Plant layout refers to the arrangement of machinery,
equipment, and other industrial facilities such as tool rooms, receiving and
shipping departments, employee amenities and maintenance rooms to attain ultimate
co-ordination and productivity of Men, Materials, Machines, and Methods in a
plant. The plant layout study, also known as Facilities Planning analyses
various physical arrangements for a plant.
The need for Plant layout:
To set up a new plant
The design changes in the product.
The expansion of the enterprise or the department
The variation in the size of the departments.
A new product is to be added to the line.
Objectives of a good layout:
To optimize productivity
To arrange enough production capacity
To minimize material handling costs
To decrease hazards
To utilize available space and resources effectively
Factors influencing facility layout: The following
factors influence on deciding the design and selection of plant layout of a
plant.
Type and size of workers
Type of industry
Managerial policies
Type and size of machinery
Type and size of raw material
Type and size of the product
Location
Principles of Layout: The philosophies to be followed
while designing the plant layout
Principle of optimum usage
Principle of safety and satisfaction
Principle of minimum investment
Principle of integration
The principle of minimum travel
Principle of sequence
Principle of flexibility
The plant facilities must be designed in a way that can adapt
quickly and efficiently to changing technological and market necessities. The
shorter product life cycles, higher varieties of products, increased uncertainty
and complexity of demand forecasting and smaller delivery times demand
flexible manufacturing facilities; plant layout made to a single product
line cannot be cost-effective. The flexible plant layout can be shifted quickly
from one product line to another without large replacement of equipment, major
retooling and bigger resource reconfiguration.
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