Plant Layout: Product Oriented Vs. Process Oriented

The argument is never going to end and we don't claim either to solve the issue. The simplest explanation to choice of layout is no particular layout is the best for a given situation. A layout is fundamental to every organisation and enterprise as it establishes a physical relationship between buildings, process and final production. There are numerous factors which input itself into decision making tree to generate the final decision and implementation. The thought that a particular layout is to be followed for a given type of industry is not perfect but it makes sense to majority as the attributes that goes into decision making process have similar values and hence the result but ultimately the decision can vary from person to person and variables involved. Though majorly 5 types of plant layout plans are categorized as Product Layout, Process Layout, Location Layout, Combined Layout, Fixed Layout but the fight is mostly between the first two types. Here we would discuss and compare Pro's and Con's of each such type and any typical attributes of theirs.

1. Product Oriented Layout in one which is decided upon based upon the way a product id produced i.e. machinery & materials are placed as per product path while Process Oriented Layout is one which is finalized based upon typical needs and attributes of processes & personnel involved.
2. An Product Oriented Layout is useful when the production process is organised in a continuous and repetitive process (one having bottlenecks problems hence line balancing technique applied), a typical of manufacturing plants producing voluminous products while an Process Oriented Layout is useful when the requirements of production process is that of batch production, a typical of manufacturing units producing Varity of products in small volume.
3. Product Oriented Layout is one which is based on concept of  placing one machine as close to other so that transit time in between is minimized and the sequence is same as the production process. A Process Oriented Layout is one where  a similar type of  machines are placed at one place and them move to other area where other type of machines are placed together.