Layout Plan.
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: - PLANT LAYOUT
The assignment summarises what is a plant layout, main objectives for designing a good plant layout, the various types of plant layouts, advantages and disadvantages of the respective layouts, what are various techniques used to design a plant layout, and importance of layout in every sector of business, be it manufacturing or services. All this is well explained with live examples from various industries depicting the relevance of each layout.
FORD’S PLANT
There has never been anything like the Rouge, Ford’s most famous car-making facility. Located on 1100 acres along the Rouge River in Michigan, the complex at its heyday consisted of 29 factories, 50 miles of railroad tracks, and its own power plant and steel mill. The Rouge employed more than 1000,000 people and produced a new car every 49seconds. Iron ore, coal, and other raw materials went in one end and came out the other as a completed automobile. Today, the Rouge employs about 7000 people and assembles the Ford F-150. Outside suppliers provide most of the components and subassemblies. But great things are happening at this famous facility.
Bill Ford has built a new assembly plant on the site, designed for flexibility and sustainable manufacturing. With flexible equipment and new processes, Ford’s able to ship 90% of vehicle orders the same day. By manufacturing three vehicle platforms and nine different models on a single assembly line, the line has 40% fewer workstations and teams of workers controlling “their own piece of the world.” The flexible manufacturing body shop consists of 16 work cells producing 300 standard parts. Web connections on the plant floor enable workers to share information directly with suppliers, product engineers, and customers. A team leader, for example, can take a digital photo of a poorly fitting part, send it over the Web to a supplier, and get an engineering fix in minutes. Parts delivered directly to the assemble area cut
The assignment summarises what is a plant layout, main objectives for designing a good plant layout, the various types of plant layouts, advantages and disadvantages of the respective layouts, what are various techniques used to design a plant layout, and importance of layout in every sector of business, be it manufacturing or services. All this is well explained with live examples from various industries depicting the relevance of each layout.
FORD’S PLANT
There has never been anything like the Rouge, Ford’s most famous car-making facility. Located on 1100 acres along the Rouge River in Michigan, the complex at its heyday consisted of 29 factories, 50 miles of railroad tracks, and its own power plant and steel mill. The Rouge employed more than 1000,000 people and produced a new car every 49seconds. Iron ore, coal, and other raw materials went in one end and came out the other as a completed automobile. Today, the Rouge employs about 7000 people and assembles the Ford F-150. Outside suppliers provide most of the components and subassemblies. But great things are happening at this famous facility.
Bill Ford has built a new assembly plant on the site, designed for flexibility and sustainable manufacturing. With flexible equipment and new processes, Ford’s able to ship 90% of vehicle orders the same day. By manufacturing three vehicle platforms and nine different models on a single assembly line, the line has 40% fewer workstations and teams of workers controlling “their own piece of the world.” The flexible manufacturing body shop consists of 16 work cells producing 300 standard parts. Web connections on the plant floor enable workers to share information directly with suppliers, product engineers, and customers. A team leader, for example, can take a digital photo of a poorly fitting part, send it over the Web to a supplier, and get an engineering fix in minutes. Parts delivered directly to the assemble area cut