Significance of a Well-Designed Factory on the Process Flow within a Food Manufacturing Plant: Factors and Considerations

The future of the food business depends on manufacturing foods with reliable quality and nutritional content at a reasonable rate.

- Panoth Abhirami, Dr. N Venkatachalapathy*

Hence everything associated with managing raw materials, the energy required for production, processing, transit and marketing of food products is becoming increasingly concerned with the optimal use of resources. The seasonal variation, variability and perishable nature of the raw materials and associated sophisticated technologies essential for the production to uphold quality standards required a special focus on highly trained technical officials, efficacious technological advances and manufacturing equipment in food plants. The term “plant design” describes the general layout of a manufacturing business or facility. It goes through several phases before being finished. The steps involved are: identifying and choosing the commodity to be manufactured, assessing the project's viability, designing it, evaluating its economic impact, preparing a design report, buying the necessary supplies, such as equipment and plant, and building, installing and commissioning it.

A plant layout is the best possible assembly of various facilities, such as personnel, equipment, and supplies. The plant layout is a strategic choice since once established, a layout cannot be readily modified and changing it would be expensive. The poor layout will lead to ongoing losses in terms of increased material handling effort, increased waste and rework, inefficient space usage, etc. So, the importance of conducting analysis and designing good plant architecture cannot be overstated. It is an essential task that must be carried out during the conceptual development of any facility and its expansion, improvement, and diversification (Sharma and Kumbhar 2017).

Food industry design process and material flow

The design process in a food company consists of various steps that make the company unique. The sequence of the food industry design process is depicted in the given flow chart: (Fig.1)