Plant Layout
Plant layout is related to a number of aspects of production and operations management. It is the allocation of adequate spaces at the appropriate places for work equipment, for working men, materials, other supporting activities and also customers. The basic theme behind the arrangement of work areas is to produce the product economically, to provide the service effectively, and to provide a safe and good physical environment for the users that is, the workers and the customers.
Features of plant layout
Ease of working, maximum safety, and minimum health hazards for people working in/ using the facility.
Physical plant layout is one component of the integrated picture for labour productivity improvement. User- orientation is an important consideration in management decision- making, and ultimately, the arrangement of the work areas is for the users of the work areas.
Minimum handling of materials
A good plant layout takes in to consideration the various flows of materials inside the plant thus minimizing the handling of materials.
Minimum damage and spoilage of materials
If adequate consideration regarding the handling and storage of materials is given, it automatically minimizes damage and spoilage of materials.
Reduced congestion of materials, machinery and men.
A good physical layout should eliminate confusion in the plant. By doing so, it not only makes the life of the supervisor easier but also contributes towards overall improvements in the productivity of the shop.
Flexibility with regard to changing production conditions.
A good layout should be one that is adaptable or flexible enough to take care of probable future changes in the volume of production, in the range of products manufactured, and changes in the methods of production.
Basic principles
The basic principles of plant layout are as follows.
The total movement of materials should be minimum. For this, one has to consider the movement distances between different work areas and the no. of times such movements occur per unit period of time.
The arrangement of the work area should have as much congruence as possible with the flow of materials within the plant.
The layout should ensure adequate safety and healthy working conditions for the employees.
A good layout should take into consideration all the three dimensions of space available. In addition to the floor space, the vertical space available should also be taken into account while designing the work areas.
The layout should be adaptable or flexible enough so as to allow for probable changes in the future as all systems should anticipate changes in the future.
A good layout has o satisfy, the availability of space, the size and work area requirements of machinery and other utilities, the flow direction, type and number of movements of the material, workers, and also the future anticipated changes.
Basic types of layout
A. Process layout or layout by function
This is typical of the job-shop type of production where the equipment performing similar operations is grouped together. For instance, grinding machines could be grouped to firm a work area, milling machines could be grouped together, drilling machines could be grouped together, etc. Such a layout is particularly useful where the volume of manufacturer is low and the variety of jobs is great. Here the layout should provide tremendous flexibility in the sequence of operations because; the sequence of operation for one job is different from that of another job.
Merits
Very high degree of variety in products is possible.
Flexibility and adaptability to changes is high.
Good level of variety, skills requirement and therefore higher job satisfaction.
Co-ordination & supervision is simpler as the processes are similar & the staff is skilled.
Machine breakdowns do not cause crippling production stoppages.
Demerits
Production planning & control is more complex, much paper work is necessary.
Worker skills need to be high in order to complete all components of the job.
Higher inventories of basic raw materials may be necessary due to much uncertainity of demand.
More handling of materials.
B. Product layout or line production.
Is one in which equipment or work processes are arranged according to the progressive steps by which the product is made. The path for each part is, in effect, a straight line. Production lines for shoes, chemical plants, and car washes are all product layouts. Since a machine is assigned for each operation, the number of equipments is a product layout is much more as compared to be process layout. Therefore, the utilization of the equipment has to be sufficiently high to justify the higher level of capital investment necessary in a product layout. This means, the volume of production should be large and the variety of products should be low so that there is little time lost in setting up the machinery.
Merits
1. Production planning & control is simple; less paper work.
2. Lower work in process inventories needed
3. Lower material handling costs.
4. Lower degrees of skills in the man power may suffice.
5. By balancing the line, labour utilization can be high.
Demerits
Larger maintanence crew needed.
very low job variety & there fore lower job satisfaction & higher boredom for the workers
Duplication of machines & equipments may be necessary resulting in higher capital investment
more space may be required
C. Fixed position layout
In this layout the material remains in a fixed position but the machinery, tools, workmen etc are brought to the material. Such a layout may be preferred when the equipment and the machinery is small in number and size, and where the workmen are highly skilled to perform the various small jobs on the product
D. Group Technology layout
GT layout allocates dissimilar machines in to cells to work on products that have similar shapes and processing requirements. GT layouts are now widely used in metal fabricating, computer chip manufacture and assembly work. The overall objectives is to gain the benefits of product layout in job shop kinds of production. These benefits include
1. Better human relations: - Cells consist of a few workers who form a small work team , a team turns out complete units of work
2. Improved operator expertise: - Workers seen only a limited number of different parts in a finite production cycle , so repetition means quick learning
3. Less in – process inventory & material handling: - A cell combines several production stages , so fewer parts travel through the shop
4. Faster production set up: - Fewer jobs mean reduced tooling & hence faster tooling changes.
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