The document summarizes recommendations to improve customer flow at a CVS Pharmacy location. It describes the current facility layout and notes inefficient flows in aisles and long wait times at the pharmacy during peak hours. The first recommendation is to split larger aisles into two sections to allow more direct travel between aisles. The second is to extend pharmacy hours earlier to 7 AM to reduce customers during the busy after-work period. Data on wait times in different aisles and at different pharmacy times supports the recommendations.

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ISEN 416-Thursday Karan Chaudhry, Peter Shawhan
Fall 2012 Lab Assignment 1: Facility Layout
Introduction:
The purpose of this report is to describe, in detail, the CVS Pharmacy facility layout located at
2411 Texas Ave. South College Station, TX 77840, and to make suggestions on how to improve
customer flow within the building. Having been to the facility on multiple occasions, for our own
personal visits/errands as well as the times spent gathering data, two recommendations are salient
as potential ways to solve inefficient customer flows, in line at the cash registers, the pharmacy,
or in the aisles themselves. The remainder of this report will include the description of the
facility, our recommendations for improvement, including the justifications for our suggestions,
and an appendix containing a sketch of the facility and data points used in justifying the
recommendations.
Description of the Facility:
CVS Pharmacy, located on the corner of Southwest Pkwy. & Texas Ave. in College Station, TX
attracts dozens of visitors every day, from customers looking for a quick snack to customers
intending to order/pick-up their prescriptions. Undoubtedly, it is a great location as it is easily
visible to people on either street. Easily accessible from two streets, there are two ways in and
out of the CVS parking lot. One access point is from Southwest Pkwy, and the other from Texas
Ave. The entrance/exit from Texas Ave. leads from the driveway, approximately 30 feet in width
on the side of the building facing Texas Ave. that connects to the CVS parking lot. The parking
lot extends to about 100 feet in the front of the building. This CVS location also has a drive-thru
pharmacy i.e. about 50 feet in width on the side of the building that faces Southwest Pkwy. that
further connects to the CVS parking lot. The parking lot can easily house about 50 vehicles with
about 4 spots dedicated to the handicapped located within 10 feet of the entrance to the building.
The building itself is roughly about 6000 square feet. There is only one door to the building that
slides open and is used as both entrance/exit into/from the building.
Inside the building, there is a pathway in front of the doors that curves around the store and leads
straight to the ‘drop-off’ department of pharmacy. To the right side of the ‘drop-off’ department

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is the ‘pick-up’ department immediately next to which is the door with a big window which
serves as the ‘consultation’ department of the pharmacy. To the left of the pharmacy facing the
pathway were the restrooms-one for men and one for women. There are 5 cash registers located
to the immediate right of the door entrance. The photo department is located on the far right side
of the entrance next to cashier station#5. The building has 23 aisles. Impulse buys, such as
candies, novelty items, cigarettes, soft drinks, etc., are near the cash registers and in aisles 1
through 6. Nutritional and medical products are located close to the pharmacy in aisles 7 through
11. Photography related products are next to the photo booth, adjacent to the cash registers.
Beauty products are located on the left side of the entrance in aisles 16 through 23. Beer, alcohol,
cold drinks etc. are located inside the transparent coolers that are laid up against the wall to the
right of the photo department. Greeting cards, arts and kids-related products are located on the
far back side in aisles 12 through 15. There is also an emergency exit right across from the
pharmacy in the corner next to aisles 12 & 13. An interesting fact about the building was that the
aisle arrangement was such that it made the store appear as if the store was divided into 3 big
sections-pharmacy, grocery and beauty. This is because of the pathway that ran directly through
the middle of the store and another pathway that ran between aisle 6 and aisles 7-11. Each of
these pathways was roughly about 8 feet in width. Also, the pathway to the right of the photo
department that ran all the way to the consultation department of the pharmacy was about 10 feet
in width. The pathway on the immediate left side of aisle 23 that ran all the way to the
emergency exit door in the back was about 6 feet in width.
Recommendations:
Recommendation 1:
We recommend the setup of aisles 3-23 similar to the setup of aisles 1 and 2. In particular, aisles
1 and 2 were split up in the middle while aisles 3-23 were not. We noticed that customers
travelling between aisles 1 and 2 had more flexibility in getting from 1 to 2 or 2 to 1 because of
the different paths that they could take. In particular, customers when travelling between aisles 1
and 2 had an advantage over when they were travelling between aisles 3-23. This was that they
could travel between 1 and 2 by walking through the center of the aisles where there was a split

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while in 3-23, they were forced to walk all the way to the end of the aisle to get to the other side
of the aisle.
To understand the flow of customers better in aisles 1 and 2 versus the flow of customers in
aisles 3-23, we collected data(table 1) during peak times of the store. During our data collection,
we noted the amount of time it took for customers to wait at the junctions when travelling in
between aisles for aisles 1 and 2 and then the same for aisles 4,5,18 and 19. On average,
customers in aisles 1 and 2 waited about 1.5 seconds while customers in aisles 4, 5, 18 and 19
waited about 4 seconds(table 1). This was primarily because, during the peak time, customers
were heavily utilizing the main pathway(one that goes through the center of the store) and the
other pathways as they were travelling from one aisle to another or just going to the pharmacy.
Because of this, customers in aisles 4, 5, 18 and 19 had to wait for the pathway to clear up so
they could walk over to the other side of the aisle or to a totally different aisle on the other side
of the store. This caught our attention, which is what motivated us to collect the data in the first
place. Thus we recommend splitting of aisles 3-23 to ensure better customer flow in the store.
Note: For the purposes of data collection, our selection of certain aisles from aisles 3-23 was
based on the idea of collecting data in aisles having most customer flow during those peak times.
The customer flow would differ during different times of the year because of festivals, demands,
holidays etc. This is why we recommend re-setup of all aisles 3-23 as opposed to certain aisles.
Recommendation 2:
This second recommendation concerns the CVS Pharmacy and it’s hours of operation. Having
been to the store once already at 6:30 PM, a time when the flow was slow, we wished to visit the
location at a busier time, to see if there was a potential buildup of customers; we were looking
for a bottleneck. Upon speaking with one of the store cashiers, we were informed that a normal
busy time is around 5:00 PM, when people get off work. This makes sense, as many people
would try to complete their errands at CVS on their way home, while they’re already out.
What we noticed was the following trend of customer flows, in terms of average time waiting to
be served, at the CVS Pharmacy when we observed at 5:00 PM, a busy time, and 6:30 PM, a

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slower time (table 2): 5:00 PM - 5-10 min; 6:30 PM - 0-5 min. Judging by this collection of data,
it is easy to come to the conclusion that 5:00 PM is indeed the busier time. What we noticed is
that the entire CVS location is open for 24 hours a day for every day of the week, the pharmacy
section, however, is only open at certain hours of the day, are as follows: M-F: 8:00 AM - 10:00
PM; Sat: 9:00 AM - 06:00 PM; Sun: 10:00 AM - 06:00 PM
This is significant, especially for customers who work a normal 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM job. Those
who would be inclined to visit the CVS Pharmacy on the way to work, such as men and women
who wake up early and cannot sleep anymore, instead of on the way from work, must wait to
visit the CVS Pharmacy until after their work day is over. For this reason, our second suggestion
on how to increase the efficiency of customer flow within the facility is to change the
pharmacy’s hours of operation to include an hour at least as early as 7:00 AM, so that those who
would go in the morning, before work, won’t be at the facility after work, around 5:00 PM; this
would decrease the amount of customers in line at the pharmacy, thus decreasing the average
waiting time before service. It is our belief that this second recommendation would greatly
increase the efficiency of the facility.
To sum it up, the first recommendation is to separate the full sized aisles into two equally sized
aisles, with a space in between. This would allow customers to move more fluidly between aisles,
keeping the flow from being too clogged in the main walkways, such as the one from the
entrance to the pharmacy. Finding longer lines at the pharmacy, specifically near 5:00 PM when
most people get off work (rush hour), our second recommendation is that the hours of operation
for the pharmacy be changed to include an earlier time, such as when the average person leaves
for work, near 7:00 AM.
Conclusion:
This assignment was an attempt to improve customer flow at CVS Pharmacy. Taking action on
our recommendations would give you more business by improving efficiency within the store.
Moreover, this will also improve customer satisfaction and leave the customers with a piece of
mind, thus giving them room to actually enjoy the products that your store has to offer.
If you have any additional questions, comments or concerns about this assignment, please do not

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hesitate to contact me. We can be reached by phone at (979) 997-8565 or (402) 575-7713 or by
email at kchaudhry@tamu.edu or shawhan9@tamu.edu.
Sincerely,
Karan Chaudhry & Peter Shawhan
Seniors Industrial & Systems Engineering major, Texas A&M University
REFERENCES
Dr. Andrew L. Johnson
Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering
979 458 2341
ajohnson@tamu.edu
Michelle Alvarado
Lab Instructor for Facility Layout and Material Handling
alvarado.michelle.m@gmail.com

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Appendix
List of products in their respective aisles:
1. Candy, Cameras, Electronics
2. Novelties, Candy, Beer
3. Novelties, Seasonal Items
4. Groceries, Cookies, Crackers
5. Soft Drinks, Wine, Snacks
6. Cleaners, Pet Needs
7. Home Diagnostics, Foot Care, Eye Care
8. Laxatives, Pain Relievers
9. Cold Remedies, Allergy, Children’s Health
10. First Aid, Family Planning, External Pain
11. Nutritional Care, Vitamins, Diet Needs
12. Greeting Cards
13. Greeting Cards
14. Stationery, Children’s Books, Arts & Crafts
15. Baby Diapers, Baby Formula, Toys
16. Oral Hygiene, Mouthwash, Facial Tissue
17. Feminine Care
18. Body Wash, Hand/Body Lotion, Bath Care
19. Deodorants, Shaving Needs, Hair Appliances
20. Salon Hair Care, Shampoo, Conditioners
21. Hair Styling, Hair Coloring
22. Hosiery, Hair Accessories, Leg Wear
23. Nail Care, Sun Care, Cosmetic Accessories

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Time taken at
the Aisle 4
junction
(in sec)
Time taken at
the Aisle 5
junction
(in sec)
Time taken at
the Aisle 8
junction
(in sec)
Time taken at
the Aisle 19
junction
(in sec)
Time taken at
Aisles 1&2’
junction
(in sec)
Customer #
1. 2 4 3 3 0
2. 6 4 6 4 1
3. 3 2 1 3 0
4. 4 6 6 6 2
5. 6 4 4 2 1.5
Table 1: Data to support recommendation 1
Slow%Time%
(6:30%PM)
Customer 1 2 3 4 5
Fast%Time%
(5:00%PM)
Time%
Waiting%
(min)
0 5 2 5 3
Fast%Time%
(5:00%PM)
Customer 1 2 3 4 5
Time%
Waiting%
(min)
5 8 10 6 8
Table 2: Data to support recommendation 2