An up-to-date text providing broad coverage of facilities planning, including new issues such as quality function development, concurrent engineering, group technology, MRP, bar coding, and machine vision. Improvements in the Second Edition: new material on heuristics developed by Dr. Sule gives users practical techniques for addressing real-life facilities planning problems; new chapter (4) on automation, bar code, PLC and machine vision; new chapter (14) on simultaneous development of plant layout and materials handling; and bound-in IBM PC software allows readers to test and analyze designs for group technology, MRP, plant layout, materials handling, and location analysis projects.