Read the Chapter 9 Case Study \"Facility Layout at Wheeled Coach Ambulance\" and

Question

Read the Chapter 9 Case Study "Facility Layout at Wheeled Coach Ambulance" and watch the video, then write a summary of at least 300 words using the accompanying discussion questions(As technology and costs change, hospitals continue to innovate. The reduced costs of computers means some hospitals have moved from a central computer at the nurse’s station to computers in the room or on carts. What changes in overall hospital layout would these innovations suggest? ) to guide your essay written in APA style, with a reference page and a cover page. APA requires double space. Case study When president Bob Collins began his career at Wheeled coach, the worlds largest manufacturer of ambulances, there were only a handful of employees. Now the firs florida plant has a workforce of 350. The physical plant has also expanded, with offices, R & D, final assembly, and wiring, cabinetry, and upholstery work cells into a separate building, aluminum fabrication and body installation into another, inspection and shipping into a forth, and warehousing into yet another. Like many other growing companies, Wheeled coach was not able to design its facility from scratch. And although management realizes that material handling cost are a little higher than an ideal layout would provide, Collins is pleased with the way the facility has evolved and employees have adapted. The aluminum cutting work cell lies adjacent to body fabrication, which, in turn, is located next to the body installation work cell. And while the vehicle must be driven across a street tone building for painting and then to another for final assembly, at least the ambulance is on wheels. Collins is also satisfied with the flexibility shown in the design of the work cells. Cell construction is flexible and can accommodate changes in product mix and volume. In addition, work cells are typically small and movable, with many work benches and staging racks borne on wheels so that they can be easily rearranged and products transported to the assembly line. Assembly line balancing is one key problem facing wheeled coach and every other repetitive manufacturer. Produced on a schedule calling for four 10-hour work days per week, once an ambulance is on one of the six final assembly lines, it must move forward each day to the next workstation. Balancing just enough workers and tasks at each of the seven workstations. Balancing just enough workers and tasks at each of the seven workstations. Balancing just enough workers and tasks at each of the seven workstations is a never-ending challenge. Too many workers end up running into each other, too few can’t finish an ambulance in seven days. Constant shifting of design of design and mix and improved analysis has led to frequent changes.

Explanation / Answer

In this case we look at how, wheeled coach has designed its facility. As a large volume ambulance manufacturer, wheelcoach is constantly challenged to find efficient production methods. Both ambulance diversity and volume challenge the wheelcoach operation managers. Virtually, no two ambualnces are the same. The technology that goes into ambulances, which are now miniature hospitals, is constantly changing. The three variables: volume, variety and change present a number of challenges to wheeled coach. Among these challenges is layout. The biggest problem is the assembly line balancing. The entire workplace of the organization is divided into smaller segments knows as workstations. The constant need of shifiting the products in the middle of manufacturing process causes chaos. The excessive movement between the stations is a bottleneck. That means, having the right number of workers in each work cell and having the right number of work stations during the whole manufacturing process. Since the company uses a mixed layout approach-assembly line and work cell approaches.

One technique to balance the number of work cells requires an analysis of Wheeler's cycle time. On the other hand to balance the number of workers in each work cell, Wheeled muast take into consideration the Takt time.

The objective of a layout strategy is to develop an effective layout that will meet the organization's requirements. Following points may be considered on how to achieve the same:

1) Higher utilization of space, equipment and people.

2)Improve the flow of information, materials or people.

3) Improve employee morale and safer working conditions

4) Improve client interaction.

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