(jit) principles and systematic layout planning as tools to improve ...

Observations were made to determine the frequency of movements of
people, tools and materials within the cell. In order to be more accurate
in data analysis, the observations were made every working day for
four months from May to August 1997.
Table 1.5 shows 59% of the time was wasted due to waiting for the
parts to be produced and ejected from the machine. Table 1.6 shows
that in the month of August, the maximum number of machines, which
were running, was eight on 21 August 1997. It is also calculated that
the average machines which were running daily is four out of the total
of machines of nine (44%).
2.1 Proposed Gemini Cell Layout Improvement
The proposed Gemini Cell layout improvement was determined based
on two aspects. Firstly, workers spent 59% on average of the time
waiting for parts to be ejected from the machine. This leads to a
possible multi machine tasks by operator to reduce waiting time while
increasing working time on the parts. Secondly, some machines run
daily to produce parts while some are idle. This leads to a possible
grouping of machine with heavy and light load to level up the load
among the machines.
2.2 Proposed Layout Improvement No. 1
As shown in Figure 1.7. Group 1 (A2, A4, A7) are combined based on
two high frequency orders for A2 and A7 and one low frequency for
A4. It is also based on low size machine capacity of 250 tonnes for all
the three machines. The combination of Group 2 (Al, A5 and A8) is
also based on two high frequency order for Al and A5 and one low
frequency order for A8. It is also based on medium size machine of
330-400 tonnes.
The combination of Group 3 (A6, A9 and A10) is also based on two
high frequency orders for A6 and A10 and one low frequency order for
A9 It is also based on big machine of 440 tonnes. Two operators are
required to operate three machines each. If all three machines are
running, the two operators will increase their working time from 41%
(in the existing layout) to61%(41%x3 machines/2 operators). The
total number of operators can be reduced from ten to six.
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