Plant Layout

• What is layout: I s the physical arrangement of the resources in the system to

improve the overall performance thereby providing better customer service.

• Ex hospital facilities

• Where to locate resources and the impact of alternative choices

 Objectives of Good Plant Layout
Safe working
Improved conditions
flow of materials, information and people
Reduced material handling costs and time
Reduced bottleneck centres
Reduced idle time
Ease of maintenance
Improve productivity
Safe working conditions
 Principles of Plant Layout
Minimum Travel

Sequence of Operations

Usage of maximum available space

Compactness of facilities

Safety

Optimum investment

Flexibility

Benefits of good layout design

Jobs in a manufacturing system travel lesser distance
Customers spend less time in service systems
 Types of Layout
• Process Layout
– arrangement of resources on the basis of the process characteristics of the
resources available
• Product Layout
– order in which the resources are placed follow exactly the sequence dictated
by a product
• Fixed Position Layout
– emphasis is not so much on optimum position of resources required for the
process, since the product itself largely dictates this; the focus is on gaining
better control of material flow and reducing delays
• Group Technology
 Factors Influencing Plant Layout
Materials (storage considerations , solid, liquid

Product Characteristics (whether heavy light, big small hazardous flamable)

Demographics of Workers – gender, position of workers while at work, employee

facilities/ amenities

Machines and Equipment ( material handling such as over head cranes, gravity

Type of Industry and nature of production (intermittent or continuous)

Location – size and terrain, mode of transportation used for raw materials and finished
goods, future expansion

Managerial Policies – volume of production, future plans, extent of automation,

speed of production and delivery of goods. example set up of EOU
 Product Layout

• Product follows some sequential steps of Production

• Continuous Flow – fluids, powders, metals, and bulk items
• Dedicated Repetitive Flow – light bulbs

Characteristics
• Work moves through process at fixed rate. Resources are
arranged in the order of machining requirements
• material handling equipment is designed for the line
• Work capacity of various work stations has to be synchronised
and work force at the optimum level of out put
 Product Layout
An example

Product A
L D M G

Product B
L D L G

Product C
L D M L G
 Manufacturing Process Layout ..example
Milling
Lathe Department Department Drilling Department
L L M M D D D D

L L M M D D D D

L L G G G P

L L G G G P

Grinding Paint Shop

L L Department

Receiving and
A A A
Shipping Assembly
 Process Layout
An example

Product A
Product B L L L L D D

Product C D D
L L L L
D D
M M

G G G
M M
The sequence of visits is a function of the process and is
available on the routing card

There is criss cross of the components as they visit different

machines . This increases material handling

Difficulty in production planning and control.

Creates functional silos in companies

 Product & Process Layout
Pros & Cons
Process Layout
Sharing of specialised and
costly equipments
Advantages More flexibility
Product Layout
Standardised product/ process
routing
Operational Control is simpler

Less vulnerable to breakdowns High output rate is possible

Large Inventory buildup
Disadvantages Operational control difficult
Excess Material Handling
Low tolerance for breakdowns
Duplication of equipments
leading to high cost
Less flexibility due to
dedication of resources

- Product layout requires dedicated resources. Only high volume

manufacture can justify that
- Process layout has better flexibility and utilization of resources.
 Fixed Site (Project)

Materials, Tools and Personnel brought to project

location
Ship Building, Aircraft building, Construction sites,
Road Construction

What you need is just good workplace organization

Personnel highly trained and very skillful

• Order quantities small and products are high value and bulky
• Tooling, personnel and materials need to be available at proper
time
 Group Tech
• Of late there is an increased trend in variety of products by organizations
• Ex is Titan Most manufacturing companies are going the mid variety – mid
volume way
• GT finds out the commonality in manufacturing and uses it as a basis for
grouping components and resources
• GT is also called a cellular manufacturing
• Layout is made for a part family ie products with similar characteristics
The available components are grouped into product families
• Appropriate measure of manufacturing similarity is used to identify
product families
• Corresponding to the part families the machine groups are identified
dissimilar machines are grouped into cells
• Components will not travel outside the cell
• Production planning becomes easier.
• Material handling is improved, more traceability
Group Technology Layout
An example

Cell 1 Cell 2

L M D M D L

D L G G D L

L D L D

M L G L M
Cell 4 Cell 3
 Layout Design
Performance Measures
Performance Measure Basis for measurement
Distance travelled by jobs in the Kg - Metres of job movement for
shopfloor each product
Minimum space required to actual
Space utilisation index
space utilised
Material Handling costs Rupees per month

Number and quantum of inter-

Inter-departmental moves
departmental moves

Number of job cards and control

Ease of production control
Number of ownership changes
documents generated; Size of the
progress chasing staff
Number of times the responsibility
for the job changes hands