TABLE OF CONTENTS Plant layout can affect the total operation of a company, including the production processes, equipment, storage, dispatch and administration. It has a direct effect upon production efficiency and economics of the operation, the morale of employees and can affect the physical health of operatives.
A production facility will be considered as a facility for processing pharmaceuticals or food products or manufacturing engineering products or consumer goods. The facility must utilize real estate, equipment, materials and labour to generate profit for investors and, philosophically, to enrich the life of all associated with it.
Layout planning involves knowledge of a wide range of technologies that will extend beyond those of individual planners and the full range of expertise may not exist in a production facility. Consultants can provide the expertise but guidance can be found in the published works listed in the References
The design methods presented here allow a layout plan to be quickly formulated. The methods rely upon a thorough understanding of factory operations gained from experience and a good understanding of the relationship between people and equipment. When such an understanding is not present a more rigorous approach is recommended. Muther [1] published a formalized procedure in 1973 and Tompkins and White [2] a more academic method in 1984, both valuable contributions to problems of layout planning.
The first step in any design is to identify the real need, and this...
