The plant layout problem in automated manufacturing systems
Annals of Operations Research
A review of open queueing network models of manufacturing systems
Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications - Special issue on queueing models of manufacturing systems
Simulation with Arena
The Effects of Trailer Scheduling on the Layout of Freight Terminals
Transportation Science
Towards measuring the effectiveness of a facilities layout
Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
Process Flexibility Revisited: The Graph Expander and Its Applications
Operations Research
Topological arrangements of M/G/c/K, M/G/c/c queues in transportation and material handling systems
Computers and Operations Research
Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference
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Reducing manufacturing lead times and minimizing work-in-process (WIP) inventories are the cornerstones of popular manufacturing strategies such as Lean, Quick Response, and Just-in-Time Manufacturing. In this paper, we present a model that captures the relationshipbetween facility layout and congestion-related measures of performance. We use the model to introduce a formulation of the facility layout design problem where the objective is to minimize work-in-process (WIP). In contrast to some recent research, we show that layouts obtained using a WIP-based formulation can be very different from those obtained using the conventional quadratic assignment problem (QAP) formulation. For example, we show that aQAP-optimal layout can be WIP-infeasible. Similarly, we show that two QAP-optimal layouts can have vastly different WIP values. In general, we show that WIP is not monotonic in material-handling travel distances. This leads to a number of surprising results. For instance, we show that it is possible to reduce overall distances between departments but increase WIP. Furthermore, we find that the relative desirability of a layout can be affected by changes in material-handling capacity even when travel distances remain the same. We examine the effect of various system parameters on the difference in WIP between QAP- and WIP-optimal layouts. We find that although there are conditions under which the difference in WIP is significant, there are those under which both layouts are WIP-equivalent.