THE FACILITIES DESIGN FUNCTION

2. Receiving

3. Storage

4. Production

5. Assembly

6. Packaging and packing

7. Material handling

8. Personnel services

9. Auxiliary production activities

11. Shipping

12. Offices

13. External facilities

14. Buildings

15. Grounds

16. Location

17. SafetyScra

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The work of designing a facility usually starts with an analysis of the product to be made,

or the service to be performed, and a consideration of the overall flow of material or

activity. It progresses, step-by-step, through the detailed planning of the arrangement of

equipment for each individual work area. Then the interrelationship between work areas is

planned; related areas are coordinated into units, sections, or departments which then are

woven into a final layout. The detailed steps by which this work is accomplished are

detailed in subsequent chapters.

Importance of Facilities Design

The importance of facilities design to the efficient operation of an enterprise cannot be

overemphasized. It should be recognized that the flow of material usually represents the

backbone of a productive facility, and should be very carefully planned and not allowed to

grow or develop into an unwieldy octopus of confused traffic patterns. Perhaps the concept

can be summarized as follows:

1. An efficient plan for the flow of material is a primary requisite for economical

production.

2. The material flow pattern becomes the basis for an effective arrangement of physical

facilities.

3. Material handling converts the static flow pattern into a dynamic reality, providing the

means by which material is caused or permitted to flow.

4. Effective arrangement of facilities around the material flow pattern should result in

efficient operation of the various related processes.

5. Efficient operation of the processes should result in minimum production cost.

6. Minimum production cost should result in maximum profit.

The material flow pattern, then, becomes the basis for the entire plant design as well as for

the success of the enterprise. All too frequently, insufficient emphasis is placed on

determining the most efficient plan for the flow of material through production facilities.

It should be our conclusion that the facilities design, or plant layout, process comes

first. Certainly one would not build a shell for a house, and only afterward attempt to fit

into it all the things necessary for a complete and comfortable home Neither should one

erect any industrial building without first completing a