Principles of Plant Layout

1. Principle of integration: A good layout is one that integrates men,

materials, machines and supporting services and others in order to get the optimum
utilization of resources and maximum effectiveness.

2. Principle of minimum distance: This principle is concerned with the

minimum travel (or movement) of man and materials. The facilities should be arranged
such that, the total distance travelled by the men and materials should be minimum and
as far as possible straight line movement should be preferred.

3. Principle of cubic space utilization: The good layout is one that

utilize both horizontal and vertical space. It is not only enough if only the floor space is
utilized optimally but the third dimension, i.e., the height is also to be utilized effectively.
 Principles of Plant Layout

4. Principle of flow: A good layout is one that makes the materials

to move in forward direction towards the completion stage, i.e.,
there should not be any backtracking(back down).
5. Principle of maximum flexibility: The good layout is one that
can be altered without much cost and time, i.e., future
requirements should be taken into account while designing the
present layout.
6. Principle of safety, security and satisfaction: A good layout is
one that gives due consideration to workers safety and satisfaction
and safeguards the plant and machinery against fire, theft, etc.
7. Principle of minimum handling: A good layout is one that
reduces the material handling to the minimum.
 What is layout planning?
•Layout Planning
•Layout planning involves decisions about the physical
arrangement of economic activity centers within a facility.
•Before a manager can make decisions regarding physical
arrangement, four questions must be addressed.
–1.What centers should the layout include?
–2.How much space and capacity does each center need?
–3.How should each center’s space be configured?
–4.Where should each center be located?
•CLASSIFICATION OF LAYOUT
•Layouts can be classified into the following five
categories:
–1. Process layout
–2. Product layout
–3. Combination layout (Hybrid Layout)
–4. Fixed position layout
–5. Group layout
 process layout
•A process layout consists of a functional grouping of
equipment or activities that do similar work.

•According to Krajewski, Process layout a layout that

groups workstations or departments according to function.

•Examples: legal offices, shoe manufacturing, jet engine

turbine blades, and hospitals use a process layout.
•Process layout:
•Process layout is recommended for batch production. All
machines performing similar type of operations are grouped at
one location in the process layout e.g., all lathes, milling
machines, etc. are grouped in the shop will be clustered in like
groups.
–Milling= crushing
–Welding=joining
–Grinding=polish or sharpen by rubbing
–Lathe= a machine for turning and shaping articles of wood, metal etc.
–Inspection= review
–Assembly= meet together
–Shipping and receiving=
–Painting

•
•Process Layout Examples
•Libraries place reference materials, serials, and microfilms
into separate areas; hospitals group services by function
also, such as maternity, oncology, surgery, and X-ray; and
insurance companies have office layouts in which claims,
underwriting, and filing are individual departments.
Process Layout for a Machine Shop
Process Layout
• Advantages of process layouts include a lower investment in
equipment, and the diversity of jobs inherent in a process layout
can lead to increased worker satisfaction.
• Disadvantages include high movement and transportation
costs, more complicated planning and control systems, longer
total processing time, higher in-process inventory or waiting
time, and higher worker-skill requirements.
 product layout
• A product layout is an arrangement based
on the sequence of operations that are
performed during the manufacturing of a
goods or delivery of a service.

• Examples: winemaking industry, credit card

processing, Subway sandwich shops, paper
manufacturers, insurance policy processing,
and automobile assembly lines.
Exhibit 8.5 Product Layout for a Pizza Kitchen
•bottlenecks=Blocks
 Combination Layout

•Broadcaster

1. Investment
2. Duration of Production
3. Immobilization due to
Breakdown
4. Adjustability to changes
5. Floor space
6. Men/Equipment
Utilization
7. material handling
8. Demand and supply
relationship
9. Control and Inspection
Process layout Product layout
Comparatively low investment Needs high investment in
needed machine/equipment
Production time cannot be Needs less manufacturing times
economized due to frequent as the economy in time can be
movement of men and planned in the beginning
material.
Breakdown of any machine Break down of any
does not immobilize the whole unit/component immobilizes
system the whole system
Flexible as different section can Inflexible as each machine can
adjust ht operation according to perform pre-designed operation
operation only
Require more space. Requires less space.
Comparatively better utilization Not to full capacity
Involves greater handling of Lesser amount of material
material requiring more time, handling and comparatively
money and efforts. lesser time, money and efforts
Co-ordination between demand Proper co-ordination between
and supply is likely to be demand and as these are made
difficulty as these made to to stock
order.
Comparatively lesser efforts on Specialized and expertise
control are needed. control is required thus
increasing supervision costs
 si t i on L ayou t
Fixe d -P o

• A fixed-position layout places the product in one spot, and

workers, materials, and equipment come to it.
 Group Layout (or Cellular Layout)
•Cellular manufacturing is the physical division of the
manufacturing facilities into production cells.
–Each cell is designed to produce a part family. A part family
is a set of parts that require similar machinery, tooling,
machine operations, and/or jigs and fixtures.
–The parts within the family normally go from raw material
to finished parts within a single cell.
• Design of product layout
• How can a better product layout for a facility be
determined?
The steps in balancing an assembly line are:
1. Specify the sequential relationships among tasks using a
precedence diagram.
2. Determine the required workstation cycle time C, using the
formula
C = Production time per day
Required output per day (in units)
3. Determine the theoretical minimum number of workstations
(Nt) required to satisfy the
workstation cycle time constraint using the formula
Nt = Sum of task times (T)
Cycle time (C)
•Whre D(wrong)=f, after that c