1. Determine what will be produced; for example, a toolbox or swing set or lawn mower. 2. Determine how many will be made per unit of time; for example, 1,500 per 8-hour shift. 3. Determine what parts will be made or purchased complete-some companies buy out all parts, and they are called assembly plants. Those parts the company makes itself require fabrication equipment and considerably more design work. 4. Determine how each part will be fabricated. This is called process planning and is usually done by a manufacturing engineer, but in many projects, the Introduction to Manufacturing Facilities Design and Material Handling 13 manufacturing facilities designer is also responsible for tool, equipment, and workstation design. 5. Determine the sequence of assembly. This is called assembly line balancing. The topic is covered in depth throughout this book. 6. Set time standards for each operation. It is impossible to design a plant layout without time standards. 7. Determine the plant rate (takt time). This is how fast the facility needs to pro- duce. For example, it needs to make 1,500 units in 8 hours (480 minutes), so 480 minutes divided by 1,500 units equals.32 minute. The speed of the plant and every operation in the plant must make a part every .32 minute (about three parts per minute). 8. Determine the number of machines needed. Once you know the plant rate and the time standard for each operation, divide the time standard by the line rate and the number of machines results. For example, you have an operation with a time standard of .75 minute and a line rate of .32 minute. How many machines are needed (.75 divided by .32 equals 2.34 machines)? You will need to purchase three machines. If you buy only two, you will never produce 1,500 units per shift without working overtime. This will cause a bottleneck. 9. Balance assembly lines or work cells. This is dividing work among assemblers or cell operators according to the line rate. Try to give everyone as close to the same amount of work as possible. 10. Study the material flow patterns to establish the best (shortest distance through the facility) flow possible.