Conceptual Design of Plant Layout

To address the lack of conceptual design in the formation process of traditional plant layout, a conceptual design framework for plant layout is proposed. The proposed conceptual design considers both functional and performance aspects: the functionality is reflected in the preliminary division of activities, while the performance is reflected in the construction of layout schemes. The focus group method is adopted to collect customer demand. By using the House of Quality, the design demand is transformed into engineering characteristics, and the key issues to be solved are put forward accordingly. Brainstorming is used to generate design concepts for solving these key issues. Guided by the design concepts, the axiomatic design method is applied to divide the activities. The evolutionary tree is used to explore the evolutionary trend of the plant, and the feasible layout solution is selected from the evolutionary tree. The optimal layout concept solution is obtained by using the morphological matrix based on the design concepts. Finally, a factory layout case verifies the effectiveness and practicability of the conceptual design framework.