A production layout is the arrangement of a workshop's stations, stores and aisles so that work moves forward in the order it is made. A good one cuts the distance materials travel, the time work waits between stations and the risk of accidents. You check it with a tape measure, not by eye.
This guide compares the four layout types, then measures one Lusaka metal workshop before and after a rearrangement, in metres. It uses the ILO's figures for aisles and reach, and ends with where the stores go and how to mirror them in ArmPOS.
What are the types of production layout?
There are four types of production layout: product, process, cellular and fixed-position. The right one depends on how many different things you make, and how many of each.
| Layout | How it works | Suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product (line) | Stations stand in the order of the steps, and one product flows through | High, steady output of one product, such as bread or bottled water | One stopped station stops the line, and a new product means a new line |
| Process (functional) | Like machines are grouped: all the saws together, all the welders together | Many different jobs in small numbers | Work travels back and forth, and piles build between areas |
| Cellular | A small group of stations makes a whole product or a family of products | Small batches of similar products | Each cell needs people who can work more than one station |
| Fixed-position | The product stays put, and people and tools come to it | Items too big to move, such as boats, water tanks and buildings | Materials and tools must be staged around it |
Many workshops end up with a process layout by accident. The ILO's Ergonomic checkpoints notes that machines "are often installed one after another as production expands", so their places may not suit the flow.
For a small maker with a few product families, a cell for each family is the layout to aim for. Work moves a few steps, one team owns the result, and a pile between departments has nowhere to form.
How do you measure a production layout?
Measure a layout with a from-to chart: each move a job makes, the trips it takes and the distance of each trip. Multiply trips by distance, double it for the walk back, and add up the metres per unit.
Count work in progress too: the units waiting between stations. Units in progress divided by units finished a day gives the days a job spends in the shop, as manufacturing inventory management shows.
For example: a metal workshop in Lusaka, before and after
For example, a workshop in Lusaka makes steel security doors, six a day and 30 a week. Its machines went wherever there was space as the business grew. The figures are illustrative.
| Move | Trips per door | Before: metres a trip | Before: metres | After: metres a trip | After: metres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steel rack to saw | 3 | 16 | 48 | 3 | 9 |
| Saw to welding table | 2 | 10 | 20 | 3 | 6 |
| Welding table to grinding | 1 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 3 |
| Grinding to paint area | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Paint area to drying rack | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Drying rack to finished doors | 1 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 3 |
| Tools fetched from the cupboard | 10 | 8 | 80 | 1 | 10 |
| One way, per door | 183 | 41 | |||
| Walked per door, there and back | 366 | 82 |
The new layout cuts walking from 366 to 82 metres a door, 77.6% less. Over 30 doors, that is 8,520 metres a week: about 2.4 hours, at an assumed pace of one metre a second with a load.
Two hours a week is a modest gain in a workshop this size. The bigger changes don't show in metres:
- The steel rack moved to the delivery door. Bars 6 metres long now go from the lorry onto the rack, then in a straight line to the saw.
- Every tool got a home at its station. Ten trips of 8 metres to a cupboard became ten steps to a tool board, and nobody searches for the grinder.
- Painting moved away from the sparks. The trip from grinding to the paint area grew from 5 to 8 metres on purpose. The ILO asks for flammable chemicals to be stored in non-fire-risk areas.
- Work in progress halved. A marked space for one door between stations cut the doors in progress from 12 to 6. At six doors a day, a door now spends one day in the shop instead of two.
At ZMW 2,400 of steel and paint a door, the six fewer doors in progress free ZMW 14,400.
How to design a production layout, step by step
Design the layout around your main product's steps, measure it, and test it for a week before you fix anything to the floor. Seven steps take a small workshop from sketch to proof.
1. List the steps and the moves
Write each step of your main product in order, from delivery to dispatch, with every move between them. Add the trips per unit for each move, as in the chart above.
2. Measure the floor and draw it to scale
Draw the walls, doors, power points, machines and stores on squared paper, one square to 50 cm. Mark what can't move: a machine bolted down, or one wired to the only three-phase socket, fixes the plan around it.
3. Put the stores at the doors they serve
Each store goes where its goods enter or leave the line. A store in the far corner adds a walk to every job.
| Store | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Raw materials | By the delivery door, at the start of the line | Delivered once, used every day |
| Consumables: welding rods, cutting discs, glue | At the station that uses them | Fetched many times a day |
| Work in progress | Marked spaces between stations | A limit everyone can see |
| Finished goods | By the dispatch door | Loaded once, never carried back through the shop |
| Paints and thinners | A separate store, away from sparks and heat | Fire risk |
How much to keep in the materials store is covered in raw materials inventory. Shelving and labelling are in inventory storage, and a separate store room's receiving and dispatch in warehouse management.
4. Line the stations up in the order of the steps
Place each station next to the one that follows it, in a line, an L or a U. A U puts the start and the end side by side, so one person can feed the line and take finished work.
The ILO's checkpoint 5 asks for the same: workstations close to one another, and departments in the sequence of the work.
5. Mark the aisles and the work-in-progress spaces
Paint both edges of each transport route, as the ILO advises, and keep the routes empty. Main aisles need at least 125 to 140 cm for two-way transport, and minor passageways at least 75 cm.
Mark a space before each station for the work waiting there, sized for your limit. When a space is full, the station before it stops and helps elsewhere.
6. Put tools and materials within reach
Keep frequently used tools and materials 15 to 40 cm in front of the worker, within 40 cm to the side and at elbow height. Store heavy items at waist height, and give every tool a fixed home (ILO checkpoints 54, 8 and 28).
7. Test for a week, then measure again
Run the new layout for a week, then repeat the from-to chart and the count of work in progress. Keep what moved the numbers, and ask the people on the floor what still gets in their way.
Walking and waiting are two of the classic wastes; the others are covered in how to reduce manufacturing waste.
How to mirror your production layout in ArmPOS
ArmPOS has no production module: no bill of materials, no work orders and no automatic use of materials when goods are made. It doesn't plan floors either, but it can make your records match your floor, so staff find stock where the record says it is.
- Name each store as a location. In Settings › Warehouse Locations, create one location for each store. Give it a Rack/Location Code and a Location Name, such as S1 and Steel rack (Your warehouse and its locations).
- Give each product its place. On the product's Edit page, fill Internal Location (Rack/Shelf). The Internal Location Report then lists products by location (Stock reports).
- Make a separate building its own warehouse. If materials sit in a store across the yard, a transfer moves them to the workshop once someone with permission approves it. Your plan sets how many warehouses you can have, and whether it includes transfers (Move stock between warehouses).
- Record each run with two adjustments. A Subtraction takes off the materials used, and an Addition puts on the goods made (Count and adjust stock).
The run method is the one set out in barcodes in manufacturing, which also covers labelling the racks.
Frequently asked questions
What are the four types of production layout?
Product (or line), process (or functional), cellular and fixed-position. Many workshops mix them, such as a cell for the main product beside a process area for one-off jobs.
Which production layout suits a small business?
Cells, for a few product families made in small batches. For many different one-off jobs, a process layout with the machines in the order most jobs follow.
How wide should aisles be in a workshop?
At least 125 to 140 cm where materials move both ways, says the ILO's Ergonomic checkpoints. Passageways used only now and then need at least 75 cm.
How do you know a new layout works?
Measure before and after: metres walked per unit, units in progress, and days from first cut to dispatch. If none of the three moved, the layout changed nothing that matters.
Is a production layout the same as a warehouse layout?
No. A production layout arranges where things are made; a warehouse layout decides where each product is stored and picked, as warehouse slotting explains.
Draw your floor this week, and walk one job through it with a tape measure. To keep your materials, locations and runs in one record, create a free ArmPOS account and set up your first location.
