Overview
FactoryFLOW is a software application that generates material flow and aisle congestion diagrams and reports. By presenting flow information graphically in a factory layout drawing, FactoryFLOW makes it possible to readily identify:
· Critical paths
· Potential flow bottlenecks
· Production flow efficiency
· Storage space requirements
· Material Handling Requirements
These representations of flow and material handling events over the analysis time period significantly boost understanding of the production system. FactoryFLOW enables rapid, easy modeling of changes to the layout, routings, production volume, material handling systems, and material handling activities.
FactoryFLOW is useful in many situations:
· Planning or improving the layout of a single work cell, a production line, a department, or a plant
· Working to improve the material flow efficiency of a product, a part, or groups of parts or products
· Calculating storage requirements
· Calculating material handling system requirements
· Changing product mix, adding new production, or working to improve plant efficiency
· Implementing new production philosophies, such as Just-In-Time or Group Technology
· Presenting layout alternatives
Typical goals of a FactoryFLOW analysis:
· Evaluating material handling requirements
· Eliminating non-value-adding material handling
· Reducing total product travel
· Improving product throughput
· Reducing work-in-process inventories
· Redesigning material flow for Just-In-Time or Group Technology
· Identifying storage space requirements
· Analyzing layout feasibility for operator walk paths
Basic data required to perform a FactoryFLOW analysis:
· An AutoCAD layout drawing
· Production quantity information
· Parts routing information
· Material handling equipment information
· Material handling activity information
The amount of data and detail required depends on the level of analysis. You may already have much of the required data available, since FactoryFLOW can import data from a variety of other software systems.
Comparisons FactoryFLOW can illustrate and evaluate:
· Different levels of production
· Various storage, machine, line, and dock locations
· Alternate product routings
· Different material handling methods
· Effect of activity time on operator walk paths
Stages in a FactoryFLOW analysis
The following sections describe six common stages of a FactoryFLOW analysis.
1. Identify the goal(s) of the study and determine areas or products affected
A FactoryFLOW study can help effectively accomplish
· Adding new products or changing existing products
· Expanding or contracting a facility
· Constructing a new facility
· Creating manufacturing cells
· Planning storage or work-in-process locations
· Moving manufacturing lines
· Adding new equipment or relocating existing equipment
· Improving material handling system efficiency
· Estimating material handling labor requirements
As these goals are identified, you can determine what areas or products are affected. Affected areas might be
· Multiple sites
· Multiple buildings on a plant site
· Areas within a building
· Cells within an area
· Machines within a cell
Affected products might be
· Finished products
· Major subassemblies
· Logical part or product groupings
· Classes of material
· Receiving or delivery locations
Effectively determining areas and products helps you limit the analysis to an appropriate level, assign names, and gather and structure your data.
2. Determine the level of detail
While it is possible to include multiple levels of areas in a single analysis, you should analyze only one level at a time.
Example: To revise the layout of an area containing several work cells, first concentrate on cell locations within the area. All moves within the cells could be ignored, and all moves to/from a cell could be considered to have a single destination or origin within the cell, regardless of the actual individual machine locations within the cell.
You may also choose to analyze only high-volume products, specific areas, expensive handling devices, and so on. You should choose the level of abstraction to match your situation. Careful selection maintains reasonable accuracy while reducing complexity.
Example: Tests with complete data sets for an automobile assembly factory showed that roughly the top 20% of the flows accounted for over 80% of the total travel, and so a meaningful flow study could be accomplished with a relatively small data set.
3. Adopt data naming conventions
For your own benefit, the names you assign to products, parts, material handling devices, and activity points should be easily recognizable.
Example: During the course of an analysis, FactoryFLOW might prompt you to specify the location of an activity point. You should be able to quickly, if not instantly, identify what the activity point is.
The names can include letters, numbers, blank spaces, and any special character not reserved by Microsoft? Windows? or AutoCAD? for other purposes. All fields for FactoryFLOW can contain up to 255 characters.
Special characters created with Unicode fonts and characters reserved by Microsoft Windows or AutoCAD cannot be used in names for products, parts, material handling devices, or activity points. As listed in the AutoCAD User's Guide, reserved characters include the following:
/ \
forward slash and backslash
"
quotation mark
:
colon
;
semicolon
?
question mark
,
comma
*
asterisk
=
equal sign
`
backquote
|
vertical bar
4. Gather and organize the input data
The type of analysis you intend to perform dictates the kind of data you need to gather. The table of analysis tasks accomplished with Factory tools reviews typical analysis tasks, their associated data inputs, and the outputs created by FactoryFLOW.
The flow data you need to perform an analysis, particularly part routing information, may come from other information systems, often through a report from an existing company production database to a file that can be read into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, then imported to FactoryFLOW. FactoryFLOW stores all data in a single database file, which is named with a .FLO filename extension.
5. Produce an AutoCAD plant layout drawing
FactoryFLOW uses an AutoCAD drawing of the facility or analysis area to compute travel distances. Depending on the type of analyses you want to perform, the drawing also provides information that FactoryFLOW uses to size aisles, pack containers in storage areas, document manufacturing cells, and generate operator walk paths.
Here are basic requirements for the drawing that FactoryFLOW uses:
· The drawing scale must be 1:1 so that correct distances can be extracted.
Note: FactoryFLOW uses either imperial or metric linear units. When using imperial units, the base unit is an inch. When using metric units, the base unit is a millimeter.
· The drawing must be detailed enough that you can identify the location for each activity point included in the analysis data. Activity point locations should be accurate, as should the location of aisles and any obstacles that affect travel paths.
In general, existing AutoCAD drawings of facilities can be used. Drawings created with FactoryCAD are particularly well-suited to use with FactoryFLOW, and the functionality in FactoryCAD is required for some advanced FactoryFLOW analyses.
You can also import and translate drawings from another CAD system, as well as scan in paper drawings, although both of these options have limitations. EAI Factory technical support staff can provide more guidance and information.
6. Produce reports and diagrams for analysis
Given input data and a layout drawing, FactoryFLOW calculates distances, costs, intensity (frequency of path use), and material handling activities, and then diagrams the material flow.
FactoryFLOW generates three types of material flow paths:
· Euclidian paths are straight-line flows between activity points. Euclidian flow diagrams quickly illustrate flow intensities among activity points.
· Rectilinear paths are two-segment flows between activity points whose segments are parallel to the X and Y axes. Rectilinear flow diagrams provide a quick approximation of actual distances
· Actual paths are the shortest route (based on distance or travel time for the material handling device) along an aisle network connecting activity points. Actual path flow diagrams provide the most accurate distance and time calculations, and can serve as the basis for computing aisle congestion.
All flows that have the same routing (from activity point, to activity point, and material handling device) use the same flow path. FactoryFLOW can add arrows to show direction of flow.
As flows are identified, FactoryFLOW performs the distance, cost, and path use calculations. The results for each flow path are summed, and each flow line’s width is adjusted to reflect the intensity (frequency of path use) of material handling along the path.
When actual paths have been calculated and drawn, FactoryFLOW can then calculate and diagram aisle congestion.
You can use additional FactoryFLOW diagrams, charts, and reports to find areas of possible improvement or comparison. You can change activity locations, edit paths, or change any of the input data and immediately calculate the impact of the change. You can compare alternate layouts and/or material handling systems, and you can use FactoryFLOW output to help document and justify recommendations for changes to production layout or material handling.
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