Recommendation of Possible Facilities Layout Tools for classroom purpose

Abstract

The facilities layout is a very important part of facilities planning. In order to ensure an effective and efficient manufacturing unit for an organization, it is critical that special focus is given to facility layout. It is defined as an arrangement of different characteristics of manufacturing in an effective manner as to obtain required production results. It is very important for industrial engineering students to have proper understanding of facilities layouts and latest technology tools used in industry for better layout planning and design. The work reported in this paper aims to explore different Facilities layout tools/software currently used in industry ranging from 2D/3D visualization capabilities to augmented and virtual reality features. The pros and cons of different facilities planning tools are described along with licensing fee for universities and educators. At the end, a recommendation is made on which software can be the best option to be adopted as a teaching tool.