Chapter- 3

Plant Layout Design

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 Plant layout
Plant layout has been defined as a plan of, or the act of
planning an optimum arrangement of industrial
facilities, including
 personnel,
 operating equipment,
 storage space,
 materials handling equipment and
 all other supporting services along with the design of the
best structure to contain these facilities

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Locate All Areas In and Around Buildings
– Equipment
– Work stations
– Material storage
– Rest/break areas
– Utilities
– Eating areas
– Aisles
– Offices

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 Problems of layout develop when needed:
• to start a new product,
• to change the product design,
• to reduce the cost;
And when
• the market demand changes,

• the plant, the product, the building become obsolete,

• accidents occur frequently,
• the working environment is poor.

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 The resulting problems involve

• planning a completely new plant,

• re-arranging a presently installed layout,
• making adjustments to existing layout.

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 The objectives of a good study of plant layout
are:
• ensure effective space utilization,
• minimize the cost of material handling (internal transports),
• foresee future developments of the plant according to a
rational master plan,
• improve workers convenience as well as safety and create job
satisfaction, and
• avoid unnecessary capital investment.

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 Types of Layout

• Product Layout: In this type of layout, only one

product or one type of product is produced in a given
area.
• The product must be standardized and manufactured
in large quantities in order to justify the product
layout.

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 Some of the Advantages of Product Layout are:

• lower total material handling cost,

• lower total production time,
• less work in process,
• greater incentive for groups of workers to raise level of
performance,
• less floor area required per unit of production and
• greater simplicity of production control, fewer control records
needed and lower accounting cost.

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 Product Layout is Used When:

• one or few standard products are to be produced,

• large volume of production of each item over a considerable
time is needed,
• minimum of inspection is required during sequence of
operations,
• minimum of very heavy equipment or equipment requiring
special facilities are needed,
• materials and products permit bulk or continuous handling of
mechanical means and
• one machine is always used for one purpose.
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 Process Layout

Process Layout: Similar equipment and similar

operations are grouped together in the process or
functional layout. It is particularly useful where low
volume is required.

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 Some of the Advantages of Process Layout are:

• less duplication of equipment, hence lower investment cost,

• greater flexibility of production,
• better and more efficient supervision,
• greater incentive for individual workers to raise level of
performance,
• better control of complicated or precision processes,
• easier to handle breakdowns of equipment by transferring
work to another machine or station.

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 Process Layout is Used when

• many types or styles of products are on special order ,

• relatively low volume of production on individual items is needed,
• many inspections are required during a sequence of operations,
• high proportion of very heavy equipment or equipment requiring special
treatment exist,
• materials or products become too large or too heavy to permit bulk or
continuous flow and
• one machine is used for different operations.

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 Fixed-Position Layout

• Fixed-Position Layout: In this type of layout, the material or

major component remains in a fixed location, and tools,
machinery, men as well as other pieces of material are
brought to this location.
• Typical examples are ship building, construction industries,
aircraft building and bench work exercises. This type of layout
is not frequently used in industrial enterprises. For this reason
we are not going to look into its advantage and disadvantages.

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 Developing Simulating Layout Problems
Product Market
Design New Obsolete Poor
Market Cost
Demand Worker
Change product Facility Relocation Reduction
Change Environment

Move to Rearrange Minor

Build New Existing changes
existing
Plant Plant
Plant

Class of layout problems

Relation between causes and classes of layout problems

Cause and result occur very frequently

Cause and result occur less frequently
Cause and result occur occasionally
No line Cause and result occur very seldom 22
• Type of Layout: It is necessary to determine which
type of layout to select, product (line) or process
(functional) layout.
• In addition to the selection of type of layout it is also
important to fix the arrangement of machines

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 Q
Q A
Product α P= Product
Product β Q=Quantity
B
Product y

P P

P-Q Diagram

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• In region A there are few types of products but in a
great quantity. For these products it is advisable to
have product layout.
• In region C there are very many products in small
quantity. Hence, preferred to have process layout.
• For products in region B (medium types of products
and medium quantity) the case has to be studied
closely so as to be able which layout to select.

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• There are different types of machine arrangements.
The form of an industrial building is mainly
dependent on machine arrangements and the
advancement of a workpiece. The usual forms are
shown

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a) IN PARALLEL

a) IN SERIES

a) COMBINED

Examples of Machine Arrangements 27

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 The Possible Internal Transport System:

• After considering the type of workpiece

advancement, the production capacity and the
machineries required, it is necessary to examine the
volume and weight of materials that has to be
transported from one machine to the other, or from
one department to the other

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 Cont’d…
• The type of material handling equipment influences
directly the plant layout and also the building.
• The working position, the form of the layout, the
height, width and length of the building, the loading
and unloading of materials, the positions and
dimensions of accessibility depends in general, on the
type of internal transport system adopted.

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• A good study of internal transport system may boil down to
the following major benefits:
Reduce costs by
- utilizing space to better advantage,
- increasing productivity and
- making few number of effective movements.
Reduce waste by
- eliminating damage to material during the handling process
and
- maintaining proper control over in-and-out of stock handling
process.

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Improve working conditions by
• providing safer working conditions and
• reducing worker fatigue.
Improve the efficiency of the plant by
• improving location of storage facilities,
• improving routing and
• increasing productivity.

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 Raw Material
Finished Good
Store
Working Dep’t

Future Expansion
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Typical One Floor Industrial Building
• In some plants, the cost of repeated handling
constitutes a very high proportion of the total cost of
the end product, and in some others,
• the distance, materials have to move is not the sole
criterion, and often is not even the primary concern
for locating an area or an operation.
• Hence, more realistic value assessment of the factors
that truly affect total cost in different kinds of layout
planning situations is needed.
• The available computer aided layout algorithms fall
into, either improvement, or construction routine
categories.

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 Working Condition
• Proper working conditions are considered important
by management because they increase production
effectiveness.
• Employee working conditions are influenced by
many factors, over which the employee has very little
or no control.
• A good layout considers the factors influencing
working conditions. 35
 LIGHTING
• Good lighting facilitates accuracy and ease of seeing. A lighting
system that aids these two demands means that the worker is
able to see the critical details required in his job without
excessive visual strain.
• The lighting fixtures are described according to the way they
distribute light.
 Direct lighting 0-10% of flux directed to the roof
 Semi direct 10-40% " " "
 General diffuse 40-60% " " “
 Semi indirect 60-90% " " “
 Indirect 90-110% " " "

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 Cont…

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• In most European countries, the law requires for a
minimum level of illumination. The following ranges
are accepted internationally

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TYPE OF WORK ILLUMINATION VALUE IN FLUX
• Store and rarely accessible
working places 100 - 200
• Rough work (Brewery) 200 - 500
• Medium work (automobile assembly) 500 - 1000
• Precise work (wool work) 500 – 1000
• Fine work (Radio and TV assembly) 1000 - 2000
• Very fine work (controlling wool work) 1000 - 2000
• Working on a very small pieces
(watch assembly) 2000 - 7500

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 AIR CONDITIONING
• Air conditioning is used for many plants to control
contamination by dust, bacteria and toxic gases in
addition to air temperature and humidity.
• Air conditioning is a system which provides an
atmosphere comfortable to the human being and
maintain an atmospheric environment demanded by a
manufacturing process or storage of products.

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 NOISE
• A wide variety of sound exists in industry.
Continuous exposure to high noise levels frequently
results in temporary or even permanent loss of
hearing.
• But there is no clear cut line to indicate how much
noise results in hearing loss.
• The following are standard measurements for
different sound sources in decibels:
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 SOURCE dB
- Hydraulic process at one meter 140
- Automobile horn push at one meter 120
- Automatic lathe at one meter 100
- Conversation at one meter 70
- Workshop (mechanical) 80

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The reduction of noise may be brought about by a
variety of methods. Some of these methods are:
 Control of the noise at the source.
 Isolation of the noise.
 Use of baffles and sound absorbers.
 Acoustical treatment.
 Use of ear protection devices.

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 USE OF COLOR
• The objective of utilizing scientifically selected colors is to
bring about a clear three dimensional vision.
• Color codes have been developed for particular uses. The red,
yellow and green of traffic lights is a well known example of
color coding.
Red - danger; stop
Yellow - caution
Green- safety equipment
• It is advisable to paint the roof of the industrial building with a
minimum reflection index of 0.7, the walls 0.5, and the floor
0.25.
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Different colors have different psychological effects.
• Red - Hot and heavy, exciting, stimulating.
• Orange - Hot, exciting and stimulating less than red.
• Yellow - Hot, exciting lovely.
• Green - Fresh and light, pacific.
• Blue - Light, pacific.
• Violet - Light, loneliness.
• White - Cold, brilliant (seems to increase volume).
• Black - Hot (seems to decrease volume) depressing.

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 SPACE REQUIREMENTS
• The layout man often finds himself involved in work space arrangement; at
any rate, he must determine the floor space that will be required by an
operator. The study of floor space needed considers the following points:
• While at work, the operator's arms and hands should move as easily as
possible and he ought to reduce, to the minimum the movement of his
shoulders, his body and his person from one position to another.

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• Fixed posts for utensils and materials should be assured.
• The disposition of utensils, materials and organs of maneuver near and
infront of the operator.
• Avoidance of the standing operator wherever possible. The study of the
working area should consider a proper and comfortable position for the
legs of the operator in an armchair or on a stool.
• When the operator is transporting material, or when he is in a position to
push, or pull he should do it in such a way that:
• he is in an equilibrium position and
• he applies the possible minimum force to produce the effect.

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 SAFETY

• A good plant layout should consider the safety of all

personnel.
• Lack of adequate storage space which is beyond the
control of the foreman, can lead to unsafe practices in
the storage of materials. Some of the safety hazards to
be watched for in plant layout are:

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 Cont…

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• inadequate passage,
• insufficient storage space allowance for safe handling procedures,
• insufficient handling equipment capacity,
• floor load capacity,
• floor obstructions,
• slippery finish floors,
• inadequate exits,
• inadequate stairs, ramps and ladders,
• inaccessible fire extinguisher and first aid boxes
• unguarded moving parts of equipment ,
• workers located under the above hazards and
• improper ventilation for removal of dangerous or toxic gases.

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