Plant Layout of Cement Industry for Mass Production

Abstract

Plant layout is the lifeblood of an industry as well as of any cement industry for its manufacturing process and layout design. A cement industry uses various types of machinery and equipment for its smooth operation. Appropriate plant layout and location of facilities are crucial for enhancing the productivity and safety of the industry. Plant layout planning, however, is a complex problem, and researchers have attempted to solve it using a variety of techniques. It refers to the arrangement of physical facilities such as machineries, buildings, equipments, work places and other facilities of production in order to process the product in the most efficient manner. An ideal plant layout for any cement industry should provide the optimum relationship among output, machinery, equipments, floor area and manufacturing processes. It facilitates the production process, minimizes material handling, time and cost, and allows flexibility of operations, easy production flow, makes economic use of the building, promotes effective utilization of manpower. It also provides for employee's convenience, safety, comfort at work, maximum exposure to natural light and ventilation. Based on the proposed layout model a comprehensive system for planning is developed. The present work includes study of layout design and their production system of various cement industries such as Meghna cement, Mongla Cement, Five Rings Cement, CEMEX Cement, and Akij Cement industries. Their scientific planning and design which is related to plant layout design for mass production system are analyzed. The optimum plant layout design has been developed from the need to create or modify cement industry design and to meet new market demands. Since the relayout design of industries is highly expensive and disruptive especially when the entire factory has to be shut down resulting production to be stopped, an optimum plant layout is very much essential for their manufacturing.