Requirement of proper plant layout for improving productivity in

SMEs
Abstract:
Small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in modern economies as they not
only play a significant role in providing job opportunities but also support to large scale
market demand of different commodities. So they must have to be competitive in productivity
and quality so that they can make them relevant to the local, national and international
market.The plant layout improvement using systematic layout planning pattern (SLP)is
considered as a promising tool for productivity improvement.However, its adoption in SMEs
is relatively slower than the larger organizations and this case has more relevance with
developing countries. In this paper an SME of pen producing company engaged in continuous
improvement has been discussed where the objective was to improve productivity.
Frameworks for productivity and quality improvements were developed and implemented,
and results in terms of their effectiveness have been discussed. Substantial improvement in
productivity and quality have been achieved by using layout design and operating procedures
along with the development of standardized operational and quality inspection. It can be
stated that to reduce delay in production and cost of production plant layout should be
improved.

Key Words:.Productivity, Layout, Improvement. Planning. Operations

Introduction:
Plant layout is defined as the framework or the plan for theinstallation of machineries,
devices or other objectsrequired for the production process isunder the conditionsof the
structure and the existing building so that theproduction becomes safe and highly efficient.
The layoutplanning must be conducted with care in order to meet therequirements for the
customer demands and the productionprocess. The Systematic Layout Planning Pattern (SLP)
is anapproach based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Moreover, there must be amatch
of balance between production line and delivery lineto reduce the transferring time and the
waiting time. Small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) are suffered for unplanned plant
layout.For this reason theirproductivity is very poor and cost of product is high and the do not
satisfy their customer. By using good plant layout the problems of productivity and cost of
product can be solved.

Literature Review:

Improvements in productivity can be achieved by the systematic arranging of operating

procedures and practices in the organization.It can be stated that small
manufacturingenterprises (SMEs) can achieve improved productivity, high product quality
and high level of customer satisfaction by implementing Systematic Layout Planning
Pattern.Many of the SMEs are not know about plant layout application which improve
productivity and reduce cost of production and reduce the delay time. To improve
productivity of SMEs proper plant layout is very essential. Thesystematic layout
planning(SLP) is a great tool used to arrange a production place in a plant by locating two
areas with high frequency and logical relationships close to each other. The process permits
the quickest material flow in processing of raw materials at the lowest cost and least amount
of handling time.It is an organized way to layout planning. It involves of procedures, based
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on conventions for identifying, rating, and visualizing the elements involved in planning a
layout.
In the present, there are several methods for plant layoutdesign such as systematic layout
planning (SLP), algorithms, and arena simulation can apply todesign plant. Yujie et al.
Studied SLP method to designthe overall layout of log yards, the result showed the
goodworkflow and was possible rearrangement pant layout undersignificance. Plant layout
analysis and design for multiproductline production has been studied by Jaturachat etal.
.This work was carried out to investigate the suitableplant layout design for denture
manufacturing. The suitableplant layout models were designed and compared theefficiency of
each plant by adjacency-based scoring. Moreover, line balancing was done to allocate
humanresource by using simulation programming tofind the increasing productivity of the
new improvementlayout. These thus reflect the importance of the plant layoutdesign to bring
about an increase in productivities. According to study of manufacturing process, it was
found that long distance could be reduced for moving material from assembly line and the
problem about unless area could be solved .the way to improve plant to apply SLP method to
make the flow continually by arranging the important sequence of the manufacturing. Then
the relationship of each activity in closeness area was considered to make the relationship of
activity. So good plant layout gives good productivity of SMEs.
Following are the importance of plant layout:
1) It is long term commitment. 2) It facilitates the production process, minimises material
handling, time and cost, and allows flexibility of operations. 3) It facilitates easy production
flow, makes economic use of the building, promotes effective utilisation of manpower and
provides for employees convenience, safety, comfort at work, maximum exposure to naturel
light and ventilation. 4) It effects the flow of materials and processes, labour efficiency,
supervision and control, use of space and expansion possibilities.

Case Study:

A pen manufacturing company ABC of district Howrah, West Bengal, India, total workers 40
and yearly turnover Rs. 1 crore, suffers in material handling and productivity of their product.
Below shown relation between the different departments of the pen manufacturing company.

Department Area (sq ft) Total Workplace Area(sq ft)

Office 400 400
Tool Room 222 222
Final Product Store 232 232
Pen 1 Processing 157 437
Pen 2 Processing 167 405
Pen 3 Processing 155 409
Pen 4 Processing 178 397
Raw materials 526 1208

Table 1 - Relation between the Departments

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The requirement of improvement of productivity:
The area was not used to the full potential because old machine and remaining material were
still there in the working area resulting in useless area of the plant.Raw materials were carried
out with long distance and that means waste in time and energy resulting in high cost.
Following points must be consider for closeness of the activity.
1. Flow of Materials 2. Ease of supervision 3.Convenience4. ProductionControl 5. Contact.

Analysis:

The problems of pen manufacturing company is productivity. This problem is due to lack of
planned plant layout. In case study we see that the space for working area is more than the
required area. It will take more time to transfer the materials from one machine to another,
which hampered the productivity. So properly designed plant layout gives the good
productivity.

Methodology:
The problems of the pen manufacturing company can be minimised by effectively utilising
the space to minimise material handling cost. Old (not used) machines should be rejected
from the workplace. Suitable Plant Layout Process should be adopted as I indicate in the
analysis of this paper. To get best result Systematic Plant Layout (SLP) should be adopted
Below shown a method which indicate various sequence of operation and machining
arrangement of a pen manufacturing company.Here first raw materials of pens are casting
according to shape, then the materials are parting off according to size, then turning and
painting is done for good looking. Finally assembling and inspection is done. Then the
operation deburring and packaging is done for despatch.

Figure 1: Flow chart for Process sequence

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Proposed model:

The above model gives the total idea of plant layout according to specifications and may
solve the different problems of many companies. Final products are produced according to
user requirement specification. To get final product according to specification work should be
divided into functional specification and according to function various operation should be
designed. According to design specification all systems are installed with automated plant
layout. This gives the total system of the plant.
In figure user requirement specification (customer requirement) is the main criterion which
links with functional specification and design specification. To fulfil the customer
requirement productivity performance qualification, productivity operational qualification
and productivity installationqualification of the system should be designed. All functions of
the system are internally related.

Conclusion:
Systematic layout planning (SLP), algorithms, and arena simulation can be very useful
todesign plant layout. The proposed model is very helpful to design a plant layout. This
model consider the actual requirement of the users which helps the plant designer for

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designing layout of plant. This scientific process reduce the cost of product and increase the
productivity of the product. In methodology I indicate the various sequence of operation of
pen manufacturing and machining arrangement which reduces materials flow delay time. To
get good productivity flow of materials and processes, employees convenience, safety,
comfort at work, maximum exposure to naturel light and ventilation are also keep in mind
which gives good plant layout.

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