Factory floor layout tool & production bottleneck calculator

Workshop & Production Line Layout Planner

Design a workshop or small factory floor, place machines and staff, connect production routes, and estimate output, bottlenecks, walking time and utilisation before changing the real layout.

Choose how to continue

Free access lets you build your full floor plan, place every machine and staff type, map production routes and run every calculation — no limits, no watermark. Full access adds the polished, printable management report and a downloadable offline copy of the tool to keep.

This tool provides planning estimates only. Real production output depends on operator skill, material flow, machine condition, setup variation, quality checks, downtime, safety requirements and site-specific constraints. Always validate changes before altering a real production layout.

Starter presets

Add to floor

Selected feature

Click any machine, station or staff member on the floor to edit it here.

Production routes

Staff

Shift & cost settings

Shift length (hrs)

Shifts / day

Labour cost (£/hr)

Handling/transfer (min)

Viewing route

Already purchased? Enter your license key

About the Workshop Flow Planner

The Workshop Flow Planner is a workshop layout planner and production line planner in one: a factory floor layout tool for people who currently plan machine positions and staffing on graph paper, in a spreadsheet, or just in their head. Drop machines, benches, storage, inspection and packing stations onto a scaled 2D floor plan, connect them into a production route, and the tool becomes a production bottleneck calculator — working out which station limits your output, and roughly what changing the layout would do to it.

Who it's for

Built for production managers, workshop owners, makers and small manufacturers who need a manufacturing workflow planner that doesn't require CAD training. It's equally at home planning a one-person maker's workshop, a small batch manufacturing cell, or a multi-station assembly and packing line with several staff walking between stations.

Common uses

Testing a new machine or bench position before physically moving anything

Working out which station is really the bottleneck before buying more equipment

Planning staff walking routes and spotting wasted walking/handling time

Estimating units per hour, per shift and per day for a new product run

Building a management report to justify a layout change or new hire

How to use it

Set your floor's width and depth, or start from one of the workshop presets

Drag machines, benches, storage, inspection, packing and dispatch stations onto the floor plan

Name each station, pick its icon, and fill in its cycle time, setup time, uptime and cost

Add staff, assign them to stations, and connect stations in order to build a production route

Switch to Simulation / Metrics Mode to see output, bottlenecks, utilisation and warnings

Adjust the layout and watch the numbers update, then export the full management report

Frequently asked questions

Do I need CAD or manufacturing software experience to use this?

No. Everything is drag-and-drop on a simple 2D floor plan, and every figure you enter — cycle time, batch size, shift length — is something you already know from running your workshop. There are no CAD files to import and nothing to learn beyond clicking and typing.

How does the tool work out the bottleneck station?

It compares the cycle time you've entered for every station on a route and finds the slowest one. That station sets the pace for the whole route, which is what's used to calculate units per hour, per shift and per day — every other station's utilisation is then shown relative to that bottleneck.

Can I plan more than one production route at a time?

Yes. Create as many routes as you like on the same floor plan, each with its own stations, product, colour and priority, then switch between them in the metrics dashboard to compare output and bottlenecks side by side.

Is this only for large factories, or does it work for a small workshop?

It's built with small workshops, maker spaces and small batch manufacturers in mind just as much as larger production floors — the presets include a small CNC workshop and a woodworking workshop alongside a full assembly and packing line.

What do I get if I unlock full access?

Free access already includes every layout tool, every calculation, and unlimited saving and loading of your project. Unlocking full access adds a polished, printable management report and a downloadable offline copy of the tool itself to keep.