Apparel Industry Management

Apparel Industry Management 3(3+0)

Lesson 19 : Facilites Planning - Plant Location

Consideration of Building Design

A well designed building has the following general features:

1. The design should ensure the functional smoothness of operations. All the obstructions in the way of operations should be avoided.
2. It should be strong enough to withstand damage due to sun, storm, weather and fire, and also floods and earthquakes, if the factory is located in a place which is prone to such natural calamities; and damage resulting from particular operations.

Depending upon the span and height of the building, the soil and climate in the place of the location, and the materials used as well as the products manufactured, there are standards for structural needs; and it would suffice if these standards are suitably adapted.

The building should be so designed as to provide a number of facilities – such as lunch rooms, cafeteria, locker rooms, crèches, libraries, first-aid and ambulance rooms, materials handling facilities, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, etc. Any negligence in, or indifference to, the designing building would cripple production. As Knowles and Thomson have observed: “A manufacturing organization, which must be adapted to the limitation of poor housing facilities, has the same competitive disadvantage as an athlete whose uniform restricts his movement.