METAS Adventist College (NEHU)

Plant Layout

Prepared By,
Mr. Nishant Agrawal
 Session outline
 Facility Layout Planning

 Product Layout

 Process Layout

 Fixed position layout

 Cellular layout

 Factors affecting location plant

 Merit and Demerits

 Plant Layout
 A plant layout study is an engineering study used to analyze

different physical configurations for a manufacturing plant.

 In industry sectors, it is important to manufacture the products which

have good quality and meet customers’ demand.

 This action could be conducted under existing resources such as

employees, machines and other facilities.

 However, plant layout improvement, could be one of the tools to

response to increasing industrial productivity.

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 Plant layout design has become a fundamental basis of today’s

industrial plants which can influence parts of work efficiency.

 It is needed to appropriately plan and position employees, materials,

machines, equipment, and other manufacturing supports and

facilities to create the most effective plant layout.
 Plant Layout Principles

1. Integration of all factors - The plant should integrate all the essential
resources of men, machines and materials in order to give an optimum level
of production.

2. Minimum Movement - The less the movement of men, machines and

materials, the less will be the cost of production. Thus, minimum movement of
theses resources will provide cost efficiency.

3. Unidirectional flow - All materials should progressively move towards the

same direction i.e. towards the stage of completion.
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4. Maximum protection - The layout should ensure the protection of the

materials and machines while they are in the working or the storage stage.

5. Maximum flexibility - The plant layout should not be rigid and permanent. If
the need arises, the plant layout should be able to change itself without being
expensive.

6. Safety and security - The environment of the plant should be safe for the
workers as well as the machines. There should be minimum contact of the
labour to chemicals and environment.
Facility Layout Planning

Product

Cellular Layout Process

Fixed
 Product Layout / An Assembly line

 It is suitable when product having standard features is to be

produced in large volumes.

 The production process involves repetitive tasks to be performed

on items arrange in sequence

 The specialized machines and equipment are arranged once after

other. This production line is often called assembly line.

 The assembly line has mechanized moving platform , which moves

at regular interval of time.

 The basic structure of the products to be manufactured in the raw

form are placed on conveyor at equal distance from each other.

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 Across conveyor, there are workstation which have required machines,
equipments, components , tools to perform assembling of tasks on the basic
product.
 The total performance time of tasks assigned to each workstation should
be almost equal.
 This is necessary because conveyor moves after definite period of time.

Advantages
 Easier material handling and
less inventory costs.
 Less supervision and labour
training costs
 High output rate and low cost of
item per unit
 High Efficiency of labour and
equipment
 No need of scheduling once the
line is operational
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Disadvantages
 Maintenance cost is high to
ensure smooth running of line
 Inflexible to design changes
in products or processes
(expensive)
 Breakdown of a machine lead
to halt in production
 Repetitive tasks lead to
frustration for workers
U shaped assembly line
 It is useful particularly when there is a single worker in the line

taking care of all workstation.

 It reduce the walking distance of worker almost by half.

 The closeness of workstations allows workers to helps a fellow

worker catch up. Increase team work among workers.

 Reduce material handling as entry and exit point of material on

line are nearby.

 At the same time , many workstation close to each other may

result in conversation, noise etc. resulting distraction from work.

U shaped assembly line
 Process Layout
 In this machines are arranged in no particular sequence as processing

requirements and sequence are different for various type of products

to be manufactured.

 It is suitable when different produces are produced in lots or

batches. This is called intermittent manufacturing.

 The demand of items is not high enough to deserve continuous

manufacturing.

 Process Layout is very commonly found in service set ups such as

banks, hospitals, post offices, universities etc.

Process Layout
Fixed Position Layout

 The product is very bulky , heavy , large or has fixed position.

Ex. Construction of building, dam or plant

 Equipment , raw materials, and workers team are brought to

side according to a time schedule for better utilization of the

space available.
Cellular layout and Group Technology

 Product layout is desirable by most organization , but low volume.

 Cellular manufacturing a model for workplace design, is an integral

part of just-in-time manufacturing and lean manufacturing,

 In this groups of items with similar processing requirements are

identified and separate manufacturing cells forms for each group.

 Factors affecting Plant Layout
(1) Policies of management:

 It is important to keep in mind various managerial policies and plans before deciding

plant layout.

(2) Plant location:

 Location of a plant greatly influences the layout of the plant. Shape, climate

conditions, and size of the site selected will influence the general arrangement of the
layout and the flow of work in and out of the building.

(3) Nature of the product:

 Nature of the commodity or article to be produced greatly affects the type of layout to

be adopted. In case of process industries, where the production is carried in a

sequence, product layout is suitable.
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(4) Volume of production:

 Plant layout is generally determined by taking into consideration the quantum of production to

be produced.

(5) Availability of floor space:

 Availability of floor space can be other decisive factor in adopting a particular mode of layout.

On the other hand more space may lead to the adoption of process layout.

(6) Repairs and maintenance of equipment and machines:

 The plant layout should be designed in such a manner as to take proper care with regard to

repairs & maintenance of different types of machines & equipment being used in the industry.

 The machines should not be installed so closely that it may create the problems of their

maintenance and repairs.

 Questions
Que.1 ) Explain Product layout and Process layout in detail
OR
 Discuss types of Plant Layout with suitable examples.
OR
 Define the various types of plant layout in brief with suitable
examples of each.
OR
 What is Plant layout? List the various types of Plant layout. Carry
out a comparative analysis product and process layout with an
example.
OR
 How many types of Basic Layouts are there for a facility? Briefly
explain each of them.