Solved Problems
(See student companion site for Excel template.)
• Problem 1
Jeff-Co Industries is a metalworking shop that is redesigning its layout. The from–to matrix of the numbers of trips between departments is shown in Table 10-7.
TABLE 10-7 From–To Matrix for Jeff-Co Industries

The current layout is shown in Figure 10-10. Find an improved layout using trial and error. Which departments should you locate close together?
FIGURE 10-10 Current layout for Jeff-Co Industries

• Before You Begin:
To solve this problem, begin by identifying the departments with the highest number of trips between them from the from– to matrix in Table 10-7. Then redesign the initial layout by bringing the identified departments in close proximity to one another. Compute the ld scores for the initial and proposed layouts and compare.
• Solution
The following departments have the highest numbers of trips between them and should be located close together:
A and F, which have 50 trips between them
C and D, which have 45 trips between them
Using this as our criterion, we can construct the proposed layout shown in Figure 10-11.
FIGURE 10-11 Proposed layout for Jeff-Co Industries

We can now compute the ...
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