Planning and Plant Layout

GA are useful for solving large-scale planning and control problems. Several cases indicate that GA can effectively find an acceptable solution for complex product design, production scheduling, and plant layout planning. 

DuPont rarely needed (or heeded) advice from Ordnance officials. Officials recommended practices they most likely learned from DuPont, and for the most part, the Department seemed satisfied with DuPont s cooperation. On at least one occasion, however, the Delaware firm protested. In the summer of 1918, Ordnance officials asked for plans showing plant layouts, which most firms supplied. DuPont s executive committee, however, refused to turn over the plans of its highly productive TNT plant in Barksdale, Wisconsin. In the end, DuPont s executives relented, because their engineers had inspected the plans that were submitted by other firms, and this Ordnance officials used as leverage to demand a fair return. No doubt other firms gained more than DuPont from such exchanges. ... 

Look for noisy locations in a floor plan or plant layout. Look for ways to enclose potentially noisy activities, processes, and equipment to prevent noise from traveling to less noisy areas. Group noise sources to lower costs for controls. Try to separate people from noise sources by distance and barriers. Look for and avoid routes or channels by which sound can travel from one location to another. 

The standard requires plant layouts to minimize material travel and handling, synchronize material flow, and optimize value added use of floor space and to use a multidisciplinary approach for developing plant facility and equipment plans. 

The basic blocks with which to build an arrangement for plot plans are often used in the unit area concept. This method of planning is particularly well adapted to large plant layouts. Unit areas are often delineated by means of distinct process phases and operational procedures by the presence or absence of contamination and by safety requirements. Thus, the determination of the shape and extent of a unit area and the interrelationships of each area in a... 

If the plan of the building (and the same applies to its cross-sectional features) is precisely and inflexibly related to the initial plant layout and the production processes known at design stage, non-adaptability to later desirable changes in use is clearly a durability factor. 

The stmctural design of an industrial building will, first, reflect the requirements of plant layout and manufacturing procedures. Apart from holding up the building envelope, stmctural members will be designed and placed to support particular static and dynamic loads. As with the plan form. 

It might be assumed that if an examination of the plant layout is being carried out, the future plans, as they affect the site layout, will be known. This is not always the case therefore, management should be questioned at the beginning of the project. Particular attention should be paid to hazardous substances that may be used on the site, and the health and safety document should be consulted. 

The recent introduction of inexpensive desktop computers has allowed their extensive use throughout many companies. The standard spreadsheet packages which accompany these machines enables the above data to be laid out in an interactive way, so that what if situations can be explored at the planning stage and the implications of, for example, market trends in the food industry, to be examined over the long term for its effect on the plant layout. The model may include a factor to take into account improvements in technology and working practices in both the office and factory. 

One of the principal tasks facing the manager responsible for implementing a new plant layout is the planning and scheduling of the many activities involved in the project. Modem computerized systems have evolved into easy-to-use tools that avoid the need for a detailed technical knowledge of planning techniques. 

Liston, Donald M. "Safety Aspects of Site Selection, Plant Layout, and Unit Plot Planning." In H. H. Fawcett and W. S. Wood (eds.), Safety and Accident Prevention in Chemical Operations, pp. 35-59. New York Wiley, 1982. 

In the discussion of process and equipment design given in the previous chapters no reference was made to the plant site. A suitable site must be found for a new project, and the site and equipment layout planned. Provision must be made for the ancillary buildings and services needed for plant operation and for the environmentally acceptable disposal of effluent. These subjects are discussed briefly in this chapter. 

Figure 2. Locality plan, site plan, and pilot plant layout and profile.

There are several aspects to be considered regarding the siting and operation of the nitric acid plant. First, a suitable site must be chosen and second the plant layout must be planned after the site characteristics are assessed. Finally, an environmental impact analysis needs to be performed to ascertain the expected effect of the plant and the chemicals on the surrounding areas. 

---