A study to improve plant layout design for minimizing production costs

Abstract

Plant allocation and the costs of moving between workstations in production and manufacturing lines are among the most prominent factors affecting the total cost of production. Selecting appropriate work locations and distances between workstations is thus a key factor affecting the efficiency and productivity of a production line and thus the quality and cost of the final product. In this research, problems with a current plant layout are assessed with an eye to increasing productivity with minimum additional outlay. The aim is to improve the work flow in a pulley plant based on consequential planning of the plant layout, based on the assumption that the improved plant layout can reduce material flow distances, resulted in reduced costs of operation by about 5 to 10%.