USING THE SLP METHOD IN THE DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING CELLS

Flexible manufacturing systems are becoming increasingly important as customers increasingly want customized products. Also, the trend of the product life cycles to become shorter and shorter causes the proliferation of flexible manufacturing systems. Proper layout is key to making the manufacturing system truly flexible. Novel research and this article show how the Systematic Layout Planning method can be applied to the design of flexible manufacturing systems and, going further, how the design process can be supported by manufacturing process simulation.

RESEARCH OF THE SLP METHOD TO IMPROVE THE LAYOUT OF AN ICE CREAM FACTORY

The problems of physical arrangement for the organizations are relevant when have space and material movements limitations. Reviewing layouts is a way to improve the industrial production process. Therefore, the objective of this present academic work is to propose a layout for an ice cream factory's production, considering analysis of alternatives to increase productivity. The Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) Simplified method was used as the main tool for the construction of the layout proposal. A case study was carried out which investigates a phenomenon within a real context through an in-depth analysis of a study object. The method was used systematically and validated from the fifth step, where a qualitative comparation between the current layout and the alternative submitted. As a result, is achieved an optimized, complete, detailed layout plan that reduces 21,30% of the factory handling cost.

A Relative Study of Contemporary Residential Landscape Architecture: From the Local to the Global Aspect

The location of residential quarters has a deep connection with the pattern of everyday life. It is not always significant for social activities; however, it is the main component in city planning. Along with the improvement of the society and economy, the landscape of residences is likewise changing. This paper aims to discuss the planning strategies of residential landscape from a socio-technical perceptive. A diverse approach was implemented for collecting data due to the uncertain situation around the world because of COVID19 including personal archival data, LDA authority, building regulations, research articles and interviews. The variables adapted for the current research are: drift from outdoor spaces to indoor spaces, orientation of design and spatial layout and practices diffusion. The study suggests that the dynamics of space and practices can normalize the unsustainable arrangements rooted in social organizations. The increased consumption of electrical appliances and specification of spaces has changed the culture into an unsuitable indoor layout planning and has neglected the use of outdoor areas in contemporary societies. This study can help to bring the implementation of house planning into a broader perspective globally as there is a comparison drawn between the local and international landscaped signing by a renowned landscape architect "Geoffrey Bawa". Keywords: architecture, contemporary and landscape, open spaces, orientation, residential planning

A simulation-based decision support tool for integrating site layout and construction planning of tunneling projects

Purpose Integrating construction and site layout planning in mechanized tunnel infrastructure projects is essential due to the mutual impacts of construction planning and site layout decisions. Simulation can incorporate site layout planning and construction planning of tunneling projects in a unified environment. However, simulation adoption by industry practitioners has remained relatively limited due to the special skills required for building and using simulation models. Therefore, this paper aims to create a simple-to-use simulation tool that supports site layout and construction operation planning of tunneling projects. This tool intends to promote the simulation application in site layout planning. Design/methodology/approach The current paper proposes simulation as a decision support tool (DST) to provide an integrated environment for modeling tunnel construction operations, site layout and capturing the mutual impacts. A special purpose simulation (SPS) tool was customized and developed for typical mechanized tunneling projects, by tunnel boring machines, to facilitate building the model and allow access to users with limited simulation knowledge. Findings The results show that the developed SPS tool is of great assistance to construction industry practitioners to analyze a variety of site layout and construction plan scenarios and make informed decisions based on its comprehensive and intuitive outputs. Originality/value The main contribution of this research is to promote simulation application in site layout planning of tunneling projects through the development of a simple-to-use tool, which has sufficient details for site layout planning and constraints. The developed DST enables planners to make decisions simultaneously on the site layout, other construction planning variables and identify the most efficient plan.