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The Issue
Make It Happen Inc. has been contracted out by The Canadian Gypsum Company (CGC) to redesign the layout of their Surrey production plant. CGC has been informed by an independent engineering firm that the current state of a building on their site is no longer acceptable and must be vacated within 6-9 months. This building is referred to as the "old plant" as it is the original structure on the property. The old plant is one of four warehouses on site and houses CGC's concrete station. This station has two components:

1. The mixers platform
2. The baggers area

The remaining warehouses consist of:


- Finish Goods Plant
- Production Plant
- Shipping Plant

Among the warehouses there are four large tent-like structures that are used to facilitate the raw materials that are required by CGC.


Figure 1 outlines the machinery design for the concrete station. The mixture platform is located directly above the baggers area. The platform is used to insert all the required raw materials into a blender, which then mixes the material. This blender is referred to as the weigh hopper. One employee called ‘the mixer" is responsible for this area. Once the mixing is completed the materials are released or "dropped" into the bagger hopper. Attached to this hopper is a spout that uses a combination of electrical power and pneumatics. The employee that operates the bagging area is known as "the bagger." The bagger places one bag at a time on the spout, then he/she pushes a button and the bag is filled to a set capacity. Once full, the bagger removes the bag and repeats the first step until the bagger hopper is empty.

The concrete station produces three products:

1. Concrete Fill
2. Concrete Seal
3. Concrete Floor Patch.

CGC is contemplating where to relocate the concrete station and how to alleviate the tight space that will result in losing the old plant. It is not an option for CGC to rebuild a new plant in the short term and the company is... [continues]

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