Facility Layout Design Tools Comparison: A Case Study of a SME in Electronic Industry

Abstract

Designing and/or redesigning a proper layout of a small production line it is not an easy task to a company. Usually this is performed using empirical methodologies and according to space availability. Mainly due to the latter, the layouts are not very efficient and optimized. This case study portrays a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) in the electronics industry, which, taking advantage of the need to introduce a new product in the production, intends to redesign the layout of a production line, whose efficiency has been decreasing. To this end, three methods were applied-Empirical Model, Systematic Layout Planning and Lean Facility Layout System. The results prove that the Lean Layout Facility System method achieved better results by reducing both lead time and the workers movement time and distance.