
a. An Overview of Facility Layout Planning ........................................................................................... 8
b. Literature Review ........................................................................................................................................... 9
c. Facility Layout for Job-shop Manufacturing ..................................................................................... 9
d. Facility Planning for DP Casting ........................................................................................................... 10
e. Distance Based Approach: Pairwise Exchange Method........................................................ 10
f. Distance Based Approach: Graphical Method ............................................................................ 13
g. Savings Due To Layout Optimization .............................................................................................. 18
h. Energy Perspective ...................................................................................................................................... 23
i. Future scope of expansion: The Genetic Algorithm Approach........................................ 24
VII. LEAN AT DP CASTINGS ....................................................................................................................... 26
j. 7 Deadly wastes and DP Castings..................................................................................................... 28
k. A Quick start approach for implementing Lean in Job Shop ............................................ 30
l. A comprehensive approach for implementing lean in job shops ..................................... 31
m. A Word on Standardisation ................................................................................................................. 33
VIII. FLOW SYSTEMS .......................................................................................................................................... 35
n. Flow within Products and Process Departments ...................................................................... 38
o. Flow Between Departments ................................................................................................................. 39
p. Material Handling Systems .................................................................................................................... 39
q. Overhead Conveyors at DP Castings ............................................................................................ 42
r. Automated Guided Vehicles at DP Castings ............................................................................... 43
IX. SUPPLIMENTARY TASKS ......................................................................................................................... 44
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s. Reach Truck for DP Castings: .............................................................................................................. 44
t. Design of a 5S Based Storage Area ................................................................................................. 45
u. Fire Exit Plan ................................................................................................................................................... 46
X. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................... 47
XI. REFRENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 48
XII. Appendices ....................................................................................................................................................... 49
Appendix-1: Genetic Algorithm approach to Facility Planning. ............................................... 49
Appendix-2: Reach Truck Purchasing Information. ........................................................................ 52
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document outlines a project that aims to get an insight into the process and material flow at
Designed Precision Castings’ Manufacturing facility to optimize the plant layout; thereby serving the
‘Lean’ needs of centralized departments.
A layout analysis was conducted using various methods and an optimum layout was suggested
which resulted into 20% reduction in material handling costs. Compatibility of the production line is
established with the lean manufacturing methodologies and suggestions for improvement are provided.
In addition, various material handling techniques are profiled and suggested to compliment the
operations. Furthermore, a fire-exit plan is framed along with the design of a storage area to de-clutter
the company premises, on management request.
The tools and techniques deployed during the project attempted to cut the current lead times in
the manufacturing process to provide impetus to product discharge into the market. To achieve the
objective various time measurements will be recorded and manipulated to calculate Takt times which
will in turn provide the theoretical level of Work-in-progress inventory. This theoretical figure can be
scaled to accommodate the buffer stock and remove the excessive inventory, resulting into first step
towards lean operation. An improved version of the facility layout is provided in the form of a compact
disc accompanying this report. The disc also holds verifiable data files from various software used during
this project.
The project was carried out under the guidance of pioneering professors from Sheridan College
Institute of Advanced Learning who lead the research in their fields and expert staff from Designed
Precision Castings Inc.
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II. THE COMPANY
Designed Precision Castings Inc. is an Investment Casting producer serving the need of North American
aerospace, defense, nuclear, industrial and commercial clientele; with a recognized and proven track
record in ‘aircraft-quality’ precision parts. The DP Castings’ facilities boast of impressive capabilities, such
as in-house mold-making, Material Composition Certification via Spectroanalysis, Non-Destructive
Testing facility and qualification as a Material Control at Source provider.
III. THE PROJECT
As a part of its expansion strategy, the organization desires to transcend from 4 million to 30 million
annual revenues by 2020; thereby, consolidating its foothold in the indigenous market. Understanding
the need of the hour, the management is willing to initiate a process of change, cost reduction,
continuous & sustained improvement from inside out. Concurrently, the manufacturing phase comprises
of an approximate 75 days of product lead times, compounded by dependency on outsourcing needs,
discontinuities, bottlenecks, waiting times and output uncertainties; requiring drastic cutbacks to
dispense finished products at a faster pace into the market. In addition, the manual Material Handling
System deployed at the plant is archaic and may refute compliance to safety standards (ergonomic,
physical, egress).The Business Process requires an advanced Inventory Management system and the
available space can be claimed as not being utilized efficiently at best. Embarking upon a quest of
operational restructuring the company aims to streamline the production cycle by implementing ‘Lean’
manufacturing principles via evaluation of Multiple Layout scenarios to design the optimum one that
compliments the objectives. Zhenyuan et all (2011, p. 260) contend that an ‘unreasonable facility layout
of a production line directly or indirectly leads to low production efficiency. Facility layout is an important
problem for modern manufacturing systems and it plays a key role for the manufacturing system design
process. Lean facility layout means to arrange the physical equipment within a workshop to help the
facility work in a productive way. A good layout scheme would contribute to the overall efficiency of
operations’. This entails that optimization of facility layout via dynamic mathematical modelling can
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assist deployment of Lean principles on the manufacturing operations of DP Castings churning out
improvised output efficiencies and effectiveness in result.
The scope of this project aims to consider all the processes within the first periphery of Wirth’s
hierarchical model of production facilities. It is the processes that are central to the production
ecosystem of the company. From the periphery 2 zone, it aims to accommodate some aspects of
manufacturing equipment engineering as it translates to successful implementation of Lean
Manufacturing principles.
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IV. OBJECTIVES
This document proposes to provide a solution to the aforementioned by adopting a holistic
approach to obtain optimal results. The initiatives to achieve the desired outcome can be stated as
follows:
Layout restructuring to achieve seamless process flow, minimize material handling costs and
space requirements.
Improving throughput via Value Stream Map analysis & implementation of ‘Lean’ principles,
eradication of discontinuities, bottlenecks and waiting times.
Establishing a seamless material flow path by definition of machine, work-centre and storage
location coupled with Work Study Analysis.
Implementing inventory management systems and integration of ERP for improved information
flow.
Relocation of welding room and elimination of structural unit to enhance in-house material
transportation.
Devising a fire exit plan for the new layout in compliance with the Fire Protection and Prevention
Act, Ontario Regulation 213/7.
Designing a new storage area in line with the 5S methodology to de-clutter the plant premises.
V. DELIVERABLES
Detailed development of Facility Layout in Solidworks and Plantworks.
Development of ELVSM (Assigned to waste management team).
Material Flow Analysis & Inbound logistics.
Researching Innovative Technologies (targeting cost, time, and material consumption) for Process
Steps.
Researching Material Handling Alternatives.
Determination of Machine Location.
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Research Industrial Fire Code.
Design & development of Storage area.
Implementation of ‘Lean’ Principles and strategies
Calculating OCT, MCT, Takt time etc.
Estimation of Current Lead-time.
Reduction of Lead-time.
VI. FOUNDRY LAYOUT
Amalgamation of ‘Lean manufacturing principles’ with an effective plant & equipment layout
targeting efficient process flow presents multifaceted issues. Involvement of innumerable contradicting
and differing guidelines shifts the weightage of optimum method selection to the unique needs of the
project.
Some of the common grounds treaded by influencing guidelines include:
Maximum utilization of available space.
Minimization of material transportation and travelling distances so as to allow quickest possible
material flow at the lowest possible costs.
Dedicated and easy-to-maneuver through storage areas that house scrap/finished products and
facilitate sorting and consistent maintenance.
A visionary site layout plans considers the expansion of plant within the existing business.
Supports utilization of productive & non-productive equipment, material handling systems and
manpower for maximum energy conservation.
Provides easy access to an emergency escape route along with safety inbuilt into daily tasks and
operations (Singh & Sharma, 2006).
A technical research has been carried to evaluate the available models for optimization of plant
layout. These models are utilized to devise alternate plant layout systems with the pros and cons of each
identified. Upon evaluation of these models, the one most favorable to the DP Castings’ plant will be
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selected and backed by a computer generated layout produced through specialized programs and
applications.
In order to ensure the maximum quality of the project deliverables, the team has unanimously
agreed to deploy a highly technical and tailored approach to problem solving. Therefore, the team is not
relying upon generic distance and adjacency based methods to design the optimum layout and
workstation locations for the plant. Instead, extensive research has been carried out to seek proven and
successful research papers depicting models to design the industrial layouts. These models will be
carefully studied, reviewed and altered before being used for analysis and implementation. In the same
vein, widespread literature review has been carried out to identify research papers that evaluate the
approaches to plant design. These will enable to the team to get a deep understanding of the different
approaches and understand their pros and cons before committing to deployment.
a. An Overview of Facility Layout Planning
Facility Layout Problem Solving (FLPS) entails determination of physical arrangement and organization of
a production system. Efficiency of design and location of sub-entities are fundamentally crucial strategic
issues challenging organizations and enterprises operation in the manufacturing sector. The
indispensability of the facility planning can be comprehended by understanding the statistics provided
by Tompkins and White; who claim that the United States of America has spent an estimated 8% of its
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the development of new facilities since 1955. Furthermore, Francis
and White bring to light that material handling costs are attributable for 20% to 50% of the overall
operating expenses in manufacturing. Annual cost reductions as high as 10% to 30% can be achieved by
virtue of effective facility layout planning (Singh & Sharma, 2006).
The approaches to designing a robust facility design can be categorized as qualitative and
quantitative. In the latter, minimizing the material handling costs serves as the main objective. The
qualitative approach concentrates on addressing the ancillary factors including flexibility of layout for
expansion, aesthetics, noise channelization, plant safety etc. the review work is based on an unfazed
focus to minimize material handling throughout the plant. The aim is to find the most effective design
arrangement of ‘n’ indivisible objects (facilities) in ‘n’ locations. Singh & Sharma (2006) formidably claim,”
Reduced material movement lowers work-in-process levels and throughput times, less product damage,
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simplified material control and scheduling and less overall congestion. Hence, when minimizing material
handling cost, other objectives are achieved simultaneously.”
b. Literature Review
Muther (1973) proposed a five part model Product, Quality, Routing, Service and Time for systematic
facility planning. Baidu and Arif (1966) developed a knowledge-based system by integrating algorithm
with expert system for facility planning, known as FLEXPERT. This system generates layouts that satisfy
the qualitative along with the quantitative needs. Yang and Kao approached the weighted qualitative
aspect via an analytic hierarchy process while generating quantitative optimums by utilizing computer-
aided layout planning. Whereas, envelopment analysis was used to solve multiple objective layout
problems. Process simulation and capacity analysis was utilized by Eneyo and Pannirselvan (1999) to
generate outputs in the form of facility layout design. Zetu et all (2003) extracted physical objects to be
used in facility for construction of three dimensional models. Internet based virtual reality facility layout
systems were designed by Duffy et all (2003) to point and eliminate workplace hazards.
Multidimensional scaling and simulated annealing was deployed by Chen et all (2002) which was targeted
at reduction in travelling costs and violation of shapes in the final layout.
c. Facility Layout for Job-shop Manufacturing
Upgrading technology, process improvisation and modifications in product variety can render original
layouts inefficient. This adds to the vitality to the quest of introducing progressive facility layout
improvisations. In accordance to the ‘Computational Complexity Theory’, optimal facility design is an NP-
hard problem, the solution for which get progressively accurate with each pass. In comparison to any
other corporate design, facility layout exhibits and manifests itself in the most influential manner. The
supply/demand ratio is directly affected due to layout’s impression on product cost and quality. Job-shop
specific layout plan needs to consider dynamic to design flexibility of products and routing arrangements.
Therefore, flexible equipment capable of being moved around become a necessity in a competitive and
ever-changing environment. Job-shop facility planning being an NP-hard problem, only a few cases can
be solved optimally using computed times (Singh & Sharma, 2006).
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d. Facility Planning for DP Casting
Designed Precision Casting emulates a job-shop manufacturing at the closest level. Therefore, a process
layout is most useful to the company as it processes a variety of products in variable quantities; where
numerous jobs are executed at a time. The strategic objective of the process layout is to minimize
material handling costs at the facility by reducing interdepartmental distances. In a job shop layout,
material handling costs depend upon the following (Yang et all, 2011):
The total number of department level processes.
The number of units moved between departments within a specific period of time.
Distance dependent costs of moving the loads between the departments.
The object function can be expressed using the following formula:
Here:
cij is the cost of moving a unit load between i and j.
fij is the number of trips between I and j within a specific period of time.
dij is the distance between departments i and j.
An application of the simplistic methods on the DP Castings layout gives the following:
e. Distance Based Approach: Pairwise Exchange Method
The main objective of this approach is to minimize the travelling distance between the departments for
the product.
Let,
M= no of departments
𝑐𝑖𝑗= cost of moving a unit load one distance unit from department i to department j
𝑑𝑖𝑗= distance between department i to department j
The objective function is,
Min (Z) = 𝑓𝑖𝑗 𝑐𝑖𝑗 𝑑𝑖𝑗
The method that being used called Pairwise Exchange Method.
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The material flow between the departments is:
DEPARTMENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 - 30 0 0 0 0 0
2 - 30 0 0 0 0
3 - 40 0 0 0
4 - 40 0 0
5 - 40 0
6 - 40
7 -
The ‘discreet’ distance between the departments is:
DEPARTMENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 - 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 - 1 2 3 4 5
3 - 1 2 3 4
4 - 1 2 3
5 - 1 2
6 - 1
7 -
Now the cost can be calculated as shown below to move a unit load one distance unit,
Let the distance between the two departments be X,
A worker generally walks 80 meters in 1 minute
Therefore X meters can be walked in (1
80×X) minutes
Also assuming the general pay of the employee is $18/hour,
The cost of walking one minute will be,
60 minutes is $ 18
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Therefore 1 minute walking will be $18/60
Hence x distance will be covered in $(𝑥
80∗
18
60)
But here the cost of moving a unit load between all the departments is the same due to discreet
distances. So we can consider the cost as a constant.
As there are 7 departments,
𝑍1234567 = 30(1)+30(1)+40(1)+40(1)+40(1)+40(1) = 220
Now we need to consider all the possible arrangements-
1-2/1-3/1-4/1-5/1-6/1-7/2-3/2-4/2-5/2-6/2-7/3-4/3-5/3-6/3-7/4-5/4-6/4-7/5-6/5-7/6-7
Then we will check each of the arrangements at a time,
𝑍2134567 = 30(1)+30(2)+40(1)+40(1)+40(1)+40(1)= 250
𝑍3214567 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(3) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) = 280
𝑍4231567 = 30(2) +30(1) +40(2) +40(4) +40(1) +40(1) =410
𝑍5234167 = 30(3) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) + 40(5) + 40(1)= 520
𝑍6234517 = 30(4) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(4) + 40(6)= 630
𝑍7234561 = 30(5) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(6) =540
𝑍1324567 = ) 30(2) +30(1) +40(2) +40(1) +40(1) +40(1) = 290
𝑍1432567 = 30(3) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) + 40(1) + 40(1)= 360
𝑍1534267 = 30(4) + 30(2) + 40(1) + 40(2) + 40(3) + 40(1)= 460
𝑍1634527 = 30(4) + 30(2) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) + 40(5) = 580
𝑍1734562 = 30(6) + 30(4) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(4) = 580
𝑍1243567 = 30(1) + 30(2) + 40(1) + 40(2) + 40(1) + 40(1) = 290
𝑍1254367 = 30(1) + 30(3) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) + 40(1) = 360
𝑍1264537 = 30(1) + 30(4) + 40(2) + 40(1) + 40(2) + 40(1) = 510
𝑍1274563 = 30(1) + 30(5) + 40(3) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) = 500
𝑍1235467 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(2) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) = 260
𝑍1236547 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(1) = 380
𝑍1237564 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(3) + 40(1) + 40(1) + 40(3)= 420
𝑍1234657 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(4) + 40(2) + 40(1) + 40(2)= 300
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𝑍12347657 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(2) + 40(1) + 40(2)= 300
𝑍1234576 = 30(1) + 30(1) + 40(1) + 40(3) + 40(1) + 40(1)= 260
We got the various values for the 21 iterations.
So out of the given 21 arrangements, the initial arrangement is the best as our objective function was to
minimize the associated Z value because it directly translates to material handling costs as per the
method. Therefore, the Optimum layout according to Pairwise Exchange Method is:
It is to be noted that for the purpose of the calculation, 7 production line departments were
considered. These are those departments through the product flow frequency is very high. The material
handling costs in this method are calculated by utilizing the to-from charts.
f. Distance Based Approach: Graphical Method
In this each department is represented by a node and the connection between two departments is
represented by arcs.
In DP casting, the production line consists of mainly seven departments.
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Wax department
Shelling department
Foundry area
Knockout area
Processing section
Quality and inspection room
Storage area
Procedure of graphical method:
Step 1: From the relationship chart, select the departments with highest product flow between each
other. Based on that, departments 4 and 5 are selected.
Step 2:- The third department is selected based on the sum of the weights with respect to the first two
departments. By doing this department 6 is selected.
DEPARTMENTS 4 5 SUM
1 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
3 40 0 40
6 0 40 40
7 0 0 0
Step 3:- Repeating step 2, we can get the location of the next department. Department 7 is selected
based on this calculation.
DEPARTMENTS 4 5 6 SUM
1 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0
3 40 0 0 40
7 0 0 40 40
Step 4:- Repeating step 2 until we get the final department. By doing this department 3 is selected.
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DEPARTMENTS 4 5 6 7 SUM
1 0 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0 0
3 40 0 0 0 40
Step 5:- Department 2 is selected repeating the above steps,
DEPARTMENTS 4 5 6 7 3 SUM
1 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0 30 30
STEP 6:- Now department 1 should be placed such that it is closest to department 2 and 3 which
ultimately flow into department 4, for better optimization of the plant. Therefore, the final result we get
is a repetition of the layout obtained using pairwise exchange method.
Along the similar lines, a quantitative analysis includes the costs incurred due to facility relocations and
provides guidance regarding the feasibility of the optimization projects. The objective function detailed
above is modified adequately to reflect if the cost of moving the facilities is greater than the total
expenditure of layout reorganization. The modified function can be given as:
Here:
cij is the cost of moving a unit load between i and j.
fij is the number of trips between I and j within a specific period of time.
dij is the distance between departments i and j.
a has a discrete value of 1 if the facility can be relocated or 0 if the facility cannot be relocated.
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mi is the cost of facility i relocation
si is the setup cost of the facility i.
Due to the complexity of this a approach a software tool known as ‘VIP-PLANOPT10’ was used to design
the optimum layout for DP Casting’s facility. The results obtained by doing so are presented below:
The software output an optimum layout based on the distances between the departments,
cumulative areas, product flows and cost of a unit transportation between the departments. The
optimum layout output by the software was close to DP Casting’s existing layout and resulted into cost
units of 5297.686. The facility layout designed exactly like the existing layout resulted into a cost unit
increase up to 5323.838 which made the existing layout inefficient in comparison to the optimum
produced by the software.
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Another alternative layout was designed by inspection, which required minimum movement of
quality and inventory rooms. It dropped the cost units associated with the efficiency of layout to
4215.843 which means that the user defined layout was much more efficient than automatically
generated one. From the analysis of the software generated report it becomes quite clear that DP
castings layout is already very well organized but it can be improved further to achieve an approximate
1/5 reduction in the material handling costs. Though DP casting operates under that tag of job-shop
manufacturing environment, a closer look reveals that manufacturing layout is actually arranged in a
process layout which falls in line with the company’s efforts to integrate lead manufacturing
methodologies in its manufacturing line. The parts progress from one station to another with no
backtracking of parts which does not produce any overlapping flow transfer loci and results into an
efficient layout.
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Another important fact to be noticed is that the linear product flow through the departments
makes it imperative for the machines to be located in a linear arrangement within the department. The
last station for the product flow in a department and the first station of the following one should be
positioned as close to the exits as possible. Therefore, a simplistic analysis of the facility eradicates the
need for explicit exploration of the options as the layout is fairly basic in nature.
g. Savings Due To Layout Optimization
Designed Precision Castings is an Investment Casting foundry contemplating on the possible changeover
from a cellular or function focused layout to single piece or lean flow system. The organization caters the
need of aerospace and commercial sectors which directly translates to the types of products produced
by the company. The organization is currently manufacturing into product groups with machining
centres, injection moulding, shelling & cast removal, foundry, post processing and welding areas. In
addition to the manufacturing, the support areas such as tooling design, quality assurance, and storage
areas are also integrated into a centralized common facility.
Within the whole production line, alternate layout resources can be implemented to obtain a lean flow.
Proximity of workstation and favourability for a single piece flow can serve as the basis for revision of the
layout. The new layout would allow them to identify and eradicate waste, remove excess capacity of
isolated processes leading to overproduction.
In order to address the issues associated with the layout, one needs to develop a good
understanding of the factors influencing the layout design and its interaction with the overall process.
The efficiency and effectiveness of a system can be determined if the travelling distances become shorter
before completing the processing requirements. This ensures that employees have to walk a shorter
distances and spend less time within the system which in-turn ensures both cost and lead times
reduction. On the contrary, a poor layout design will be characterized by longer travelling distances to
be covered before the process completion. This creates a several issues and inhibits the performance
measures. Longer distances travelled translate to higher material handling costs. An optimization effort
stemming from an Enterprise Level Value Stream Mapped approach facilitates the following:
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Increase the production capacity
Higher throughput
Reduction in inventory
Cutting unnecessary costs
Increased revenues
Better space utilization
Favors a staggered move strategy
In accordance to the information provided by the DP Castings staff, productivity is mainly
measured in the form of the number of clusters produced and poured per day. The new and improved
infrastructure aims to double the productivity at the least during the initial phase of implementation.
Centric to the refurbishment is the introduction of an automation line for the shelling function which has
capacity of producing 100 shells per day in comparison to the weak 150 shells per week. However, the
management is aware of the fact the supporting operations and process steps are not yet ready for the
dynamic shift and limited to a capacity of 50 shells per day. After the initial success, the management
may decide to run subsequent projects to hit the ultimate numbers. As in line with the teachings of the
lean methodology, the number of shells being churned out per day will be dictated by the order books.
Stage No. of Trips Distance (meters) Distance (in meters)
Gating system
fabrication
50 17.42*2 1742
Injection
Moulding
15 per
machine
(61.28)*2 9192
Intermediary
Inspection &
correction
30 2.47*2 148.2
Wax tree
making
45 11.4*2 1026
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Shell Making
Process
7 72.13*2 1009.82
Foundry 35 (42.93*2) 3005.1
Knockout and
Removal
40 (75*2) 6000
Post-
Processing
40 (89*2) 7120
Quality 40 (103.88) 4155.2
Storage 40 (15.71*2) 1256.8
Shipping 40
(45.60*2) 3648
Total 38303.12 m
Average Distance in 1 minute 80 m
Cumulative travel time between workstations and
departments
478.789 (Minutes per day)
or
7.98 (Hours per day)
Average Hourly wage $ 18 /hour
Value of Travel time in dollars per day 8.82 Hours*$18 = $143.64
Total $143.64* 264 (Days/year)
= $37920
Description of data:
The Company makes approximately 150 moulds in a week.
Therefore, 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 = 150 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑦 = 150
5= 30
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Injection moulding: An employee walks to stack the parts produced on a rack. Though there are 5
injection moulding machines to make the wax patterns the cumulative distance travelled is independent
of the number of equipment. Therefore employees travel approximately 9192 meters in a day to produce
wax parts and stacking them onto the rack for the next operation.
Intermediary Inspection & Correction: From there on a 100% intermediary inspection takes place where
the employees pick up 10 parts in each trip to bring them to the inspection table. The inspection tables
are approximately 2.47 meters from the inspection tables. As a result, the employees travel about 148.2
meters to pick and drop wax patterns from the stacking racks.
Wax-tree making: Following on, employees responsible for assembling trees pick up an average of 10
parts per tree to be adhered to the gating system to make a wax tree. The gating system storage is
approximately another 11.4 meters away coupled with a distance of another meter to hang the finished
wax-trees onto a push trollies.
Shell making process: In this stage the wax trees made in the previous stage are transported to the
shelling on an average 7 per trip where these undergo slurry baths to form the hard outer shell or mould.
The shells so formed are place in an autoclave to melt and remove the wax, leaving the shell with a
desired cavity. The total distance covered in this process is approximately 72.13 meters.
Foundry: In the next stage, parts are carried over from the previous stage to the hot metal pouring area
which is approximately 35 meters from the Autoclave. The employees have to cover approximately 14.93
meters to get the metal poured into the mould cavity before finally resting it on sand beds for a while.
Knockout and Shell Removal: Further, the solidified parts within the mould progress to the Knockout
Room where the shell is removed using various process such as manual hammering, Caustic Soda Wash,
water-jet blasting etc. After the shell is removed individual parts are removed off the tree using a cut-off
saw. The employees cover a ground totalling 75 meters before the parts progress onto the next stage.
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Post-Processing: After the being cut-off, the parts progress into the finishing the area where the gating
system is ground off and final machining takes place along with polishing and heat treatments. This costs
an aggregate of 89 meters transfers.
Quality: Taking the finished parts in lots of 4 (40 parts) and testing within the department clocks another
4155.2 meter in a day. The 20 meters of distance represents the distance between the different
machines and is multiplied by 4 as the number of transfers between the machines is require due to a
number of tests being performed.
Storage: After the quality inspection the parts area allotted a lot or batch number and taken to the
storage area. The average number of parts carried per trip equals 1256.8 meters.
Shipping: At the time of shipping, the parts are transferred from storage to the shipping area to be placed
on pallets as per the order requirements. The shipping area is approximately 70 meters away from the
storage area. A boxes containing 10 parts each carried per trip using material handling equipment totals
to approximately 3648 meters a day.
Therefore, the total distance collectively covered by the employees in 8.15 hours of shift in a day totals
to 38303.12 meters.
At an average walking speed of 80 meters per minute, the total time consumed in transferring parts
throughout the plant == 38303.12
80 = 478.789 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑟 7.97 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
At an average wage of $18 per hour, this quantifies to $143.64 per day.
As a result, the cost of labour for transfer of parts throughout the facility = 143.64*264 (No. of working
days in 1 year) = $37920.
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Rearranging the facility and equipment in accordance to proposed models reduces the distance travelled
by approximately 20.8%, this translate to $7891.9 (20.8% of $37,920) of savings per annum. We also
need to understand that the above calculations are based on bare minimum amount of distances
covered but in reality this number will be much larger as employees tend to wander off, rest or spend
more than the standard time in fetching the parts. This means that optimizing the layout will result into
even higher savings due to standardization of work & workplace.
Figure 1: Spaghetti Diagram for DP Castings
h. Energy Perspective
Incorporation of a robust energy conservation plan is imperative to the success of the initiatives
as it can lead to major energy crises with high costs involved if not properly planned and implemented.
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To expose the intricacies of the energy conservation and layout exchange, we can consider the fact that
an appropriate exhaust arrangement of emission producing equipment can eradicate the need for
excessive air change, ultimately leading to a reduction in energy costs.
In order to incorporate the energy conservation dynamics into the building design, the approach
capitalizing on the expected energy efficiency can be used to attain high levels of performance from
every aspect. The strategy includes utilization of close ball park figures for energy utilized in terms of
MJ/kg of unit product for existing foundry (X) and expected specific energy consumption (Y).
The energy efficiency can be calculated as: E (%) = [(X - Y) / X] × 100
This provides us with a good estimation which can be deployed in conjunction with the improved layout
into the building design to obtain compatibility between basic necessities and operational restraints.
Though restructuring of plant layout goes beyond the realistic expectations of the project,
a comprehensive mathematical analysis in line with numerous models and algorithms will be carried out.
The analysis will help in identification of weaknesses inherited by the layout and put on offer an
opportunity to come up with the alternatives.
i. Future scope of expansion: The Genetic Algorithm Approach
A best case layout scenario for DP Castings with increasing optimization can be achieved by the
deployment of the Genetic Algorithm Approach. It is a bio-evolution based search algorithm for global
optimization of complex search space. Natural evolution is mimicked by the algorithm by pairing a
structure, yet randomized, information exchange with survival of fittest among the solutions. As per Yang
et all (2002),”The procedures of GA can be characterized by: (1) a chromosome representation (encoding
scheme) of a solution; (2) an initial population; (3) an evaluation function for rating solutions in terms of
their fitness; (4) genetic operators (reproduction, crossover, and mutation) that modify the genetic
composition of offspring for the next generation, and (5) a termination rule. The GA has been applied in
various fields such as engineering, manufacturing, biology, computer science, and social sciences.” The
basic framework of the approach has been illustrated in figure (2).
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Figure 2: GA approach framework
The GA heuristic construct is an advanced methodology to accurately predict workstation moving and
setup with resulting calculations models aiding in the decision making process to ensure if the planned
changes are feasible; if yes, how to implement them. The following graph presents the generation-wise
lowering of production costs obtained after multiple passes or iterations (Yang et all, 2011).
Figure 3: Cost vs Generation graph for GA results
The advanced modelling methodology could not be implemented while being in the realms of the
project as it requires extensive and diligent data collection, including quotes from subcontractors,
costing on infrastructural changes, setup costs in new location etc. Obtaining accurate measures of these
parameters goes beyond the scope of this project. The method provides a management perspective on
the cost benefits associated with the layout analysis. Changing the current layout may be a good choice
if the rearrangement costs are lower than the empirically predicted cost-gap. The output is a near-
optimal dynamic facility layout that facilitates production at lower costs to the competitiveness of the
enterprise and serve a distinct advantage in a fast paced market environment (Yang et all, 2011).
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A detailed example of implementation of Genetic Algorithm Heuristic approach for an organization with
20 operation has been provided in appendix-1 to give a better insight into the working and benefits of
the system.
VII. LEAN AT DP CASTINGS Lean can be defined as an approach to improve organization performance by focusing on the customer
needs. This system consider all the associated non-value adding steps of a business process as waste
only to target them for elimination. Based on the Toyota Production System, the system drew on existing
concepts of standardizing work and eradication of Muda, Muri, and Mura; which find their origin in
Japanese and translate to Waste, Overburden and Unevenness in respective order. This concentrates
the focus on development of processes which are capable of delivering the outputs smoothly, stress-
free and flexibly, all while utilizing minimum amount of resources.
Many companies across the globe have attempted to emulate the success of the Toyota
production System by latching onto a reduced inventory. Organizations often fail to grasp that anchoring
just one of the aspects of the Toyota Production System does not guarantee favourable outcomes.
Backfiring, due to ineffective implementation results into ‘Starving’ of operation which in-turn causes
major cash flow problems and contributes to cost increase (Eaton, 2013).
During the analysis of DP Castings’ Manufacturing line, it was discovered that the most critical
part that went against the lean ideologies was the operations scheduling. Right from the first step, the
wax patterns are stored on the racks. As depicted in the figure below, it is one of the most critical
components of an efficient manufacturing system. Therefore the management needs to adopt a mind-
set of change and align their operations to inch closer towards the ideal ‘single-piece flow’. A successful
implementation will satisfy the 80/20 rule, addressing the issues of, overproduction, waste and inventory
accumulation. Suggesting a production scheduling model based on work-time and motion studies will be
one of the main objective of the team over the
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The term ‘Lean’ comes from the ‘upside of the production method which requires reduced human
effort, reduced manufacturing space, reduced investment and reduced engineering hours to develop
new product line. Lean thinking helps us to understand the major principles of lean and these are
identification of core values associated with the product, the elimination of excessive waste and
generation of stream line flow. The benefits associated with a lean plant are
Reduced lead times for the customers
Better inventory management for the manufacturers
Better process flow
Lean can be applied to all aspects of the industry i.e. from order receiving to supply chain. The
biggest challenge lean with the application of lean to business process are the superficial lack of tangible
benefits such as lean business process has faster response and most of the business process are linked
to supply chains which in turn can bring financial benefits to a company. Another is the perception of an
efficient business process. Most of the business process looks efficient but if we look from lean point of
view, he whole supply chain comprises of bottlenecks and sections of inefficiency (Wang et all, 2013).
Figure 4: Forces driving and opposing lean.
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j. 7 Deadly wastes and DP Castings
Any activities that don’t add value to the customer is called waste. Sometimes waste is necessary part of
the process such as by product in the petroleum is plastic and it can use in making several products.
These by-products somehow add value to the company and this can’t be eliminated for example financial
benefits. Other waste is MUDA which in Japanese term is called waste and it should be eliminated. There
are eight types of waste in DP Casting, which are:
Inventory – it basically means excessive storage of raw material, intermediary product, finished product
and so-on. DP Casting is facing lot of problem in inventory management. The have huge stock of
inventory and their inventory is dating back 30 years which exist in the form of finished products and
dies. This can financially affect the company like cost of maintenance, space and material handling cost.
The cost of maintain the inventory is $5,000/year which is non-regularized expenses that are affecting
the company’s financially. As one of the lean principles is the elimination of inventory. So the benefit of
applying lean is proper forecasting of actual demand and delivering the product just-in-time without any
need of excess inventory storage.
Waiting – it generally means waiting of people, equipment or product for processing which is increasing
the lead time and is a non-adding value part of the process. Currently, DP Casting take 78-82 days to
complete one order which is mainly due to excessive in between waiting for product processing. It
indirectly adds to the inventory or excessive material handling which involves human labor. According to
the Guardian software the actual days to complete the same amount of order is 28-30 days which is
exactly half of the current lead times. The benefits of reducing waiting time is the financial cost
associated with the material handling, labor cost and reduced lead times which will enhance their
efficiencies and help in reducing cost.
Over-processing – it means when a particular process or an activity that doesn’t add value the product.
The current situation at the DP Casting is that the inefficiencies related to the process which leads to
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over-processing. According to the ‘Taguchi method’ design of a product is the most important factor and
if there is uncertainty associated with the design the cost of operation will goes up.
Figure 5: Taguchi loss function
If the product is not within LSL and USL, the product will require over-processing which affect the
operation cost and it add cost to the manufacture and to the society.
Transportation – As discussed earlier due to increase in waiting time by the equipment, people or the
product, the product will require un-necessary transportation or material handling around the plan
which doesn’t add value to the product. Un-necessary movement will require more labour which will
affect the company financially. DP Casting spends around considerable amount of money extra on the
material handling of the raw material and intermediary products which also includes packaging of the
product. The major purpose of optimizing plant layout is to have a better low of product which
streamlines the flow of process that requires negligible or less transportation.
Over-production – It generally means producing more than the actual demand of the product. The
current problem in the DP Casting is that they have batch production and the due to uncertainty in the
scope of the product, they sometimes tend to produce more than the actual demand which leads to
excess inventory and cost associated with them. As discussed earlier, DP casting spends around
$5000/year for the inventory which also comprises due to excessive production.
Defects – Defects are errors that are generated due to defective process which may generally lead to re-
work or additional work. Defects affects the company financially in many aspects such as dissatisfaction
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by customer due to defective product, rework on the product, missed or late orders due increase in lead
time etc. The major problem in DP Casting is that after the cooling of the poured metal, they used to
break the outer shell with hammer with impact the product and causes defects. Therefore, installation
of a new shelling system and water jet blasting is smoothly eradicate the outer shell without causing
defects on the product (Yang et all, 2011).
k. A Quick start approach for implementing Lean in Job Shop
The procedure for “Quick-Start” approach for implementing lean in job shop is represented in the figure
below. In order to find a clear-cut, significant and stable part family, the biggest departure from value
stream mapping is the use of product-process matrix analysis for the entire range of product range is
necessary. Several industrial engineering analyses are done for using a sample of routings from this
particular part of family such as (Irani, 2013):
A spaghetti diagram is used to analyse the flow of disruption mainly due to layout and building
architecture.
A well-constructed flow process chart for analysing the product flow into series of activity
elements and break down that are not captured in a value stream map.
A material handling analysis chart to understand the flow interruption due to several materials
handling equipment’s.
Due to lack of Line-Of-Site between the key work centres.
In order to understand these operations, we need to understand the relation between above constraints.
These operations can be understood with the help of “Gemba Walk”. Gemba Walk is a technique to
record all the activities of the entire value network for the routings that were strongly recommended.
Also in a job shop, where there is batch-and-queue flow, it is recommended to use Theory of Constraints
to focus on Kaizen which in other word is continuous improvement to identify the bottlenecks on the
Work Centre for the parts. The benefits of this approach is to improve the process yield by using
standardize tool and fixtures, error proof machine setups, applying 5S, improved delivery schedules,
reduce setup times etc. For non-identical part routing, the bottleneck splits the value stream to break
up the material flow logistics into two parts receiving and shipping and helps us analysing the bottlenecks
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in between them. In order to control the two portions of value network, mechanism like CONWIP
(CONstant WIP), drum-buffer-rope and finite capacity scheduling can be used (Irani, 2013).
Figure 6: Quick Approach to Lean in a JobShop
l. A comprehensive approach for implementing lean in job shops
Unlike the quick start approach, the real challenge is to implement Job Shop Lean on full scale. The figure
below represents the flow of various processes in full scale for implementing lean in job shops. The basic
of this approach is to:
Identify the stable part families for certain product range, job shop will utilize the production flow
analysis or group technology
Implement the flexible manufacturing cell to produce each part family.
According to the theory, in each part of the iteration of the design process will lead to stand alone flexible
manufacturing cell that is dedicated for producing a part family. After completing the few steps to this
approach, the job shop would be divided into two key areas: one area consisting of flexible
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manufacturing cells, with each cell dedicated to a product family and the other would consist of spare
parts, prototypes etc. which would be the remainder shop. The two benefits of this approach are that
the cell would provide faster response time, high quality work etc. The other advantage is that only small
portion of the business will remain complex (Irani, 2013).
Figure 7: Comprehensive Approach to Lean in a JobShop
An attempt was made to assess the possibility of implementation of Lean Principles to the DP Castings
manufacturing system. The company is aiming to produce a 100 shells a day as a short term target. If we
consider the average number of hours in a shift at the company, the total time comes out to be 480
minutes. It means that the Takt time of the manufacturing lines needs to 4.8 minutes in line with the
single-piece flow system favoured by Lean Manufacturing principles. This clearly shows the ambitious
output being targeted by the company. Having a Takt time of 4.8 minutes means that all the upstream
value-adding processes need to fall under this limit. It becomes increasing difficult to do so in this
investment casting process as the drying times of the ceramic shells and metal cooling time cannot be
shortened as any interference with these parameters can have direct impact on the material properties
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of the shells and solidified metallic parts which can put the whole integrity of the process in question.
Therefore DP Castings need to find a way around it by committing to the exploration of an ingenious
product flow and scheduling plan or introduce a disruptive technology into the manufacturing line (Irani,
2013).
The current situation with DP Casting is that they are following a push system. Even in cases of
staggered demand, they are pushing the finished products to the storage area which affectively adding
cost to the inventory. This can be overcome by the use of Kanban methodology. Kanban cards are the
effective way to reduce the overhead cost and save money to the organization. The difference between
push and pull system is that releases are authorized rather than scheduled. This will not only affect the
lead times but also reduce the machine idle time, labour and enhance the throughput of the
company(Irani, 2013).
m. A Word on Standardisation
Another stumbling block in the way of lean implementation and lead time calculation was lack of
standardisation in the tasks and processes which prohibits measurement of parameters such as Machine
cycle times and Operator cycle times etc. Without measuring, it becomes nearly impossible to optimise
which in-turn requires standardisation of processes. The imperativeness of standardising work for lean
implementation can be understood from the words of Taiichi Ohno, who claims, “where there is no
standard, there can be no Kaizen.” Kaizen initiated pull is at the core of a lean manufacturing system.
Toyota Production System is a world recognized production system which implements all the lean tools
and made their every process a value added process. The important elements of Toyota Production
System are standardized worksheets and the information contained in them. The production person
should understand the importance the importance of these work sheets and it should be written in such
a way that it should be read by all. These standard worksheets mainly comprises of material, worker and
machine to produce efficiently. Using of standard operating charts is also more efficient and effective
way and it eliminates the need of having a supervisor.
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Purpose of Standardization: Standardization is a necessity for better work flow of processes. The main
purpose of standardization is to maximize the efficiency and minimize the waste. In order to deal with
that, there are three areas to look at, which are mainly:
Takt Time: It is the amount of time in which the given job is to be completed
Work Sequence: It is the sequence of operations in which each processing operations is to be
performed
Standard in Process Stock: It no. of part per process in any given time.
In order to have Ideal Takt time and standard process stock, it necessary to establish the best work
sequence for any given process.
Procedure to Form Standard:
Collect information for most effective work sequence
Practice the sequence with the employees and if they can repeat the sequence in an exact
manner, then it is optimum sequence
Creation of work standard which help the employees to repeat the optimum work sequence such
as Poka-Yoke
Therefore, in order to keep up the targeted Takt times, DP Castings either need to either make the
processes more efficient or increase the capacity of the lacking processes with an infrastructure that is
able to process more parts per unit time in that particular area. The latter may not be sustainable in the
long run or in an event where the company plans a further expansion. Keeping this in mind the team is
proposing some design ideas for equipment that can be deployed into the process steps to make them
much more efficient and faster. The accompanying CD holds the CAD version of these ideas and videos.
Figure 8: Example-Wax tree holder design
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Figure 9: Example-Suggested pouring system to minimize moving.
*All the design ideas (including videos) can be found in the accompanying CD at the back of this document.
This is by no means a complete solution to the mission of lean implementation in the production
processes of the company. Any move in the direction of adoption of the proposed ideas can be taken as
a first step to the journey of becoming a lean enterprise.
VIII. FLOW SYSTEMS Flow systems play a vital role in the facility planning. Flow systems are viewed as the flow of parts, raw
materials, finished materials, energy, information, goods and information within the job facility. For
example the movement of products in the facility are flow process involving people, the sales order given
from the sales department are flow process including information, the movement of materials or parts
through various departments are flow process involving the product. These examples are discrete flow
processes. Whereas the continuous flow process is different from the discrete one. Example of
continuous flow processes are flow of electricity or flow of raw material within the facility (Tompkins,
2010).
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Figure 10: Material Flow System
A flow process can be defined in terms of:-
Subject of flow
Resources that bring about flow
Communication that manages the resources
Subject of flow are the parts that are to be produced. Resources are the operations and transportation
facilities that are involved for the production of the part. Communications coordinate the resources that
include the procedures which the management of the flow process makes in an easy manner. The flow
systems for the discrete part processes are differentiated based on distribution cycle, stages of
operations and the manufacturer. The three sections are (Tompkins, 2010):
Material Management System
Material Flow System
Physical Distribution System
These overall flow systems can also be referred to logistics system. However, supply chain management
system consists of material management system and physical distribution system and it is often referred
to activities related to these systems.
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Material Management System: It is the flow of materials into the manufacturing facility, as far as DP
Casting is concerned, it is the flow of shells from Wax room to shelling room then to foundry and so-on.
The various subjects that are related with material management system are the raw material, finished
parts and other supplies that are purchased by DP Casting and required for the production of its
products. The resources that feed material flow systems are production control & quality control
departments, manufacturing, assembly & storage departments., material handling equipment’s and the
storage. The material flow systems can be enhanced by the use of kanban cards, NFC tags and production
schedules (Tompkins, 2010).
Figure 11: Material Management System
Physical Distribution System: The flow of products from a manufacturing facility to the customer, the
subject to flow processes is referred to physical distribution system. The various subjects that are related
to physical distribution system are customer, sales and accounting department, warehouse, material
handling equipment’s and the distributors of that finished products. The communications of physical
distribution system can be enhanced by Kanban cards, NFC tags, electronic data interchange (EDI) etc.
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n. Flow within Products and Process Departments with Material Handling Consideration
The flow pattern between the departments in DP Casting is different and it merely depends upon the
room orientation. For example, in wax room DP Casting is following U-flow systems whereas in knockout
area they are following a straight line flow system. The flow pattern within the room is mainly done by
manual material handling equipment’s and also by forklift. These flow patterns require human labor
which is expensive ways. The flow pattern within the departments can be mechanized and automated
systems involving the use of continuously running conveyors, automated guided vehicles, robots and
other devices. For implementing these systems, the first thing to do is to identify the flow patterns within
and the interlinked departments. Several flow patterns are (Tompkins, 2010):
Line flow
Loop flow
Tree flow
Line flow system: The typical type of line flow system is found in automotive industry. Line flow patterns
can be converted to U-flow, S-flow, and the O-flow and is often dictated by the length of production line.
Currently, DP Casting is using zigzag pattern in processing area which is inefficient and is a major cause
of increase in operation time to un-necessary material handling from one machine to other. This can be
improvised by better flow of material within the processing room through line pattern. This will reduce
the un-necessary material handling and make the system more efficient for better throughput.
Loop flow pattern: The presence of workstation around the loop is characterized by loop flow patterns.
These types of flow patterns can be unidirectional or bidirectional and are mainly dependent upon the
type of production. Currently, DP Casting is following U-shape flow pattern in the wax room is somewhat
efficient but it can be improved by using inner flow loop pattern in which the rack are placed in between
the machines and the operators can easily place the moulded parts on the shelf without extra travelling
and thus enhance the system which would be more efficient for the machine operators.
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Tree flow pattern: The following pattern is illustrated in the figure. This type of pattern can be used on
that workstation where the processes are fast and require fast timing such as foundry area. Currently, at
the foundry area of DP Casting, the shell is heated in the furnace and the pouring of hot metal into the
shell should be done in 25 seconds and if the process follow tree flow pattern they can be more efficient
and also the benefits of using this type of pattern is that, we can install robots in between the process
which will be much efficient and less hazardous (Tompkins, 2010).
o. Flow Between Departments
The flow between the departments methodology is used to calculate the overall flow within the facility.
The location for pickup and delivery station for each department is taken as an important consideration
in the flow of departments and these locations are often fixed. As per the observations made from the
figures, the decision has to be made by the floor manger whether the single station would manages the
entire flow or the between the interlinked departments or multiple input/output stations should be
made. The no. of stations used also depend upon the positioning of the machine, such as no. of machine
facing the isle should corresponds to no. of input /output stations. The number of receiving/shipping
area and decentralized area and their location also corresponds for the just-in-time facilities (Tompkins,
2010).
p. Material Handling Systems
Material handling in simple terms is loading, unloading and moving of materials from one
department to another department within the industry. To transfer the materials within the department
safely and economically, various types of equipment are used to handle the materials with care which
are known as Material Handling Equipment.
Material handling helps to speed up the production process. The materials steadily move from one
department to another until it is being produced and is being delivered out of the company. So material
handling plays a key role in the foundry industry where the materials have to be handled with utmost
care. Material handling does not add value to a product. Therefore the cost of material handling should
be minimized as much as possible. Because lower the material handling cost, higher will be the profit for
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the industry. Material handling is indirectly involved in the production process. It is nothing to do with
the in process work but after the completion of the work to move that part in that same condition is a
matter of concern (Tompkins, 2010).
To handle the materials on the factory floor, different types of equipment are used for this purpose. This
equipment is known as material handling equipment. A good material handling system is required due
to following reasons:-
Smooth and efficient movement of material to the desired destination.
Materials are moved in a timely manner.
The materials are supplied at a desired rate.
The materials should be stored such as minimum space utilization is made.
The lowest cost solution for the activities related to material handling.
Further when the materials are to be moved in a bulk, it is very difficult to move it manually. Moreover
the risk of damage is also higher. So it is better to move the materials with the help of equipment rather
than moving it manually. Also the time consumed in moving the material or parts from one department
to another is much more (Tompkins, 2010).
The following objectives can be achieved by a well design material handling system:
The damage of materials can be reduced during their storage and movement.
The efficiency of the production system can be improved by delivering exact amount of material
at the desired place at within the specified time.
Accidents can also be minimized by automated material handling.
The overall costs can be reduced by improving the material handling.
Customer service can be improved by supplying the materials in a manner suitable for handling.
Indirect labour cost can also be minimized by proper handling of materials.
Material handling equipment can be classified into various types. They are:
Conveyors
Cranes
Trucks
AGV
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Conveyors: Conveyors are general material handling equipment that is used to move material from one
location to another. Conveyors are used specially in the applications in which the materials are in huge
quantity or very heavy. They can be installed anywhere in the industry and are much safe to use rather
than forklift or any other machines. There are chain conveyors which are divided into floor and overhead
type. They consist of enclosed track. Out of which overhead conveyors is the most suitable one for
Industry related to foundry (Tompkins, 2010).
Cranes: Cranes are types of machine which are attached with chains or wire ropes which can be used to
hold and lower the material. They are generally used in the transportation industry for loading and un-
loading of the parts. For the material handling inside the industry, cranes are not preferred. Their main
objective is move the final part to the desired destination (Tompkins, 2010).
Trucks: These are industrial trucks which are used to move the materials for shorter distances. Trucks
are either controlled by levers or are electrically controlled. Trucks are available in various shapes and
sizes depending upon the requirement of the industry. Rather than moving the parts manually, it is very
easy to move the parts with this equipment. There are different types of trucks namely forklift truck,
reach truck, hand truck, pallet jack, turret track, counterbalanced lift truck.
Automatic Guided Vehicles: AGVs can increase the efficiency and decrease the cost by automating a
manufacturing company. These AGV can attach the parts behind them in sequence to the pallets which
can be used to move the raw material or the finished product. AGV can also store the parts on the bed.
These AGV’s can also be programmed and can communicate with the robots to make sure that the parts
are moving smoothly without any delay. AGV are of various types. They can be wired, laser-navigated,
guide-tape or natural navigation. Any of the ways can be used to move the parts depending upon the
company whichever is preferable by them.
So out of all the material handling equipment discussed, the best possible equipment that can be
implemented in your company are overhead conveyors and AGVs.
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q. Overhead Conveyors at DP Castings
Overhead conveyor is a part of material handling system and it is used to transport items throughout the
facility. The main difference between overhead conveyor system and floor level conveyor system is that
it is an elevated system and operates without causing interruption in the facility area. These types of
conveyor system are mainly belt driven and are considerable thinner as compared to the belt-driven. It
consists of trolley system - unit that can hold considerable amount of weight. This type of conveyor
system can be used in wide range of industries. The main advantage of this type of conveyor system is
that, they make good use of the space. However, they are not applicable for facilities with heavy loads.
Overhead conveyors are chain driven and chain is less likely to wear out than the belt driven conveyor,
and this makes the conveyor less operating cost (Tompkins, 2010).
Advantages of Conveyors
Better utilization space: An overhead conveyor can be the ideal solution as it utilises a rarely used
space in a warehouse or factory; namely the roof space
Reduced Labor Cost: An advantage of an overhead conveyor system is that it can significantly
reduce your labour costs. Instead of staff having to manually move items across your warehouse
or factory, they can now be carried on the overhead conveyor quickly and safely
Power & Free is a natural progression from continuous powered, overhead conveyors. These
conveyors offer maximum cost effectiveness and flexibility in materials handling
Items can be easily transported to departments without interruption
Varying chain speeds to maximize flexibility
Overhead conveyors offers low operating cost
Increases productivity
Figure 12: Overhead conveyor line
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r. Automated Guided Vehicles at DP Castings
Automated guided vehicles belongs to the family of material handling equipment such as conveyors,
cranes, hoist elevators, lifts etc. which basically focuses on transferring of goods from one place to
another mainly in industrial warehouses. The ultimate goal is to maintain the flow of goods into the
facility area by providing protection to the material and improve working conditions, promote
productivity and so-on. AGV is a driverless vehicle and are capable of moving along the predetermined
path. They are particularly useful for transporting the delicate products. AGV runs on the guidance
method depending upon the requirements of the facility, rate of transportation, existing facilities, cost
and future expansions. The most common type of guidance system that AGV’s runs on is (Tompkins,
2010):
Laser Guidance: It is the most flexible type of AGV with extensive freedom of movement because
these types of vehicles don’t need any desired track, wired or rails. Also, this type of AGV can be
easily programmed both for indoor or outdoor driving and can be easily changed according to the
requirements.
Wire Guidance: this type vehicle has well proven navigation system in which the path is defined
by the wire laid on the floor. The information is transferred via wire, radio or the defined
information point to a host computer. These can use to both indoor and outdoor use.
Tape Guidance: in this system vehicle follows taped or painted line that is laid on the floor via
vision camera. The transfer of information takes place via radio communications. The main
drawback for this type of AGV is that, they can use indoor only (Tompkins, 2010).
Features and advantages of AGV’s:
The main advantage of AGV is that, they can be easily interfaced with other FMS such as robots,
automatic storage, CNC machines etc.
AGV offers extreme flexibility and it is adaptable to change in product as well as production.
For Computer Integrated Manufacturing System (CIMS), AGV system is well suited.
AGV material handling system facilitates the optimization efficiency and enhances the
productivity of the manufacturing system.
Compared to other material handling systems, it has the flexibility to adapt to change.
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It offers low noise and disturbance level with AGV systems.
Non-involvement of labour which increases the operational safety (Tompkins, 2010).
IX. SUPPLIMENTARY TASKS
s. Reach Truck for DP Castings:
Reach trucks are important part of material handling operations because the material can be moved
smoothly and efficiently in the areas where traditional forklifts are too tight to be fit in the plant layout.
The added advantage of a reach truck comes from the fact that the lifting forks can be moved horizontally
in addition to the vertical direction.
Introduction of a reach truck onto shop floor can allow the company to simply moving bulky parts
and materials. They are specially designed to work in the narrow spaces and consist of two outer legs
which distribute the weight along with a wheel configuration that includes two or one wheels per leg.
Driver can sit sideways while operating the machine. Also the wheel is located under the sealing position
of operator. They can pick the load to its maximum height working height and provide excellent flexibility.
Reach truck has the capacity to reach beyond its stretched legs which shows that they can reach
to rack the parts. This combined ability of stabilizing legs and its capability they can move to great heights
(more than 10 meters) while working in tight working environments. Moreover some of the
manufacturers can design the trucks with a tilting mechanism for a better viewing seat for the operator.
The reach truck can also be fitted with camera on the carriage that transfers a signal down to a LCD
screen for navigation purpose. It can be either wireless or wired in which wired are more reliable
Benefits of the reach truck are as follows:-
It has the ability to move 360 degree.
It has enhanced speed and accuracy.
Reach trucks have illuminated display light panels which the normal forklifts truck do not have.
Moreover it has the ability to lift heavy loads more than that of forklift.
It also eliminates the caster snap.
Reach trucks have multi-functional control handle through which several operations can be
performed at one time.
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The purchasing information for Raymond Reach truck can be found in the appendix-2, as requested by
DP Castings.
t. Design of a 5S Based Storage Area
The team was instructed to design a storage are in the DP Castings’ facility to aid storage of materials,
equipment etc. in a quest to de-clutter the company’s premises.
Figure 13: Diagram showing storage area location
The team unanimously agreed to propose storage area to be built right across the crew room with L-
shaped racking system. The L-shaped racking system was chosen because of the following reasons:
Better visibility of the stacked items as the racks do not hinder the view.
Better utilization of space as the area next to the wall is utilized in an efficient manner.
Increased accessibility for industrial trucks in compression to parallel racking counterpart.
Figure 14: New storage area
Furthermore, if more storage space in required in future, storage racks can be placed parallel to the
existing ones.
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u. Fire Exit Plan
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X. CONCLUSION
The benefits of a focused plant layout optimization is that the can improve capacity, throughput, cost
savings and hide the additional efficiencies of the plant. DP Castings turned to Sheridan College to
optimize the plant layout when the realized that their existing arrangement was inefficient to reach from
$4 million to $30 million turnover. The current system comprises of various process inefficiencies,
defects and varies lead time which in turn was adding unnecessary cost to the company operations. The
main reason behind the optimization of plant layout is to identify the current state of operational flow
within the facility area and to determine the optimal process flow for smooth process flow and to plan
the ways in which company could make the transition from the current state to the better future state.
The plant layout study was lighting factor for the DP Casting which quickly ousted their belief that the
need to create space within the facility for future expansion of their business. The analysis that engaging
sales and engineering can considerable reduce their lead time through more effective work level
monitoring, standardization of tasks and better process flow. The facility was modeled using VIP
PLANTOPT10 and further modified by user definition to cut the material handling costs by 20%. Material
flow systems were analyzed with suggestion provided through theoretical research to establish a
seamless flow. Suggestion for implementation of lean manufacturing were made with first steps taken
in the direction. Material handling equipment were profiled and recommended along with development
of a storage area based on 5S to de-clutter the facility, relocation of design rooms to allow passage for
industrial trucks and development of a fire exit plan. We hope that the recommendation presented
through the analytical work will enable the company to transition to a better stage and contribute to the
overall success of the company.
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XI. REFRENCES Assaf, R., & Nablus, P. Job Shop Lean Production Implementation Using Program Evaluation and
Review Technique (Pert).
Badiru AB, Arif A (1996) Flexpert: facility layout expert system using fuzzy linguistic relationship
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Chen Y.K.,Lin S.W., Chou S.Y.(2002) An efficient two-stage approach for generating block layouts.
Comput Oper Res 29:489–504.
Eneyo ES, Pannirselvam GP (1999) Process simulation for facility layout. IIE Solut 31:37–40 9
Jia, Z., Lu, X., Wang, W., & Jia, D. (2013). DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN FACILITY
LAYOUT SYSTEM OF A PRODUCTION LINE.International Journal of Industrial Engineering: Theory,
Applications and Practice, 20(7-8).
Muther R (1973) Systematic layout planning, 2nd edn. Cahner Books, Boston.
Shahrukh Irani. 2013. A Quick-Start Approach for Implementing Lean in Job Shops. [ONLINE]
Available at:https://www.hoerbiger.com/. [Accessed 03 August 14].
Singh, S. P., & Sharma, R. R. K. (2006). A review of different approaches to the facility layout
problems. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 30(5-6), 425-433.
Tompkins, J. A. (2010). Facilities planning. John Wiley & Sons.
Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2005, 83(A6): 662–673
Volmann TE, Buffa ES (1966) The facilities layout problem in perspective. Manage Sci 12:450–468
Yang T, Kuo C (2003) A hierarchical AHP/DEA methodology for the facilities layout design problem.
Eur J Oper Res 147:128–136
Yang, C. L., Chuang, S. P., & Hsu, T. S. (2011). A genetic algorithm for dynamic facility planning in
job shop manufacturing. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 52(1-
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Zetu D, Duffy VG, Wu FF, Ng PPW (2003) Development of an internet virtual layout system for
improving workplace safety. Comput Ind 50:207–230
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XII. Appendices
Appendix-1: Genetic Algorithm approach to Facility Planning.
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Appendix-2: Reach Truck Purchasing Information.
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