Page 22 - Facility Management Module

INTRODUCTION OF FACILITIES PLANNING

3.2 Factor Influencing Plant Layout

i. Type of production – engineering industry, process industry.
ii. Production system – job shop, batch production, mass production.

iii. Scale of production.
iv. Availability of the total area.
v. Arrangement of material handling system.
vi. Type of building – single storey or multi-storey.

vii. Future expansion plan.
viii. Type of production facilities – dedicated or general purpose.

3.3 Principle of Plant Layout

i. Principle of integration:
A good layout is one that integrates men, materials, machines and supporting
services and order to get the optimum utilization of resources and maximum

effectiveness.

ii. Principle of minimum distance:
This principle is concerned with the minimum travel (or movement) of men and

materials. The facilities should be arranged such that, the total distance traveled by the
men and materials should be minimum and as far as possible straight line movement
should be preferred.

iii. Principle of cubic space utilization:

The good layout is one that utilizes both horizontal and vertical space. It is not only
the floor space is utilized optimally but the third dimension, i.e., the height is also to be
utilized effectively.

iv. Principle of flow:
A good layout is one that makes the materials to move in forward direction towards
the completion stage, i.e, there should not be any backtracking.

v. Principle of maximum flexibility:
The good layout is one that can be altered without much cost and time, i.e., future
requirements should be taken into account while designing the present layout.

BPLK 2 SUBJECT CODE