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Introduction : Most businesses invest in a sizeable proportion of their total

capital in the purchase of plant to manufacture their products. The physical
disposition of the plant within the factory affects the utilization of all resources.
Hence the location of the plant in correct order has a direct bearing on costs
of manufacturing. The ideal procedure for any plant is to build the layout
around the productive process and design around the layout, thus achieving a
plant that is completely functional. However, this ideal method cannot always
be followed. Plant layout is influenced by the nature of the processes mainly
in a good layout design, smooth flow of materials through the required
productive processes is ensured. It also affects working conditions. Decisions
regarding placement of equipment and machines must be made with due
consideration of the people who are to operate those machines and the plant.
There are certain tools and techniques of the plant layout in common use
today which help in improving the layout of any plant such as flow diagrams,
string diagrams, outline process charts, templates etc.

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Factors for consideration before a good layout can be contemplated
1.Products – Description, shapes, size, weight, quantity, specification, quality for
the present as well as for the future planning say 5-10 years. Changes in design –
effect on manufacturing sequence, machinery, effect on material handling and
other factors.
2.Production Processes – Directly affects the material flow and the layout of
physical facilities. Process method and sequence for current and future
productions to be considered.
3.Production Systems – Whether jobbing or batch production a continuous
process layout of machines and facilities. Wanted change for jobbing type-
functional layout ‘Mass scale production-line or product, repeat order for same
similar type, combination of two types of layout would be good.
4.Purchase and inventory policy – It will have a direct effect on the materials and
part storage and on material handling for above space required for storage and
inspection and hence bearing on facilities layout.
5.Materials handling system – Such as manual/mechanized movement and types
of handling devices to be used – has influence on the types of layout
6.Technological change – New machines improve higher output (CNC machines)
economy. There shall be corresponding changes in process sequence and product
quality, may cause changes in the product range, which was not possible with the
old technology. Each change affects the layout facilities.
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Factors for consideration before a good layout can be contemplated
7.Safety – Safety provision at each work center and relative location of facilities
as demanded by safety considerations, affect the layout. Meeting only layout,
needs of personnel, production and work flow is not enough.
8.Personnel policies – As for company’s personnel policies canteens, rest shelter,
locker rooms, toilets etc. are to be provided which affects the layout.
9.Sub- contracting and multiple shift operations – The company policy shall
determine the number of machines required to achieve the targets. Some
companies do not believe in subcontracting, other do. Some run one shift, other
multiple shifts. According they will influence the layout.
10.Maintenance – A good layout provides better facilities for maintenance.

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 TATA MOTORS-PUNE
FINAL ASSEMBLY PLANT FOUNDRY

BODY AND
CHASSI SHOP PAINT SHOP STATION 8
STATION 7 STATION 9

STATION 6 STATION 10 ENGINE PLANT

STATION 5 STATION 11

STATION 4 STATION 12

STATION 3 STATION 13

STATION 2 STATION 14
STATION 1 STATION 15

TEST TRACK

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 TATA MOTORS-PUNE
• The castings are made in the foundry shop. The engines are cast and
finishes.
• The castings are sent to the Engine shop where they are assembled.
• In the press shop the parts of the car like the bonnet, body panels, floor
and other sections are made in presses. They are fixed in jigs and welded
and the chassis is made.
• They are sent to the paint shop where they are dipped in a paint tank to
give maximum coverage and then baked in an oven to give glossy finish.
• Then the engines, chassis and body are fitted and sent to the final
assembly plant.
• There are different stations where the different parts of the car are
assembled and when the car reaches station 15 the entire car is
assembled and then brought out of the plant to be driven on a test track to
check for any defects or flaws.
• Once the Driver and the QC person okays the car it is sent to the yard
where it will be stocked along with the other cars.

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 TYPES OF LAYOUT

• Process
• Product
• Cellular
• Fixed position
• Hybrid (mixed)

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 PROCESS LAYOUT

• Used when the operations system must handle a wide variety of

products in relatively small volumes eg. Valves for chemical
industries. (i.e., flexibility is necessary)
• Designed to facilitate processing items or providing services that
present a variety of processing requirements.
• The layouts include departments or other functional groupings in
which similar kinds of activities are performed.
• A manufacturing example of a process layout is the machine shop,
which has separate departments for milling, grinding, drilling, and so
on.

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 PROCESS-TYPE LAYOUT

Lathing Milling Drilling

L L M M D D

D D
L L M M

Grinding

L L M
M G G

L L
Assembly A A G G

Receiving and A A G G
shipping
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 CHARACTERISTICS OF PROCESS LAYOUTS

• General-purpose equipment is used

• Changeover is rapid
• Material handling equipment is flexible
• Operators are highly skilled
• Technical supervision is required
• Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are
challenging
• Production time is relatively long
• In-process inventory is relatively high
• Eg. Automobiles, Heavy engineering equipment (Pressure
vessels, boilers etc.)

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 PROCESS LAYOUT

Advantages:
1.In process layout machines are better utilized and fewer machines are
required.
2.Flexibility of equipment and personnel is possible in process layout.
3.Lower investment on account of comparatively less number of machines
and lower cost of general purpose machines.
4.The diversity of tasks and variety of job makes the job challenging and
interesting.
5.Supervisors will become highly knowledgeable about the functions under
their department.

Limitations
1.Backtracking and long movements may occur in the handling of materials
thus, reducing material handling efficiency.
2.Material handling cannot be mechanised which adds to cost.
3.Process time is prolonged which reduce the inventory turnover and
increases the in-process inventory.
4.Lowered productivity due to number of set-ups.
5.Throughput (time gap between in and out in the process) time is longer.
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 PRODUCT (ASSEMBLY LINE) LAYOUT
• Product layouts are used to achieve a smooth and rapid flow of large
volumes of products or customers through a system.
• A job is divided into a series of standardized tasks, permitting
specialization of both labor and equipment.
• The large volumes handled by these systems usually make it economical
to invest huge amount of money in equipment and job design.
• Operations are arranged in the sequence required to make the product.
For instance, if a portion of a manufacturing operation required the
sequence of cutting, polishing, and painting, the appropriate pieces of
equipment would be arranged in that sequence.
• Product layouts achieve a high degree of labor and equipment utilization.
• Eg. LED television, refrigerators manufacturing.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF PRODUCT LAYOUTS

• Special-purpose equipment are used

• Changeover is expensive and lengthy
• Material flow is continuous
• Material handling equipment is fixed
• Little direct supervision is required
• Planning, scheduling and controlling functions are relatively
straight-forward
• Production time for a unit is relatively short
• In-process inventory is relatively low

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 PRODUCT LAYOUTS

Advantages
1.The flow of product will be smooth and logical in flow lines.
2.Throughput time is less.
3.Simplified production planning and control systems are possible.
4.Less space is occupied by work transit and for temporary storage.
5.Reduced material handling cost due to mechanized handling systems and
straight flow.
6.Perfect line balancing which eliminates bottlenecks and idle capacity.
7.Manufacturing cycle is short due to uninterrupted flow of materials.
8.Small amount of work-in-process inventory.
9.Unskilled workers can learn and manage the production.

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 PRODUCT LAYOUTS

Limitations
1.A breakdown of one machine in a product line may cause stoppages of
machines in the downstream of the line.
2.Lack of flexibility: A change in product design may require major
alterations in the layout.
3.The line output is decided by the bottleneck machine.
4.Comparatively high investment in equipments is required.

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 CELLULAR MANUFACTURING (CM) LAYOUT

• Cellular manufacturing is a type of layout in which machines are

grouped into what is referred to as a cell.

• Groupings are determined by the operations needed to perform work

for a set of similar items, or part families that require similar
processing.

• Cellular layout provides faster processing time, less material handling,

less work-in-process inventory, and reduced setup time.

• Used when the operations system must handle a moderate variety of

products in moderate volumes

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 CELLULAR LAYOUT

Process (Functional) Layout Group (Cellular) Layout

A cluster
or cell
T T T CG CG T T T
M
T T T SG SG M M T

D D M D
M M D D D
SG CG CG D

M M D D D SG

Similar resources placed

together
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 FIXED-POSITION LAYOUTS

• In fixed-position layouts, the materials or major components remain in a

fixed position, and workers, materials, and equipment are moved as
needed.
• Fixed-position layout is used when product is very bulky, heavy or fragile
• Fixed-position layouts are used in large construction projects (buildings,
power plants, and dams), shipbuilding, and production of large aircraft
and space mission rockets.
• Fixed-position layouts are widely used for farming, firefighting, road
building, home building, remodeling and repair.

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FIXED-POSITION LAYOUTS
AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING

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FIXED-POSITION LAYOUTS
SHIP BUILDING

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 HYBRID (MIXED) LAYOUTS

• Actually, most manufacturing facilities use a combination of layout

types.

• An example of a hybrid layout is where departments are arranged

according to the types of processes but the products flow through on a
product layout.

• For instance, supermarket layouts are fundamentally of a process

nature, and however we find most use fixed-path material-handling
devices such as roller-type conveyors both in the stockroom and at
checkouts, and belt-type conveyors at the cash registers.

• Hospitals also use the basic process arrangement, although frequently

patient care involves more of a fixed-position approach, in which
nurses, doctors, medicines, and special equipment are brought to the
patient.
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