PLANT LAYOUT

Plant Layout
Syllabus:
Principles of Plant layout and Types, factors
affecting layout, methods,

Factors governing flow pattern, travel chart,

analytical tools of plant layout,

Layout of manufacturing shop, repair shop and

services sectors.

By: Dr S Jani 2
PLANT LAYOUT
Plant layout:

An optimum arrangement of industrial facilities, including personnel,

equipments, storage space, material handling equipments and all
other supporting services, in an existing or proposed plants.

"A technique of locating machines, processes and plant services

within the factory in order to secure the greatest possible output of
high quality at the lowest possible total cost of production.”

All facilities like equipment, raw-materials, machinery, tools, fixtures,

finished goods, in process inventories, workers, material handling
equipments etc. are given a proper place in the plant layout.

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Objectives of a good plant layout
Objectives of a good plant layout
1. Integrate
the production centres. A good layout integrates the
production centres (men, materials and machines) into a logical,
balanced and effective production unit.

2. It permits the arrangement of the equipment to provide greater

utilization.
3. A good layout will minimize the production delays and reduce
congestion, by allowing smooth and continuous flow of raw-material
and work in process.

4. It helps to increase the output by shortening the manufacturing time.

5. Reduce Material Handling. The equipments may be arranged in

such a manner to minimize material handling and transportation.

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Objectives of a good plant layout
6. Effective Utilization of available Space. Moreover, a good layout utilizes space,
both vertical and horizontal in the best possible manner.
7. Worker Convenience and Job Satisfaction. Reducing excessive noise and
safety convenient working temperature, ventilation, light, Removal of
moisture and dirt, Safety.
8. Flexibility. A good layout should be adaptable to possible changes in the plant's
production programme; either changes in product design or changes in the
required output.
9. Removal of bottlenecks. A good plant layout eliminates bottlenecks through
balancing of plant capacities.
10. Quick disposal of work
Good layout allows quick disposal of work and minimum waste of time in
production.
11. Avoids industrial accidents
12. Eliminates physical efforts required of operative workers.
13. Maintenance of decency and orderliness inside the plant area.

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Importance of Plant Layout
It determines the arrangement of facilities and services in the
plant. It outlines the relationship between production centres
and service departments.

It outlines the nature of flow in the plant and affects the distance
travelled by materials and personnel, hence it is concerned with
the time, effort and costs spent on transportation.

It determines the type of handling systems their integration in

the overall production program, and the cost of their installation.

It specifies the location, accessibility, and size of stores, and also

the space and location of temporary storage for work in process.

Machine utilization is partly determined by layout.

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Importance Of Plant Layout
Production planning and control systems may he greatly affected,
particularly the complexity of routing, machine loading, expediting
and the paper work involved in control mechanism.

The amount of supervision required and the degree of

specialization necessary in supervision is sometimes dependent on
layout.

It greatly affects the amount of work in process and work awaiting

further processing.

Operator's span of activities, working time, fatigue, and efficiency

may be affected by layout considerations.

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SITUATIONS IN WHICH LAYOUT PROBLEM MAY ARISE

When starting a new plant

Changes in the product design
Necessity of introducing a new product

Necessity of changes in the volume of production

Poor working conditions
Frequent accidents
Changes in location of the industry.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT LAYOUT
1. Management Policy:
Nature and quality of products, size of the plant, integration of production
process, plans for expansion, amount of inventory in stock, employee
facilities etc.

2. Manufacturing Process:
The type of manufacturing process, e.g. synthetic/analytical, continuous/
intermittent and repetitive/non-repetitive, will govern the type of plant
layout.

3. Nature of Product:
Small and light products can be moved easily to the machines whereas
for heavy and bulky products the machines may have to be moved. Large
and heavy equipment requires assembly bays.

4. Volume of Production:
The plant layout and material handling equipment in the large scale
organisation will be different from the same in the small scale
manufacturing industry.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT LAYOUT
5. Type of Equipment: The use of single purpose and multi-purpose
machines substantially affects the plant layout. Similarly, noisy and
vibrating machines require special attention in the plant layout
decision.

6. Type of building: The plant layout in a single storey building will be

different from that in a multistory building. The covered area, the
number of stories, elevators and stairs, parking and storage area all
affect the layout.

7. Availability of total floor area: The allocation of space for machines,

work-benches, sub-store, aisles, etc is made on the basis of the
available floor area. Use of overhead space is made in case of
shortage of space.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT LAYOUT
8. Arrangement of material handling equipment:
It is necessary to provide adequate aisles for free movement of
material handling equipment such as hand truck, fork truck etc.

9. Service facilities: The layout of factory must include proper service

facilities required for the comfort and welfare of workers. These
include canteen, lockers, drinking water, first aid etc.

10. Possibility of future expansion: Plant layout is made in the light of

future requirements and installations of additional facilities.

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PRINCIPLES OF PLANT LAYOUT
According to Muther, there are six basic principles of best
layout:

1.Principle of overall Integration: According to this principle, the

best layout is one which integrates the men, materials,
machinery, supporting activities and any other such factors
that results in the best compromise.

2. Principle of minimum movement: According to this principle,

the number of movements of workers and materials and the
distance moved should be minimized. The material should he
transported in bulk rather than in small amounts.

3. Principle of smooth and continuous flow: It states that,

bottlenecks, congestion points and backtracking should be
removed by proper line balancing techniques.

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PRINCIPLES OF PLANT LAYOUT
4. Principle of cubic space: Besides using the floor space of a
room, if the ceiling height is also utilized, more materials can be
accommodated in the same space.
Boxes or hags containing raw- materials or goods can be
stacked one above the other to store more items in the same
work space.
Overhead material handling equipments save a lot of floor
space which can be utilized for productive purposes.

5. Principle of satisfaction and safety: Working places should be

safe, well-ventilated and free from dust, noise, fumes, odours and
other hazardous conditions helps to increase the efficiency of
the workers and improve their morale.

6. Principle of flexibility: It means that the best layout is one which

can be adopted and re-arranged at a minimum cost with least
inconvenience.

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Basic Information Required for Plant Layout Planning

Dimensional plan of the space laid out.

Description of the operations, their sequence and standard times in
production process.
Volume of work to be taken from the space at present and in future.
Nature of machines and equipment needed to perform the
operations.
Type and quantity of labour required.
Amount of material, buffer stock required at each work station.
Size of finished and semi-finished product inventory.
Kind of communications and fire-exits necessary for plant.
Special requirement if any to fulfill the local bye-laws.
Special geographical and inspection requirements.

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Basic Information Required for Plant Layout Planning

The layout is mainly planned by trial and error i.e. laying

out, modifying and relaying out.

Visual aids play an important role in layout planning.

Some form of scale representation is normally used viz,
scale drawing, templates, models, string diagrams etc.

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Plant layout Tools and Techniques
Operation process charts
Flow process charts
Flow diagrams
Machine data cards
Templates
Three dimensional models.

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Operation Process Chart
The operation process chart subdivides the
manufacturing process into its separate operations and
inspections.

It indicates the points at which materials are introduced

into the process and the sequence of all operations and
inspections except those involved in material handling.

The operation process chart is used when a new plant is

to be laid out. It represents the basic activities to be
provided for producing a product.

It presents the overall visualization of the process and

serves as a basis for studying possibilities for the
improvement of operations by elimination, combination,
re-arrangement or simplification.

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Operation Process Chart Example

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Flow Process Chart
This chart is a graphic representation of all production activities occurring on
the floor of the plant.

It is an elaboration of the operation process chart to include transportation,

storage and delay.

The data for constructing the flow process chart are collected by tracing the
actual flow of work occurring in the plant, from the receipt of raw-material to
the completion of the product. These data include the distance travelled and
the time required for the operation.

It provides the complete information for the analysis and improvement of

plant operations as a whole. As a result of analysis operations may be
eliminated, combined, or rearranged.

An improved flow process chart provides a basis for revising an existing

plant layout. The chart is also used to check and verify the efficiency of a
proposed floor plan for a new layout.

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Flow Process
Chart
( Material)

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Flow
process
chart
( worker)

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Flow Diagrams
The flow diagram is used to supplement the flow process chart.
It is a plan of the work area drawn to scale.

It shows the relative position of productive machinery, storage

area, gangways etc. and the path followed by men or materials is
marked on the flow diagram.

All routes followed by different items are shown by joining the

symbols with straight lines.

A study of the flow diagrams, along with the flow process chart
will trace out the undesirable characteristics of the layout which
are responsible for increased transportation and delays.

It also shows the nature of back tracking involved which could

he avoided by suitable changes in the layout.

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By: Dr S Jani 23
Flow diagram of a rifle plant

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String Diagrams
The string diagram is a scale plan or model on
which a thread is used, to trace and measure the
path of workers, material or equipment during a
specified sequence of events.

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String Diagram

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Machine Data Cards
These cards are prepared for each machine showing its capacity,
space and other requirements, handling needs and the
corresponding dimensions.

This is an effective tool to provide necessary information for

placement or layout of equipments.

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By: Dr S Jani
Templates
The area required by machine/equipment, benches, racks, material
handling equipment etc. may be cut to scale from a sheet of
cardboard, plywood or plastic.

Different coloured templates may be used to indicate different

items.

These templates can be placed and attached on the work area

drawn to scale.

These templates are flexible in use and can be moved on the scaled
plan of the work area in order to evaluate various feasible positions
for different facilities.

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Templates
While positioning these templates it should be ensured that the
gang ways are wide enough to allow the free movement of material
handling equipments and goods in process.

A template is generally prepared to a scale of I : 50 or I : 100.

A two-dimensional template gives machine outline and its details

whereas a block template shows the boundary of the maximum
projected area of the machine.

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Three Dimensional Models
Three dimensional models are convenient to study the movements on
several floors of a multi-storey building.

They are particularly useful while analyzing the material handling problems
in chemical industries; where the material moves upwards and downwards.
Advantages:
It provides a visual aid in understanding the layout by non-technical personnel.
Layout can be easily explained to management.
It is easy to shift the models for study of the alternative operational
arrangements.
It facilitates the study and checking of overhead structures.:
They convey more or less a real situation.
Disadvantages:
They are costly, difficult to make.
They require more storage area.
It is difficult to take them to shop floor for reference purpose.

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Three Dimensional Model

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3-D MODEL

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TYPES OF PLANT LAYOUT
1. Process layout or functional layout .
2. Product layout or Line layout
3. Mixed layout.
4. Static layout

1. Process Layout. : Also called functional or job lot layout.

In a process layout all similar machines are grouped together.
As an example, all lathes grouped together in turning section.
milling machines grouped together in milling section etc. So
there are different sections or shops such as turning section,
milling section, drilling section, welding section, assembly line
etc.

By: Dr S Jani 33
Process layout
Process layout is used in job and batch production,
and non-repetitive type of work. It is employed when
part and product designs are not stable or the
volume of production is small.

The primary requirement in process layout is

flexibility, routing flexibility, part design flexibility,
volume flexibility.

Equipment utilization is very good and total

investment in equipment is low.

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Process layout

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Process layout

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Product or Line Layout
In this type the machines and auxiliary services are arranged in line
according to the sequence of operations to be performed on the
work.

The raw-material enters in the line at one end, the operations are
carried out in succession, in a smooth flow and the finished product
is delivered at the other end of the line.

In this type of layout, there will be a separate production line for

each type of product. Each line may have same machines though
they may be arranged differently, or the machines for each line may
be different.

Product layout is suitable for continuous production.

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Product or Line Layout

The conditions for line layout are:

Adequate volume of production for reasonable equipment
utilization.
Reasonably stable product demand.
Product standardization.
Part interchangeability.
Continuous supply of material.
Line layout has found its great field of application in assembly
rather than in fabrication.

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Product or Line Layout.

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Product or Line Layout.

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Mixed or Combined Layout
It incorporates the benefits of process and product layout. It can be
is developed as under :

The production shops may be arranged by process layout, while the

assembly is accomplished on line.

In the product layout, some processes may be segregated from the

product line, e.g. objectionable, hazardous, requiring special
treatment and repetitive performance etc.

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Static or Fixed Position Layout

Adopted when work piece is

very big or too heavy to move
from one position to the other
and is consequently fixed in
one place.

The machines and men move

with respect to the work to
perform the required operation.

This type of layout is typical in

custom order type production
for example, in construction
work, ship-building, in
fabrication of large tanks,
pressure vessels, locomotives,
air craft.

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Static or Fixed Position Layout

By: Dr S Jani 43
FLOW PATTERN

Men, machines and materials are the three basic

inputs in the manufacturing process.

Generally, men and machines tend to remain static

while the materials move from one work station to
another for the purpose of processing.

The raw-materials pass through various paths till

they are converted into finished products. While
designing a new plant layout, generally the flow
patterns are decided earlier and then a system of
facilities is designed and built around the flow
pattern.

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FLOW PATTERN
The flow pattern of the material :
Depends upon the type of layout. In the product layout, the material flow is
short and smooth, while in the process layout it is long and involves many
complexities.

It is closely related with the type of the material handling equipment and the
cost of material handling.

It helps in minimizing the material handling cost by utilizing principle of

minimum movements.

It helps in eliminating bottlenecks, rushing, back-tracking etc., and ensures

good supervision and control.

It ensures effective utilization of plant capacity reducing work-in-process.

It helps in reduction in operating cycle, time and results profitable returns on

the investment.

By: Dr S Jani 45
Factors Governing Flow Pattern
The flow pattern means the system to be adopted for
the movement of raw-materials from the beginning
and upto the point when it is converted into finished
product.

Factors Governing Flow Pattern:

External transport facilities.
Number of products to be handled.
Number of operations on each product.
Number of units to be processed.
Number of sub assemblies made up ahead of
assembly line.
Type of plant layout,
Availability of floor space etc.

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Types of Material Flow systems
The material flow system can be broadly classified as
Horizontal flow system
Vertical flow system

(i) Horizontal Flow System. The horizontal flow system is adopted on a shop
floor in the single storey building. The starting point is the receiving (R) of
raw material and the terminal point is the shipment (S) of finished goods or
components. In between these two points the materials move from one
work station to another for the purpose of processing. There are five basic
types of horizontal flow systems : ‑
I-Flow or Line Flow ..
L-Flow
U-Flow
S-Flow
0-Flow
In addition combination horizontal flow systems are
Combination of I and U type flow
Combination of I and S type flow

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Flow patterns

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Flow patterns

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Flow patterns

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Floor Plan – Car Service Centre

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Types of Material Flow systems
Vertical flow system
It is used in multistoried buildings.
It is used when less floor area is available and
processing is done on lighter material.
It is also used in continuous process industries.
Advantage of gravity is taken in material
movement.

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LINE BALANCING
Line balancing in a layout means balancing the
production line or an assembly line. The problem of line
balancing is particularly important in product layout.

It may arise due to the following factors:

The finished product is the result of many sequential
operations.
The production capacity of each machine in the
sequence is not identical.

The actual production in the line will be decided on the

basis of the machine with the maximum production
capacity. The production capacity of the other machines
in the line will be adjusted through the increase in the
number of machines.

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LINE BALANCING

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LINE BALANCING
The main objective of line balancing is to distribute tasks
evenly over the workstation so that idle time of man and
machines is minimized.
Line balancing aims at grouping the facilities (or tasks) and
workers in an efficient pattern in order to obtain an optimum
balance of the capacities.
For perfect line balancing it is essential that the output of
fastest machine is multiple of the output of the remaining
other machines. But, this may not be always possible and
hence, it would be difficult to eliminate the idle capacity totally.
In such cases some other tasks are assigned to the machines
remaining idle.
Thus, the tasks are grouped so that their total time is
preferably equal to or a little lesser than the time available at
each work station in order to reduce idle time.

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LINE BALANCING
If the cost of over-production exceeds the cost of idle capacity in the
unbalanced line, then attempts are made to solve the problem in some other
manner as follows :
Another product line enabling the use of idle capacity of the first line could
be run close to it.
To transfer the work elements from overloaded machines to some other
machines somewhere else in the line.
If negligible part of some machine capacity is required to be utilized then the
job may be performed with some outside jobbing firms.
Alternately, machines with lower capacity utilization rate, may be used to
perform the jobs of other manufacturers through sub-contracting.
For solving the line balancing problems, number of methods are available,
for example, linear programming, dynamic programming, PERT, CPM etc.
Only those solutions should be sought which command the maximum
economic benefits

By: Dr S Jani 56
The symptoms of a layout in need of redesign
Congestion of materials, components and assemblies.
Excessive amount of work in process.
Poor utilization of space.
Long transportation lines.
Production bottlenecks of certain machines while similar or
identical machines have idle time.
Excessive handling by skilled operators.
Long production cycles and delays in delivery.
Mental or physical strain on operators.
Difficulties in maintaining effective supervision and control.
A bad plant layout would lead to loss of efficiency, waste of
time and energy, inconveniences and botherations in the
actual operations and in the process of production.
A good layout ensures orderly and efficient arrangement of
work facilities and personnel.

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Plant Layout For Concrete Production

By: Dr S Jani 58
Plastic Footwear Making Plant
A shoe making plant located in any region where
adequate supplies of the raw materials needed
are easily accessible, should have no problem
making money, providing the area in question is
developed enough to provide electrical power,
adequate ways and means of transportation, and
a capable work force.

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Plastic Footwear Making Plant

A Office I Stitching division

B Raw material storage area J Hand vamping division
C Insole molding division K Semifinished product warehouse
D Injection molding area L Production Line Division Storage area
E Painting division M Products Warehouse
F Utility room (Compressor) N Quality control and factory office
G Maintenance room O Research and development lab
H Cutting division area P Parking lot

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The Service industries
The Service industries involve the provision of services
to businesses as well as final consumers. Such, services
include accounting, tradesman ship (like mechanic or
plumber services), computer services, restaurants,
tourism, Advertising, Entertainment , Financial services,
Healthcare, Hospitality industry , Insurance , Marketing ,
Public services , Real estate, Service companies,
Tourism, Travel etc.

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Restaurant layout (Services)

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Layout of a hospital ( Services )

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Question Bank – Plant Layout

Q 1. Define plant layout. State the principles of plant layout.

Q 2. Describe the objectives of good plant layout.
Q 3. Describe the factors influencing plant layout.
Q 4. What are the situations in which layout problem may arise ?
Q 5. Explain product layout and process layout. State the factors which
influence the selection of one or the other.
Q 6. What is line balancing. State its objective.
Q 7. What are the symptoms of bad plant layout.
Q 8. What is a static of fixed position layout.
Q 9. What is a flow system ? How they are classified ? What are the
factors Governing Flow Pattern? Sketch any four flow patterns.
Q 10. Explain plant layout tools and techniques.
Q 11. Each student has to make Labeled Layout of a plant (manufacturing,
repair shop or any services sector) on a A4 size paper.

By: Dr S Jani

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