158 Materials and Their Handling 



have an advantage over its competitors in the 

 use, here and there, of a few specially designed 

 machines; but, in the main, any advantages, as 

 to plant, which it may have over its competitors 

 are to be attributed to the greater convenience 

 and economies in the movement of material dur- 

 ing process. 



Advantages to Be Sought in Laying Out a Plant. 

 In laying out a plant, the following advantages 

 arc to be sought: 



First, the movement of material should be 

 facilitated in every way, and gravity used wher- 

 ever possible. 



Second, the distance traveled should be as short 

 as possible. 



Third, all congestion and crossing of two or 

 more streams of material should be avoided. 



Fourth, the material should progress in a con- 

 tinuous line from receipt of raw materials to the 

 shipment of the finished product. 



The line of this movement need not necessarily 

 be straight. In a long and complicated process 

 having many operations an actually straight line 

 movement would lead to a freak layout; the line 

 of progress may be bent back on itself one or 

 more times. This may be done on one level or 

 floor, as, for instance, in a U shaped building, or 

 it may be done in a vertical plane in a number of 

 stories. Let us consider a manufacturing plant 

 with three stories. Here the material may be 

 raised to one end of the top floor by means of 

 elevators or hoists. From there, it moves the 



