Course Modules

Simulation-based learning tool for Material Handling

Module Overall Coordinator:
Dr. John A. Muckstadt
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Cornell University
Module Developers
Dr. Bala Ram (ram@ncat.edu)
Mr. Rajiv Girdhar (girdhar@ncat.edu)
Department of Industrial Engineering
North Carolina A&T State University
Educational Objective:
To produce students with an appreciation of the relationship between Factory Layout and Material Handling Costs.

To help demonstrate the P-Q chart (where P represents the number of products being manufactured in a plant and O represents the volume), which show the most economical layout type for a P-Q combination.

Intended Audience:
Freshman/Sophomore Level students in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering and Business.
Intended Course:
Freshman and Sophomore level courses addressing Factory Layout, Material Handling or Design of Manufacturing systems, Business courses addressing operations management.
Module Description:
A parametric simulation of factory floor to allow students to discover:the relationship between the design of specific layouts and the associated material handling costs the P-Q Chart, layout type and material handling cost.
Hardware or Software Requirements:
PC with 486 or better processor, 4MB memory ProModel for Windows.
Dissemination Technique:
Progress Report was presented at Experiential Learning Workshop V at Cornell. Use this module in the intended course in other consortium institutions and get feedback from the users.
Project Description:
A number of simulation models representing each of the three layout types: product layout group technology based layout and jobshop layout will be developed. There would be a common set of products which would be divided into three subsets each having different number of components (e.g. 2, 8, 16). These subsets of products will then be utilized for making the different layouts. The idea here is to bring out the relationship between the P-Q chart, Layout type and material handling costs. The material handling costs would be defined and computed within the simulation models. Specific tasks here are as follows

  • Select a set of products
  • Decide the processes involved
  • Create subsets of the components consisting of 2, 8, 16 components
  • Create layouts based on product, job shop and group technology in Factory CAD for each of the subset of components
  • Import Factory CAD files into ProModel
  • Develop simulation models for each of the three layout types using
  • ProModel for Windows
  • Make run time models
  • Write a program in ToolBook to run the set of ProModel programs
Project Milestones:
Sample Screen

Product REALIZATION Consortium Homepage
Contact: Project Personnel
Creation Date: Monday, 11-Mar-1996 20:48:23 EST