A PRODUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR FACILITIES LAYOUT

Production flow analysis is effectively used in planning methods and tooling which are at present being used in the factory. It is also used in group technology when considering design features or shape of components. One of the basic data for computerized facilities layout procedures is the interdepartmental flow. Most,if not all of such computerized procedures require such data in an almost one form- a matrix. It is often assumed that this matrix is readily available, which is not always the case. Moreover a change in the production programme would affect the current status of the layout and therefore appropriate changes are inevitable which normally take a long time to account for changes and its impact on the data and in turn the configuration of the layout. On the other hand the analysis of the problem of layout would require several computer runs with different data set for the same problem. This paper uses the methodology of the production flow analysis with an ultimate objective of automated data preparation based on actual data of production e.g process sheet,operation sheet ..etc. A computer model is designed and tested using a real life problem.The model requires data which normally used in the factory without ulteration. The flow matrix is obtained based on the pattern of component movements.Other outputs are also available by the model.