FACILITY LAYOUT

For an organization to have an effective and efficient

manufacturing unit, it is important that special attention
is given to facility layout.
Facility layout is an arrangement of different aspects of
manufacturing in an appropriate manner as to achieve
desired production results.
Facility layout considers available space, final product,
safety of users and facility and convenience of

operations.
An effective facility layout ensures that there is a smooth
and steady flow of production material, equipment and
manpower at minimum cost.
Facility layout looks at physical allocation of space for
economic activity in the plant.
Therefore, main objective of the facility layout planning
is to design effective workflow as to make equipment
and workers more productive.
 Facility Layout is an arrangement of –
Machinery

Equipment

Other industrial facilities

Achieving Quick production at least cost.
A model facility layout should be able to provide an
ideal relationship between raw material, equipment,
manpower and final product at minimal cost under safe
and comfortable environment.
Take for example a residential house.
Once you have decided its location, the design of the house is a
formidable/difficult challenge.
What is it that you would like to achieve with the design of a:
House?

Kitchen in the house?

Grocery store?
Department store?
Warehouse?

Manufacturing plant?
Hospital? Doctor’s/dentist’s office? etc.
Facility layout refers to the arrangement of machines,
departments, workstations, storage areas, aisles, and
common areas within an existing or proposed facility.
Layouts have far-reaching implications for the quality,
productivity, and competitiveness of a firm.
Layout decisions significantly affect how efficiently
workers can do their jobs, how fast goods can be produced,
how difficult it is to automate a system, and how
responsive the system can be to changes in product or
service design, product mix, and demand volume.
Objective of Facility Layout
 The basic objective of the layout decision is to ensure a smooth
flow of work, material, people, and information through the system.
 Minimize material handling costs;
 Utilize space efficiently;
 Utilize labor efficiently;
 Eliminate bottlenecks;
 Facilitate communication and interaction between workers,
between workers and their supervisors, or between workers and
customers;
 Reduce manufacturing cycle time and customer service time;
 Eliminate wasted or redundant movement;
 Facilitate the entry, exit, and placement of material, products, and
people;
 Incorporate safety and security measures;
 Promote product and service quality;
 Encourage proper maintenance activities;
 Provide a visual control of operations or activities;
 Provide flexibility to adapt to changing conditions.
Factors affecting Facility Layout

 Facility layout designing and implementation is influenced by

various factors. These factors vary from industry to industry but
influence facility layout.
 These factors are as follows:
 The design of the facility layout should consider overall objectives
set by the organization.
 Optimum space needs to be allocated for process and technology.
 A proper safety measure as to avoid mishaps.
 Overall management policies and future direction of the
organization
Design of Facility Layout
 Principles which drive design of the facility layout need to take into the
consideration objective of facility layout, factors influencing facility
layout and constraints of facility layout.
 These principles are as follows:
 Flexibility: Facility layout should provide flexibility for expansion or
modification.
 Space Utilization: Optimum space utilization reduces the time in
material and people movement and promotes safety.
 Capital: Capital investment should be minimal when finalizing
different models of facility layout.
Types of Layouts
1.Process layouts:
 also known as functional layouts,
 group similar activities together in departments or work centers
according to the process or function they perform.
 For example, in a machine shop, all drills would be located in one
work center, lathes in another work center, and milling machines
in still another work center.
 In a department store, women's clothes, men's clothes, children's
clothes, cosmetics, and shoes are located in separate departments
Process layouts in manufacturing firms require flexible
material handling equipment that can follow multiple
paths, move in any direction, and carry large loads of in
process goods.
Process layouts in service firms require large aisles for
customers to move back and forth and ample display space
to accommodate different customer preferences.
The major layout concern for a process layout is where to
locate the departments or machine centers in relation to
each other.
2. Product layouts:
better known as assembly lines,
arrange activities in a line according to the sequence of
operations that need to be performed to assemble a
particular product.
Each product or has its own "line" specifically designed to
meet its requirements.
The flow of work is orderly and efficient, moving from one
workstation to another down the assembly line until a
finished product comes off the end of the line.
 Since the line is set up for one type of product or service, special
machines can be purchased to match a product's specific
processing requirements.
 Product layouts are suitable for mass production or repetitive
operations in which demand is stable and volume is high.
The advantage of the product layout is its efficiency and
ease of use.
The disadvantage is its inflexibility.
The major concern in a product layout is balancing the
assembly line so that no one workstation becomes a
bottleneck and holds up the flow of work through the
line.
3. Fixed-position layouts :
Typical of projects in which the product produced is too
fragile, bulky, or heavy to move.
Ships, houses, and aircraft are examples.
In this layout, the product remains stationary for the
entire manufacturing cycle.
Equipment, workers, materials, and other resources are
brought to the production site.
Equipment utilization is low because it is often less costly
to leave equipment idle at a location where it will be
needed again in a few days, than to move it back and
forth.
Frequently, the equipment is leased or subcontracted,
because it is used for limited periods of time.
The workers called to the work site are highly skilled at
performing the special tasks they are requested to do.
3. Hybrid Layouts:
a. Cellular Layouts
b. Flexible Manufacturing Layouts
c. Mixed-Model Assembly Layouts
A. Cellular layout:
Each station on the manufacturing floor is capable of
performing all the steps needed to make a product.
This means that if there are five workstations, then five
products can be simultaneously made.
The workers won't have to leave their workstations to
look for tools. Each workstation will have all the tools the
worker needs.
E.g. Clothing manufacturing facilities
A benefit to this type of layout is an increase in product quality.
With this type of layout, it is easy to locate the source of a potential
problem with the products.
 If the products from one particular workstation keeps coming up
faulty, then that workstation can be singled out for troubleshooting.
B. Flexible Manufacturing Systems
 “A system that consists of numerous programmable machine
tools connected by an automated material handling system"
A flexible manufacturing system can produce an enormous
variety of items
 An FMS is large, complex, and expensive Computers run all
the machines that complete the process
 Not many industries can afford traditional FMS hence the
trend is towards smaller versions call flexible manufacturing
cells
Four Basic Types of FMS

1.Progressive layout: All parts follow the same

progression through the machining stations. This layout is
appropriate for processing a family of parts and is the most
similar to an automated group technology cell.

2.Closed-loop layout: Arranged in the general order of

processing for a much larger variety of parts. Parts can
easily skip stations or can move around the loop to visit
stations in an alternate order.
3. Ladder layout: The machine tools appear to be located on the steps
of a ladder, allowing two machines to work on one item at a time.
Programming the machines may be based on similarity concepts from
group technology, but the types of parts processed are not limited to
particular part families. Parts can be routed to any machine in any
sequence.

4. Open-field layout: The most complex and flexible FMS layout. It

allows material to move among the machine centers in any order and
typically includes several support stations such as tool interchange
stations, pallet or fixture build stations, inspection stations, and
chip/coolant collection systems.
C. Mixed-Model Assembly Lines:
 There are several steps involved in a mixed-model assembly.
 The first step is to reduce the amount of time needed to
change over the line to produce different models.
 Then they trained their workers to perform a variety of tasks
and allowed them to work at more than one workstation on
the line.
 Then the organization must change the way the line is
arranged and scheduled.
 In a mixed-model line, the time to complete a task can vary
from model to model.
 Otherwise, mixed-model lines are balanced in much the same
way as single-model lines.
 There are also several factors to consider in designing a
mixed-model assembly line
 Line Balancing
 U-shaped lines
 Flexible workforce
 Model sequencing
IMPORTANCE
Economies in Handling
Effective and efficient use of available area
Minimization of production delays
Improved Quality Control
Avoidance of Bottleneck
Better Supervision and Production Control
Improved utilisation of labour and employee morale
Avoidance of unnecessary and costly changes
RETAIL LAYOUTS