Plant Layout

Types of manufacturing and service operations – the operations functions in both manufacturing and
service oganisations can be divided into two basic types, intermittent and continuous, according to
the volume and standardisation of the product or service.

Intermittent operations - these are characterized by made-to-order products, low product volume,
general purpose equipment, labour intensive operations, interrupted product flow, frequent
schedule changes and large product mix. For such types of operations process layout is appropriate.

Continuous operations – these are characterized by standardized product, made to store inventory,
high product volume, special purpose equipment, capital intensive operations, continuous product
flow and small product mix. For such types of operations product layout is appropriate.

Basic layout – A layout is the physical configuration of departments, work stations and equipment in
the conversion process. It is the spatial arrangement of physical resources used to create the
product. There are four types of layouts.

1. Process oriented layout/Functional Layout

2. Product oriented layout/Line Layout
3. Fixed position layout
4. Group technology and cellular layout

The right choice of layout for an organization improves productivity, the quality of the
product/service and delivery rates. A good layout design will ensure that a vast majority of jobs in a
manufacturing system will have to travel shorter distances before completing their processing
requirements. Similarly in the case of service organisation, customers will have to walk shorter
distances and spend less time in the system to complete their services requirements. This ensures
that the costs and lead time of the processes come down.

A bad layout design will result in longer distance being covered before a process is completed. This
creates several problems in organisation and key performance measures suffer. The most significant
and visible effect is the time taken to complete the process. Longer distance would mean more time
is needed to complete the process. In the case of manufacturing organisations more material
handling leads to higher material handling costs. Eventually in both service and manufacturing
system, this leads to poor quality.

Types of layouts (very Important)

1. Process or Functional Layout –

A process or functional layout is appropriate for intermittent type of operations when the flow is
not consistent for all output. Variable work flow occurs when a variety of products or variety on
a single product are produced. In a process layout the work centres or departments are grouped
together to their functional type.

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 Distribution warehouses, hospitals, universities, office buildings and job shops use a process
layout.

NEUROLOGY GYNECOLOGY LABORATORY

TESTS
PATIENT
X-RAY and CT
WAITING AREA
REST ROOM SCAN

PLASTIC &
RECEPTION RECONSTRUCTIVE
ROOM SURGERY

PEDIATRICS

PHARMACY
Patient enters clinic

Patient exits clinic

LATHE A GRINDING E

RECEIPTS ASSEMBLY F
STORES

SHAPING B DRILLING C MILLING D

INSPECTION AREA

In this type of layouts machines are general purpose machines that are usually arranged according to
the type of processes being performed. For example in the figure all the Lathes will be organised into
a lathe department. Similarly there will be shaping department, drilling and milling departments.

Advantages of Process Layout –

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 1. In process layout machines are better utilised and fewer machines are required.
2. Flexibility of equipment and personnel is possible in process layout.
3. Lower investment on account of comparatively less number of machines.
4. Higher utilisation of production facilities.
5. The diversity of tasks and variety of job makes the job challenging and interesting.
6. Supervisors will become highly knowledgeable about functions under their departments.

Disadvantages of Process Layout –

1. Backtracking and long movements may occur in the handling of materials thus reducing
material handling efficiency.
2. Material handling cannot be mechanised which adds to cost.
3. Process time is prolonged which reduces the inventory turnover and increase the in-
process inventory.
4. Lowered productivity due to no of set ups.
5. Space and capital are tied up by work in progress.

2. Product or line Layout –

A product oriented layout is appropriate for producing one standardised product usually in large
volume. Each unit of output requires the same sequence of operations from beginning to end. In
a product layout, work centres and equipments are ideally arranged in a line to afford a specified
sequence of tasks. Each work centre performs one highly specialised part of the total product
build up sequence.

Examples are automatic car washes, automobile makers and beverage bottling plant use product
layout.

LATHE DRILL PRESS

START
PRODUCTION
PACKAGIN
DRILL PAINTING G
FINISH PRODUCTION
PRESS#1 MACHINE

3
CLEAN HOT TOP WASH SIDE WASH FINAL HOT
OUT WATER & BRUSH & BRUSH RINSE BLOWER

HAND WIPE
& CLEAN UP

In a product layout, the required set of resources for every product is dedicated. Due to this,
resources (machines and equipments) are arranged in the order of the product requirement
resulting into smooth flow of production. As the flow path is fixed in this type of layout a fixed path
material handling equipment can be used to speed up material transfer between successive stations.

Advantage of Product Layout –

1. The flow of product will be smooth and logical in flow lines.

2. In-process inventory is less.
3. Minimum material handling.
4. Simplified production planning and control.
5. Less space is required for temporary storage.
6. Reduced material handling cost due to mechanised handling system and straight flow.
7. Unskilled workers can learn and manage the production.

Disadvantage of Product Layout –

1. A breakdown of one machine in a product line may cause stoppage of the whole production
line.
2. Lack of flexibility - a change in product design may require major alteration in layout.
3. Comparatively high investment in equipment is needed.

3. Fixed position Layout –

A fixed position layout is appropriate when because of size, shape or in case of bulky products or
any other characteristic; it is not feasible to move the product. In a fixed position layout, the
product stays at one location, tools, equipment and workers are brought to it as needed. This
type of layouts is used by large project organisations. For example Indian Space Research

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 Organisation (ISRO) launch site at Sriharikota, Nuclear Engineering Division of BHEL at
Tiruchirapalli. The other examples are:

A home plumbing repair business, bringing skills and tools of a plumber to the home uses a fixed
position layout. Layouts for building ships, locomotives and aircrafts are often use a fixed
position layout, as are agriculture operations in which planting, fertilizing and harvesting are
performed as needed in the field.

raw material House construction

machine & equipment finished product (house)

labour

Advantage of Fixed position Layout –

1. Helps in job enlargement and upgrades the skills of the operators.
2. The workers identify themselves with a product in which they take interest and pride in
doing the job.
3. Greater flexibility.

4. Group technology or cellular Layout –

This layout is appropriate for arrangement of resources in organisations that have mid volume
and mid variety product portfolio. For example Titan produces 40,000 models of watches every
year. It may use cellular layout.

Group technology and cellular layout can be combined and used to produce families of parts
more economically than can traditional process or product layout. Group technology is a way of
gathering data so that parts with similar characteristics, which are also manufactured similarly
could be identified. The identification and coding is the heart of group technology. The
equipment to make these similar parts or families of products are grouped together and
designed for these parts. To some extent, a process layout, characteristics of job shops, is
changed to a small well defined product layout. The group of equipments is called a cell and
arrangement of cells is called a cellular layout.

So GT layout allocates dissimilar machines into cells to work on products that have similar
shapes and processing requirements.

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 GT or cellular layouts are widely used in metal fabricating, computer chip manufacture and
assembly work. The overall objective is to gain the benefits of product layout in job shop kinds of
production.

Developing a Group technology layout

1. Grouping parts into families that follow a common sequence of steps. This step requires
developing and maintaining a computerized parts classification and codification system. This
is a major expense with such system although many companies have developed shortcut
procedures for identifying parts families.
2. Identify dominant flow pattern of part families.
3. Physically grouping machines and processes into cells. Often there are parts that cannot be
associated with a family.

A A C C

A A D D

B B D E

PROCESS LAYOUT (JOB SHOP)

A A

A C

A D

A B

CELLULAR LAYOUT

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 1 2 1 2 3

5 4

1 2

1 2
3
3
4

The flow of parts within cells can take many forms for example in cell#1 and cell#2, the parts in
the part family flow through the same machine in a product focussed line flow fashion. But in
cell#3 and cell#4 parts take different routes through the cells because of the differences
between the designs of the two parts.

Advantages of group technology layout

1. Less work-in progress inventory and material handling.

2. Faster production set ups- fewer jobs means less tooling change.
3. Simplified production planning and control.
4. Improved operators expertise- workers see only a limited number of different parts in a
finite production cycle, so repetition means quick learning.
5. Better human relations- cell consists of few workers who form a small work team; a team
turns out complete units of work.

Disadvantage of GT layout
Reduced manufacturing flexibility – cells become out of date as product and process change
and it involves cost of changing the cell.

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Difference between product and process layout:

Product Layout Process Layout

Low total flow time of the product from the
input stage to the output stage (higher rate of
output due to continuous flow)
None or very little variety possible
Less flexibility to change
One machine failure will stop the whole line
Larger maintenance crew needed
Very low variety and therefore lower job
satisfaction and higher boredome for the
workers
Production planning and control is simple, less
paper work
Lower degree of skills is required to operate
High capital investment due to duplication of
machine
No work in progress inventory and hence low
material handling cost
High flow time of products due to intermittent
flow of material and more machine set ups
Very high degree of variety in products
Flexibility and adaptability to change is high
Machine breakdown do not cause stoppage of
production
Requires small maintenance crew
Good level of variety skills requirements and
therefore higher job satisfaction
Production planning and control is complex,
much paper work is necessary.
Skilled workers are required considering the
variety
Comparatively low investment in layout
Higher inventory and hence high material
handling cost.

Objectives of Good Plant Layout-

1. The principal objective of proper plant layout is to maximise production at minimum cost.
2. There is proper utilisation of cubic space (e.g. length, width and height). Maximum use of
volume available should be made. For example, conveyors can be run above head height
and used as moving work in progress or tools and equipments can be suspended from the
ceiling.
3. Waiting time of semi finished product is minimised.
4. Working conditions are safer, better (well ventilated rooms etc.) and improved.
5. Material handling and transportation is minimised and efficiently controlled.
6. The movement made by the workers are minimised.
7. Suitable spaces are allocated for production centres.
8. Plant maintenance is simpler.
9. There is increased flexibility for changes in product design and for future expansion.
10. There is increased productivity and better product quality with reduced capital cost.
11. Boosting up employee morale by providing employee comforts and satisfaction.
12. The workers should be so arranged that there is no difficulty in supervision, coordination and
control.

Factors affecting the plant layout decisions -

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The following are some important factors which influence the planning of effective layout to a
significant degree.

 Nature of the product: The nature of the product to be manufactured will significantly affect
the layout of the plant. Stationary layout will be the most suitable for the heavy products
while line layout will be the best for the manufacture of light products because small and
light products can move from one machine to another very easily and, therefore more
attention can be paid to machine locations and handling of materials.
 Volume of production: Volume of the product and the standardization of the product also
affect the type of layout. If standardized commodities are to be manufactured on a large
scale, line type of layout may be adopted. If production is made on the order of the
customers the functional layout is better to be adopted.
 Basic managerial policies and decisions: The type of layout depends very much on the
decisions and the policies of the management to be followed in producing a commodity with
regard to size of the plant, kind and quality of the product; scope for expansion to be
provided for, the extent to which the plant is to be integrated, amount of stocks to be
carried at any time, the kind of employee facility.
 Nature of plant location: the size, shape and topography of the site at which plant is located
will naturally affect the type of layout to be followed in view of the maximum utilization of
space available. For example, if a site is near the railway line the arrangement of general
layout for receiving and shipping and for the best flow of production in and our plant may be
made by the side of railway line. If space is narrow and the production process is lengthy,
the layout of plant may be arranged on the land surface in the following manner:

 Type of industry process: This is one of the most important factors influencing the choice of
type of plant layout. Generally the types of layout particularly the arrangement of machines
and work centers and the location of workmen vary according to the nature of the industry
to which the plant belongs. For the purpose of layout, industry may be classified into two
broad categories;
1. Intermittent
2. Continuous
Intermittent type of industries is those which manufacture different components or different
machine. Such industries may manufacture the parts, when required according to the market
needs. Examples of such industries are shipbuilding plants. In this type of industry functional

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layout may be the best. The second type of industry is ‘continuous’ industry. In this type of
industry raw materials are fed at one end and the finished goods are received at another end. A
continuous industry may be either analytical or synthetical. As analytical industry breaks up the
raw material into several parts during the course of production process or changes its form, e.g.
oil and sugar refineries. A synthetic industry, on the other hand mixes the two or more materials
to manufacture one product along with the process of production or assembles several parts to
get finished product. Cement and automobile industries are examples of such industries. Line
layout is more suitable in continuous process industries.

 Types of methods of production: Layout plans may be different according to the method of
production proposed to be adopted. Any of the following three methods may be adopted for
production-
1. Job Order Production
2. Batch Production
3. Mass Production

Job Order Production

Under job production goods are produced according to the orders of the customers and
therefore, specifications vary from customer to customer and the production can’t be
standardized. The machines and equipment can be arranged in a manner to suit the need of
all types of customers.

Batch Production

Batch production carries the production of goods in batches or groups at intervals. In this
type of manufacturing the product is standardized and the production is made generally in
anticipation of sales. In such cases functional or process layout may be adopted.

Mass Production

In case of mass production of standardized goods, line layout is the most suitable form of
plant layout.

 Nature of machines: Nature of machines and equipment also affects the layout of plant. If
machines are heavy in weight or creates noisy atmosphere, stationary layout may

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 reasonably be adopted. Heavy machines are generally fixed on the ground floor. Ample
space should be provided for complicated machines to avoid accidents.
 Climate: Sometimes, temperature, illumination and air are the deciding factors in deciding
the locations of machines and their establishments. For example, in lantern manufacturing
industry, the spray painting room is built along the factory to ensure the required
temperature control and air expulsion and then the process of spray painting may be
undertaken.
 Nature of materials: Design and specifications of materials, physical and chemical properties
of materials, quantity and quality of materials and combination of materials are probably the
most important factors to be considered in planning a layout. So, materials storage and
materials handling should be given due considerations. For materials storage factors such as
rate of consumption of raw materials, space, volume and weight of raw materials, floor load
capacity, ceiling height method of storing should be given special considerations. This will
affect the space and the efficiency of the production process in the plant. It will facilitate
economic production goods and prompt materials flow and a soundly conceived materials
handling system.
 Type of machine and equipment: Machines and equipment may be either general purpose
or special purpose. In addition certain tools are used. The requirements of each machine and
equipment are quite different in terms of their space, speed and material handling process
and these factors should be given proper consideration while choosing out a particular type
of layout. It should also be considered that each machine and equipment is used to its fullest
capacity because machines involve a huge investment. For instance, under product layout,
certain machines may not be used to their full capacity so care should be taken to make full
use of the capacity of machines and equipment.
 Human factor and working condition: Man is the most important factor of production and
therefore special considerations for their safety and comforts should be given by planning a
layout, specific safety items like obstruction-free floor, workers not exposed to hazards, exit
etc. should be provided for. The layout should provide for the comforts to the workers such
as provision of rest rooms, drinking water, lavatory and other services etc. Sufficient space is
also to be provided for free movement of workers. For this, provisions of Factories Act
should be followed strictly.
 Characteristics of the building: Shape of building, covered and open area, number of
storeys, facilities of elevators; parking area, storing place and so on also influence the layout
plan. In most of the cases where building is hired, layout is to be adjusted within the space

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 available in the building. Although minor modifications may be done to suit the needs of the
plant and equipment. But of new building is to be constructed it according to the layout plan
drawn by experts. Special type of construction is to be needed to accommodate huge or
technical or complex or sophisticated machines and equipment.

It is clear from the above description that several factors are considered while choosing out a
plan for plant layout because they affect the production and its cost to a great extent.

Ideal plant layout – According to F. C. Moore, “A good layout is one, which allows materials rapidly
and directly for processing. This reduces transport, handling, clerical and other costs down per unit,
space requirements are minimised and it reduces idle machine and idle man time.”

Objectives of ideal plant layout –

1. Minimisation of material handling.

2. Elimination of bottlenecks through balancing of plant capacities.
3. High material turnover through shorter operating cycles.
4. Effective utilisation of installed capacity so that returns on the investment may be
minimised.
5. Effective utilisation of cubic space of the factory area.
6. Effective utilisation of manpower resources through elimination of idle time.
7. Elimination of physical efforts required of operative workers.
8. Avoidance of industrial accidents.
9. Better working conditions for the employees like lighting, ventilation, control of noise and
vibrations etc.
10. Decency and orderliness inside the plant area.
11. Better customer service through cheaper and better product supplies according to delivery
promises.

Principles of layout

1. Principle of minimum travel – Men and machine should travel the shortest distance
between operations so as to avoid waste of labour and time and minimise cost of material
handling.
2. Principle of Sequence – machinery and operations should be arranged in a sequential order.
3. Principle of usage – every foot of available space should be effectively utilised. (This factor is
given top consideration in town and cities where land is costly.
4. Principle of compactness – there should be a harmonious fusion of all the relevant factors
so that the final layout looks well integrated and compact.
5. Principle of safety and satisfaction – layout should contain built in provisions for safety for
the workmen. It should provide comfort and convenience.
6. Principle of flexibility – layout should provide flexibility.

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7. Principle of minimum investment- the layout should result in savings in fixed capital
investment, not by avoiding installation of necessary facilities but by an intensive use of
available facilities.

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