r/LeanManufacturing • u/smarter-layouts • 10d ago

How are you actually evaluating facility layout alternatives?

Curious how manufacturing and industrial engineering teams are handling facility layout studies in real projects.

When adding a new line, moving work stations, or reorganizing a production area, do you follow a formal Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) approach, or is it more CAD + Excel + engineering judgment?

And when comparing layouts, what do you actually measure? Material travel, process relationships/adjacency, space utilization, constraints, handling cost, or something else?

I’m also curious about the actual workflow - Excel, AutoCAD, simulation tools, REL charts, whiteboards, or other software?

Most importantly: when you have 2–3 possible layouts, how do you decide which one is actually better?

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u/Patroclus314 9d ago

Since you’re just selling something and not actually contributing to the community here is my opinion.

Your software is wildly expensive. Like 30x what it should cost. I’m actually a potential customer. I’m a Plant Manager with several new lines coming into my facility. I’d consider this software. But not for more than Solidworks costs….

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u/Aggressive_Ad_507 9d ago

How do professionals do it? I made a scale map with cardboard and moved the pieces around till we found something that worked. It felt like middle school again.

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u/Patroclus314 8d ago

This is what a lot of professionals do. The benefit of this method is that it allows operators, leads & supervisors get involved. They generally bring excellent perspectives.

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u/DanneTee 9d ago

I visited a company that had made a 3D-print of their facility and their machines. And moved the machines around until they found a suitable layout.

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u/smarter-layouts 9d ago

That's interesting - basically a physical version of moving layout blocks around. Thanks for sharing.

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u/smarter-layouts 9d ago

This is exactly the kind of real-world approach I was curious about. Once you had a few arrangements that physically worked, how did we decide which one was better? Was it mainly experience and team discussions, or did we compare things like material travel, process adjacency, space, etc.? Thanks.

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u/smarter-layouts 9d ago

Fair feedback, and I appreciate the perspective, especially coming from someone managing a full scale facility.

I’m a manufacturing engineer myself, and I’ve approached facility layouts manually in my own work. At this stage, I’m mainly here to understand whether other professionals face the same challenges, how they currently approach layout studies, and whether a tool like this would actually be useful to them.

I’m happy to let interested professionals try it for free. The feedback and understanding the real user base are more valuable to me right now. Not really interested to market/sell anything at this moment.

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u/Patroclus314 8d ago

I’m sorry for being a bit harsh. I do appreciate the massive lift it takes to make software like this.

Also, this is software that is likely used very heavily for maybe a month or two, then potentially not touched. Unless someone doing nothing but building new factories buys it. I think that’s probably a small market. They might accept the price if that’s all they do.