Businesses that rely on factory production need to carefully think through their optimal factory layout. Creating a factory floor plan or manufacturing floor plan is no small feat. Once complete and actualized, it will make a huge difference in production—for better or worse.
We’re speaking from experience. At Falcon, we rely on our production process to meet customer demand and we know the importance of our factory layout in helping us reach our goals. To share our own insight, here are a few tips to help you plan your perfect manufacturing floor plan:
"Always make sure you create a factory layout that provides the flexibility to increase the amount of product you are producing," says Anthony Moreno, Production Manager at Falcon Structures. "I have been involved with new facility build-outs, and I always make sure it's laid out to allow for the increase in the number of units being built (increase the flow of process) as well as create enough room for future growth."
You most likely plan to implement quality checks along your process, if not at many stages during production. Think ahead and consider where and when quality checks are needed along your process. To improve efficiency and help your team take advantage of the new or updated factory layout, you should factor quality checkpoints into your factory design.
"I think the very first thing anyone should do is dig into the local, county, and state regulatory requirements before you even start," says Robert Fausett, Operations Director at Falcon Structures. "What may seem like a harmless idea or plan for a factory could end up conflicting with environmental agendas and shut you down before you even get started.”
You likely already know what waste needs to be discarded and what materials you can recycle for future projects. The next step is to include that in your workflow. When do you want these materials to enter and exit your production process? How can you streamline their movement? Who will manage it?
In the same way that you should account for inventory management, you can’t forget that you’ll need a designated space to store your final product. Factoring the final product into your factory floor plan—and not just the process that gets you to the final product—will help you avoid haphazardly storing finished products once production increases.
Remember, the above tips just scratch the surface of designing your ideal factory layout. We encourage you to sit down with your team and discuss the details, leaving no stone unturned. Get strategic, take a step back, and consider all the options, because designing the right layout will make all the difference down the line.
Falcon Structures is a shipping container modification manufacturing company working to build a better world by pioneering the use of container-based structures. Falcon modifies boxes to become storage units, workspaces, bathrooms & locker rooms, living spaces, industrial enclosures, and multi-containers.