APPLICATION OF COMPUTERIZED RELATIVE ALLOCATION OF FACILITIES AND ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS MODELS FOR FABRICATION YARD LAYOUT OPTIMIZATION

Justine Uchenna  Amauwa; Sulaimon Olanrewaju  Adebiyi; Bilqis Bolanle Amole; Olamilekan Gbenga Oyenuga

Justine Uchenna Amauwa EGINA FPSO Project, Deep Blue Energy Resources Limited, Lagos. Nigeria
Sulaimon Olanrewaju Adebiyi Operations Research Unit, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos. Nigeria.
Bilqis Bolanle Amole Department of Accounting and Business Administration, DLI, University of Lagos, Nigeria
Olamilekan Gbenga Oyenuga Operations Research Unit, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos. Nigeria

Keywords: Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities (CRAFT), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Facility Layout Design, Optimization, Fabrication yard, Expert opinion

Abstract

Location and layout are major operational issues that can be a major threat to development. They can also threaten the survival of any business organisation. The reason is that they have a long, if not an extensive implication on the cost of operations and competitiveness of any firm. Other than facilities being the major assets of an organisation, their arrangement has the tendency of improving overall operations and can significantly reduce total operating costs by as much as to say 50%. The main concern of the present study is to demonstrate how Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities (CRAFT) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be applied to solve the problem of layout facility at Ladol Fabrication Yard in Lagos, Nigeria. To optimize the existing layout at this yard, the CRAFT algorithm is carried out by using an MS Excel add-in for generating alternatives in the Facility Layout Design (FLD). Likewise, AHP is done using commercially available software. Super Decisions were also used to evaluate the alternatives in FLD, based on two qualitative and quantitative criteria. The secondary data mainly served as tools for computing the material handling costs and personnel flow for each alternative FLD. In all, there were 162 respondents. These generated data in the form of pairwise comparisons that are required by AHP methodologies. After this, the geometric mean was used to categorize various responses for analysis. Test for consistency and sensitivity analyses were then done to ensure a deep and reliable judgment. Sensitivity analysis revealed that there are moderate changes in the weight values of the safety and flexibility criteria. The study’s recommendation, therefore, is that AHP should be adopted by oil and gas servicing companies to evaluate alternative FLD, so as to guarantee a systematic and efficient way of solving problems associated with facility layout.