When President Bob Collins began his career at Wheeled Coach,

the worlds largest manufacturer of ambulances, there were only

a handful of employees. Now the firms Florida plant has a work

force of 350. The physical plant has also expanded, with offices,

R&D, final assembly, and wiring, cabinetry, and upholstery work

cells in one large building. Growth has forced the painting work

cell into a separate building, aluminum fabrication and body

installation into another, inspection and shipping into a fourth,

and warehousing into yet another.

Like many other growing companies, Wheeled Coach was

not able to design its facility from scratch. And although man

agement realizes that material handling costs are a little higher

than an ideal layout would provide, Collins is pleased with the

way the facility has evolved and employees have adapted. The

aluminum cutting work cell lies adjacent to body fabrication,

which, in turn, is located next to the body-installation work

cell. And while the vehicle must be driven across a street to one

building for painting and then to another for final assembly, at

least the ambulance is on wheels. Collins is also satisfied with

the flexibility shown in the design of the work cells. Cell con

struction is flexible and can accommodate changes in product

mix and volume. In addition, work cells are typically small and

movable, with many work benches and staging racks borne on

Video Case

wheels so that they can be easily rearranged and products trans

ported to the assembly line.

Assembly-line balancing is one key problem facing Wheeled

Coach and every other repetitive manufacturer. Produced on a

schedule calling for four 10-hour work days per week, once an

ambulance is on one of the six final assembly lines, it must move

forward each day to the next workstation. Balancing just enough

workers and tasks at each of the seven workstations is a never

ending challenge. Too many workers end up running into each

other; too few cant finish an ambulance in seven days. Constant

shifting of design and mix and improved analysis has led to fre

quent changes.

Discussion Questions *

1. What analytical techniques are available to help a company like

Wheeled Coach deal with layout problems?

2. What suggestions would you make to Bob Collins about his

layout?

3. How would you measure the efficiency of this layout?