Types of Plant Layout

The production process normally determines the type

of plant layout to be applied to the facility:
Fixed position plant layout
Product stays and resources move to it.
Product oriented plant layout
Machinery and Materials are placed following the
product path.
Process oriented plant layout (Functional Layout).
Machinery is placed according to what they do and
materials go to them.
Cell Layout
Hybrid Layout that tries to take advantage of different
layouts types.
Product Oriented LayOut

Espuela de Ferrocarril

Camiones
Camiones
Systematic Layout Planning
 P-Q Analysis

Definition
Diagram activity relationships
Product
Flow

Chart relationship (flow, functional)

Establish space requirements Space Availability

Analysis

Diagram space relationships

Maintenance
Synthesis Practical Limitations Adjustment QC
Space Availability
Mat. Handling

Project Project Project

A B C
Evaluation

Evaluate alternative arrangements

Selection

Detail selected layout, install SLP Method

Muther (1973)
INSTALACION
Implementation
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Its essential to design a flexible plant layout, taking into
account as well the need of flexibility for the material
handling equipment to be used.
Main disadvantage of this layout:
Low operations and material handling efficiency when
comparing to a plant layout oriented to the product.
On the other hand, technology development is facilitating
getting over this disadvantage (i.e.- CNC Equipment).
Analysis
Decision to be made: Relative location of the different working
areas (same type of equipment).
Criteria: reduction of distance and material handling costs:
Increase of operations efficiency.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
If it exists a clear material flow that carries out more volume
than anyone else, the layout could be similar to a Product
oriented plant layout.
The main factor for the analysis is the material handling and
transportation costs among the different working areas.
Sometimes, quantitative information relative to material handling
flows is not available, or its not the main factor to be
considered, being the qualitative factors the most important
ones in this case.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Process:
Information gathering.
Plan development.
Quantitative criteria: transportation costs.
Qualitative criteria: closeness priorities.
Information gathering
We have to know the space requirements by working area.
Demand forecast production plan working hours number of
workers and equipment.
Consider demand and production fluctuations.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Information gathering
Working area space.
Static area (Se): Physical space for equipment and
workstations.
Gravitation area (Sg): Allocation of tools and materials.
Area where operators develop their work.
Evolution area (Sv): Space to allow operators and
material movements.

St=Se+Sg+Sv
Sg=Se*n Sv=(Se+Sg)*k
n=number of accessible sides k=industry coefficient (0,05-3)
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Information gathering
Available space.
Total available area at the plant.
Divide the area at a first approach to estimate each
section.
When performing the detailed layout, its required to have
more accurate shapes adjusted to the reality.
When the objective is the reduction of material handling
costs, we can solve the problem in quantitative terms:
Its required to know the material flow among departments
or areas, distances among them and means of
transportation.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Information gathering
When the objective is the reduction of material handling
costs, we can solve the problem in quantitative terms:
Traffic intensity matrix: Number of material handling
moves among departments (information provided by
historical data, route sheets and production plans).
Distance matrix: Distances among areas at the plant and
places where the different working areas could be
allocated.
Cost matrix: Cost of material transportation.- It depends
on the type of equipment to be used.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Information gathering
Sometimes, quantitative information is not available, or the
importance of distance among areas depends on qualitative
factors (i.e.- a hospital X-ray room may be close to the
trauma medicine room).
Plan development
Once the size of the different areas have been determined,
the next step is to organize the different areas within the
existent facility, or to determine the desired shape for the
facility construction.
There are multiple possible solutions, so the selected one will
be the a good one that complies with the max. number of
constraints.
 P-Q Analysis

Quantity Product
Layouts

Fixed
Position
Layouts Mixed Layouts Process Layouts

Number of Different Products

 DIRTY QC
EMPTY
BOTTLES

WASHER
WAREHOUSE UNCASER

FILLER/ MANUAL
PASTEURIZER CROWNER SIGHTING EBI

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES

BI-DIRCTIONAL TABLE

MANUAL
FGI SIGHTING LABELLER

COMPLEMENARY ACTIVITIES LABELLER

MANUAL PACKING

PALLETIZER
PACKER

PACKER

WAREHOUSE DISTRIBUTOR
CUSTOMERS
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Quantitative criteria: Transportation costs.
With the information gathered in the previous 3 matrixes, the
objective is to minimize the transportation costs.
Total Transportation Cost:

TTC= tij dij cij

Objective: Finding the combination of dij that minimizes TTC.

This formula is complicated for common cases, due to the
number of different possibilities (i.e.- for 10 sections, the
alternatives would be 3,628,000).
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Quantitative criteria: Transportation costs.
Use of heuristics: Algorithm of basic transposition
Initial arbitrary layout: base permutation.
Transportation cost calculation for this layout.
Generation of all possible permutations among activities,
interchanging the ones in the initial arbitrary layout 2 to 2:

Number of permutations =(n*(n-1))/2

Transportation cost calculation for each of the generated

permutations: If we get one with a lower cost than the
base, this last one becomes the base permutation and the
process starts again until there is no one with a lower cost.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Quantitative criteria: Transportation costs.
In practice, we have to take into account certain constraints
and circumstances that have to be considered, apart from the
quantitative criteria of the transportation costs.
Once this information is taken into account, the next step will
be to perform the spatial design of the different departments.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Qualitative criteria: Closeness priorities.
Technique: Systematic Layout Planning (SLP)
Closeness priorities have a letter code:
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Qualitative criteria: Closeness priorities.
Technique: Systematic Layout Planning (SLP): Example.
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Qualitative criteria: Closeness priorities.
Technique: Systematic Layout Planning (SLP): Example.

S1 S2 S3

S4 S5 S6

Initial Diagram
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Qualitative criteria: Closeness priorities.
Technique: Systematic Layout Planning (SLP): Example.

S1 S3 S2

S5 S6 S4

First iteration
Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Analysis
Qualitative criteria: Closeness priorities.
Technique: Systematic Layout Planning (SLP): Example.

S3 S4 S1

S2 S6 S5

Second iteration (might be the optimum)

Types of Plant Layout
Process oriented plant layout
Detailed layout
Equipment and machinery layout within each area or
department, getting a detailed layout of installations and all
elements.
There could appear some issues like scales, elevators, columns,
floor resistance, roof height, etc. not considered in previous
stages, that could make necessary the review of the solution.
Cellular Layout
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Definition:
Group of equipment and workers that perform a sequence of
operations over multiple units of an item or family of items.
Looks for the advantages of product and process
layouts:
Product oriented layout: Efficiency
Process oriented layout: Flexibility
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
Grouping outputs with the same characteristics to families, and
assigning groups of machines and workers for the production of
each family.
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
Sometimes, these outputs will be final products or services;
some other times, they will need to integrate to a final product.
In this case, the work cells would need to be located close to the
main production line, to facilitate the assembly of the component at
the moment and place required.
Real Work Cells: the grouping of workers and equipment is a
fact:
At the same time as identifying family of products and grouping of
equipment, its essential to perform an internal layout of the cell (by
product, by process or a combination of bothgenerally by product).
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
Virtual Work Cells: identifying and dedicating certain equipment
to the production of certain families of outputs, but without
grouping them physically within the cell:
The only issue is the identification of equipment and families of
products, without performing an internal layout of the cell.
Residual Work Cells: only used when there is a specific item that
has not been associated to any family, or a specialized
equipment can not be included within a work cell due to its
general use.
Advantages: lower production cost and better supply and
customer service time.
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
Steps to follow:
Select product families.
Determine work cells.
Detail the work cells internal organization or layout.
Regarding product grouping to be produced at the same work
cell, we need to determine which is the condition that allows
such grouping.
Once product families are determined, creating a work cell for
each family might be the best solution, although is not always
like that (sometimes its even impossible).
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
Approaches used to identify families and work cells:
Classification and codification of all items to be manufactured, and
comparison among them to define families. After that, its required to
identify the cells and equipment to manufactured those families.
Creation of work cells by grouping of equipment. In this case, we still
need to define the families.
Definition of families by similar manufacturing routes. Still pending
the cells identification.
Simultaneous identification of families and cells, based on the
similarity of products and their needs of equipment and vice versa.
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
A component that does not use all machines within its work cell
can be accepted, as well as a machine that does not process all
components in its group.
However, its essential to avoid that a component or machine
interacts with other machine or component outside of its cell.
If its not possible avoid this situation, the solution will be duplicating
the piece of equipment, or process the item in more than one cell.-
Sometimes a residual cell might be needed to absorb a component
like this or to include a general type of equipment that we can not
duplicate.
Types of Plant Layout
Work cells
Applies the principles of Groups Technology to
Manufacturing:
In general, the steps to follow to reorganize the layout will be:
Incompatible equipment must be located in separate cells.
Each component should be produced only in 1 cell.
Each type of equipment should be located only in 1 cell.
Investment in duplicating equipment should be minimized.
The work cell should be limited to a reasonable size.