Tutorial - FactoryPLAN

Transcription

1 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN Tutorial - FactoryPLAN In the FactoryPLAN tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to plan the layout for a manufacturing area. You will create all the necessary files using the actual FactoryPLAN program. FactoryPLAN can also be applied to planning other types of areas, such as offices, small businesses, and manufacturing plants. The manufacturing area comprises a variety of machining equipment activities. For the sake of simplicity the areas involved have been called WC_1, WC_2, and so on. A total of eight activities need to be arranged in the layout plan. Activity Name Space Required Type WC_1 200 Handling WC_2 250 Inspection WC_3 250 Secondary WC_4 400 Primary WC_5 100 Offices WC_6 360 Offices WC_7 250 Primary WC_8 550 Handling By entering space information, you enable FactoryPLAN to generate circles or rectangles of the appropriate size to represent the activities and assist in their positioning. In this tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to arrange the layout based on the closeness-desired (proximity) ratings between pairs of activities. This is an appropriate approach to laying out a job-shop operation. You could also use FactoryPLAN to lay out manufacturing facilities with discrete product lines using material flow-based data, such as can be generated with FactoryFLOW. You will perform the FactoryPLAN analysis in three steps: Enter activity name and space data. Enter relationship data. Generate and manipulate the relationship diagram. 1

2 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT Step 1 Enter Activity Information To begin, start a new drawing in AutoCAD. Name the new drawing PLAN_OPT. To load FactoryPLAN, pull down the Factory Menu and choose FactoryPLAN. NOTE If the Factory menu has not been loaded, see the Factory Programs Guide for instructions on how to load it. Since this is a new drawing, the Set Factory Drawing Parameters dialog automatically appears. Enter the drawing limits and check the scales and options as shown in the following illustration. Type the drawing limit values as shown, then click OK. Values for PLAN_OPT drawing. Note A negative coordinate value for the lower left corner is used so that 0,0 can be the base location for the plant and still be within the drawing area. The upper right corner is set so that we will have room to manipulate workcenters while staying within the view area when zoomed to the drawing limits. 2

3 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN You will use FactoryPLAN s data entry program, FPEDIT to enter the activity information. Pick Edit Relationship File from the Chart/Data Menu to start FactoryPLAN s data entry window. When you pick the FPEDIT command, the program displays the FactoryPLAN Data Files dialog for specifying data files. FactoryPLAN uses four data files: Relationship/ AMX File containing a list of activities and their relationships to other activities. Three types of relationships can be specified: Proximity (closeness-desired) AEIOUXZ Flow Aggregate of proximity and flow. Space File containing a list of activity names, their size, and their height/width ratios. Space Standards File containing a list of space types and each type s layer and color. Reason Codes File containing a list of reason codes. The reason code can be used to describe the reason for assigning a proximity relationship. If you named your drawing file when you created it, FactoryPLAN automatically fills in relationship and space file names with the same name as the drawing, plus the appropriate extension (FactoryPLAN saves the files in the same directory as the drawing). You will be creating these two files during this tutorial. Default space standards and reason codes are supplied by the software, and FactoryPLAN automatically fills in these default names. PLAN_OPT.AMX and PLAN_OPT.SPC are the names of the data files. 3

4 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT When you click OK in the data files dialog, FactoryPLAN displays the Activity/Department List dialog, which shows the list of activities in the AMX file. Since you have not yet entered any data, the list is empty except for the activity BLDG-OUT. Click here to begin entering area names. Note One activity, BLDG-OUT, appears even though you did not enter it in your activity list. BLDG-OUT is automatically added to the activity list when you save the AMX file. BLDG-OUT is an artificial activity created to represent relations of real activities with the world outside the building. Typical relations with the outside are material flow out of the shipping and into the receiving activities. Click in the text box at the top right of the dialog and type the first activity name, WC_1. (FactoryPLAN automatically converts all characters to upper case.) Then click the Add button (or press <Enter>) to add the name to the Activity List. Repeat the process to add all eight activity names, at which time the dialog should look like the following illustration: Enter the eight workcenter names in this box. Once you have entered the activity names, click the Space Information button to enter space information for the activities. 4

5 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN Click on the WC_1 row to edit the values in the data entry fields. Click on the Update button to make the changes. FactoryPLAN displays the Space Information dialog. Notice that the space file name displayed at the top of the dialog is the same name that you specified when you started FPEDIT. In this case, since the space file did not already exist, FactoryPLAN simply copied all the activity names from the Activity List dialog to the Space Information dialog and added default space information. To edit activity space information, click on an activity row to highlight it. When you highlight a row, its data appears in the data editing fields at the top of the dialog, where you can make changes to the data. You can use the <Tab> key or your pointing device to move between entry fields. Click on the WC_1 row. The cursor appears in the AREA field, which is for the activity s space requirements (in square feet or meters, depending on whether your distance units are set to foot-inch or metric). Type 200 in this field, then press <Tab> to move to the next field. The next field, TYPE, specifies the activity type. Pull-down the TYPE list that defines the current space standards file. Pick HANDLING from the pull-down list or type H. 5

6 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT When you choose a type and update the line, FactoryPLAN displays the numeric code for the border color specified for that type in the current space standards file. Standard color codes for US versions of AutoCAD are shown in the following table. Color Code Border Color 1 Red 2 Yellow 3 Green 4 Cyan 5 Blue 6 Magenta 7 White 8 Dark Gray 9 Light Gray The next two fields, WIDTH and HEIGHT, specify the width and height factors FactoryPLAN uses when drawing the activity s border if you choose to have FactoryPLAN draw rectangular borders. Most of the activities don t require specific proportions, so a 1:1 height to width factor will be fine. Enter 1 for Height and 1 for Width. You have finished entering space information for the WC_1 area, so click the Update button to update the activity row with the data you have entered in the data entry fields. Tip If you update a row and then discover that you entered the wrong data, simply highlight the row and make the necessary changes, then click Update again. Enter the remaining space data shown in the Space Information dialog above. When you are finished editing the data, click the Save button to save the space information file. FactoryPLAN displays the Save SPC File dialog, asking for the file name and format. Click OK to accept the default values, and FactoryPLAN returns you to the Space Information dialog. Click the Exit button in the Space Information dialog to return to the Activity/Department List dialog. 6

7 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN Step 2 Enter relationship data Once you have identified your activities, the next step in this exercise is to enter a proximity rating (and a reason for assigning the rating) for each activity relative to every other activity. Closeness desired ratings range from absolutely necessary to very undesirable as shown in the following list. A: Absolutely necessary that these are together E: Especially important that these are together I: Important that these are together O: Ordinary importance that these are together U: Unimportant that these are together (default value) X: Undesirable for these to be together Z: Very undesirable for these to be together Many activities in a given layout, including the tutorial, do not need to be next to other activities. For those activities that do have important relationships, FactoryPLAN s Matrix Editor dialog enables you to enter and keep track of ratings that FactoryPLAN stores in the Relationship/AMX file. In the Activity/Department dialog click the WC_1 activity and click the Edit Relationships button to display the Matrix Editor dialog. In the Aggregate Factors area, set the Relationship factor to 100 because the relationships are all based entirely on the proximity relationship. The Flow factor automatically adjusts to 0. By default, all relationship values are Unimportant. To enter relationship information between WC_1 and WC_2, click on the W_2 activity row in the activity list. Its values will then be displayed in the data entry row, and the cursor will be in the MAX DIST field. 7

8 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT The MAX DIST value is the maximum distance allowed between activities that still satisfies the proximity relationship. When you run FactoryPLAN s Score command on a relationship diagram, if the distance between the activity pair exceeds the MAX DIST value, FactoryPLAN adds the pair s relationship weight to the E (Euclidian) and R (rectilinear) scores (a lower score is better). Specific MAX DIST values can be entered here if desired. Generally, it is better to accept the default value of 0, in which case FactoryPLAN later uses the generic maximum distances for MAX DIST according to the relationship level specified during the Score command. Press <Tab> to accept the default value and move to the Relation field. The relationship between WC_1 and WC_2 is absolutely necessary. Type A or choose Absolutely Necessary from the relationship pull-down at the top left of the dialog. Then press <Tab> to move to the Reason field. The default reasons code file contains codes for seven reasons. Click on the reasons pull-down to see the list of reasons and their corresponding codes. Select 01Shared Equipment as the reason for assigning Absolutely Important to the relationship between WC_1 and WC_2. Since you are doing an analysis based on proximity (closeness desired) relationships only, you do not need to enter flow intensity data. So, you are finished entering data for the WC_1/WC_2 pair. Click the Update button to update the activity row. Edit the WC_4, WC_6, and WC_7 relationships to the WC_1 activity to read as shown in the above illustration. When you finish editing the data, click OK to return to the Activity/Department list dialog. At this point you have entered four relationships. FactoryPLAN uses the relationship data recorded in the Relationship/AMX file to generate the relationship diagram. If you wish, FactoryPLAN can also use the proximity data in the Relationship/AMX file to generate a relationship chart that shows all proximity ratings at once. If you were to save the file now and have FactoryPLAN generate a relationship chart using the data you have entered, it would look like the following illustration: This diamond shows the relationship between WC_1 and WC_2. The top half of the diamond contains the relationship code, A. The bottom half of the diamond shows the reason code, 01. 8

9 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN The relationship chart is an organizational tool for identifying relationships. It can be used to quickly review relationships and reasons among an entire set of activities. Each square or diamond records the relationship between two workcenters. The top half of the diamond contains the rating level, and the bottom half contains a reason for the rating. FactoryPLAN can also insert a relationship chart that is blank except for the activity names. The blank relationship chart is useful for collecting proximity rating data. The following relationship chart shows all the relationships among our nine activities. Enter relationships and reasons as identified in the chart. The relationships to WC_2 are listed in tabular format as an example. WC_2 Relationships BLDG-OUT A 02 WC_1 A 01 WC_4 I 03 WC_5 E 03 WC_8 O 04 To enter the WC_2 relationships, highlight WC_2 in the activity list dialog and click the Edit Relationships button. When the Matrix Editor dialog appears, the WC_2 activity is listed at the top left. Notice that a dashed line appears in the list to show what position WC_2 would occupy. Continue entering relationships as shown in the relationship chart. When you have finished entering all the relationships, click the Save button in the Activity/Department List dialog. FPEDIT displays the Save AMX File dialog, which allows you to specify file name and format. Click the Exit button to return to the drawing screen. Click OK to save the file with the default options. FactoryPLAN returns you to the Activity/Department List dialog. 9

10 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT Step 3 Generate and manipulate the relationship diagram Once you have created the data files, you are ready to create the relationship diagram. FactoryPLAN gives you great flexibility in creating the diagram. For this example, you will stick with the basic approach. To create the diagram, select Draw Relationships from the Diagram Menu. FactoryPLAN displays the Draw Relationship Lines dialog. Options in the dialog allow you to specify space boundary type, the method by which to insert activity relationships, the relationship type to use as the basis for the relationship lines, and the relationship and space files to use. Click OK to accept all the default values. FactoryPLAN draws area symbols one at a time, begins with the activities that have A closeness ratings, and draw relationship lines between them. When you click OK, FactoryPLAN returns to the drawing screen and begins checking for existing activity symbols (workcenter points). FactoryPLAN displays a dialog telling you there are no workcenter points because this is a new drawing. Click OK to continue with the routine. FactoryPLAN prompts you, at the command line, to pick the locations for the workcenters and starts with the activities that have A relationships. 10

11 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN Pick a location for each workcenter as it is listed. If you start at the left side of the screen and simply pick locations successively to the right, your workcenter arrangement would look like the following illustration: With only the activities that have A relationships displayed, you can easily concentrate on adjusting the most critical activities in the layout. When FactoryPLAN returns you to the command prompt, you have the option of rearranging the activities using the Stretchcommand. Pick Stretch from the Diagram Menu now. When you pick Stretch from the Diagram Menu, FactoryPLAN starts the command and automatically enters a &. Draw a crossing window around the activity border and relationship line of a workcenter, starting from the bottom right corner. Press <Enter> to signal that you are done selecting objects, and select the base and second point of displacement for the selected objects. Note Try to leave enough space between activities that you can always select exactly one activity border. If you accidentally select relationship lines or area borders that you don t want to stretch, draw a new crossing window; only objects selected with the most recent window will be stretched. If necessary, you can remove individual objects from the windowed set by typing R, which removes objects, when prompted for more objects, then selecting objects one by one to remove them from the selection set. Adjust the workcenter locations as you wish. Your objective is to minimize the distance between activities that need to be next to each other. Of course, not all activities can be next to all other activities, so you have to consider the relative needs to be close. By rearranging the layout as each level of need is added, you can address the most important needs first. The colored relationship lines also become thinner as the relative needs are less important; a fat line represents a more critical relationship than a thin one. When a choice must be made, it is better to have a short fat red line and a long thin yellow line than vice versa. 11

12 FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT When you are satisfied with the location of existing symbols, select Next Relationships to pick locations for activities with E relationshipsnext Relationships continues the drawing relationship lines with the next level to be drawn, in this case E. FactoryPLAN asks you to pick a location for WC_7. Pick a point on the drawing to insert the WC_7 symbol. The Next Relationships command continues asking for locations of other activities with E relationships. When all locations have been chosen and yellow E relationship lines have been drawn, you are returned to the command prompt, and you can again choose to rearrange activities using the Stretch command. Tip As you move activities with Stretch, you may find that relationship lines no longer seem to point directly to the workcenter point symbols. You can clean them up at any time using Draw Relationships again, which erases all existing relationship lines but leaves activity locations as they are, and continue with Next Relationships Once you are satisfied with the arrangement of activities considering the A and E relationships, pick Next Relationships again to continue with I relationships, then the O and X relationships. To help gauge the merit of any changes you make to the area layout, you can pick 6FRUHfrom the Diagram Menu. A full explanation of the Score command is included in the reference section. One possible arrangement of the PLAN_OPT activities, with and without relationship lines. You have reached the end of the FactoryPLAN tutorial. At this point, you should have a relationship diagram that gives you a clear idea of what the PLANOPT layout should be according to proximity relationships. More importantly, you should be able to begin using FactoryPLAN to design or redesign your own layout. You can increase your understanding of the program by referring to the online reference for FactoryPLAN. 12