Food-Processing-Plant-Design-layout

Food Processing Plant Design & layout
costly. Poor location could be a constant source of higher cost, higher investment, difficult
marketing and transportation, dissatisfied and frustrated employees and consumers,
frequent interruptions of production, abnormal wastage, delays and substandard quality,
denied advantages of geographical specialization and so on. Once a plant is set up at a
location, it is very difficult to shift later to a better location because of numerous economic,
political and sociological reasons.
4.1.2 Raw material
On the basis of availability, the raw materials can be categorized into:
1. Ubiquitous-to denote those available almost everywhere and
2. Localized materials, having specific locations, which are further, divided into pure
material which contributes nearly the total weight of it to the finished products, and
gross material, which contributes only a small fraction of total weight to the finished
products. It is obvious that ubiquitous hardly influence the decision of location. A
material index has been proposed, which equals the weight of localized material
used in the finished product divided by the weight of the finished product.
Material Index
(MI)
= Weight of local market material used in the finished product
Weight of the finished product
If the material index is greater than unity, location should be nearer to the source of raw
material and if it is less than unity, then a location nearer to market is advised.
4.2 Location selection decision process
Possible formal steps in a plant/facility location decision process given below. The actual
approach varies with the size and scope of operations.
1. Define the location objectives and associated variables.
2. Identify the relevant decision criteria
quantitative-economic
qualitative-less tangible.
3. Relate the objectives to the criteria in the form of a model, or models (such as breakeven,
linear programming, qualitative factor analysis).
4. Generate necessary data and use the models to evaluate the alternative locations.
5. Select the location that best satisfies the criteria.
The objectives are influenced by, owners, suppliers, employees and customers of the
organization influence the objectives. They may stem from opportunities (or concerns) with
respect to any phase of the production system (i.e. inputs, processing, or outputs). The
following sections describe the variables, criteria and models relevant to the location
decision process.
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