Chapter Two

Plant Design
Learning Outcomes
 Plant Location.

The concept of Plant layout.

 Types of Layout.

Ergonomics and Industrial Safety.

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1. Plant Location

One of the key features of a transformation system is

the efficiency with which the output is transferred to
the recipients. Any consideration of this will include the
determination of where to place the plant.
Plant location meaning - the establishment of an
industry at a particular place.
 The selection of appropriate location can be done in
two stages:
i. Evaluation of various geographic areas and the
selection of an optimum area.
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 ii. Within each area there is a choice of proper site
which can be urban, suburban or rural.
The fundamental object of location analysis is to
maximize the profits by minimizing the total cost of
production associated with the production process.
Total costs = Fixed costs + Operational costs
Fixed costs: include expenditure on land, building,
machines and other equipment etc.
Operational costs: are the expenditure incurred on inputs,
transformation process and the distribution of output etc. 3
The contribution of various factors to the total cost will
vary form place to place
 For evaluation of economical location the following
factors should be considered:
a) Raw material procurement
b) Proximity to market
c) Availability of labor
d) Availability of power Fixed cost
e) Availability of finance

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f) Miscellaneous considerations (donations, subsidies, taxes
and non interference by government or local bodies, war
and political effects and other facilities or bottlenecks)
 The location of the plant can have a crucial effect on the
profitability of a Project, and the scope for future
expansion.
 It is difficult to set down rules where by the problem of
facilities location can be programmed but there are a
number of factors which should be considered when
selecting a suitable site.
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 The principal factors which influence the choice of
location are.
1. Proximity to market: Organization may choose to locate

facilities close to their market, not merely to minimize

transportation costs, but to provide a better service.

2. Integration with other parts of the organization: If the

new plant or facility is one of a number owned or

operated by a single organization or group, it should be

so situated that its work can be integrated with that of

the associated units. 6

3. Availability of labor and skills: Certain geographical

areas have traditional skills but it is very rare that a

location can be found which has appropriately skilled

and unskilled labor in the desired proportions or

quantities.

4. Availability of amenities: A location which provides

good external amenities is often more attractive than

one which is more remote.

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5. Availability of transport: It is important that good

transport facilities are readily available.

6. Availability of inputs: A location near main suppliers

will help to reduce cost and permit staff to meet

suppliers easily to discuss quality, technical or delivery

problems.

7. Availability of services like: Gas, Electricity, Water,

Drainage, Disposal of waste, Communications

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8. Suitability of land and climate: The geology of the
area needs to be considered, together with the climate
conditions.

9. Regional regulations: It is important to check at an

early stage that the proposed location does not violate

any local regulations.

10. Room for expansions:

11. Safety requirements: Some production units may

present, or may be believed to present, potential

dangers to the surrounding neighborhood. 9

11. Site cost: As a first charge, the site cost is important,

although it is necessary to prevent immediate benefit

from jeopardizing long term plans.

13. Political, cultural and economics situation:

14. Special grants, regional taxes and import/export

barriers: Certain government and local authorities often

offer special grants, low-interest loans, low rental or

taxes and other inducements in the hope of attracting

certain industries to particular locations. 10

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 Plant layout
Plant Layout is the physical arrangement of

equipment and facilities within a Plant.

Optimizing the Layout of a Plant can improve

productivity, safety and quality of Products.

Un-necessary efforts of materials handling can be

avoided when the Plant Layout is optimized.

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Plant layout

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Plant layout

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Plant layout techniques apply to the case where several

physical means have to be located in a certain area,

either industrial processes or services.

There are probably two levels at which layouts are

required. In one, the various departments have to be

sited, and in other the items of equipment within a

department need to be located.

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 Objectives plant layout
The basic objective is to ensure a smooth flow of work,
material, people and information.
1. Material handling and transportation is minimized.

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 Objectives plant layout
2. Movement made by the worker is minimized.

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 Objectives plant layout
3. Increase the flexibility
for change in product
design and future
modification.

4. Waiting time for the semi

finished product is

minimized.
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 Objectives plant layout
5. Utilization of cubic space i.e. besides using the floor space
its ceiling height also utilized to accommodate more material
in the space.

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 Objectives plant layout
6. Improve work methods and reduced production

cycle time.

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 Objectives plant layout
7. To make the work place safe, ventilated, and free
from dust, noise, fume etc.

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 Objectives plant layout
8. Increase productivity and better product quality

with reduce cost of production.

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 Advantages of a good layout
The overall process time and cost will be

minimized by reducing unnecessary handling

and movement.

Supervision and control will be simplified by the

elimination of ‘hidden corners’

Changes in the programmers will be most readily

accommodated.

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 Criteria for a good layout
1. Maximum flexibility: A good layout will be one which

can be rapidly modified to meet changing

circumstances.

2. Maximum co-ordination: Entry into, and disposal

from, any department or functional area should be in

such a manner that it is must convenient to the

issuing or receiving departments. Layout requires to

be considered as a whole and not partially. 28

Total output from a given facility will be as high

as possible by making the maximum effective use

of available space and resources.

 A feeling of unity among employees will be

encouraged by avoiding unnecessary segregation.

 Quality of the products or service will be

sustained by safer and more effective methods of

operation. 29
3. Maximum use of volume: Facilities should be considered

as cubic devices and maximum use made of the volume

available.

 This principle is particularly useful in stores, where

goods can be stacked at considerable heights without

inconvenience, especially if modern lifting devices are

used.

 In offices, racking can be installed to minimize use of

floor space. 30
4. Maximum accessibility: All servicing and maintenance

points should be readily accessible. For example,

equipment should not be placed against a wall in such

a manner that necessary maintenance cannot easily be

carried out.

5. Minimum distance: All movements should be both

necessary and direct. Handling work adds to cost but

does not increase value; consequently any unnecessary

or indirect movements should be avoided. 31

4. Minimum handling: The best handling of material and

information is no handling, but where it is unavoidable it

should be reduced to a minimum by the use of whatever

devices are most appropriate.

5. Minimum discomfort: poor lighting, excessive sunlight,
heat, noise, vibration and smells should be minimized and
if possible counteracted.
6. Inherent safety.

7. Maximum security.

8. Efficient process flow. 32

 Inputs to the Layout Decision
1. Specification of objectives of the system in terms of
output and flexibility.
2. Estimation of product or service demand on the
system.
3. Processing requirements in terms of number of
operations and amount of flow between departments
and work centers.
4. Space requirements for the elements in the layout.

5. Space availability within the facility itself. 33

Types of Layout
1. Process

2. Product

3. Cellular

4. Fixed position

5. Hybrid (mixed)

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 1. Process Layout
 Used when the operations system must handle a wide
variety of products in relatively small volumes (i.e.,
flexibility is necessary)
 Designed to facilitate processing items or providing
services that present a variety of processing
requirements.
 The layouts include departments or other functional
groupings in which similar kinds of activities are
performed.
 A manufacturing example of a process layout is the
machine shop, which has separate departments for
milling, grinding, drilling, and so on.
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Process-type layout

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 Milling

Assembly
& Test Grinding

Drilling Plating

Process Layout - work travels

to dedicated process centers
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Characteristics of Process Layouts
 General-purpose equipment is used

 Changeover is rapid

 Material handling equipment is flexible

 Operators are highly skilled

 Technical supervision is required

 Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are

challenging
 Production time is relatively long
 In-process inventory is relatively high
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 Process Layout
Advantages:
1. In process layout machines are better utilized and
fewer machines are required.
2. Flexibility of equipment and personnel is possible in
process layout.
3. Lower investment on account of comparatively less
number of machines and lower cost of general
purpose machines.
4. The diversity of tasks and variety of job makes the
job challenging and interesting.
5. Supervisors will become highly knowledgeable about
the functions under their department.
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Limitations
1. Backtracking and long movements may occur in the
handling of materials thus, reducing material
handling efficiency.
2. Material handling cannot be mechanized which adds
to cost.
3. Process time is prolonged which reduce the inventory
turnover and increases the in-process inventory.
4. Lowered productivity due to number of set-ups.
5. Throughput (time gap between in and out in the
process) time is longer.
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 2. Product (Assembly Line) Layout
 Product layouts are used to achieve a smooth and

rapid flow of large volumes of products or customers

through a system.

 A job is divided into a series of standardized tasks,

permitting specialization of both labor and

equipment.
 The large volumes handled by these systems usually
make it economical to invest huge amount of money
in equipment and job design.
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 Operations are arranged in the sequence required to

make the product. For instance, if a portion of a

manufacturing operation required the sequence of

cutting, polishing, and painting, the appropriate pieces

of equipment would be arranged in that sequence.

 Product layouts achieve a high degree of labor and

equipment utilization.
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 Characteristics of Product Layouts
 Special-purpose equipment are used

 Changeover is expensive and lengthy

 Material flow is continuous

 Material handling equipment is fixed

 Little direct supervision is required

 Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are

relatively straight-forward
 Production time for a unit is relatively short

 In-process inventory is relatively low

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Advantage
1. The flow of product will be smooth and logical in flow lines.

2. Throughput time (lead time) is less.

3. Simplified production planning and control systems are

possible.

4. Less space is occupied by work transit and for temporary

storage.

5. Reduced material handling cost due to mechanized

handling systems and straight flow.

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6. Perfect line balancing which eliminates bottlenecks

and idle capacity.

7. Manufacturing cycle is short due to uninterrupted

flow of materials.

8. Small amount of work-in-process inventory.

9. Unskilled workers can learn and manage the

production.

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Limitations
1. A breakdown of one machine in a product line may

cause stoppages of machines in the downstream of the

line.

2. Lack of flexibility: A change in product design may

require major alterations in the layout.

3. The line output is decided by the bottleneck machine.

4. Comparatively high investment in equipments is

required. 49
Cellular Manufacturing (CM) Layout
Cellular manufacturing is a type of layout in which
machines are grouped into what is referred to as a cell.
Groupings are determined by the operations needed to
perform work for a set of similar items, or part
families that require similar processing.
Cellular layout provides faster processing time, less
material handling, less work-in-process inventory, and
reduced setup time.
Used when the operations system must handle a
moderate variety of products in moderate volumes 50
Cellular Layout

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Cellular Layout

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 Fixed-Position Layouts
In fixed-position layouts, the materials or major

components remain in a fixed position, and

workers, materials, and equipment are moved as
needed.

Fixed-position layout is used when product is very

bulky, heavy or fragile.

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Fixed-position layouts are used in large
construction projects (buildings, power plants, and
dams), shipbuilding, and production of large
aircraft and space mission rockets.

Fixed-position layouts are widely used for farming,

firefighting, road building, home building,

remodeling and repair.
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 Hybrid (mixed) Layouts
Actually, most manufacturing facilities use a

combination of layout types.

An example of a hybrid layout is where

departments are arranged according to the types of

processes but the products flow through on a
product layout.

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For instance, supermarket layouts are fundamentally of

a process nature, and however we find most use fixed-

path material-handling devices such as roller-type
conveyors both in the stockroom and at checkouts, and
belt-type conveyors at the cash registers.
Hospitals also use the basic process arrangement,
although frequently patient care involves more of a
fixed-position approach, in which nurses, doctors,
medicines, and special equipment are brought to the
patient.

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 Developing Simulating Layout Problems
Product Market Poor
New Obsolete Cost
Design Demand Worker Market
product Change 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 59
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

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 What is Ergonomics?
Ergonomics is the science of fitting workplace
conditions and job demands to the capabilities of
employees. ( U.S. Dept. Of Health)
Ergonomic principles are used to improve the “fit”
between the worker and the workplace.
 A practical approach to Ergonomics considers the
match between the person, the equipment they use the
work processes and the work environment.
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 A persons capabilities, physical attributes and work habits
must be recognized to improve ergonomic factors in the
workplace.

The benefits of an ergonomic program

Reduction of work-related injuries, illnesses,
and workers’ compensation costs.
Increased efficiency at work and work quality.

Increased physical well being.

Decreased absenteeism and turnover.

Increase in employee morale. 64

 Office Ergonomics
 By applying ergonomic principles to the office setting,
risk factors are minimized, productivity is increased,
and overall workplace quality is improved.
 The workstation must be adjusted to promote a
neutral position while a person works.
 When adjusting a workstation, keep in mind that all
of the equipment interacts.
Making one adjustment may alter another.
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Adjusting the Workstation
 Adjust the Chair.
Correct the Environment
Check lighting, noise
 Adjust reach requirements. and temperature.
 Adjust focal requirements. Check work pace and
stress levels.
Check work processes.
Improve Posture and Habits
Modify wrist/hand motions
Improve neck and back postures
Consider personal preferences

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 Industrial Ergonomics
By applying ergonomic principles in industrial
settings, a safer, healthier and more productive work
environment can be developed
Employees and employers need to know how to
minimize risk factors by choosing the best tools and
work techniques for a given task.

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 Arrange the work area
Consider the base of support.
Place equipment and materials where appropriate.
Choose the appropriate tools
Check the fit.
Make sure the tools match the task.

Correct the environment

Adjust lighting, noise and temperature when possible.

Check work pace.

Check work processes.

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 Improve work techniques and habits
Improve postures.

Check work techniques.

Control Strategies
The next step is to develop and implement control
strategies to increase quality and productivity.
Once the risk factors and their causes are identified,
control strategies can be implemented based on needs.

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 Engineering Controls
 Appropriate initial design of the work station or work
area.
 Improving the design of the existing work area or
equipment.
 Providing necessary equipment and accessories.

 Adjusting the work station layout and equipment.

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 Administrative Controls
Training workers in work methods.
Varying or rotating work tasks.
Limiting extended work hours.
Providing mini-breaks.

Personal Protective Equipment

PPE acts as a barrier between a person and a hazard.
PPE is only appropriate in situations when
engineering or administrative controls cannot be
implemented.
 Back belts and other braces are not considered PPE.
 These devices should not be used in place of incorrect
work techniques. 71
What you can do to prevent injury
Develop an Ergonomics program.
Take proper breaks.
Health and Fitness.
Be aware of your hobbies away from work.

When Ergonomics are improved in the workplace:

We work smarter, not harder.
Quality, comfort and safety make us more
productive and happy people.
Stay Healthy and Safe, Take action!!!

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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:
 Inadequate passage,
 Insufficient storage space allowance for safe
handling procedures,
 Insufficient handling equipment capacity,
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 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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 r Tw o
ha pt e
d o f C
E n
Q & A

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