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Abstract

Facility layout involves the arrangement of departments in a facility to optimize the performance of the entire system that is contained in the layout. The layout system described in this paper is called BLOCPLAN for Windows which is an evolutionary development of the DOS version of BLOCPLAN. In addition to taking advantage of the graphical Windows interface, this system includes other enhancements over the DOS version. BLOCPLAN for Windows uses rectangular departments and a "banding" procedure to place them in the layout. For a nine department problem the number of possible layouts is close to 20 million. For a 15 department layout there more than 2.6 E 13 possibilities. There are several scoring procedures that are used to evaluate a layout. A Muther Relationship Chart is entered, and this chart may be used for some of the scoring options.

Keywords

Facility, Layout, Computer, Aided, Layout

1. Introduction

Facility layout involves the arrangement of departments in a facility. The objective of facility layout analysis is to develop layouts which maximize the advantageous placement while minimizing the disadvantageous placement of departments. Computers have been utilized since the 1960's and 1970's to assist with the high computational demands required for the calculations necessary for producing these types of facility layouts. Examples include CRAFT and ALDEP [1] [2]. However, it has only been with the advent of the personal computer has Computer Aided Facility Layout software started to reach its full potential with programs such as BLOCPLAN, LOGIC, and MCRAFT, and SPIRAL [3-7]. Most recently, the inherently graphical process of laying out floor plans can now be easily supported with graphically oriented Computer Aided Facility Layout software applications.

The Microsoft Windows environment in particular allows Computer Aided Facility Layout programs to be more user friendly and intuitive. The ability to easily view and output the results of different type of facility layout configurations greatly increases the ability of the analyst to generate, evaluate, and select the most effective alternatives.

This paper describes a new Microsoft Windows based Computer Aided Facility Layout software application, BLOCPLAN for Windows. BLOCPLAN for Windows is an evolutionary development of the DOS version of BLOCPLAN which is currently in use in both academia and industry throughout the world.

2. Background

BLOCPLAN-WIN is a...

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