Development of Facility Layout for Medium-Scale Industry Using Systematic Layout Planning

In the global competition, it is vital for any organization to minimize the cost of manufacturing or services and at the same time maintain the quality of process. Facility layout problem (FLP) is an important consideration to reduce the material-handling cost and thus improve the productivity. Optimal design and arrangement of facilities have a significant effect on the overall production cost and manufacturing lead time. In this work, the existing process type layout is studied and its transportation cost is determined. The tool SLP (systematic layout planning) is used to propose a new improved layout. As a part of research work, the existing facility layout of IWAI electronics, which is a speaker manufacturing industry, has been studied. The important parameter considered to improve the layout is the relationship between the departments. Computerized Relationship Layout Planning (CORELAP) was used analytically to investigate the total closeness rating (TCR) for the existing layout. The TCR helps to reposition the departments according to their relationship and closeness ranking. A new layout is then proposed which reduced the material-handling cost by 11.63%.