Avoid the most common planning mistake: without buffer zones for WIP and materials, production comes to a standstill. A guide to efficient space utilisation.
When planning a new production facility or renting an industrial hall, it all starts with a hall plan. The machines are drawn in as rectangles, the aisles are marked – and on paper, everything seems to fit perfectly. But the reality after moving in often looks different: pallets block the walkways, employees have to constantly move semi-finished products around to get to materials, and the forklift truck has hardly any room to turn.
The reason for this chaos is a widespread planning error: too much focus is placed on the pure ‘footprint’ of the plant, i.e. the area that the machine physically covers. This overlooks the fact that production consists not only of the machining process itself, but also, in equal parts, of internal logistics. A machine must be able to ‘breathe’. This means that it needs defined zones for the inflow, standstill and outflow of material. These so-called buffer zones are not wasted rent, but a prerequisite for a smooth value-added process.
Every manufacturing process begins with raw materials. Even if you work according to strict ‘just-in-time’ principles, every plant needs an operational stock directly at the workplace. The machine operator should not have to run to the central warehouse for every component.
This is where Kanban shelves or pallet storage spaces come into play. When planning your space, ask yourself: How is the material delivered? Does it come on Euro pallets, in mesh boxes or as long goods? A single Euro pallet storage space (0.96m²) quickly requires two to three square metres of actual space, including the necessary handling space. If you process two different raw materials, this requirement doubles. If this defined space is not available, the material is left in the aisle – a classic safety risk and a violation of the SUVA (Swiss Accident Insurance Fund) guidelines regarding clear escape routes.
Probably the most frequently underestimated volume in a production hall is what is known as ‘semi-finished goods’ or ‘work in progress’ (WIP). In an ideal world, a part flows seamlessly from process step A to process step B. In reality, there are cycle time differences. If machine A produces faster than machine B can process, a bottleneck occurs.
These semi-finished parts have to be stored somewhere. Even more critical is the space required for physically-related waiting times. Do glued parts need to cure? Do welded components need to cool down before they can be measured or further processed? This ‘maturing process’ requires buffer areas that do not belong to either the warehouse or the machine, but form their own zone. If this requirement is underestimated, expensive production areas quickly become improvised storage rooms, which drastically reduces the efficiency of the entire line.
When the part leaves the machine, it is often not yet ready for shipment. In modern production lines, quality assurance (QA) often takes place directly at the machine (‘quality at the source’). This means you need space for an inspection table, measuring equipment and, again, separate containers for ‘good parts’ and ‘rejects’.
In addition, the finished goods must be transported away. The same logic applies here as for input: when the forklift driver picks up the finished pallet, he needs room to manoeuvre. Depending on the model, a forklift requires a working width of 3 to 4 metres to pick up a pallet safely without ramming into shelves or machines. These traffic areas are included in the rental price, but must be kept clear for operational purposes.
So how much space do you really need? Experts in factory planning and work organisation (e.g. according to REFA methodology) warn against calculating too tightly. A proven rule of thumb says: the pure machine floor plan should be multiplied by a factor of 2.5 to 3 to determine the actual space requirement, including operation, maintenance, material buffers and traffic routes.
In reality, a 10m² CNC machine therefore requires around 30m² of hall space in order to operate productively. Saving money here is a false economy. The cost of the additional square metres of rent is usually significantly lower than the personnel costs incurred as a result of inefficient processes, search times and constant rearrangement of materials.
Don't just view the rented space as a cost factor, but as a production tool. A hall that offers enough space for buffer zones and a clear separation of value creation and logistics pays for itself through higher process speed and occupational safety. When viewing potential production areas, therefore, don't just check whether the machine fits in, but whether it can also work there.
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