When a new plant is built the main question raises about where to place different types of machinery at different places like the location of stores, inspection cabins, tool rooms maintenance wings, heat treatment other handling equipment. The efficiency of production flow depends largely on how well the various machine production facilities and employee facility are located in a plant
According to James Lundy, “Layout identically involves the allocation of space and the arrangement of equipment in such a manner that overall operating costs are minimized”.
According to Mallick and Gandreau, “Plant layout is a floor plan for determining and arranging the designed machinery and equipment of a plant, whether established or contemplated, in the best place, to permit the quickest flow of material, at the lowest cost and with the minimum handling in processing the product, from the receipt of raw material to the shipment of finished product
Objectives of good layout
- Provide sufficient production capacity
- Reduce the cost of material handling
- Utilization of labor efficiently
- To reduce accidents
- It helps to utilize available space efficiently & effectively
- Provides ease of supervision
- Facilitates co-9rdination and proper communication
- Provide a better employee safety & health
- Maintenance can be done in an effective way
- It improves productivity
Factors affecting plant layout
Every factory need to buy raw material in an economic store it and they are moved through production centers efficiently for manual or mechanical operations different aspects like the type of material, size of storage material equipment depend upon
- The type of raw material used like solid-liquid light or heavy
- The availability or scarcity of material due to seasonal variations.
In most of the cases, the product moves from workstation to other workstation. In some cases like locomotives and shipbuilding, the is stable but men and machinery are moved to the product.
The position of employees whether remaining stable or moving also influences the layout. Employee facilities like health, locker rooms, public facilities influence the layout significantly.
The type of production volume of its production, the type of process & management policy determine the size and type of machinery be installed
5. Type of industry
Industries in this context may be broadly classified into four types
It involves the separation of one element from another
ii) Conditioning Industries
Involves change in form or physical properties
iii) Analytical industries
It converts raw materials into various elements or constituent parts
iv) Assembly Industries
It involves the production of a product by the use of various elements
a)The soil &size of the site determines the layout
b) The location of the plant determines the mode of transportation depending on a distance from a source of raw material and market
7. Managerial Policies
- The volume of production and provision for expansion
- The extent of automation
- Making or buying a particular component
- Purchasing policy etc.