Facility Layout

Facility layout
Planning:
for the location of all machines, utilities, employee
workstations, customer service areas, material
storage areas, aisles, restrooms, lunchrooms,
internal walls, offices, and computer rooms

for the flow patterns of materials and people

around, into, and within buildings

infrastructure services such as the delivery of line

communications, energy, and water and the
removal of waste water all make up basic utilities
Objectives of Good Layout
-Material handling costs.
-Movement of people and material
-Hazards to personnel
-Accidents

- Production capacity
- labour efficiency
- Employee morale
- Space utilization
- Ease of Supervision and Maintenance
Importance of Layout
Economies in handling
 Continued
Better production control
Factors affecting Plant
Layout
The final solution for a Plant Layout has to take into
account a balance among the characteristics and
considerations of all factors affecting plant layout,
in order to get the maximum advantages.
 Factors affecting Plant
Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped
into 8 categories:
Materials
Machinery
Labor
Material Handling
Waiting Time
Auxiliary Services
The building
Future Changes
Materials
The layout of the productive equipment will
depend on the characteristics of the product
to be managed at the facility, as well as the
different parts and materials to work on.
Main factors to be considered: size, shape,
volume, weight, and the physical-chemical
characteristics, since they influence the
manufacturing methods and storage and
material handling processes.
The sequence and order of the operations will
affect plant layout as well, taking into account
the variety and quantity to produce.
Machinery

Having information about the processes,

machinery, tools and necessary equipment, as well
as their use and requirements is essential to design
a correct layout.
The methods and time studies to improve the
processes are closely linked to the plant layout.
Regarding machinery, we have to consider the
type, total available for each type, as well as type
and quantity of tools and equipment.
Its essential as well to know about space required,
shape, height, weight, quantity and type of workers
required, risks for the personnel, requirements of
auxiliary services, etc.
Labor

Labor has to be organized in the

production process (direct labor,
supervision and auxiliary services).
Environment considerations: employees
safety, light conditions, ventilation,
temperature, noise, etc.
Process considerations: personnel
qualifications, flexibility, number of
workers required at a given time as well
as the type of work to be performed by
them.
Material Handling
Material handling does not add value
to the product; its just waste.
Objective: Minimize material handling
as well as combining with other
operations when possible, eliminating
unnecessary and costly movements.
Waiting time - Stock
Objective: Continuous Material Flow through
the facility, avoiding the cost of waiting time.
On the other hand, the material waiting to
flow through the facility not always represents
a cost to avoid. As stock sometimes provides
safety to protect production, improving
customer service, allowing more economic
batches, etc.
Its necessary then to consider space for
the required stock at the facility when
designing the layout.
Auxiliary Services
Support the main production activities at the
plant:
Related to labor: Accessibility paths, fire
protection installations, supervision, safety,
etc.
Related to material: quality control.
Related to machinery: maintenance and
electrical and water lines.
The auxiliary services represent around 30%
of the space at a facility.
The space dedicated to auxiliary services is
usually considered as waste.
Its important to have efficient services to
The building
If it has been already
selected, its characteristics
will be a constraint at the
moment of designing the
layout, which is different if the
building has to be built.
Future changes
One of the main objectives of plant
layout is flexibility.
Its important to forecast the future
changes to avoid having an inefficient
plant layout in a short term.
Possible future extensions of the
facility must be taken into account, as
well as the feasibility of production
during re-layout.
Types of Layout
Product Layout
 Product Layout

Straight Line or Layout for Serialised Manufacture.

Arrangement of machines in ONE LINE depending on
the sequence of operations.
Materials are fed in the first machine & finished
products comes out from the last machine.
Eg:Sugarcane mill and paper mill
 Product layout
Product or Line layout
ADVANTAGES OF PRODUCT LAYOUT

Low cost material handling

Smooth and uninterrupted operations
Continuous flow of work
Optimum use of floor space
Shorter processing time
Simple and effective inspection of
work
 Disadvantages
High initial capital investment
Heavy overhead charges
Lesser flexibility
Every workstation is critical to the
process
Monotonous work
 Process layout:
Functional layout /job lot manufacture or batch
production 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.
Process layout
PROCESS LAYOUT
 ADVANTAGES OF PROCESS
LAYOUT
Lower initial capital investment
The overhead cost are relatively low
Supervision can be more effective and
specialized
Greater flexibility
Handle a variety of processing requirements
Not vulnerable to equipment failures
General-purpose equipment
Possible to use individual incentive systems
 DISADVANTAGES OF PROCESS
LAYOUT
Material handling costs are high due to backtracking
More skilled labour is required
More frequent inspection is needed
In-process inventory costs can be high
Routing and scheduling pose continual challenges
Equipment utilization rates are low
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
Fixed Position Layout
Used when product is large
Product is difficult or impossible to move,
i.e. very large or fixed
All resources must be brought to the site
Scheduling of crews and resources is a
challenge
 ADVANTAGES OF FIXED
POSITION LAYOUT
It saves time and cost involved on the
movement of work from one work station to
another.
The layout is flexible as change in job design
and operation sequence can be easily
incorporated.
It is more economical when several orders in
different stages of progress are being executed
simultaneously.
Adjustments can be made to meet shortage of
materials or absence of workers.
 DISADVANTAGES OF FIXED
POSITION LAYOUT
Production period being very long,
capital investment is very heavy.
Very large space is required for
storage of material and equipment
near the product.
As several operations are carried
simultaneously, possibility of
confusion and conflicts are high
 Service facility layout
Service oriented industries like Banks, Hospitals etc
 Cellular manufacturing:

Machines grouped into cells.

Each cell is formed to produce a few parts with
common charecters.
 Cellular manufacturing:
 Combined layout
Combination of different types of layout viz. product
layout and process layout.
Revision Of Layout
Revision of existing layout
Minor changes to complete dismantling of the
existing structure
To increse the opearting efficiency of the plant
Why revision??...

Expansion