Block diagramming is a technique used in facility layout design to optimize the flow of materials and people between departments. It involves gathering information on department sizes and interdepartmental flows, developing a block plan that shows the initial traffic between departments as blocks, and designing a new layout that minimizes interdepartmental travel distances based on the block plan. The process is demonstrated through an example involving 5 departments, with the current layout analyzed and a new optimized layout proposed using a node diagram. While it has strengths in determining optimal solutions, block diagramming also has weaknesses such as difficulty handling many nodes and subjectivity in weighing qualitative factors.

1. Facility Layout Design using Block Diagramming Prepared by: Ryan Allen Brigham Young University March 27, 2006

14. Practice Solution Take a few minutes to work through the above problem before continuing.

15. Practice Solution Interdepartmental flow matrix -- 5 60 -- 4 50 40 -- 3 50 150 200 -- 2 110 100 -- 1 5 4 3 2 1 Department

16. Practice Solution Current Node Diagram (of existing layout) (Suntivong, 120)

17. Practice Solution New Node Diagram (using new design) (Suntivong, 120)

18. With many nodes, it is harder to determine optimal solutions. Sometimes it is hard to give proper weight to qualitative factors. Some computer programs can quickly determine optimal solutions. Sometimes, the data is hard to gather or quantify. With correct information, layout efficiency can be improved. Weaknesses Strengths