TOPIC :- Plant layout

Definition :- “Plant layout is a floor plan for determining and arranging the
designed machinery and equipment of a plant, whether established or
contemplated, in the best place, to permit the quickest flow of material, at the
lowest cost and with the minimum handling in processing the product, from the
receipt of raw material to the shipment of finished product.”

Plant layout is the most effective physical arrangement, either existing or

in plans of industrial facilities i.e arrangement of machines, processing
equipment and service departments to achieve greatest co-ordination
and efficiency of 4M’s (Men, Materials, Machines and Methods) in a
plant.

Layout problems are fundamental to every type of

organisation/enterprise and are experienced in all kinds of
concerns/undertakings.

The adequacy of layout affects the efficiency of subsequent operations. It is an

important pre-requisite for efficient operations and also has a great deal in
common with many problems. Once the site of the plant has been decided, the
next important problem before the management of the enterprise is to plan
suitable layout for the plant.

The objectives of a good layout are as follows:

(i) Should provide overall satisfaction to all concerned.

(ii) Material handling and internal transportation from one operation to

the next is minimized and efficiently controlled.

(iii) The production bottle necks and points of congestions are to be

eliminated so that input raw materials and semi-finished parts move fast
from one work station to another.

(iv) Should provide high work in process turnover.

(v) Should utilize the space most effectively; may be cubical utilization.

(vi) Should provide worker’s convenience, promote job satisfaction and

safety for them.

(vii) Should avoid unnecessary investment of capital.

(viii) Should help in effective utilization of labour.

(ix) Should lead to increased productivity and better quality of the

product with reduced capital cost.

(x) Should provide easy supervision.

(xi) Should provide space for future expansion of the plant.

(xii) Should provide proper lighting and ventilation of the areas of work
stations

Importance of Plant Layout:

The layout of a plant is quite important in view of the above definition but
the importance of a layout may greatly vary from industry to industry.

The possibility of attaining the best possible layout is directly

proportional to following factors:
(i) The Weight, Volume or Mobility of the Product:
If the final product is quite heavy or difficult to handle involving costly
material handling equipment or a large amount of labour, important
consideration will be to move the product minimum possible e.g. boiler,
turbines, locomotive industries and ship building companies etc.

(ii) Complexity of the Final Product:

If the product is made up of a very large number of components and
parts i.e. large number of people may be employed for handling the
movement of these parts from shop to shop or from machine to machine
or one assembly point to another e.g. automobile industry.

(iii) The Length of the Process in Relation to Handling

Time:
If the material handling time represents a appreciable proportion of the
total time of manufacturing, any reduction in handling time of the
product may result in great productivity improvement of the industrial
unit e.g. Steam Turbine Industry.
(iv) The Extent to which the Process Tends towards Mass
Production:
With the use of automatic machines in industries for adopting mass
production system of manufacturing the volume of production will
increase. In view of high production output, larger percentage of manual
labour will be engaged in transporting the output unless the layout is
good.

Principles of Plant Layout:

According to Muther there are six basic principles of “best layout”.

These are:
1. Principle of Overall Integration:
According to this principle the best layout is one which provides
integration of production facilities like men, machinery, raw materials,
supporting activities and any other such factors which result in the best
compromise.

2. Principle of Minimum Distance:

According to this principle, the movements of men and materials should
be minimized.

3. Principle of Flow:
According to Muther, the best layout is one which arranges the work
station for each operate process in same order or sequence that forms
treats or assembles the materials.

4. Principle of Cubic Space Utilization:

According to this, the best layout utilizes cubic space i.e. space available
both in vertical and horizontal directions is most economically and
effectively utilized.

5. Principle of Satisfaction and Safety:

According to this principle, best layout is one which provides satisfaction
and safety to all workers.

6. Principle of Flexibility:
In automotive and other allied industries where models of products
change after sometime, the principle of flexibility provides adoption and
rearrangements at a minimum cost and least inconvenience.
Types of Plant Layout:
Two basic plans of the arrangement of manufacturing facilities are –
product layout and process layout. The only other alternative is a
combination of product and process layouts, in the same plant.

(a) Product Layout (or Line Layout):

In this type of layout, all the machines are arranged in the sequence, as
required to produce a specific product. It is called line layout because
machines are arrange in a straight line. The raw materials are fed at one
end and taken out as finished product to the other end.

Special purpose machines are used which perform the required jobs (i.e.
functions) quickly and reliably.
Product layout is depicted below:

Advantages:
1. Reduced material handling cost due to mechanized handling systems
and straight flow

2. Perfect line balancing which eliminates bottlenecks and idle capacity.

3. Short manufacturing cycle due to uninterrupted flow of materials

4. Simplified production planning and control; and simple and effective

inspection of work.

5. Small amount of work-in-progress inventory

6. Lesser wage cost, as unskilled workers can learn and manage

production.

Disadvantages:
1. Lack of flexibility of operations, as layout cannot be adapted to the
manufacture of any other type of product.
2. Large capital investment, because of special purpose machines.

3. Dependence of whole activity on each part; any breakdown of one

machine in the sequence may result in stoppage of production.

4. Same machines duplicated for manufacture of different products;

leading to high overall operational costs.

5. Delicate special purpose machines require costly maintenance /

repairs.

Product layout is suitable in the following cases:

1. Where one or few standardized products are manufactured.

2. Where a large volume of production of each item has to travel the

production process, over a considerable period of time.

3. Where time and motion studies can be done to determine the rate of
work.

4. Where a possibility of a good balance of labour and equipment exists.

5. Where minimum of inspection is required, during sequence of

operations.

6. Where materials and products permit bulk or continuous handling by

mechanical parts.

7. Where minimum of set-ups are required.

(b) Process Layout (or Functional Layout):

In this type of layout, all machines performing similar type of operations
are grouped at one location i.e. all lathes, milling machines etc. are
grouped in the shop and they will be clustered in like groups.

A typical process layout is depicted below:

Advantages:
1. Greater flexibility with regard to work distribution to machinery and
personnel. Adapted to frequent changes in sequence of operations.

2. Lower investment due to general purpose machines; which usually are

less costly than special purpose machines.

3. Higher utilisation of production facilities; which can be adapted to a

variety of products.

4. Variety of jobs makes the work challenging and interesting.

5. Breakdown of one machine does not result in complete stoppage of

work.

Disadvantages:
1. Backtracking and long movements occur in handling of materials. As
such, material handling costs are higher.

2. Mechanisation of material handling is not possible.

3. Production planning and control is difficult

4. More space requirement; as work-in-progress inventory is high-

requiring greater storage space.

5. As the work has to pass through different departments; it is quite

difficult to trace the responsibility for the finished product.

Process layout is suitable in the following cases, where:

1. Non-standardised products are manufactured; as the emphasis is on
special orders.

2. It is difficult to achieve good labour and equipment balance.

3. Production is not carried on a large scale.

4. It is difficult to undertake adequate time and motion studies.

5. It is frequently necessary to use the same machine or work station for

two or more difficult operations.

6. During the sequence of operations, many inspections are required.

7. Process may have to be brought to work, instead of “vice-versa”;

because materials or products are too large or heavy to permit bulk or
continuous handling by mechanical means.

(c) Combination Layout:

In practice, plants are rarely laid out either in product or process layout
form. Generally a combination of the two basic layouts is employed; to
derive the advantages of both systems of layout. For example,
refrigerator manufacturing uses a combination layout.

Process layout is used to produce various operations like stamping,

welding, heat treatment being carried out in different work centres as
per requirement. The final assembly of the product is done in a product
type layout.

(d) Fixed Position Layout:

It is also called stationary layout. In this type of layout men, materials
and machines are brought to a product that remains in one place owing
to its size. Ship-building, air-craft manufacturing, wagon building, heavy
construction of dams, bridges, buildings etc. are typical examples of such
layout.