Production Control - Continued:

Floor Layout

Floor layout is always a major problem in the search for lower costs, particularly so because of changing and shifting conditions. Layout should be examined from the standpoints of orderly sequence of operations and the proper placement of desks, benches, machinery or equipment within work areas or departments.

Many concerns are still trying to get along with original floor layouts, entirely inadequate for present and future requirements. The waste of time alone in such cases may amount to many times more than revision costs.

Inefficient Layout is Waste

Current Flow of Materials, Paperwork, etc.



Flow of Materials, Paperwork, etc. Corrected.



Simplicity-Flexibility

While complete waste elimination involves intricate analysis and scientific calculation, sometimes even the simplest readjustments may accomplish unbelievable time and cost savings.

For instance, a certain tool manufacturer continued to use facilities without considering present layout needs. Between two main operations, it was necessary to grind off the burrs resulting from a drilling operation. The parts were carted several feet away to the grinding and buffing department where a bottleneck developed.

The parts waited hours at a time for this minor operation. A trained analyst suggested that a small bench grinder be put within easy reach of each operator. Important time was saved and the general manager was amazed that such a simple and obvious idea had never occurred to him. The company had been doing it the other way for 18 years.

We have thought too long in terms of grouping like machines by operation rather than an arrangement by product to be produced. The answer for many businessmen lies in layout of equipment for a new type of flexible operation, so that economical revisions can be accomplished when necessary to meet changing needs.

Wasted Motions

High on the list for analysis is eliminating wasted motions. Authorities state that the motions of the average business worker are at least 30 percent wasted.

Much misunderstanding exists regarding time and motion study. Scientific analysis is aimed not at making the worker labor harder and faster but at increasing his output without increasing energy expended. It seeks to eliminate needless, tiring motions. Excess lifting, moving, walking, reaching and bending are not only wasteful in cost but wasteful in energy.

What should all this mean to the individual businessperson? An alert executive might well say, "Competition is going to be much keener. I'll have to get my costs down or I won't get that next contract. Guess maybe I'd better look into the whole layout. I know we're doing a lot or crisscrossing back and forth. Wonder how many man-hours we actually lose?" (And are they going to get a jolt when they really find out!)

"While we're doing it, maybe now is the time to make our facilities more adaptable. Then we could probably take on that additional work we've been considering-yes, and put ourselves in shape now to make some real profits on those new products we're talking about."

This expression represents just a start in the right process of thinking, the type of thinking urgently needed in all businesses. Such thinking is not important from the standpoint of necessity alone. It is also important from the purely selfish viewpoint of keeping in step with fast-moving business. The laggard is dropped by the wayside. The forward-looking and aggressive businessperson rises to new heights of achievement.

With few exceptions, every business can improve its productivity from 25 to 50 percent. Many can improve a great deal more by the elimination of common waste factors.

Frankly, is your business an exception?