Plant Layout

Design
 What is Facility Layout Design?

• Facility/plant layout means 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.
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Plant Layout cont……
• Plant layout can be defined as the
physical location or configuration
departments, work station and
equipments in the conversion process. It
is a special arrangements of physical
resources used to create the product.
 Plant layout
• “It is a plan of, or the act of planning, an optimum
arrangement of industrial facilities; including personnel,
operating equipment, storage space, material handling
equipment, and all other supporting services, along with
the design of the best structure to contain these
facilities.”
James M. Moore

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Factors Affecting Layout
Types of products
Method of production
Production process
Production capacity
Material flow pattern
Space requirements for machines
Material handling system
Future modification or expansion plan
 Objective of Plant Layout Design
Minimum material handling
Facilitate manufacturing processes
Maximum utilization of area, equipment,
machine…
Efficient utilization of human power
Care for safety
Better lightning and ventilation of the area
Better working condition
 Advantage/benefit of Layout
• It reduce internal transport to a minimum
• It minimize accident and make supervision
easy and quick
• It make repair and maintenance easy
• It reduce production delay
• It reduce backtracking
• Better utilization of manpower
• Possible to improve production method
 PRINCIPLES OF PLANT LAYOUT
1. Principle of overall integration. The layout is best
which integrates the men, material, machinery,
supporting activities and any other considerations.

2. Principle of minimum distance moved. By placing

subsequent operations adjacent to each other,
saving can be made reducing the distance of these
moves.

3. Principle of flow. It means that material will move

progressing from one operation to the next towards
completion

4. Principle of cubic space. Economy is obtained by

using effectively all available space both vertical and
horizontal.
5. Principle of satisfaction and safety. Other things
being equal, that layout is best which makes work
satisfying and easy for workers.
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 PRINCIPLES OF PLANT LAYOUT CONT’D

6. Principle of Flexibility. The layout is best

when it can be adjusted and rearranged at
minimum cost and inconvenience.
7. Principle of expansion. Expand in future
without disturbing the existing layout and
production schedules.
8. Principle of versatility. Layout should be
adoptable to changes in product design, sales
requirement and process improvement.
9. Principle of orderliness. Clean work areas
with suitable equipment for removing scrap,
wastes etc.
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Symptom of good plant layout
Safe, clean and neat layout
No traffic congestion
Better utilization of available space and
machine
Short material flow and production cycle
Steady and smooth material flow and
minimum back tracking
Less handling by skilled worker
Easy to supervise and control
Flexible to meet variation
No bottleneck
Production is economical
 Symptom of bad plant layout
Some machine heavily loaded some remain
idle for long period
Excessive handling by skilled workers
Long production cycle
Crowded conditions
Bottleneck production
Poor utilization of available space
Backtracking
Idle worker and equipment
Obstacle in material flow
Major Consideration for Layout Design
What is to be produced

How mach is to be produced

What will be the sequence of operation

How much time each operation will take

Capacity of the machineries

The amount of space needed

when needed to a new layout
 Start a new product,
 Change the product design,
 Reduce the cost.
 The market demand changes,
 The plant, the product, the building becomes
obsolete,
 Accidents occur frequently,
 The working environment is poor.

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 Types of plant layout
Plant layout can be classified as:

1. Process Or Functional Layout

2. Product Or Line Layout
3. Mixed Or Combined Layout
4. Static Or Fixed Layout
5. Group Technology Layout

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 Process Layout…(cont)
Lathing Milling Drilling

L L M M D D

D D
L L M M

Grinding

L L M M
G G

L L Assembly
G G
A A

Receiving and A A G G
shipping

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 Fixed Layout Cntd…

Fixed position layout

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 Group technology layout
• Production volumes for individual
products are not sufficient to justify
product layouts.
• Grouping products into logical product
families, a product layout can be
justified for the family.

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Group technology layout cont’d
• “Group technology is the technique of
identifying and bringing together
related or similar parts in a production
process in order to utilize the inherent
economy of flow production methods.”
• Group Technology layout is also called
manufacturing cell layout.

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 Group technology layout…(cont)
• Example:
• A plant producing 10,000 part numbers may
be able to group the parts into 50 or 60
families. Each family would possess similar
design and manufacturing characteristics.
• Hence, the processing of each member of a
given family would be similar, and this
results in manufacturing efficiencies in the
form of:
• Reduced set-up,
• Lower in-process inventories,
• Better scheduling,
• Improved tool control,
• Standard process plan. 42
Parts Families

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 Group technology layout…(cont)

L L M D G Assembly
area
Cell 1 Cell 2 A A

Receiving L M G G

Cell 3

L M D
Shipping

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Plant Layout Design Procedure
 Space Planning
• For a proper layout it is necessary to
analyze space available, required, or to
be allocated to each activity or function
of the enterprise.
Major factors affecting space
requirement
• Equipment requirements
• Material requirements
• Employee requirements

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 Space requirement for workstation
1. Equipment
1. The equipment
2. Machine travel
3. Machine maintenance
2. Material
1. Receiving and storing
2. In-process material
3. Storing and shipping
4. Storing and shipping waste and scrap
5. Tools, fixtures, jigs, dies and maintenance
3. Personnel
1. Operator
2. Material handling
3. Operator ingress and egress

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 Space Planning Contd.

Space requirement for main activities

1. Offices
2. Receiving, storage, warehousing and shipping
3. Production (workstation)
4. Parking
5. Employee services
6. Tool room
7. Other service activities

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 Space Planning Contd.
A typical manufacturing industry must provide
office space for the following officials and
functions:
• Plant manager
• Production manager
• Supervisors and foremen
• Production control
• Quality control
• Sales
• Accounting
• Purchasing
• Research and development … etc
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 Space Planning Contd.
Office locations
Industrial offices can be located
1. In the manufacturing building
2. In a separate building adjacent to the manufacturing
building
3. Is a building some distance from the manufacturing building
Types of offices
1. Executive offices
2. General offices
3. Factory offices

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 Space Planning Contd.
Space requirement
• Office floor space is allocated to one of the
following categories:
1. Corridor space
2. Desk space
3. Filling cabinet (and other type of storage)
4. Office equipment space

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 Space Planning Contd.
Receiving, storage, warehousing and shipping
The basic functions of are:
 Unloading, receiving, checking and marking incoming
materials
 Internal material movements to the storage area, work
station or dispatching area
 Storage (deposit & withdrawal)
 Order-pick (distribution), sortation and checking
 Packing, sealing, weighing and shipping preparation

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 Space Planning Contd.
 Loading and shipping
 Handling returns, out-of season product and
store transfers
 Maintenance, sanitation and loss prevention
 Inbound and outbound lorry yard control

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Employees Facilities in the
Layout
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
• The floor plan must incorporate locations for
facilities like, drinking water, toilet, first aid,
locker rooms, time clocks, dispensaries, canteens
etc. These facilities should be created considering
the congestion, distance to be covered, cross
traffic with plant materials-handling equipment and
production operations.
• Locker rooms and washrooms should be located for
convenient accessibility from the entrance gate as
well as to the working areas. The number of lockers
and showers required can be determined
considering the size of labor force, nature of work
and timings of leaving the departments. To save
plant space these can be located on mezzanine
floors, or alongside elevators and stairways. Toilet
facilities should also be adequate considering the
size of labor force. In this regard provisions of
‘Factory Act’ must also be considered.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
Provisions of Factory Act
Following are the main provisions of the
Factory Act regarding employees facilities:
1. Overcrowding
• No room in the factory shall be
overcrowded, for this at least 350 cu. Ft.
or 9.9m3 of space for every worker is
necessary in the factories.
• For this purpose, any space which is more
than 14. Ft or 4.2m above the level of the
floor of the room shall not be taken into
account, i.e. height above 14ft. or 4.2m
from floor shall not be taken into
consideration.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
2 Drinking Water
• Drinking water should be made available to all
workers at all working hours and should be
provided and maintained at suitable points.
• All such points shall be marked “drinking water”
in a language understood by a majority of
workers. Such points shall not be situated
within 20 ft. or 6.0 m of any washing place,
urinal or latrine or any other source of
contamination.
• In every factory employing more than 250
workers, provision shall be made for cooling
drinking water during hot weather.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
3. Bath Rooms
• If the work in the factory is of such a
nature which involves dirt, a sufficient
number of bath rooms shall be provided.
4. Spittoons
• Sufficient number of spittoons shall be
kept at convenient places. These shall be
washed regularly and kept clean.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
5. Latrines and Urinals
• Separate enclosed accommodation for male and female
workers shall be provided. The accommodation shall be
adequately lighted and ventilated and shall be
maintained in clean and sanitary conditions at all times.
• In the factories employing more than 250 workers, all
the latrines and urinals shall be of prescribed sanitary
types and the floors and internal walls up to a height of
3 ft. or 0.90m and the sanitary blocks shall be laid in
glazed tiles or otherwise finished to provide a smooth
polished impervious surface.
• (i) One latrine shall be provided for every 20 female
workers; and one latrine shall be provided for 20 to 100
male workers and thereafter one additional for every
50 male workers. (ii) There shall be one urinal for every
50 workers up to 500 workers and thereafter for every
100 workers.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
6. Precautions against Fire
• Every factory shall be provided with means of
escape in case of fire as may be prescribed
• Doors affording exist from any room shall not
be locked or fastened so that they cannot be
easily and immediately opened from the inside
while any person is inside room.
• Every window, door or other exit affording
means of escape in case of fire, other than the
means of exit in ordinary use shall be marked in
language understood by majority of the
workers.
• Effective means of giving warning in case of
fire to every person shall be provided.
• A free passage-way giving access to escape in
case of fire shall be maintained.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
8. Washing Facilities. Adequate and suitable
facilities for washing shall be provided separately for
male and female workers and maintained for their
use. Suitable place for keeping clothing not worn
during working hours and for the drying of wet
clothing should be marked.
9. Sitting Facilities. Suitable arrangements for
sitting shall be provided and maintained for all
workers, who work in standing position.
10. First-Aid Appliances. First-aid boxes or cup-
boards equipped with the prescribed contents shall
be provided and maintained so as to be readily
accessible during all working hours. At least one such
box shall be provided for every 150 workers.
In every factory employing more than 500 workers,
an ambulance room of the prescribed size with
prescribed equipment shall be in the charge of
medical and nursing staff.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
11. Canteens. A canteen or canteens shall be
provided in every factory wherein more than
250 workers are ordinarily employed.
12. Shelter, Rest-rooms, Lunch-rooms. In
every factory where more than 150 workers are
ordinarily employed, adequate and suitable
shelter, rest rooms and lunch-rooms with
provision of drinking water, where the workers
can take the meals brought by them, shall be
provided and maintained.
13. Creches. Every factory employing more
than 30 female workers, shall be provided and
maintained a suitable room or rooms for the use
of children under the age of 6 years of such
women. Its in charge shall be a woman trained in
this aspect.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
14. Administrative services
• Administrative services are those services which are
necessary in the operation of a plant but are not
directly involved in the production. As large number
of activities are carried out in administrative
department, a careful analysis is essential in planning
the location and accommodation of all the activities
and offices in the administrative department for
efficient working.
• Generally administrative block contains the
executives and personnel’s in the purchase, accounts,
sales, advertising, public relations and other related
departments. The location and layout of these
offices vary widely between different functional
relationship between each of these departments. For
the convenience of customers, suppliers etc. general
administrative department should be kept away from
the shop and to the front of the building.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
Factors considered for locating offices
Functional relationship between different
department
The flow of authority.
Communication system.
Channel for paper flow
Office equipments.
Conference rooms
Record room.
Stationary storage room.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
15. Office Layout
• General Offices. These offices are for the principal
executives and departmental heads and are located
near the main entrance to the plant. This provides
convenience to the public and eliminate the presence of
outsiders in the plant. This arrangement also
facilitates closer contact of executives with each
other. The general office should also be accessible to
the various departments of the plant.
• Factory Offices. Factory offices, such as production
control, plant superintendent, inspection, time keeping
etc., should be located as close to the manufacturing
areas as practical. These offices should also be
protected from noise, fumes and other nuisances.
Mezzanine floors provide good locations for factory
offices, thereby freeing valuable plant floor space for
production activities. Flow of office work is also an
important consideration in the layout.
 Employees Facilities in the Layout
16. Safety
• Before finalizing plant layout, Safety engineer
should be consulted to check and approve the
layout from safety angle at this point he detect
hazards in the layout and correct condition that
may cause accident or result in injury to the
employee. The layout should satisfy all state and
municipal safety provisions. Floor plan should be
checked for the following:
Safety at each workplace and production area,
Materials-handling hazards in the layout,
Layout of safe storage areas,
Layout for safe maintenance,
Hazards in the building structure,
Layout for fire protection, and
Layout for employee’s health and safety.
 Application of
Computer in layout
Design, Simulation
and Modeling
 Defining Computer Simulation
• Simulation is defined as an
experimental technique, usually
performed on a computer, to
analyze the behavior of any real
world operating system.
• Simulation can be used to predict
the behavior of a complex
manufacturing or service system .
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Simulation
• Advantage: Simulation allows us to observe
the behavior of a system without actually
disturbing the real individuals, layout, or
equipment.
• Effects of changes on system can be
observed and measured without actually
changing the real work environment. Once a
feasible solution is found, it can be
implemented.
• Disadvantage: Development of some complex
models may be expensive and time consuming.
 Simulation in Facilities Planning
• Facility planners can use simulations to study
various aspects of facilities design, capacity
planning, inventory policies, office and parking lot
layouts, quality and reliability systems,
warehousing and logistics planning, and
maintenance scheduling.
• By using simulations, the planner can compare
various alternatives and study various scenarios
before costly implementations and mistakes.
 Overview of Layout and Simulation
Software
• The first classification consists of software
packages that can aid in the planning and design of
the layout. Software systems include STORM,
FactoryCAD, FactoryPLAN, and SPIRAL.

• The second category includes simulation and

performance analysis systems. Software systems
include PROMODEL, FactoryFLOW, FACTOR/AIM, and
ARENA.
 Computer Aided Layout Design
• FactoryCAD is a powerful drawing tool that can be used for
industrial and manufacturing layout. By customizing
AutoCAD,
FactoryCAD makes it easy to create, refine, improve, and
edit either new or existing drawings
• FactoryPLAN is a tool for a tool for designing and analyzing
layouts based on the desirability of closeness of different
departments, work areas, offices, storage areas, or
manufacturing cells. Whereas FactoryCAD can aid in the
drawing of the plant layout FactoryPLAN is a planning tool
that can be used to analyze and optimize the layout.
 Computer Assisted layout Performance Analysis
• FactoryFLOW is a layout analysis tool that integrates
facilities drawings and material flow paths with production
and material handling data. The planner can, in real time,
easily make changes to the model, routings, production
volumes, material handling equipment, and other system
variables, in order to examine various alternatives.

• The analysis can help the designer to eliminate or reduce

non value added steps, to reduce travel distances, to
increase product throughput, to reduce work in process
inventory, and to determine material handling requirements.
Computer Assisted layout Performance cont…….

• ProModel is a user friendly simulation and

analysis tool that is available to the facilities
planner. The software can aid the planner to
analyze an existing facility or to develop a new
plant. By playing various what-if scenarios and
running the simulation, one can determine whether
the proposed changes have a positive effect on the
manufacturing facility before implementing the
changes on the factory floor.
Computer Assisted layout Performance cont…….

• ARENA: The Arena modeling system from Systems

Modeling Corporation is a flexible and powerful tool that
allows analysts to create animated simulation models that
accurately represent virtually any system. First released in
1993, Arena employs an object-oriented design for entirely
graphical model development.
• Simulation analysts place graphical objects—called
modules—on a layout in order to define system components
such as machines, operators, and material handling devices.
• Arena is built on the SIMAN simulation language. After
creating a simulation model graphically, Arena automatically
generates the underlying SIMAN model used to perform
simulation runs.