2. Learning Objectives
Define layout planning and explain its importance
Identify and describe different types of layouts
Compare process layouts & product layouts
Describe the steps involved in designing a process
layout
3. What Is Layout Planning?
Layout planning is deciding the best physical
arrangement of all resources within a facility
Facility resource arrangement can significantly affect
productivity
Two broad categories of operations:
Intermittent processing systems – low volume of many
different products
Continuous processing systems – high volume of a few
standardized products
4. Meaning
A facility layout is an arrangement of everything
needed for production of goods or delivery of services.
A facility is an entity that facilitates the performance
of any job. It may be a machine tool, a work centre, a
manufacturing cell, a machine shop, a department, a
warehouse, etc
5. Objectives of Plant Layout
The main objective consists of organizing equipment and
working areas in the most efficient way, and at the same time
satisfactory and safe for the personnel doing the work.
Sense of Unity
The feeling of being a unit pursuing the same objective.
Minimum Movement of people, material and resources.
Safety
In the movement of materials and personnel work flow.
Flexibility
In designing the plant layout taking into account the changes over
short and medium terms in the production process and
manufacturing volumes.
6. Objectives of Plant Layout
These main objectives are reached through the attainment of the
following facts:
Congestion reduction.
Elimination of unnecessary occupied areas.
Improvement on control and supervision.
Better adjustment to changing conditions.
Better utilization of the workforce, equipment and services.
Reduction of material handling activities and stock in process.
Reduction on health risks and increase on workers safety.
Moral and workers satisfaction increase.
Reduction on delays and manufacturing time, as well as
increase in production capacity.
All these factors will not be reached simultaneously, so the best
solution will be a balance among them.
7. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The final solution for a Plant Layout has to take into account a
balance among the characteristics and considerations of all
factors affecting plant layout, in order to get the maximum
advantages.
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into 8
categories:
Materials
Machinery
Labor
Material Handling
Waiting Time
Auxiliary Services
The building
Future Changes
8. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into
8 categories:
Materials
The layout of the productive equipment will depend on the
characteristics of the product to be managed at the facility, as
well as the different parts and materials to work on.
Main factors to be considered: size, shape, volume, weight, and
the physical-chemical characteristics, since they influence the
manufacturing methods and storage and material handling
processes.
The sequence and order of the operations will affect plant
layout as well, taking into account the variety and quantity to
produce.
9. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into 8
categories:
Machinery
Having information about the processes, machinery, tools and
necessary equipment, as well as their use and requirements is
essential to design a correct layout.
The methods and time studies to improve the processes are closely
linked to the plant layout.
Regarding machinery, we have to consider the type, total available for
each type, as well as type and quantity of tools and equipment.
It’s essential as well to know about space required, shape, height,
weight, quantity and type of workers required, risks for the personnel,
requirements of auxiliary services, etc.
10. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into 8
categories:
Labor
Labor has to be organized in the production process (direct
labor, supervision and auxiliary services).
Environment considerations: employees’ safety, light conditions,
ventilation, temperature, noise, etc.
Process considerations: personnel qualifications, flexibility,
number of workers required at a given time as well as the type of
work to be performed by them.
Material Handling
Material handling does not add value to the product; it’s just
waste.
Objective: Minimize material handling as well as combining with
other operations when possible, eliminating unnecessary and
costly movements.
11. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into
8 categories:
Waiting time - Stock
Objective: Continuous Material Flow through the facility,
avoiding the cost of waiting time.
On the other hand, the material waiting to flow through the
facility not always represents a cost to avoid. As stock
sometimes provides safety to protect production, improving
customer service, allowing more economic batches, etc.
It’s necessary then to consider space for the required stock at
the facility when designing the layout.
12. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into 8
categories:
Auxiliary Services
Support the main production activities at the plant:
Related to labor: Accessibility paths, fire protection installations,
supervision, safety, etc.
Related to material: quality control.
Related to machinery: maintenance and electrical and water lines.
The auxiliary services represent around 30% of the space at a facility.
The space dedicated to auxiliary services is usually considered as
waste.
It’s important to have efficient services to insure that their indirect
costs have been minimized.
13. Factors affecting Plant Layout
The factors affecting plant layout can be grouped into 8
categories:
The building
If it has been already selected, its characteristics will be a
constraint at the moment of designing the layout, which is
different if the building has to be built.
Future changes
One of the main objectives of plant layout is flexibility.
It’s important to forecast the future changes to avoid having an
inefficient plant layout in a short term.
Possible future extensions of the facility must be taken into
account, as well as the feasibility of production during re-
layout.
14. Types of Layouts
Four basic layout types consisting of:
Process layouts - Group similar resources together
Product layouts - Designed to produce a specific
product efficiently
Hybrid layouts - Combine aspects of both process
and product layouts
Fixed-Position layouts - Product is two large to
move; e.g. a building
15. Types of Plant Layout
The production process normally determines the type
of plant layout to be applied to the facility:
Fixed position plant layout
Product stays and resources move to it.
Product oriented plant layout
Machinery and Materials are placed following the product
path.
Process oriented plant layout (Functional Layout).
Machinery is placed according to what they do and materials
go to them.
Cell Layout
Hybrid Layout that tries to take advantage of different layouts
types.
17. Types of Plant LayoutProduct oriented plant layout
This type of plant layout is useful when the production process
is organized in a continuous or repetitive way.
Continuous flow: The correct operations flow is reached through
the layout design and the equipment and machinery
specifications.
Repetitive flow (assembly line): The correct operations flow will
be based in a line balancing exercise, in order to avoid problems
generated by bottle necks.
The plant layout will be based in allocating a machine as close
as possible to the next one in line, in the correct sequence to
manufacture the product.
18. Types of Plant LayoutProduct oriented plant layout
Advantages:
Reduced material handling activities.
Work In Process almost eliminated.
Minimum manufacturing time.
Simplification of the production planning and control systems.
Tasks simplification.
Disadvantages:
No flexibility in the production process.
Low flexibility in the manufacturing times.
High capital investment.
Every workstation is critical to the process.- The lack of personnel
or shut down of a machine stops the whole process.
Monotonous work.
19. a) Flujo en línea recta
b) Flujo en “U”
c) Flujo en serpentín
d) Flujo en “L”
d) Flujo circular ó en “O”
e) Flujo en “S”
21. Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout (Functional Layout)
This type of plant layout is useful when the production process
is organized in batches.
Personnel and equipment to perform the same function are
allocated in the same area.
The different items have to move from one area to another
one, according to the sequence of operations previously
established.
The variety of products to produce will lead to a diversity of
flows through the facility.
The variations in the production volumes from one period to
the next one (short periods of time) may lead to modifications
in the manufactured quantities as well as the types of products
to be produced.
22. Product
Flow
P-Q Analysis
Diagram activity relationships
Chart relationship (flow, functional)
Establish space requirements Space Availability
Diagram space relationships
Practical Limitations
Maintenance
QC
Mat. Handling
Space Availability
Project Project Project
A B C
Evaluate alternative arrangements
Detail selected layout, install
INSTALACION
Definition
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Selection
Implementation
Adjustment
SLP Method
Muther (1973)
23. Cellular Layout
Process (Functional) LayoutProcess (Functional) Layout Group (Cellular) LayoutGroup (Cellular) Layout
Similar resources placed
together
Resources to produce similar
products placed together
T T T
M
M M T
M
SG CG CG
SG
D D D
D
T T T CG CG
T T T SG SG
M M D D D
M M D D D
A cluster
or cell
24. Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Definition:
Group of equipment and workers that perform a sequence of
operations over multiple units of an item or family of items.
Looks for the advantages of product and process layouts:
Product oriented layout: Efficiency
Process oriented layout: Flexibility
Group Technology
Grouping outputs with the same characteristics to families, and
assigning groups of machines and workers for the production of
each family.
25. Hybrid Layouts
Combine elements of both product & process
layouts
Maintain some of the efficiencies of product
layouts
Maintain some of the flexibility of process layouts
Examples:
Group technology & manufacturing cells
Grocery stores
26. Fixed-Position Layout
Used when product is large
Product is difficult or impossible to move, i.e. very large
or fixed
All resources must be brought to the site
Scheduling of crews and resources is a challenge
27. Warehouse Layouts
Warehouse Layout Considerations:
Primary decision is where to locate each department
relative to the dock
Departments can be organized to minimize “ld”
totals
Departments of unequal size require modification of
the typical ld calculations to include a calculation
of the “ratio of trips to area needed”
The usage of “Crossdocking” modifies the
traditional warehouse layouts; more docks, less
storage space, and less order picking
28. Office Layouts
Office Layout Considerations:
Almost half of US workforce works in an office
environment
Human interaction and communication are the primary
factors in designing office layouts
Layouts need to account for physical environment and
psychological needs of the organization
One key layout trade-off is between proximity and
privacy
Open concept offices promote understanding & trust
Flexible layouts incorporating “office landscaping” help
to solve the privacy issue in open office environments
Editor's Notes
In Fixed product layout, the products generally circulate within the production facilities (machines, workers, etc.); in this particular type of layout, the product does not move, it is the different resources that are moved to perform the operations on the product. This type of layout is commonly found in industries that manufacture large size products, such as ships or aircrafts. Process layout groups facilities with similar functions together (resources of the same type). This organization is often reported to be suited when there is a wide variety of product. Product layout is used for systems with high production volumes and a low variety of products. Facilities are organized according to the sequence of the successive manufacturing operations. In Cellular layout, machines are grouped into cells, to process families of similar parts. These cells also need to be placed on the factory floor. Therefore, one is also generally concerned with so called intra cells machine layout problems, as mentioned for example in (Proth, 1992, ch. 3) and (Hamann & Vernadat, 1992). Here, one is concerned with finding the best arrangement of machines in each cell.
