Plant Layout

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Facility Layout
Layout refers to the configuration of departments, work
centers, and equipment, with particular emphasis on
movement of work (customers or materials) through the
system.

Layout decisions are important for three basic

reasons:

1. require substantial investments of money

and effort;
2. involve long-term commitments, which makes
mistakes difficult to overcome; and
3. have a significant impact on the cost and efficiency
of operations

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Factors affecting Plant Layout
1. Plant location and building
2. Nature of Product
3. Type of Industry
4. Plant Environment
5. Spatial Requirements
6. Repairs and Maintenance
7. Balance
8. Management Policy
9. Human Needs
10.Types of machinery and equipment

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The basic objective of layout design is to facilitate a
smooth flow of work, material, and information through the
system. Supporting objectives generally involve the
following:

To facilitate attainment of product or service quality.

To use workers and space efficiently.
To avoid bottlenecks.
To minimize material handling costs.
To eliminate unnecessary movements of workers or
materials.
To minimize production time or customer service
time.
To design for safety.

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Plant Layout : Types

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The production process normally determines
the type of plant layout to be applied to the
• Fixed position plant layout
facility:
Product stays and resources move to it.
• Product oriented plant layout
Machinery and Materials are placed following the
product path.
• Process oriented plant layout (Functional Layout).
Machinery is placed according to what they do
and materials go to them.
• Combined Layout
Combine aspects of both process and product
layouts

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Product oriented plant layout

This type of plant layout is useful when the

production process is organized in a continuous or
repetitive way.
 Continuous flow : The correct operations flow is
reached through the layout design and the
equipment and machinery specifications.
 Repetitive flow (assembly line): The correct
operations flow will be based in a line balancing
exercise, in order to avoid problems generated
by bottle necks.

The plant layout will be based in allocating a

machine as close as possible to the next one in
line, in the correct sequence to manufacture the
product.

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Product Layouts
• Product layouts are used to achieve a smooth and rapid flow
of large volumes of goods or customers through a system.

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Advantages Disadvantages
 A high rate of output  Morale problems and to repetitive
 Low unit cost due to high volume stress injuries.
 Labor specialization  Lack of maintaining equipment or
 Low material-handling cost per unit quality of output.
  Inflexible for output or design
A high utilization of labor and
equipment  Highly susceptible to shutdowns
 The establishment of routing and  A high utilization of labor and
scheduling in the initial design of the equipment
system  Preventive maintenance, the capacity
 Fairly routine for quick repairs, and spare-parts
accounting, purchasing, and inventory inventories are necessary expenses
control  Incentive plans tied to individual output
are impractical

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Process Layouts
• Process layouts are designed to process items or provide
services that involve a variety of processing requirements.

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• Process oriented plant layout (Functional
Layout)
– This type of plant layout is useful when the
production
process is organized in batches.
– Personnel and equipment to perform the same function
are allocated in the same area.
– The different items have to move from one area to another
one, according to the sequence of operations previously
established.
– The variety of products to produce will lead to a diversity of
flows through the facility.
– The variations in the production volumes from one period
to the next one (short periods of time) may lead to
modifications in the manufactured quantities as well as the
types of products to be produced.
Advantages Disadvantages
 Handle a variety of processing  In-process inventory costs can be high
requirements  Routing and scheduling pose continual
 Not vulnerable to equipment challenges
failures  Equipment utilization rates are low
 General-purpose equipment is less  Material handling is slow and
costly and is easier and less costly to inefficient, and more costly per unit
maintain  Job complexities reduce the span of
 Possible to use individual incentive supervision and result higher
systems supervisory costs
 Special attention necessary for each
product or customer and low volumes
result in higher unit costs
 Accounting, inventory control, and
purchasing are much more involved

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Fixed-Position Layouts
• In fixed-position layouts, the item being worked on remains
stationary, and workers, materials, and equipment are
moved about as needed.

• Fixed-position layouts are widely used in

farming, firefighting, road building, home building, remodeling
and repair, and drilling for oil. In each case, compelling
reasons bring workers, materials, and equipment to the
“product’s” location instead of the other way around.

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Advantages Disadvantages
 Saves time and cost in movement • Production period being very long,
 Flexible as changes in job design can capital investment is quite heavy
be easily incorporated • Very large space is required for
 More economical when several orders storage of materials and equipment
in different stages are executed • As several operations are carried
 Adjustments can be made to meet simultaneously, possibility of confusion
shortage of materials or absence of and conflicts are high
workers.

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Combination Layouts
• Supermarket layouts are essentially process layouts, yet we find that
most use fixed-path material-handling devices such as roller-type
conveyors in the stockroom and belt-type conveyors at the cash registers.
• Hospitals also use the basic process arrangement, although frequently
patient care involves more of a fixed-position approach, in which
nurses, doctors, medicines, and special equipment are brought to the
patient.
• Faulty parts made in a product layout may require off-line reworking,
which involves customized processing. Moreover, conveyors are
frequently observed in both farming and construction activities.

• Cellular manufacturing - Group technology

• Flexible manufacturing systems

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Essentials of Ideal Layout
1. Principle of minimum movement
2. Principle of flow
3. Principle of space
4. Principle of safety
5. Principle of flexibility
6. Principle of interdependence
7. Principle of overall integration
8. Principle of minimum investment

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