Types of Plant Layouts and how to select it

Plant Layout is arrangement of Resources like machines, Equipment, material, man, etc. in a space in such a way that, all cost in using these recourses are minimized, safety of all resources are maximized, quality of the product is maintained and manufacturing time is reduced.

Following points should be considered in designing a layout : –

1. It should follow minimum material handling and minimum in process inventory.
2. It should be designed such way that it should utilize space properly.
3. It should provide employee safety and comfort.
4. It should be flexible to change according to future product requirement.
5. Minimize production time.

There are different types of layout and types of layout depends on quantity of the product to be produced and the product.

In this article we will be discussing about types of plant layouts and how to select those.

Types of Plant Layouts

1)  Product Layout: –

In this layout all machines, equipment and work stations are arranged according to sequence of operation of products and closer to each other. It is also called as Line Layout. In Product Layout Raw Material is fed at one end and Finished Product is Came Out at another end from last workstation.

This type of layout will be best suited for line balancing and it will have minimum material movement.

This type of layout is used for high volume products.

Also, same assembly line with Product layout can be used for products whose processes are almost same.

Failure of a machine or equipment in a line layout, will stops all production line.

Production planning and scheduling for line or product layout is easy, since we need to schedule whole whole assembly line as one. No need to schedule individual work stations.

Errors occurring due to operation sequence change or equipment change will be less compared to process layout.

Implementation of visual work place will be easier and its effectiveness will be high compared to process layout.

Examples – Sugar Industry, Paper Industry, Automobile Assembly line, Food Process industry.

2)  Process Layout: –

In this layout, machines or equipment grouped and installed in one area, according to their function. For example lathes are installed in one area and grinding machines are grouped in one area. It also called as functional Layout.

In this layout, machines are not arranged according to the operation sequence of a product. Product or products will move in between theses work stations according to their operation sequence. This will result in zig zag movement of material and higher material movement compared to product layout.

Process layout is used where product and process are variable. It is used for Low Volume production with more job variety or batch production.

This Layout is arranged as in Departments or Shops and used for variety of customers.

Breakdown of a machine will not affect production as in product layout.

3) Combination Layout: –

Combination layout is the combination of process layout and product layout. In this layout advantages of both product and Process layout are obtained.

Some Products required Combination of Layout for Production. In PQ Chat those products which have Medium quantity with medium variety of products are produced in Combination Layout. Advantages of Both Product and Process layout are obtained.

4) Fixed Layout: –

In fixed Layout the Product is fixed or it remains Stationary at specific location and all Machines, Men and Material is moved around it to manufacture it.

We can follow this layout when the product is huge.

For Example – Ship Building, Construction of Bridges, Aircraft Industry.

How to select plant layouts

Basics of selection of layout

For high volume with less variety or no variety products we can use Product Layout

For medium volume with medium variety of product we can use Combination Layout

For low volume with maximum variety of product we can use Process Layout

Following two concepts helps us to group the products in to the above layout categories.

1. P Q Chart (Product quantity chart)
2. Pareto analysis

P Q Chart (Product quantity chart)

P Q chart is a curve which represents all products of a company on X axis and its respective quantity on Y Axis. Products are sorted on X axis according to its quantity, from high to low.

Hence, high volume products come on left side of X axis and low volume products come on right side of X axis.

By, looking at the chart we can group products in to above three categories according to its volume, which are high volume products, low volume products and medium volume products.

Please note that this chart is useful only when a company has high volume products and low volume products. It will not be useful when there is not much difference in volume of products or there is only low volume or high volume products.

Pareto analysis

We have an article on pareto analysis. You may read that article for knowing more about it,

We can know 20% of the products, which represents 80% of total companies demand volume, by doing pareto analysis. And we can select the layout accordingly.

A word of advice

We cannot use above two methods blindly for selecting type of layout. Because above two method depends on the total demand volume of a company.

For example, if a total demand volume of all products of a company is very small, 10 products per day, while drawing p q chart the highest demand may be come around 5 products per day. And it will not be economical for selecting product layout for that product.

So while selecting designing layout, utilization of assembly line should be calculated. And it should not be very low.

Also calculation of effectiveness of a line is explained in the article ‘How to do line balancing’

We also have an article describing various steps in the preparation of layout, ‘How to make a plant layout’

Thank you.

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About the Article Contributor

Sudhanshu Wakde, a young enthusiast, recently graduated Mechanical Engineer with an overall 1.5-year experience in Industrial Engineering. Recently worked with Tata Technologies Limited. Provide Solution Layout design and Process Simulation to several OEM’s in the Metal industry and white goods manufacturing. Other areas of interest are operations management, Lean, supply chain, Project Management.