Abstract:
Facility layout design has a major impact on manufacturing cycle time hence throughput rate. Its
critical objective is to minimize material handling thus decrease manufacturing cycle time and increase
throughput rate resulting to improved productivity. The low productivity recorded by Kenyan leather tanneries
can be attributed to poor plant layout as the major factor. This paper explores the impact of poor plant layout
on manufacturing cycle time hence throughput rate based on a case study of a tannery situated in Central
Kenya. Cycle time and throughput analysis are employed in this research. The manufacturing cycle time was
found to be 19 days, which exceeds the standard time by 4 days. 17.42% of the manufacturing cycle time
consisted of Non Value Adding time of which transportation of materials between workstations was the highest
contributor as established by Pareto analysis. Throughput analysis indicated that throughput rate was way
below the theoretical 235,294 kg of leather per month with the main cause being increased material handling as
established by Root Cause Analysis. To address this shortcoming, re-design of an optimal layout was
recommended to minimize material handling hence decrease manufacturing cycle time and increase throughput
rate.
