ABSTRACT
Facilities are the plant and the office within which P/OM does its work. In addition to the buildings and the spaces that are built, bought, or rented, facilities also include equipment used in the plant and the office. There are four main components of facilities planning and they strongly interact with each other. These four include the following. First, where to locate the plant, or the branch, or the warehouse? This is a regional determination. The second issue is to find the specific structure and site to use. The third factor comes before moving in and the purpose
is to design the layout. The fourth is to select furniture, lighting, decorative features, and equipment for doing the job. In fact, these four components interact, and none of them can be considered exclusive of the others. A great amount of expertise and management ability is required for facilities planning. A better job is done by broad-based visionaries and generalists who know how to work together as a team. The systems point of view has never been shown to be a weakness.
