Manufacturing Facility Layout Plan

 The goal is relatively simple for most manufacturing operations — create a lean manufacturing system to simplify production and ensure a smooth flow of work, material, and information. In the world of manufacturing, the old adage is true — time really is money. Read on to explore tips for designing an effective facility layout.

Factory Layout Objectives

Effective manufacturing operations should utilize space efficiently and minimize material handling costs. This includes:

• Ensuring efficient labor use.
• Eliminating bottlenecks and downtime.
• Providing clear and concise communication between workers and supervisors.
• Ensuring continuous material and product movement.
• Considering flexibility for future workflow changes.

There are several ways to ensure your facility meets the above requirements to design an effective layout. These methods include:

• Providing more thorough employee and supervisor training.
• Building awareness of safety hazards and protocols.
• Implementing automation technology to maximize efficiency, reduce downtime, and save money.
• Organizing stations and equipment to facilitate workflow.

Before you start designing your manufacturing facility layout plan with these goals in mind, consider a few key factors, like accessibility, efficiency, and flexibility, to make the best use of your space.

Design Factors to Consider

There are several variables to consider when creating a new facility layout. Some key design characteristics include:

• Use of space: Unless you plan to expand your facility soon, you’ll have to get creative with what you have. Your factory layout should strategically use every square inch of available space.
• Efficiency: It’s important to design your floor plan to make everyday tasks as efficient as possible for crew members. For instance, you might place an automation system strategically to reduce the difference between two processes which increases productivity. Additionally, forklifts should be easily accessible to transport materials and dispose of waste as needed.
• Accessibility: There should be sufficient space between elements to ensure an accessible floor plan for all employees. Material handlers require plenty of room for themselves and the items they’re transporting around the facility.
• Flexibility: Your plant layout should allow ample flexibility for future growth and expansion. Make sure the floor plan won’t constrict your operation. This doesn’t mean you must accurately predict how much you’ll grow within the next few years. Just keep future growth opportunities in mind when designing the layout, considering a rough estimate. For instance, you might factor in the potential for 30% facility growth when mapping your new design.
• Operator-first mindset: Every facility is unique in its operations and won’t benefit from a cookie-cutter approach, so it’s essential to design a plant layout with your applications in mind. Consider your operators’ daily tasks and what changes would facilitate their jobs. Designate areas for different manufacturing processes and finished products. Will completed products move to the next cell or into dispatch? An effective facility layout speaks to your team’s and business’s needs.

Four Basic Types of Layouts

Depending on their operations, a facility manager should choose a layout that provides the highest efficiency while reducing time, labor, and costs. There are four basic facility layouts used in manufacturing, all with the objective of meeting the above requirements.

1. Product

Product layout design is a popular manufacturing facility layout. Also called assembly lines, product layouts arrange activities in a production line according to a sequence of operations needed to assemble a particular product.

Product layouts suit mass production or repetitive operations with steady demand and high volume. Therefore, they are more autonomous than other designs. A product layout design moves materials in one direction and pattern along the assembly line. 

The main concern is balancing the assembly line, so workstations don’t hold up workflow through the line. While a product layout design provides efficiency and ease of use, a disadvantage is inflexibility.

There are ways to improve layout functionality and flexibility for manufacturing facilities using a product layout design. Some facilities use conveyor belts to ensure continuous material and product movement along a fixed production path. However, the problem with using conveyors in some applications is that processes can’t be changed or altered for future workflow. Furthermore, aisles can be narrow and floor obstacles may obstruct material flow on the ground.

What if materials must move in multiple directions? A fixed layout sometimes results in bottlenecking and production downtime. One solution to increase manufacturing flexibility is incorporating an overhead monorail system. Today’s monorail systems are not only designed to move products down a fixed production path — they are also designed for increased flexibility and future workflow change.

Monorails can be ceiling-mounted or freestanding, depending on the facility’s needs. A freestanding system is ideal if you’re dealing with multiple overhead obstructions. However, most product layout manufacturing facilities have floor obstructions and narrow aisles. In this case, a ceiling-mounted monorail is the most versatile and ergonomic way to streamline production and improve flexibility.

2. Process

A process or functional layout is ideal for non-repetitive tasks in low-production-volume areas due to its flexibility. As the name suggests, a process layout centers workflow around the manufacturing process.

It groups employees performing similar tasks. Products flow from one workstation to another but may not go to every station. You might have one station for inspection, one for assembling, and so on.

Process layouts are suitable for factories producing small numbers of various products. They often incorporate general-purpose machines that can easily adjust to new product designs and operations. For instance, a custom machinery manufacturer would benefit from a process layout.

3. Fixed-Position

In a fixed-position layout, the main production process element remains in a fixed position. Workers must bring other materials, parts, tools, equipment, and machinery to the site. Assembly line movement around a plant doesn’t work for some products, such as planes and ships.

A fixed-position layout allows these items to stay in one location while machinery and employees move to them as needed. Limited project site space typically means some product parts must be assembled at other sites, moved to the fixed-position site, then assembled. This layout is also a common solution for on-site services like construction projects, landscaping, housecleaning, and pest control.

4. Combination

A combination or cellular facility layout integrates two or more of the above designs based on the factory’s requirements. Many cellular layouts combine aspects of fixed-position and product layouts. They feature compact, self-contained work cells with several employees and machines arranged sequentially.

Each cell performs most or all of the tasks needed to fulfill a manufacturing order. The idea is to build a team-oriented environment where every member is involved in production from start to finish. To achieve maximum work efficiency, companies with cellular layouts train employees to perform multiple tasks, and each team monitors its own product quantity and quality.

A combination layout offers several advantages, like reduced inventory levels and completion times, excellent quality, and high employee morale. Whether a large aerospace manufacturing company or a small factory that produces robot components, many factories can benefit from adopting a cellular layout.

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As technology constantly grows and changes, manufacturers should consistently improve their operations and streamline production. Rather than redesigning an entire manufacturing facility, incorporating a flexible material handling solution is an economical way to redefine your workflow and introduce a new layer of flexibility.

At Spanco, we have a variety of material handling products to help optimize plant efficiency. Whether an overhead Gantry Crane for transporting heavy materials or a Jib Crane for more articulated handling, we can help you find the equipment you need to move manufacturing materials with ease. Browse our product inventory or contact us to find the right solution for your needs.