GuideIntermediate

Facility and layout optimisation

Material travel is invisible labour cost.

6 minPrint Profit Navigator EditorialUpdated 30/05/2026

TL;DR

  • Layout work often frees 10–20% of handling time at near-zero cost.
  • Freed floor space is only cash if you sublet, avoid expansion or cancel storage.
  • Map the material path before you move a single machine.

Shops grow by adding machines where space happened to be free. After three years the material path crosses itself four times, and every garment pays for the detour.

  1. 1Draw the physical path of one order from goods-in to shipping.
  2. 2Count handovers, buffers and direction changes.
  3. 3Relocate buffers before machines — it is cheaper and often sufficient.
  4. 4Re-time the handling per order and convert into loaded labour cost.

Handling reduction

Handling before
6.4 min / order
Handling after
4.1 min / order
Orders per month
620
Time released
23.8 h — cash only if overtime or temp hours fall

Interactive example

Facility cost per productive hour

Facility rate
€ 20,00 / h
Allocated to this cell
€ 16.000
Cash saving from allocation
€ 0

Same calculation kernel as the full calculators. For a decision-grade result, open the matching calculator.

Run the numbers in a calculator

Turn your own numbers into a bank-ready PDF report.

Create a report

Related reading