The Analysis and Facility Layout Improvement of Mr. Biscuit’s Production Facility

Abstract

This document is the final report for this Final Year Project for the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Pretoria. An as-is process analysis was conducted at the Mr. Biscuit factory in Pretoria East, to identify a problem for which an industrial engineering based solution could be provided. As the company expects a growth in demand within the next year, their aim is to be able to fulfil all orders for the increased demand but has concerns whether current production process have the capacity to do so. From the process analysis it was concluded that a lot of time is wasted on unnecessary movements of workers as workstations are positioned inefficiently on the factory floor. With the application of the industrial engineering approach of facilities planning in combination with Professor Iwao Kobayashi’s 5S and waste elimination principles, it is expected that an improved layout will contribute to an improved production process and production operations. From the literature study done in this document it was concluded that for the project, Muther’s Systematic Layout Planning Procedure will be used, as it focuses on the flow of materials and workers within the factory with which alternative layouts can be designed. All requirements for the design of these layouts is established within this document through a structured data analysis which was then used to construct a From-to Chart, a Relationship Chart and a Space Relationship Chart. The knowledge that was gathered within these first stages of the project was used along with some additional information collected. This, including specific space requirements and research regarding flows within facilities, specifically in connection with the Work Simplification Approach as discussed in the Tompkins text book, was then applied to develop and design four layout alternatives. These designs where constructed using the program TurboCAD*16 Pro, as it provides an easy means to do so. These alternative designs are then compared and evaluated in terms of the flow patterns they produce, and assessed against the criteria set out by the Graph-Based Method. From this a design is chosen that represents the best improved layout from the current facility layout. This is also validated to confirm that the new improved layout does meet the objectives and requirements for this specific project. This layout design will be handed over to the management of Mr. Biscuit for final decision-making. If management decides to accept the new layout and wishes to implement it, this document also provides a proposed step by step implementation and other requirements on how to obtain the new layout in the most time efficient and safest way. Lastly, recommendations are also included in this document that will assist with further improvements within the Mr. Biscuit facility. All of the recommendations are interlinked with the 5S approach and waste eliminations initiatives, discussed as supplementary methods of improvement in this document. The implementation of these approaches are for the purpose of sustaining a productive and efficient production process within Mr. Biscuit’s new improved facility layout.