Manufactured Housing Production Layout Design

Abstract

This paper presents exploratory research work in facility layout design of a manufactured housing production plant. Manufactured homes are built in a factory on an assembly line that consists of activity stations, subactivity stations, feeder stations, and storage areas. This research developed systematic process steps for the layout design of manufactured housing production plants with a qualitative approach. The qualitative approach takes into account space requirements and proximity parameters. For this purpose, the tools and techniques available in industrial and manufacturing engineering were investigated. Data related to the space and proximity requirements in the two case study production plants were collected, and alternative layouts were developed. These layouts were analyzed to suggest the best possible layout. Finally, layout design steps for the qualitative analysis of the facility design were presented in the form of a process flowchart.