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PLANT LAYOUTPlant layout is defined as the most effective physical arrangement of machines, equipment, and

service departments to have the best co-ordination and efficiency of man, machine and

material in a plant.

REASONS :-Need to make minor correction in present layout due to method improvement, new type of

inspection plan, and new type of product,

Need to rearrange the existing layout due to various changes,

Re-allocating the existing facilities due to new location,

Building a new plant.

EFFECTS OF A PLANT LAYOUT

A good layout will result in the following:

Material handling and transportation is minimized

The movements made by workers are minimized.

Waiting time of the semi-finished products is minimized.

Bottlenecks are eliminated

Overall satisfaction & simplification

Increased production, safer working conditions, well ventilated rooms, clean environment,

optimum spaces

Increased flexibility , improved work methods and reduced production cycle time

In other words, the layout design must consider how to achieve the following:

Higher utilization of space, equipment, and people.

Improved flow of information, materials, and people.

Improved employee morale and safer working conditions.

Improved customer/client interaction.

Flexibility to change the layout that exists anytime.

VARIABLES:-

Layouts are affected by types of industry, production systems, types of products, volume of

production, and types of manufacturing processes

Types of industries

Synthetic process based industry: In this, two or more materials are mixed to get a product, e.g.

cement

Analytic process based industry: It is opposite of synthetic process. Here, the final products are

obtained as a result of breaking of material into several parts. For example, the petroleum

Conditioning process based industry: Here, the form of raw material is changed into the desired

products, e.g. jute products in the jute industry, or the milk products in the dairy farm.

Extractive process based industry: By applying heat, desired product is extracted from the raw

material, e.g. Aluminum from bauxite, and steel from iron ores.

Types of production system

Continuous Production:-They are characterized by standardized, high-volume, capital-intensive

products

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Job Shop Production:-This is characterized by made-to-order, low volume, labor-intense

products

Batch Production:-They are characterized by medium size lots of the same type of item or

product

Type of product

Whether the product is heavy or light, large or small, liquid or solid, etc.Volume of production

Whether the production is in small quantity, or in lots or batches, or in huge quantity (mass

production).

PRINCIPLES OF PLANT LAYOUT

Principle of overall integration (of man, materials, machine, supporting activities, etc)

Principle of minimum distance between operations

Principle of flow (arranging machines according to the sequence of operations)

Principle of cubic space

Principle of satisfaction and safety

Principle of flexibility of rearrangement at a minimum cost.

TYPES OF FLOW