Plant Layout

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A typical manufacturing plant has a number of diverse activities interacting with each other. Thus, raw materials arrive at a shipping dock, they are unpacked and checked in a quality control area, they may then be processed through several processing areas, and finally the finished product again passes through the shipping dock. In addition to areas specifically related to production, there must be dressing rooms, lunch rooms, and restrooms for employees; offices for supervision, design, and production control; and space for inventory and aisles. In fact, a plant may be viewed as a large number of finite geometric areas arranged on the floor space of the building. The problem of arranging these areas in an effective manner is the facility layout problem. 
Plant layout ideally involves allocation of space and arrangement of equipment in such a manner that overall operating costs are minimised. 
A layout is an arrangement of the space and facilities according to:
  • The type and size of activities to be carried out
  • Convenience of operations
  • Efficiency
  • Productivity
  • Economy
  • Safety of the facilities and the users of the facilities.
The objective of a layout:
  1. Efficient utilisation of available floor space
  2. To ensure work proceeds from one point to another without any delay
  3. Provide enough production capacity
  4. Reduce material handling costs
  5. Reduce hazards to personnel
  6. Utilise labour efficiently 
  7. Increase employee morale
  8. Reduce accidents
  9. Provide for volume & product flexibility
  10. Provide ease of supervision and control
  11. Provide employee safety and health
  12. Allow ease of maintenance
  13. Allow high machine or equipment utilisation
  14. Improve productivity

Types of layout

Process Layout - In this type of layout machines of a similar type are arranged together at one place. The work has to be allocated to each department such that no machines are chosen to do as many different jobs as possible. Garment factories producing half sleeve shirts, full sleeve shirts, pants and suits can use this type of layout. The advantage of this type of layout is that there is low capital requirement, overhead cost are relatively low and the supervision can be effective. On the other hand the disadvantages include high material handling cost and higher time lag. 
Process Layout in Trouser Factory
Product Layout - The materials move from one workstation to another sequentially without any backtracking or deviation. Materials are fed to the first machine and semi-finished goods are automatically moved to the next machine; the output of one machine becoming the input of the next machine. The advantages of using this assembly line system is smooth and regular flow of material and processed goods, low material handling costs, lesser inspection and early detection of mistakes, requires lesser floor area per unit of production and work-in-progress (WIP) is reduced. On the negative side this is an inflexible & expensive layout, there is difficulty in supervision as well as expansion, any breakdown along the line can disrupt entire system and requires heavy investment.
Layout of Basic Tshirt Factory in Product Layout/ Batch system
Fixed Position Layout - Contrary to the above two systems, this layout involves movement of machinery and men to the product and the product remains stationary. This layout is used for products which are either very big in size (weight/ volume) or very critical and it is not feasible or desirable to move the product and product remains in one position only. Men, materials, equipment and tools are brought to the product for execution of the work. This type of layout is not seen in the garment industry.

Points to be considered while planning the plant layout:

  1. Whether the factory will be a single or multiple floors
  2. Number of Departments (total and on each floor)
  3. Layout of each floor, which departments are to be positioned on which floor.
  4. Personnel requirement in each department
  5. Machinery type, number and space required by machinery in each department
  6. Process flow of material between and within the department
  7. Layout of the sewing department in a garment factory is largely dependent on the production system chosen, its level of mechanisation, supervision required. 
  8. Adequate ventilation within the premises
  9. Lighting and cooling requirements (natural and artificial)
  10. Electrical input requirement
  11. Production capacity/ level of output of each department and the whole factory
  12. Storage capacity required within the departments and separate storage required for raw or processed goods.
  13. Space to be utilised for material movement, e.g. aisles, lifts, ramps
  14. Space required for office / clerical work
  15. Common area requirement for restrooms, canteen etc.
  16. Disposal of waste material after production
  17. Local rules and regulations w.r.t. space utilisation

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