Control, Redundancy, and Change in Layout Systems¹

Abstract

This article is concerned with changes in the layout of facilities. It attempts to define an efficient layout in quantitative terms and to provide a basis for continuous review of a layout. A method of control similar to quality-control charting is suggested to detect drifts in production patterns and to assess periodically the effectiveness of a layout. The article defines redundancy of a layout, and presents a mathematical model to equate the cost of changing a layout to the cost of running an inefficient layout. The usefulness of the mathematical model is that it indicates to the industrial engineer an appropriate time when a change in layout is necessary.