Plant layout refers to the arrangement of physical facilities such as machines, equipment, tools, furniture etc. in such a manner so as to have quickest flow of material at the lowest cost and with the least amount of handling in processing the product from the receipt of raw material to the delivery of the final product.
Objectives of good Plant Layout:
A well designed plant layout is one that can be beneficial in achieving the following objectives:
• Proper and efficient utilization of available floor space
• Transportation of work from one point to another point without any delay
• Proper utilization of production capacity.
• Reduce material handling costs
• Utilize labour efficiently
• Reduce accidents
• Provide for volume and product flexibility
• Provide ease of supervision and control
• Provide for employee safety and health
• Allow easy maintenance of machines and plant.
• Improve productivity
Types of layout:
There are mainly four types of plant layout:
- Product or line layout
- Process or functional layout
- Fixed position or location layout
- Combined or group layout
