Comparative analysis of static and dynamic facility layouts design using the modeling of plantain flour as case study

Abstract

Profit optimization at the expense of minimal resource utilization for product development has been the major focus of prospective investors. In an attempt to realize this goal, the present research consideration is tailored towards investigating the effect of introducing dynamic facility layout design. Therefore, this research study uses an existing designed plantain flour processing plant that consists of a washing machine, grating machine, dryer, milling machine and sieving machine. Modeling techniques incorporated with software development were employed on the existing static plant layout to optimize production time and cost of each of the processing units along with the layout. Also, dynamic constraints were introduced into the layouts while mathematical models were formulated to visualize how the output and production process would be. With these models, software for the optimization of static and dynamic layouts was developed. The comparative study was carried out based on the processing time, the number of machines needed for each layout type, the cost of operation and machine procurement cost for both static and dynamic layouts. The constraints introduced ensured that the system improved within the cost limit based on the current market situation and prevented unnecessary enlargement in the plant facility size while minimizing material congestion in the system. The distinction between static and dynamic layout configurations was further established by comparing the results from the layout configurations for a set of throughput masses ranging from 50 kg to 250 kg. Results showed that the cost of operation drops drastically by 69.6 % under dynamic layout configuration.