Plant Layout

Page 1
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

Page 2
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

Page 3
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.

Page 4
Plant Layout : Types

Page 5
The production process normally determines the type
of plant layout to be applied to the facility:
• Fixed position plant layout
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

Page 6
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.

Page 7
Product Layouts
• Product layouts are used to achieve a smooth and rapid flow of
large volumes of goods or customers through a system.

8 Page 8
 Suitability
Product layout is useful under following conditions:

• 1) Mass production of standardized products

• 2) Simple and repetitive manufacturing process
• 3) Operation time for different process is more or less
equal
• 4) Reasonably stable demand for the product
• 5) Continuous supply of materials

Page 9
Advantages Disadvantages
▪ A high rate of output ▪ Morale problems and to repetitive stress
▪ Low unit cost due to high volume injuries.
▪ Labor specialization ▪ Lack of maintaining equipment or quality
▪ Low material-handling cost per unit of output.
▪ A high utilization of labor and equipment ▪ Inflexible for output or design
▪ The establishment of routing and ▪ Highly susceptible to shutdowns
scheduling in the initial design of the ▪ A high utilization of labor and equipment
system ▪ Preventive maintenance, the capacity for
▪ Fairly routine accounting, purchasing, quick repairs, and spare-parts inventories
and inventory control are necessary expenses
▪ Incentive plans tied to individual output
are impractical

10 Page 10
Process Layouts
• Process layouts are designed to process items or provide services
that involve a variety of processing requirements.

11 Page 11
 Suitability

Process layout is adopted when

• 1. Products are not standardized

• 2. Quantity produced is small
• 3. There are frequent changes in design
and style of product
• 4. Job shop type of work is done
• 5. Machines are very expensive
Page 12
• 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.

Page 13
Advantages Disadvantages
▪ Handle a variety of processing ▪ In-process inventory costs can be high
requirements ▪ Routing and scheduling pose continual
▪ Not vulnerable to equipment failures challenges
▪ General-purpose equipment is less costly ▪ Equipment utilization rates are low
and is easier and less costly to maintain ▪ Material handling is slow and inefficient,
▪ Possible to use individual incentive and more costly per unit
systems ▪ Job complexities reduce the span of
supervision and result higher 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

14 Page 14
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.

15 Page 15
16 Page 16
 Suitability

The fixed position layout is followed in following

conditions
• 1. Manufacture of bulky and heavy products
such as locomotives, ships, boilers,
• generators, wagon building, aircraft
manufacturing, etc.
• 2. Construction of building, flyovers, dams.
• 3. Hospital, the medicines, doctors and nurses
are taken to the patient (product).

Page 17
Advantages Disadvantages
▪ Saves time and cost in movement • Production period being very long,
▪ Flexible as changes in job design can be capital investment is quite heavy
easily incorporated • Very large space is required for storage
▪ More economical when several orders in of materials and equipment
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.

18 Page 18
Combination Layouts/Group layout
• 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

19 Page 19
 Group layout
• Product Family Layouts are like a combination of Product Layouts and
Process Layouts
• Advantages

◦Combines benefits of product and process layouts

• ◦Higher machine utilization
• ◦Smoother flow lines and shorter distance
• ◦Team atmosphere

• Disadvantages
◦General supervision required
• ◦Greater labor skills requirement
• ◦Balancing manufacturing cells are difficult and unbalanced cells may
increase WIP

Page 20
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

Page 21
Systematic
layout
planning
procedure

Page 22
Travel Chart

Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
 Self Study
• Craft
• Corelap
• Aldep, and
• Planet

Page 29
Thank You

Page 30