TYPES OF LAYOUT PRODUCT OR LINE LAYOUT:

In this type of layout the machines and equipments are arranged in one line depending upon the sequence of operations required for the product. It is also called as line layout. The material moves to another machine sequentially without any backtracking or deviation i.e the output of one machine becomes input of the next machine. It requires a very little material handling. It is used for mass production of standardized products.

Advantages of Product layout:

Low cost of material handling, due to straight and short route and absence of backtracking Smooth and continuous operations Continuous flow of work Lesser inventory and work in progress Optimum use of floor space Simple and effective inspection of work and simplified production control Lower manufacturing cost per unit

Disadvantages of Product layout:

Higher initial capital investment in special purpose machine (SPM) High overhead charges Breakdown of one machine will disturb the production process. Lesser flexibility of physical resources.

PROCESS LAYOUT:
In this type of layout the machines of a similar type are arranged together at one place. This type of layout is used for batch production. It is preferred when the product is not standardized and the quantity produced is very small.

Advantages of Process layout:

Lower initial capital investment is required. There is high degree of machine utilization, as a machine is not blocked for a single product The overhead costs are relatively low Breakdown of one machine does not disturb the production process. Supervision can be more effective and specialized. Greater flexibility of resources.

Disadvantages of Process layout:

Material handling costs are high due to backtracking More skilled labour is required resulting in higher cost. Work in progress inventory is high needing greater storage space More frequent inspection is needed which results in costly supervision

COMPARISON OF PRODUCT & PROCESS LAYOUTS

CHARACTERISTICS
Mechanization of materials handling Avoidance of bottlenecks Economy in manufacturing time Minimization of investment in work-in process Better production control

PRODUCT LAYOUT

PROCESS LAYOUT

Early detection of bad workmanship Greater incentive to a group of workers to raise the level of their performance Reduced investment on machines Flexibility in production Scope for expansion Handling of breakdowns is easy Greater incentive to individual workers to raise the level of their performance Better utilization of workers and equipment Specialization in supervision

FIXED POSITION OR LOCATION LAYOUT:

Fixed position layout involves the movement of manpower and machines to the product which remains stationary. The movement of men and machines is advisable as the cost of moving them would be lesser. This type of layout is preferred where the size of the job is bulky and heavy. Example of such type of layout islocomotives, ships, boilers, generators, wagon building, aircraft manufacturing, etc.

Advantages of Fixed position layout:

The investment on layout is very small. The layout is flexible as change in job design and operation sequence can be easily incorporated. Adjustments can be made to meet shortage of materials or absence of workers by changing the sequence of operations.

Disadvantages of Fixed position layout:

As the production period being very long so the capital investment is very high. Very large space is required for storage of material and equipment near the product. As several operations are often carried out simultaneously so there is possibility of confusion and conflicts among different workgroups.

Cellular manufacturing (CM) layout, or Group Technology layout

Cellular manufacturing is a manufacturing process that produces families of parts within a single line or cell of machines operated by machinists who work only within the line or cell. A cell is a small scale, clearly-defined production unit within a larger factory. This unit has

complete responsibility for producing a family of like parts or a product. All necessary machines and manpower are contained within this cell, thus giving it a degree of operational autonomy. Each worker is expected to have mastered a full range of operating skills required by his or her cell. Therefore, systematic job rotation and training are necessary conditions for effective cell development. Complete worker training is needed to ensure that flexible worker assignments can be fulfilled. Cellular manufacturing, which is actually an application of group technology, has been described as a stepping stone to achieving world class manufacturing status. The objective of cellular manufacturing is to design cells in such a way that some measure of performance is optimized. This measure of performance could be productivity, cycle time, or some other logistics measure. Measures seen in practice include pieces per man hour, unit cost, on-time delivery, lead time, defect rates, and percentage of parts made cell-complete. This process involves placing a cluster of carefully selected sets of functionally dissimilar machines in close proximity to each other. The result is small, stand-alone manufacturing units dedicated to the production of a set or family of partsor essentially, a miniature version of a plant layout. While the machinery may be functionally dissimilar, the family of parts produced contains similar processing requirements or has geometric similarities. Thus, all parts basically follow the same routing with some minor variations (e.g., skipping an operation). The cells may have no conveyorized movement of parts between machines, or they may have a flow line connected by a conveyor that can provide automatic transfer. Cellular manufacturing is a hybrid system that links the advantages of a job shop with the product layout of the continuous flow line. The cell design provides for quick and efficient flow, and the high productivity associated with assembly lines. However, it also provides the flexibility of the job shop, allowing both similar and diverse products to be added to the line without slowing the process. The advantages of cellular manufacturing layout are as follows: Lower work in progress inventories. Reduced materials handling costs Shorter flow times in production Simplified productions planning Increased operator responsibilities Improved visual control Fewer tooling charges

The disadvantages of cellular manufacturing layout are as follows: Reduced manufacturing flexibility and potentially increased machine-down time.

 Duplicate pieces of equipment may be needed so that parts need not be transported between cells.

Combined Layout:
A mixed layout is the combination of process and product layout. Mixed layouts are generally used when the company's 1) product contains lot many components and parts. 2) products require to be produced in different types and sizes. In this type of layout, they are assembled using product type of layout. The application of this principle of product layout, process layout or fixed location layout in their strict meanings is difficult to come across. A combination of the product and process layouts, with an emphasis on either, is noticed in most industrial establishments. It is possible to have both types of layout in an efficiently combined form if the products manufactured are somewhat similar and not complex.

In plants involving the fabrication of parts and assembly, fabrication tends to employ the process layout, while the assembly areas employ the product layout. The above fig illustrates the combined. The departments in the fig are arranged according to the types of processes but the products flow through on a product layout. To extend the logic of the combined layout, we may refer to the application of the fixed location principle in every individual establishment. Is it not true that workers are brought from different places in buses to the factory every day? Will not materials and tools be carried to the place of manufacture every time?

In the final analysis, the combination that produces the desired volume of the products at the least cost is preferred. Marketing is concerned with maximizing income, industrial engineering is concerned with minimizing cost and management is gambling that there is a sufficient difference in its favor.

Service Facility Layout:

The fundamental differences between service facility and manufacturing facility layouts is that, many service facilities exist to bring together customers and services. Services facility layouts should provide for easy entrance to these facilities from freeways and busy thoroughfares. Large, well organized and amply lighted parking areas and well designed walkways to and from parking areas are some of the requirements of service facility layouts. Because of different degrees of customer contact, two types of service facility layouts emerge, viz; those that are almost totally designed around the customer receiving and servicing function (such as banks) and those that are designed around the technologies, processing of physical materials and production efficiency (such as hospitals).

The above fig depicts a layout of a small hospital. Although some area of the layout is devoted for receiving patients, settling accounts and discharging patients, the dominant consideration is the application of medical technology such as surgery, radiology, laboratory tests, patients rest and recovery, patient feeding and the like.

Importance of layout
The importance of a layout would be better appreciated if one understands the influence of an effective layout on the manufacturing function as it makes it smooth and efficient. Some of the advantages are: 1. Economies in handling Every effort should be made to cut down on the cost of handling. Long distance movements should be avoided and specific handling operations must be eliminated. The answer to the question how best to avoid handling depends on the layout. 2. Effective use of available area Every inch of the plant is valuable and therefore efforts must be made to make use of the available area by planning the layout properly. Some steps of achieving it are location of equipment and services in order that they may perform multiple functions, development of up-to-date work areas. 3. Minimisation of production delays Repeat orders and new customers will be the result of prompt execution of orders. Every management should try to keep to the delivery schedules. Plant layout is a major factor in the timely execution of orders. 4. Improved quality control Timely execution of orders will be meaningful when the quality of the output is not below expectations. To ensure quality, inspection should be conducted at different stages of manufacture. 5. Minimum equipment investment Investment on equipment can be minimized by planned machine balance and location, minimum handling distances, by the installation of general purpose machines and by planned machine loading. 6. Avoidance of bottlenecks Bottlenecks refer to any place in a production process where materials tend to pile up or produced at rates of speed, less rapid than the previous or subsequent operations. Bottlenecks are caused by inadequate machine capacity, inadequate storage space or low speed on the part of the operators. The result of bottlenecks are delays in production schedules, congestion, accidents and wastage of floor area. 7. Better production control Production control is concerned with the production of a product of the right type at the right time and at reasonable cost. A good plant layout provides the plant control officers with a systematic basis upon which to build organization and procedures. 8. Better supervision It helps in determining the no of workers to be handled by a supervisor and enabling the supervisor to get a full view of the entire plant at one glance.

9. Improved utilization of labour Labour is paid for every hour that it spends in the factory. The efficiency of the management lies in utilizing the time for productive purposes. 10. Improved employee morale Employee morale is achieved when workers are cheerful and confident. It depends on the working conditions, employement facilities, increased earnings and less no of accidents. 11. Avoidance of unnecessary and costly changes A planned layout avoids frequent changes which are difficult and costly. The incorporation of flexibility elements in the layout would help in the avoidance of revisions.

Layout tools and techniques.

Various techniques are available for planning the layout. Templates Templates are patterns which consist of a thin plate of wood or metal, which serves as a gauge or a guide in mechanical work. A plant layout template is a scaled representation of a physical object in a layout. This object may be a machine, materials handling equipment, a worker or even materials. The template method is particularly useful in developing a layout for an existing department or when the configuration of the building is already established through other layout techniques. Operation Sequence Analysis Being an early approach to process layout, operations sequence analysis develops a good scheme for arrangement of departments graphically analyzing the layout problem. It even shows an initial solution with circles representing departments and lines representing product travels among departments. The no of products that travel during the month among departments is written on the lines. It helps to determine locations of operating departments relative to one another. Line Balancing Line balancing is the phase of assembly line study that nearly equally divides the work to be done among the workers so that the total no of employees required on the assembly line is minimized. Operation researchers have used linear programming, dynamic programming and other optimal methods to study line balancing problems.