Tutorial - FactoryPLAN · Tutorial - FactoryPLAN 1 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN In the FactoryPLAN tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to plan the layout for a manufacturing area

Tutorial - FactoryPLAN

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In the FactoryPLAN tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to plan the layout for amanufacturing area. You will create all the necessary files using the actualFactoryPLAN program. FactoryPLAN can also be applied to planning other types ofareas, such as offices, small businesses, and manufacturing plants.

The manufacturing area comprises a variety of machining equipment activities. Forthe 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 orrectangles of the appropriate size to represent the activities and assist in theirpositioning.

In this tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to arrange the layout based on thecloseness-desired (proximity) ratings between pairs of activities. This is anappropriate approach to laying out a job-shop operation. You could also useFactoryPLAN to lay out manufacturing facilities with discrete product lines usingmaterial 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.

FactoryPLAN / FactoryOPT

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Step 1 Enter Activity InformationTo 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 Guidefor instructions on how to load it.

Since this is a new drawing, the Set Factory Drawing Parameters dialogautomatically appears. Enter the drawing limits and check the scales and options asshown in the following illustration.

Values for PLAN_OPT drawing.

Note A negative coordinate value for the lower left corner is used so that 0,0 can bethe base location for the plant and still be within the drawing area. The upper rightcorner is set so that we will have room to manipulate workcenters while stayingwithin the view area when zoomed to the drawing limits.

Type the drawinglimit values asshown, then clickOK.


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You will use FactoryPLAN’s data entry program, FPEDIT to enter the activityinformation. Pick Edit Relationship File from the Chart/Data Menu to startFactoryPLAN’s data entry window.

When you pick the FPEDIT command, the program displays the FactoryPLAN DataFiles dialog for specifying data files. FactoryPLAN uses four data files:

Relationship/AMX

File containing a list of activities and their relationships toother activities. Three types of relationships can bespecified:

• Proximity (closeness-desired) AEIOUXZ

• Flow

• Aggregate of proximity and flow.

Space File containing a list of activity names, their size, and theirheight/width ratios.

SpaceStandards

File containing a list of space types and each type’s layerand color.

Reason Codes File containing a list of reason codes. The reason code canbe used to describe the reason for assigning a proximityrelationship.

If you named your drawing file when you created it, FactoryPLAN automaticallyfills in relationship and space file names with the same name as the drawing, plusthe appropriate extension (FactoryPLAN saves the files in the same directory as thedrawing). You will be creating these two files during this tutorial. Default spacestandards and reason codes are supplied by the software, and FactoryPLANautomatically fills in these default names.

PLAN_OPT.AMXandPLAN_OPT.SPC arethe names of the datafiles.


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When you click OK in the data files dialog, FactoryPLAN displays theActivity/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 activityBLDG-OUT.

Note One activity, BLDG-OUT, appears even though you did not enter it in youractivity list. BLDG-OUT is automatically added to the activity list when you savethe AMX file. BLDG-OUT is an artificial activity created to represent relations ofreal activities with the world outside the building. Typical relations with the outsideare 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.) Thenclick the Add button (or press <Enter>) to add the name to the Activity List. Repeatthe process to add all eight activity names, at which time the dialog should look likethe following illustration:

Once you have entered the activity names, click the Space Information button toenter space information for the activities.

Click here to beginentering area names.

Enter the eightworkcenter names inthis box.


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FactoryPLAN displays the Space Information dialog. Notice that the space file namedisplayed at the top of the dialog is the same name that you specified when youstarted FPEDIT. In this case, since the space file did not already exist, FactoryPLANsimply copied all the activity names from the Activity List dialog to the SpaceInformation dialog and added default space information.

To edit activity space information, click on an activity row to highlight it. When youhighlight 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 yourpointing device to move between entry fields.

Click on the WC_1 row. The cursor appears in the AREA field, which is for theactivity’s space requirements (in square feet or meters, depending on whether yourdistance 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 thatdefines the current space standards file. Pick HANDLING from the pull-down list ortype H.

Click on the WC_1row to edit the

values in the dataentry fields.

Click on theUpdate button

to make thechanges.


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When you choose a type and update the line, FactoryPLAN displays the numericcode 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 factorsFactoryPLAN uses when drawing the activity’s border if you choose to haveFactoryPLAN draw rectangular borders. Most of the activities don’t require specificproportions, so a 1:1 height to width factor will be fine. Enter 1 for Height and 1 forWidth.

You have finished entering space information for the WC_1 area, so click theUpdate button to update the activity row with the data you have entered in the dataentry fields.

Tip If you update a row and then discover that you entered the wrong data, simplyhighlight the row and make the necessary changes, then click Update again.

Enter the remaining space data shown in the Space Information dialog above. Whenyou are finished editing the data, click the Save button to save the space informationfile. FactoryPLAN displays the Save SPC File dialog, asking for the file name andformat.

Click OK to accept the default values, and FactoryPLAN returns you to the SpaceInformation dialog. Click the Exit button in the Space Information dialog to return tothe Activity/Department List dialog.


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Step 2 Enter relationship data Once you have identified your activities, the next step in this exercise is to enter aproximity rating (and a reason for assigning the rating) for each activity relative toevery other activity. Closeness desired ratings range from absolutely necessary tovery 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 toother activities. For those activities that do have important relationships,FactoryPLAN’s Matrix Editor dialog enables you to enter and keep track of ratingsthat FactoryPLAN stores in the Relationship/AMX file.

In the Activity/Department dialog click the WC_1 activity and click the EditRelationships button to display the Matrix Editor dialog.

In the Aggregate Factors area, set the Relationship factor to 100 because therelationships are all based entirely on the proximity relationship. The Flow factorautomatically adjusts to 0.

By default, all relationship values are Unimportant. To enter relationshipinformation between WC_1 and WC_2, click on the W_2 activity row in the activitylist. Its values will then be displayed in the data entry row, and the cursor will be inthe MAX DIST field.


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The MAX DIST value is the maximum distance allowed between activities that stillsatisfies the proximity relationship. When you run FactoryPLAN’s Score commandon a relationship diagram, if the distance between the activity pair exceeds the MAXDIST 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 canbe entered here if desired. Generally, it is better to accept the default value of 0, inwhich case FactoryPLAN later uses the generic maximum distances for MAX DISTaccording to the relationship level specified during the Score command.

Press <Tab> to accept the default value and move to the Relation field. Therelationship between WC_1 and WC_2 is absolutely necessary. Type A or chooseAbsolutely 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 reasonspull-down to see the list of reasons and their corresponding codes. Select “01SharedEquipment” as the reason for assigning Absolutely Important to the relationshipbetween WC_1 and WC_2.

Since you are doing an analysis based on proximity (closeness desired) relationshipsonly, you do not need to enter flow intensity data. So, you are finished entering datafor 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 asshown in the above illustration. When you finish editing the data, click OK to returnto the Activity/Department list dialog.

At this point you have entered four relationships. FactoryPLAN uses the relationshipdata recorded in the Relationship/AMX file to generate the relationship diagram. Ifyou wish, FactoryPLAN can also use the proximity data in the Relationship/AMXfile to generate a relationship chart that shows all proximity ratings at once. If youwere to save the file now and have FactoryPLAN generate a relationship chart usingthe data you have entered, it would look like the following illustration:

This diamond shows the relationshipbetween WC_1 and WC_2.The top half of the diamond contains therelationship code, “A”. The bottom half ofthe diamond shows the reason code, “01”.


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The relationship chart is an organizational tool for identifying relationships. It can beused to quickly review relationships and reasons among an entire set of activities.Each square or “diamond” records the relationship between two workcenters. Thetop half of the diamond contains the rating level, and the bottom half contains areason for the rating. FactoryPLAN can also insert a relationship chart that is blankexcept for the activity names. The blank relationship chart is useful for collectingproximity rating data.

The following relationship chart shows all the relationships among our nineactivities. Enter relationships and reasons as identified in the chart. The relationshipsto WC_2 are listed in tabular format as an example.

WC_2 Relationships

BLDG-OUT A 02WC_1 A 01WC_4 I 03WC_5 E 03WC_8 O 04

To enter the WC_2 relationships, highlight WC_2 in the activity list dialog and clickthe Edit Relationships button. When the Matrix Editor dialog appears, the WC_2activity is listed at the top left. Notice that a dashed line appears in the list to showwhat position WC_2 would occupy.

Continue entering relationships as shown in the relationship chart. When you havefinished entering all the relationships, click the Save button in theActivity/Department List dialog. FPEDIT displays the Save AMX File dialog, whichallows you to specify file name and format.

Click OK to save the file withthe default options.

FactoryPLAN returns you to theActivity/Department List dialog.

Click the Exit button to return to the drawing screen.


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Step 3 Generate and manipulate the relationship diagramOnce you have created the data files, you are ready to create the relationshipdiagram. FactoryPLAN gives you great flexibility in creating the diagram. For thisexample, you will stick with the basic approach.

To create the diagram, select Draw Relationshipsfrom the Diagram Menu.

FactoryPLAN displays the Draw Relationship Lines dialog.

Options in the dialogallow you to specifyspace boundary type,the method by which toinsert activityrelationships, therelationship type to useas the basis for therelationship lines, andthe relationship andspace files to use.

Click OK to accept allthe default values.

FactoryPLAN draws area symbols one at a time, begins with the activities that haveA closeness ratings, and draw relationship lines between them.

When you click OK, FactoryPLAN returns to the drawing screen and beginschecking for existing activity symbols (workcenter points). FactoryPLAN displays adialog 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 commandline, to pick the locations for the workcenters and starts with the activities that haveA relationships.


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Pick a location for each workcenter as it is listed. If you start at the left side of thescreen and simply pick locations successively to the right, your workcenterarrangement would look like the following illustration:

With only the activities that have A relationships displayed, you can easilyconcentrate on adjusting the most critical activities in the layout. WhenFactoryPLAN returns you to the command prompt, you have the option ofrearranging the activities using the Stretch�command. Pick Stretch from the DiagramMenu now.

When you pick Stretch from the Diagram Menu, FactoryPLAN starts the commandand automatically enters a &.

Press <Enter> to signal that you are done selecting objects, and select the base andsecond point of displacement for the selected objects.

Note Try to leave enough space between activities that you can always selectexactly one activity border. If you accidentally select relationship lines or areaborders that you don’t want to stretch, draw a new crossing window; only objectsselected with the most recent window will be stretched. If necessary, you canremove individual objects from the windowed set by typing “R,” which removesobjects, when prompted for more objects, then selecting objects one by one toremove them from the selection set.

Adjust the workcenter locations as you wish. Your objective is to minimize thedistance between activities that need to be next to each other. Of course, not allactivities can be next to all other activities, so you have to consider the relativeneeds to be close. By rearranging the layout as each level of need is added, you canaddress the most important needs first. The colored relationship lines also becomethinner as the relative needs are less important; a fat line represents a more criticalrelationship than a thin one. When a choice must be made, it is better to have a shortfat red line and a long thin yellow line than vice versa.

Draw a crossingwindow around theactivity border andrelationship line of aworkcenter, startingfrom the bottom rightcorner.


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When you are satisfied with the location of existing symbols, select NextRelationships to pick locations for activities with E relationships��Next Relationshipscontinues the drawing relationship lines with the next level to be drawn, in this caseE. FactoryPLAN asks you to pick a location for WC_7.

Pick a point on the drawing to insert the WC_7 symbol. The Next Relationshipscommand continues asking for locations of other activities with E relationships.When all locations have been chosen and yellow E relationship lines have beendrawn, you are returned to the command prompt, and you can again choose torearrange activities using the Stretch command.

Tip As you move activities with Stretch, you may find that relationship lines nolonger seem to point directly to the workcenter point symbols. You can clean themup at any time using Draw Relationships again, which erases all existing relationshiplines 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 Erelationships, pick Next Relationships again to continue with I relationships, then theO and X relationships.

To help gauge the merit of any changes you make to the area layout, you can pick6FRUH�from the Diagram Menu. A full explanation of the Score command is includedin 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 shouldhave a relationship diagram that gives you a clear idea of what the PLANOPT layoutshould be according to proximity relationships. More importantly, you should beable to begin using FactoryPLAN to design or redesign your own layout. You canincrease your understanding of the program by referring to the online reference forFactoryPLAN.

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Tutorial - FactoryPLAN · Tutorial - FactoryPLAN 1 Tutorial - FactoryPLAN In the FactoryPLAN tutorial, you will use FactoryPLAN to plan the layout for a manufacturing area