Workspace/Workflow Analysis

[ibnut]

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question but I figured I might give it a try.

 

I'm wondering if there's some way to input data into a CAD drawing to analyze workspace efficiency. For example, efficiency gained should I place a cashier's counter in a specific location as opposed to another.

[MikeScott]

You could theoretically input the data manually, but there's no program I'm aware of that'll determine that efficiency for you.

 

That'd be pretty interesting though.. like a Feng Shui CAD add-on. Normally, you'd have to hire a group to do those types of evaluations though, due to the many varied standards/ratings out there, and the many varied goals a client might be striving to obtain.

 

Unfortunately, there's more than one way to skin a cat, and to be given an efficiency rating for layout, you have to determine what your goals are, and how strongly or poorly the item in question permits you to reach those goals, and which goals outweigh other goals. If one style had the highest efficiency rating (against all protocols) then that's the only style anyone would bother to build.

 

Using your cashier example, if the goal is strictly customer satisfaction in a grocery store, you want to be located where the customer knows you'll be without being directed. You'll want to ensure you have plenty of room for the customer to form lines (ques), and possibly be able to unload their cart even before it's their turn to be checked out. Then there's variables regarding client turnover, and how many registers you need active to handle the flow at busy times, based on what the local turnout might be. etc.

 

Further variables might include how low, or high the counter is, to provide ease of interaction with regards to heavy items being lifted from the cart to the counter, and how much the cashier is able to see the carts in-case there's something still in them, to potentially reduce theft, or raise the counters to better protect the cashier from distractions or "till snatching."

 

etc, etc.. All of which needs to be redefined completely if it's not a grocery store, but instead is a doctors waiting room where the "cashier" has HIPPA requirements to maintain.

 

In-order to get ratings, you need something to compare it to.. a standard of preferences. As technologies develop and redefine efficiency, any "hard programming" is going to fail.. you still need a few humans running the show to determine if anything is more effective than another, because you need the whole picture. Having a computer handle all that is still a little ways out there.

[ibnut]

Thanks for the response MikeScott.

 

You mentioned inputting data manually. Could you please elaborate a bit more?

 

I'm working on something more along the lines of:

 

I have Point A and Point B. It will take the average person 10 minutes to travel from A to B and another 5 minutes to complete the task at Point B.

 

I also have Point A and Point C. It will take the average person only 5 minutes to travel from A to C, but will require 15 minutes to complete the task at Point C.

 

Is is possible to somehow input the data manually for each variable and calculate the sum total in real-time so that if I were to move point B, then the sum total would automatically update to factor in the change?

[MikeScott]

So you're looking for something to take these are two different tasks, and determine which position that A becomes more efficient to be closer to.. B or C? (possibly overlooking the point that task C may not need to happen nearly as often as Task B does)

 

That's definately a math algorhythm.. I was merely referring to storing a stagnant unchanging value within a block.. totally not what you're looking for here, I suspect.

 

I suspect your best bet would be to create a spreadsheet formula for that sort of calculation.

 

You're the human element, so it's up to you to do it, and still be able to think outside the box and be open to the possibility that if the travel is from B to C, and then back to B, it might become more efficient by not having an A to worry about, or potentially multiple A positions depending upon the frequency of B & C tasks. It's also up to you to evaluate the orientation of a desk/station to permit the most efficient access to it.

 

The distance between objects at the scale you're referring to, are affected by factors like skirting your way around, or along a counter, etc, that a program (or spreadsheet) wouldn't be able to easily determine.

 

However, I suppose 10 minutes of walking indicates quite a large distance, which wouldn't be affected as strongly by such barriers unless they were considerable.

 

Sorry.. I'm really not trying to tell you your job, I just find it fascinating. I did workflow designs for my company to arrange what area of the shop did what, and the harder I looked, the more factors I found to weigh my decisions upon.

 

At best.. AutoCAD could give you the length of a line (or distances), from which to run your calculations. If you clicked on two overlapping line endpoints, you could drag those around in realtime and then manually feed the resultant numbers into your spreadsheet, but that's about it, to my knowledge.