Plant Layout
Operations Management
Plant Layout
Facilities or plant layout is related to a number of aspects of production and operations management.
The basic theme behind the arrangement of work areas is to produce the product economically, to provide the service effectively, and to provide a safe and good physical environment for the users that is, the workers and / or the customers.
Plant Layout – Features
Ease of Working, Maximum Safety, and Minimum Health Hazards for People Working in / using the facility. | In production plants this will go a long way in increasing worker satisfaction and, therefore, labour productivity. Plant layout has much to do with productivity techniques such as work study, job evaluation, incentives and ergonomics. |
Minimum handling of materials | A good plant layout takes into consideration the various flows of materials inside the facility thus minimising the handling of materials. |
Minimum damage and spoilage of materials. | If adequate consideration regarding the handling and storage of material is given, it automatically minimises damages and spoilage of materials. |
Reduced congestion of materials, machinery and men | A good physical layout should eliminate confusion in the plant. A good plant layout means a good spatial system. This should make production scheduling and control easier and should consequently reduce the delays in production and increase utilization of the available plant capacity. |
Flexibility with regards to changing production conditions | A good layout should be one that is adaptable or flexible enough to take care of probable future changes in the volume of production, in the range of products manufactured, and changes in the methods / process of production. |
Basic principles
The basic principles of plant layout are, therefore, as follows:
Basic principles
Basic principles
Factors influencing Layout
Costs
The costs associated with a decision on plant layout are:
A good layout should minimize all these cost put together.
Basic Types of Layout
Basic Types of Layout
The formats by which departments are arranged in a facility are defined by the general pattern of workflow.
Layout | Description |
Project Layout | A setup in which the product remains at one location, and equipment is moved to the product. |
Work Centre – Job shop. | A process structure suited for low-volume production of a great variety of nonstandard products. |
Manufacturing cell | Groups dissimilar machines to work on products that have similar shapes and processing requirements. |
Assembly line | A setup in which an item is produced through a fixed sequence of workstations, designed to achieve a specific production rate. |
Continuous process | Is similar to an assembly line in that production follows a predetermined sequence of steps, but the flow is continuous rather than discrete. |
Basic Types of Layout
Manufacturing Cell
Workcenter
Project
Assembly line
Continuous process
Inefficient processes
Mass Customization
Low
One of a kind
High
Standardized
commodity product
Product
Standardization
Product Volume
Low
High
Basic Types of Layout
Process Layout or Layout by Function / Work Centre – Job shop.
A process structure suited for low-volume production of a great variety of nonstandard products.
This is typical of the job-shop type of production where the equipment performing similar operations is grouped together.
Basic Types of Layout
Product Layout or Line Production / Assembly line
A setup in which an item is produced through a fixed sequence of workstations, designed to achieve a specific production rate.
The equipment here is laid out according to the sequence in which it is used for making the product.
Basic Types of Layout
Fixed Position Layout / Manufacturing cell
Groups dissimilar machines to work on products that have similar shapes and processing requirements.
The material remains in a fix position, but machinery, tools, workmen, etc. are brought to the material.
Basic Types of Layout
Product Layout or Line Production / Assembly line
The product of line layout is relatively easy to plan as the layout is according to the flow of the product as it takes shape from the raw material state to the finished good state.
Process Layout or Layout by Function / Work Centre – Job shop.
The problem is one of arranging the different work areas in such a way that the inter-area material movement costs are kept to a minimum.
Bibliography
Chary, S. N. (2019). Production and operations management. (6.a ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.