PHYSICAL FACILITIES

Plant Location
3 situations require an answer to the question of plant
1. A new plant just being started
2. A new branch of an existing
3. A new location for an existing plant

Factors Influencing Location
1. Proximity to good highways
2. Access to major airport
3. Labor Supply
4. Nearness to market
5. Nearness to raw materials
6. Nearness to an existing plant
7. Suitable land & land cost
8. Transportation
9. Water Supply
10. Power Supply
11. Pollution Control
12. Taxes
13. Climate
14. National Defense
15. Community admin & attitude
16. Schools, churches & residential areas
17. Zoning restrictions
18. Space for expansion

Local Site Selection
1. Transportation facilities
2. Availability of water, electric power, gas &
sewers
3. Zoning restrictions
4. Soil characteristics
5. Drainage
6. Parking areas
7. Space for expansion
8. Accessibility by workers
9. Cost of land
10. Existing buildings

Trends in Plant Location:
1. In the suburbs
2. Industrial parks
3. Growing competition for industry among states
4. Decentralization
5. Pollution Control

Plant Buildings Considerations
1. Nature of mftg process
2. Plant layout & space requirement
3. Lighting, heating, ventilating and air
conditioning
4. Future expansion
5. Appearance

Advantages of the single-story building
1. Low construction cost per square foot of space
2. Requires less time to erect
3. Easy to expand
4. Will take high floor loads
5. Suitable for assembly of heavy or bulky
products
6. Allow high ceilings
7. No space lost for elevators & stairs
8. Fewer columns
9. Easier to handle materials
10. Allow flexibility in Layout
11. Restrooms & service eqpt may be located in
overhead trusses
12. Maximum use of daylight & natural ventilation
is possible
13. Easier to isolate obnoxious or hazardous areas
14. Easier supervision

Advantages of Multi-story building
1. Requires less land
2. Allows use of gravity for materials & movement
3. Allows for more compact layouts
4. Allows vertical arrangement of production &
storage space
5. Lower heating cost
6. Top stories may be used for dept. requiring
special conditions

Facility/Plant Layout
1. External transportation facilities
2. Receiving operations (unloading, inspection,
stores)
3. Production activities
4. Materials handling
5. Service & auxiliary operations
6. Quality control & inspection areas
7. Packaging operations
8. Storage operations
9. Shipping operations
10. Offices

Objectives of Plant Layout
1. Facilitate the mftg process
2. Reduce mftg cycle time & customer service
time
3. Minimize material handling costs
4. Maintain flexibility of arrangement & of
operation
5. Maintain high turnover of work in process
6. Eliminate bottlenecks
7. Hold down investment in equipment
8. Make economical use of bldg cube or utilize
space efficiently
9. Promote effective utilization of personnel or
utilize labor efficiently
10. Provide for employee convenience, safett and
comfort in doing the work
11. Facilitate the entry, exit and placement of
materials, product and people
12. Encourage proper maintenance activities

General Principles of Layout
1. Move materials minimum distance
2. Avoid or minimize the backtracking of materials
3. Plan for the minimum of materials handling
4. Use manufacturing space economically
5. Permit all flexibility possible
6. Allow for possible plant expansion

Basic Layout Types
1. Product Layout
2. Process Layout
3. Fixed position layout
4. Hybrid/Combination Layouts
a. Cellular layouts
b. Flexible mftg systems
c. Mixed-Model Assembly lines