Question

PRODUCTION AND OPERATION MANAGEMENT

PROJECT - PLANT LAYOUT

Mr. Mohammed wanted to start a factory in Samail area. He is planning to produce petrochemical products as the subsidiary of PDO. His factory includes 8 different process and one office building, security check point and a store room for keeping all finished products preferably at the end of production process. The company planning to have the following process in the factory premises.

1. Material receiving section

2. Quality inspection of material section

3. A huge grinding machines

4. A huge chemical mixer machines

5. A furnace

6. A water and air cooler machines

7. Packing machines

8. Quality testing department

9. Small warehouse for storing finished product.

The material movement from receiving machines till furnace is through conveyer belts and from there till packing it is through pipes. The material receiving department is the first process in the production followed by quality inspection. For quality inspection company planned to set up an automatic machine so that material movement flow will not be interrupted during the process of production. After quality inspection the material has to go to furnace and from there some liquid is added in the product before it moves to grinding machines. Once the grinding process is done, the semifinished product moves to chemical mixing machines and some other chemical is going to be added in the product before it moves to coolant machines. Cooling is the last process of production and now the product has to moves to the packing section. Before the products is being packed, the product has to move through quality testing department. After packing the product is going to store in the adjacent warehouse for a short period. There should be sufficient gap between furnace and other machines as the chance of accident is higher in furnace.

               Mr. Mohammed also planning to construct rest rooms and one canteen for the workers inside the factory premises and Mr. Moahmmed does not want the same near to any of the machinery. Since Mr. Mohammed got a big land parcel in Samail, space is not a constraint for construction. If demand for his products increases by next year, he is planning to install one more line of production in the same premises. (Only Grinding, chemical mixer, furnace and cooer) The lay out must include a provision for this also.

You are required to:

1. Suggest a suitable type of layout for Mr. Mohammed.

2. Draw a layout showing each and every machinery according to the sequence of production including material handling systems.

3. Suggest some modification to the existing layout to optimise the workflow in the factory.

Answer 1

[1] There are four type of layout:

• Product or line layout
• Process or Functional Layout

• Fixed Position Layout

• Combination type of Layout

According to the Mr mohammed function carried out in factory, best suitable layout is product layout[currently]. because here one after one step is to be carried out in prescribed manner to get the raw material converted into finished product.

[2]

[3] If another line of production is going to be installed then from production layout shift to process of functional layout as by this focusing on process instead of machine can help you in switching the production line when other machinery is busy and also this will help you diversify while being specialised in the process.And also help the machines to be depreciate at less rate as burden of work is shared among machines.

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