Stockyard layout planning in precast concrete products industry: A case study and proposed framework

Management of the stockyard layout in the precast concrete products industry is very important for efficient storage and dispatch of the concrete products. The industry uses the make-to-stock principle in production to meet the seasonal demand (high in summer and low in winter) from the construction industry. In order to stabilize production output and cater for the huge demand in summer, stock is built up during the winter and spring period. The concrete products are kept in stock for 4-5 months. As 2000-3000 different precast concrete products are produced, and the products have different size, weight and handling requirements, determination of appropriate stockyard location for the products constitutes a comples process. This paper describes some ongoing research that is focused on identifying the appropriate methodology for designing and managing the stockyard layout that ensures efficient storage and dispatch of products, and provides ease of rotation of products within the yard. An integrated simulation model employing artificial intelligence methods has been proposed to evaluate 'what-if' scenarios and recommend a suitable methodology for the management of stockyard space for precast concrete products. This paper presents the findings from a case study, which includes work-study, frequency analysis of historical order data. The paper also introduces the specifications, processes and outline prototype of the proposed model. A general purpose simulation language (SIMAN) based software, 'Arena 4.0' (Systems Modelling Corporation), has been selected to develop the prototype simulation model and ILOG views and rules have been considered to generate a knowledge-based stockyard layout.