This document discusses key aspects in designing food processing plants, including plant layout and feasibility studies. It covers: 1) Distinct design considerations for food industries due to seasonal raw materials, stringent hygiene, and social cost-benefit analysis. 2) Components of a feasibility study including market potential, technical requirements, and financial projections. 3) Key factors in plant layout including flow patterns, equipment arrangement to minimize costs, and secondary considerations like climate and waste disposal.

1. by
Ankit Kumar
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Design of Food Processing Plants
1

2. About Me
• Ankit Kumar
• B.Tech. in Agricultural Engineering from VNMKV,
Parbhani (University Gold Medalist)
• ICAR-PG: AIR 09 (2015)
• GATE : AIR – 22 (2015)
• Qualified ICAR NET Exam (2017)
• M.Tech in FPE from IIT Kharagpur
• Worked as Assistant Professor in Vignan University,
Guntur
• Currently pursuing PhD in Food Process Engineering
from IIT Kharagpur

3. • Plant design refers to the overall design of a manufacturing enterprise /
facility.
• It moves through several stages before it is completed. The stages involved
are:
• Identification and selection of the product to be manufactured,
• Feasibility analysis and appraisal design
• Economic evaluation
• Design report preparation, procurement of materials including plant
and machinery, construction, installation and commissioning.
• The design should consider the technical and economic factors,
various unit operations involved, existing and potential market
conditions etc.
3

4. 4
Why distinct Design and Layout for Food Industry:
•Seasonable availability of raw materials
•Stringent maintenance and hygienic conditions
•Distinctive design of equipments
•Cost benefit analysis is influenced by social cost benefit analysis.
Plant Layout: Layout identically involves the allocation of space and the
arrangement of equipment in such a manner that overall operating costs
are minimized.
Plant layout is a floor plan for determining and arranging the designed
machinery and equipment of a plant, whether established or contemplated,
in the best place, to permit the quickest flow of material, at the lowest cost
and with the minimum handling in processing the product, from the receipt
of raw material to the shipment of finished product.

5. 5
Segments of Food Plant Industries:-
• Cereals
• Beverages
• Meats
• Fruits and vegetables
• Food ingredients
• Dairy
Major aspects of food industries:-
• Food Process Design
• Food Process simulation
• Food Instrumentation and Control
• Food Plant Sanitation
• Food Waste

6. 6
Importance of Plant Layout
1. Helps to manage inventory
2. Reduces cost
3. Less wastage of goods
4. Easy handling and operation
5. Beneficial for both workers and owner
6. Proper space utilization
7. Pave way for new researches and development works
8. Better working environment, safety of employees and reduced hazards.
Objectives of Good Plant Layout
(i) To provide overall satisfaction to all concerned.
(ii) To minimize and control Material handling and internal transportation from one
operation to the next.
(iii) The production bottle necks and points of congestions are to be eliminated so that
input raw materials and semi-finished parts move fast from one work station to
another.
(iv) Should provide high work in process turnover.
(v) Should utilize the space most effectively; may be cubical utilization.

7. 7
Factors Affecting Plant Layout:
1. Man Factor
2. Machinery Factor
3. Movement Factor
4. Material factors
5. Service factors
6. Building factors
7. Flexibility factors
Types of layout problems/situations
The plant layout problems can be classified into four types as follows:
•Planning completely new facility
•Expanding or relocating an existing facility
•Rearrangement of existing layout
•Minor modifications in present layout
• Flow patterns
(a) I-Flow: separate receiving and shipping area.
(b) L-Flow: when straight line flow chart is to be accommodated.
(c) U-Flow: very popular as a combination of receiving and dispatch
(d) S-Flow: when the production line is long and zigzagging on the production floor
is required.
(e) O-Flow when it is desired to terminate the flow near where it is originated

8. 8
Basic types of layouts
Depending upon the focus of layout design, the
basic types of the layouts are:
1.Product or line layout
2.Process or functional layout
3.Cellular or group layout
4.‘Fixed Position’ Layout
Following conditions favor decision to go for a product- focused layout.
•High volume of production for adequate equipment utilization
•Standardization of product
•Reasonably stable product
•Demand Uninterrupted supply of material
Advantages:
•Reduction in material handing
•Less work-in-process
•Better utilization and specialization of labor
•Reduced congestion and smooth flow
•Effective supervision and control
The major problem in designing the, product-focused systems is to decide the cycle time and the sub-
division of work which is properly balanced (popularly known as line balancing)
Product or line layout
This type of layout is developed for product focused systems. In this type of layout only
one product, or one type of product, is produced in a given area.

9. 9
Process or functional layout
This type of layout is developed for process focused systems. The processing
units are organized by functions into departments on the assumption that certain
skills and facilities are available in each department.
The major advantages of a process
layout are:
• Better equipment utilization
•Higher flexibility
•Greater incentive to individual
worker
•More continuity of production in
unforeseen conditions like
breakdown, shortages, absenteeism
etc.

10. 10
Cellular or group layout
It is a special type of functional layout in which the facilities are clubbed
together into cells. This is suitable for systems designed to use the concepts,
principles and approach of group technology.
Advantages :
•Also known as ‘Group Technology’
•Each cell manufactures products belonging to a
single family.
•Cells are autonomous manufacturing units which
can produce finished parts.
•Commonly applied to machined parts.
•Often single operators supervising CNC machines
in a cell, with robots for materials handling.
•Productivity and quality maximised. Throughput
times and work in progress kept to a minimum.
•Flexible.
•Suited to products in batches and where design
changes often occur.

11. 11
‘Fixed Position’ Layout
This is suitable for producing single, large, high cost components or products.
Here the product is static. Labour, tools and equipment come to the work site.

12. 12
The basic departments of food processing plants are:
1. Delivery
2. Temporary storage of raw materials
3. Storage of processed materials
4. Processing
5. Storage of other raw materials
6. Utilities
7. Effluent treatment
8. Laboratory and R&D
9. Offices
10.Employment facilities room

13. 13
Salient features of cereals processing plants:
1. Facilities:
1. General facilities: It should contain all the processing facilities like
equipments for milling, sorting, grading etc.
2. Production facilities:
1. Site: close to customer or raw material
2. Building:
• The best use is made of the available space
• Food passes from one process stage to the next in a
straightforward way, without causing operators to block each
other’s workspace and
• Sufficient space is left around equipment for maintenance and
Space for weighing and inspecting incoming grain or flour
• Space for raw material storage
• Space for production

14. 14
• Space for packing and storage of products
• Space for maintenance and repairs of equipment
• Space for customers (customers should not be allowed
into the processing area)
• Cupboard for spare parts and tools
• First aid box and sand bucket or fire extinguisher
• Hand-washing and toilet facilities, with space to store
workers’ clothes.
3. Roofs and ceilings
4. Doors and windows
5. services:
• Lighting and power
• Water supply and sanitation
• Fuels
• Energy conservation
6. Production planning

15. 15
Facilities required in the processing room
• A changing room where clothing and shoes that are not worn for work can be
stored.
• Separate hand-washing facilities for staff, with soap, clean water, nail brushes
and clean towels.
These should not be used for processing.
• Toilets, which should be separated from the processing room by two doors or
located in a nearby building.
• First aid materials
• Fire extinguisher/sand bucket
• Protective aprons or coats washed regularly, hats/hairnets and if necessary,
gloves and shoes.
• Cleaning chemicals, stored away from the processing room.

16. 16
Fruits and vegetables processing plants features
Plant size:
Small : <100 t/day of raw material
Medium 100 to 1000 t/day
Large > 1000 ton/day
Site:
1. Near to production area
2. Reliable electricity
3. Potable water
4. Road facilities
5. No contamination
Building
1. No path crossing in building
2. Enough storage space
3. Moisture proof walls and ceilings
4. Overhanging roofs
5. Proper ventilation

17. 17
Walls, Windows and doors
1. Walls properly plastered with proper surface finish
2. No sharp edges in walls
3. Tiled or painted walls upto 1 or ½ m from floor.
4. Windows screened properly for no mosquito
5. Positive air pressure zone
Floors
1. Good quality concrete
2. Smooth finish
3. Proper slope for drainage
Services
1. Water cleaning
2. Lighting and power
3. CIP

18. 18
Milk Processing Plant
i) Raw Milk Reception Dock (RMRD) - consisting of can conveyor, can washer,
weighing balance, dump tank etc.
ii) Processing Hall - cream separator, chiller, homogenizer, pasteuriser and other
related
machinery are installed.
iii) Storage area- for milk storage tanks.
iv)Products manufacturing area-depends upon the type of products, quantity of
milk handled and the machinery to be installed.
v) Packing area-for packing of liquid milk and other products.
vi) Cold storage-for keeping the milk and milk products before sending to market.
vii) Quality Control Laboratory-for testing the quality of milk and milk products.
viii) Utilities area-for installing boiler, generator set, water treatment plant,
maintenance and store area for spares.
ix) Waste water treatment plant area-for treating the dairy effluents before
releasing to the fields.
x) Quarters and office area-for all the essential staff.
xi) Vehicle parking area-both for the milk procurement and distribution vehicles.
xii) Input supply area- for providing veterinary service, supply of feed, fodder
seeds, etc.

19. 19
Infrastructural facilities
1. Raw material
2. Power: as per need
3. Water: 2 l/l milk processed
4. Steam, fuel
5. Vehicles
6. services
Manpower is also equally important to manage

20. 20
 LOCATION SELECTION CRITERIA:
 the plant must be located where the minimum cost of production and
distribution can be obtained
 Principal factors to be considered:
1. Raw material availability.
2. Location (with respect to the marketing area)
3. Availability of suitable land.
4. Transport facilities.
5. Availability of labors

21. 21
6. Availability of utilities (Water, Electricity).
7. Environmental impact and effluent disposal.
8. Local community considerations.
9. Climate.
10. Political strategic considerations.
11. Taxations and legal restrictions.
 RAW MATERIALS AVAILABILITY:
 one of the most important factors influencing the selection of a plant site
 availability and price of suitable raw materials will often determine the
site location

22. 22
 LOCATION:
 Proximity to the major markets is an important consideration in the selection of
the plant site
 AVAILABILITY OF SUITABLE LAND:
 The characteristics of the land at the proposed plant site should be examined
carefully
 The land should be ideally flat, well drained and have load-bearing
characteristics
 TRANSPORTATION:
 a site should be selected that is close to at least two major forms of transport:
road, rail, waterway (canal or river), or a sea port
 Road transport: for local distribution from a central warehouse
 Rail transport: cheaper for long- distance transport
 Air transport: for the movement personnel and essential equipment and supplies

23. 23
 AVAILABILITY OF LABORS:
 Skilled construction workers will usually be brought in from outside the site area
 labour suitable for training to operate the plant
 Skilled tradesmen will be needed for plant maintenance.
 AVAILABILITY OF UTILITIES (WATER, ELECTRICITY)
 The word “utilities” is generally used for the ancillary services needed in the
operation of any production process
 includes Water, Fuel and Electricity
 Water:
• used for cooling, washing, steam generation and as a raw material in
the production of sulphuric acid
• The plant must be located where lakes, rivers, wells, seas are
available.

24. 24
 Electricity:
• needed at all sites
• processes that require large quantities of power; need to be located
close to a cheap source of power
• A competitively priced fuel must be available on site for steam and
power generation.
• Power, fuel and steam are required for running generators, motors,
turbines, plant lightings and general use
 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND EFFLUENT DISPOSAL:
• Facilities must be provided for the effective disposal of the effluent
without any public nuisance.
• the permissible tolerance levels for various effluents should be
considered
• attention should be given to potential requirements for additional
waste treatment facilities

25. 25
 LOCAL COMMUNITY CONSIDERATIONS:
• The proposed plant must fit in with and be acceptable to the local
community.
• No additional risk to the community
 CLIMATE:
• Adverse climatic conditions at site will increase costs.
• Extremes of low temperatures will require the provision of additional
insulation and special heating for equipment and piping.
• Stronger structures will be needed at locations subject to high wind loads
or earthquakes

26. 26
 POLITICAL STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS:
• Capital grants, tax concessions, and other inducements are often given
by governments to direct new investment to preferred locations (areas of
high unemployment)
 TAXATION AND LEGAL RESTRICTIONS:
• State and local tax rates on property income, unemployment insurance,
and similar items vary from one location to another

27. 27
 SELECTION OF PROCESSES:
 A process converts inputs into output in the production system
 Process selection refers to the strategic decisions of selecting the kind of
production process to have in a manufacturing plant
 The manufacturing of food products of consistent quality and nutritional
value at affordable cost is essential to the success of the food industry
today
 The process chosen depends on the customization of the product as well as
the volume required in the market
 Product design and process selection affect product quality, product cost,
and customer satisfaction

28. 28
 Types of Processes:
 Intermittent operations
 produce many different products with varying processing
requirements in lower volumes
 resources are grouped by function and the product is routed to each
resource as needed
 labor intensive rather than capital intensive
 general purpose equipment to satisfy different processing
requirements
 Continuous operations
 produce one or a few standardized products in high volume
 Resources are organized in a line flow to efficiently accommodate
production of the product

29. 29
Characteristics of an intermittent production system:
 Flow of production is not continuous.
 Varieties of products are produced.
 Volume of production is small.
 General purpose machines are used
 Sequence of operation goes on changes as per the design
 Productions depends on the customer's orders
Characteristics of a continuous production system:
 Flow of production is continuous and not intermittent.
 Products are standardized.
 Products are produced as per quality standards.
 Products are produced in anticipation of demand.
 Standardized routing sheets and schedules are prepared

30. 30
 Project design:
 A project refers to a specific undertaking or venture that is to be carried out within
an identified time frame.
 The design process on all projects follows the same stages of development.
 The extent and detail of the activities behind each stage are different with every
project
 An appropriate plan of project is a must before establishing a food product plan

31. 31
Plant Layout secondary considerations
1. Climate and soil
2. Government concessions and policies
3. Water disposal system
4. Site characteristics
5. Natural disaster considerations (flood, earthquake)
6. Considerations related to fire hazards
7. Social provisions
8. Thermal pollution control
9. Water pollution abatement
10.Waste disposal and treatment
11.Personnel safety

32. 32
What is a 'Feasibility Study'
A feasibility study is an analysis of how successfully a project can be completed,
accounting for factors that affect it such as economic, technological, legal and scheduling
factors. Project managers use feasibility studies to determine potential positive and
negative outcomes of a project before investing a considerable amount of time and money
into it.
Components of a Feasibility Study
There are several components of a feasibility study:
• Description – a layout of the business, the products and/or services to be offered and
how they will be delivered.
• Market feasibility – describes the industry, the current and future market potential,
competition, sales estimations and prospective buyers.
• Technical feasibility – lays out details on how a good or service will be delivered,
which includes transportation, business location, technology needed, materials and
labor.
• Financial feasibility – a projection of the amount of funding or startup capital needed,
what sources of capital can and will be used, and what kind of return can be expected
on the investment.
• Organizational feasibility – a definition of the corporate and legal structure of the
business; this may include information about the founders, their professional
background and the skills they possess necessary to get the company off the ground and
keep it operational

33. Thank You
33