Assembly Line Layout Options and Alternatives, management homework help
Product characteristics and production needs influence the type of production processes that are optimal for assembly. Jacobs and Chase provide a product-process chart in Exhibit 7.2 of the course text (attached). The figure shows five production layout options: (Project, Work-center, Manufacturing Cell, Assembly Line, & Continuous Process. Jacobs and Chase depict the layout option as a choice made at the convergence of two criteria: Product volume and product standardization. The concepts displayed in Exhibit 7.2 are crucial to ensuring the manufacturing process is properly aligned to production needs.
Using the product-process matrix provided in Exhibit 7.2, respond to the following:
- Describe how product standardization, or lack thereof, impacts layout suitability. Would it be cost effective to invest capital in an assembly line for products that have very little standardization?
- Explain why high volume production is better suited to assembly line, as opposed to workcenter, layouts. Is there a labor component to this layout?
- Why may the five production layout strategies overlap? Could an organization use more than one layout in a manufacturing facility?