Role of Facilities Engineer in Facilities Planning
This paper presents a discussion of the role of the facilities engineer in facilities planning for production organizations. Manufacturing productivity has been a serious problem in the United States since the mid-1960s. Although some improvements in productivity have been recorded in the mid-to-late-1980's, the country's significant international trade deficit illustrates the continuing need for greater improvement.
One of the factors underlying the productivity problem is the set of economic interactions wrought by the American economy from industrial to post-industrial (Bowles, Gordon, & Weiskopf, 1984, p. 41). The change from industrial to post-industrial, however, will not eliminate production organizations from the economy. The transition will, however, place new and more urgent demands on organizations to achieve optimal efficiency in the use of available resources.
Facilities planning can make a significant contribution to the efficient utilization of resources - human, physical, and financial. The role of the facilities engineer in an organization is to provide the expertise, coordination, and direction required to effect the maximum contribution of facilities planning to the attainment of organizational objectives.
There are several factors which must be effectively addressed in facilities planning. These factors are discussed in the sections of the analytical exposition which follow.
Revenue Generation
The primary goal of a production facility is the creation of manufactured output with which the overall organization may generate revenue from external sources (Nemmers, 1985, p. 119). Effective facilities planning permits the creation of this output on a timely basis in an environment which fosters high quality levels.
In many instances, the facilities manager will be restricted with respect to the types of a...