Layout – Product & Process

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Layout

Arrangement of a facility to provide; working, service, reception, storage and

administrative areas

Types of Layout• Service Product Layout

– Appropriate when large quantities of product or people need to be moved smoothly through the system

• Movie theatre

• Theme park

• Recreational park

• Airline check in

• Museum

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Service Product Layout• Advantages

– High levels of output achieved

– Supervision, planning and control easier

– Staff training reduced to operational specialisation

– Minimum work-in-progress and materials handling costs

• Disadvantages– Jobs routine and de-motivating

– Inflexibility when change necessary

– Breakdown in one area can result in entire operation being stopped

Types of Layout

• Service Process Layout– Grouping together of all similar

processes• Department store

• Health and sports clubs

• Café and food

• Theme park

• Hotel

Service Process Layout• Advantages

– General purpose machinery more flexible

– More varied work for staff

– Group identity stronger

– Individual incentive schemes

• Disadvantages– Communications and

supervision more difficult

– Individual resource use lower

– eg. A cash register for every departmental counter may only be used 10-15% during the week – whereas one cash register for the floor would be used 100% but there would be increased customer queuing

Service Position Layout

• Certain types of products are required to be created on-site

• eg. In a restaurant the dining room is fixed. The customer is provided with everything necessary

Service Fixed Position Layout

• Advantages– Repeat items – mean

reduced operational times

– Efficiency, quality and quantity should be more than satisfactory

– Likely to be more standardisation

• Disadvantages– Resources need to be

tidied, reset and replenished before continuing

– eg. After a meal the table needs to be cleared before it can be used again

Requirements

• Safe Working Practice– Staff training programmes should be provided to

• Familiarise staff with hazards, protective clothing, legal requirements, etc

• emergencies

Problems

• Bottleneck– Operational blackspots unable to cope with the

demands paced upon them– eg. Entrance and exit the same– Too few exit/payment channels– Space too physically demanding

Problems

• Difficult to Supervise– Too few supervisors– Physical dimensions of space difficult to

observe– Facility for too many people to congregate at

once

Problems

• Motivation– Space not user friendly– Too much walking around– Room cooler– Room warmer

Exercise• Think of a facility you know well eg. shop,

sports or information centre etc. Sketch a two dimensional ‘birds-eye view’ of the first floor layout. Identify any potential problems

• eg. students centre, museum

– Highlight what are good innovations– Mark the health and safety features

• eg. Exit, signs, fire extinguishers etc