Factory and plant layout

Manufacturing facility layout software that runs in your browser.

CADdillo is free, browser-based 2D CAD for laying out a factory floor: place equipment footprints, draw the clearances around them, trace product flow from receiving to pallet staging, mark utility drops on their own layers, and export DXF or DWG for contractors. It is drafting, not 3D modeling or line simulation.

Nothing to install. 2D plan drafting. Opens and saves DWG and DXF.


Equipment layout drawing

How do you draw equipment footprints and clearances?

Draw every machine at its real footprint, then draw the space it needs around it. Three envelopes matter: operation (where the operator stands), cleaning (hose reach, washdown, CIP connections) and maintenance (the space to pull a motor, a filler head or a seamer chuck). The maintenance envelope is usually the biggest and the one most often forgotten.

Brewery and tank equipment

Plan-view blocks for a 72 in brewhouse vessel, a 60 in conical fermenter, a 66 in brite tank, a grist case with mill, a glycol manifold and kegs, drawn to scale in inches. Use them as stand-ins for vessels of that size.

Industrial equipment blocks

33 free blocks in 7 families: tanks, pallet racking, conveyors, dock levelers, scales, chillers and compressors, at real equipment footprints. Downloaded as DXF or opened straight in the editor.

Storage tanks

A 52 in vertical tank and a 144 x 48 in horizontal tank in plan, for process water, syrup, CO2 or chemical storage.

Industrial room templates

Four starting plans, from a shop bay to a warehouse, with fixture clearances drawn as geometry on their own layer.

CADdillo has no blocks for filling machines, seamers, nitrogen dosers or palletizers. Draw them as to-scale rectangles, or insert the manufacturer's DXF. It draws the clearance you specify. It does not check clearances for you.

Process flow layout

What is the right product flow for a production line?

Product should move one way: receiving, process, filling and packaging, pallet staging. Draw that path as arrows on a flow layer first, then fit the equipment and aisles around it, so forklifts and people cross the product path as rarely as possible.

Receiving Process Filling and packaging Pallet staging
One-way flow on a layout drawing. Each stage gets its own zone and its own layer.

Warehouse and pallet flow

The 40 x 48 pallet and the selective rack bay set aisle geometry. Blocks for pallets, IBC totes, conveyors, dock levelers, a pallet jack and a counterbalance forklift drawn for aisle checking.

Staging and aisles

Lay out receiving, finished-goods staging and truck doors with pallets at true size, then dimension the aisles between them.

Utility drops and MEP layout

How do you show utility drops for production equipment?

Give each utility its own named layer (power, compressed air, CO2, nitrogen, water, drains) and mark a drop at every machine that needs one. The contractor can then freeze or isolate a single utility without touching the rest of the drawing.

Process piping runs

The PIPE command draws double-line runs at real outside diameters (1/2 in to 4 in, or DN15 to DN100), with radiused elbows. Use it for air, CO2, nitrogen and water lines.

Electrical conduit

Elbows, tees, couplings, reducers and straight runs as plan blocks for power feeds and homeruns to the panel.

Floor and trench drains

Round and square floor drains and a 120 in trench drain, to place under washdown areas and fill lines.

Building MEP layers

For the building itself, AI MEP routes plumbing, electrical, HVAC and fire sprinkler on a plan you already have, on P-, E-, M- and FP- layers. It does not route process gases to equipment.

Step by step

How to lay out a production line in 2D CAD

Six steps, in the order that avoids redrawing. Layers keep each concern separate, so changing one does not break the others.

  1. 1

    Start from the building outline

    Draw the walls, columns and doors in feet and inches, or open the contractor's DWG or DXF as the base drawing. Put the building on its own layer and lock it.

  2. 2

    Place equipment as real footprints

    Drop in blocks for tanks, pallets, racks and conveyors, and draw everything else (fillers, seamers, packers) as a to-scale rectangle with a label on an equipment layer.

  3. 3

    Draw the clearance envelope

    Around each machine, offset a second outline on a clearance layer for operator access, cleaning reach and maintenance pull space.

  4. 4

    Draw the product flow

    Run a flow arrow from receiving through process and filling to packaging and pallet staging on a flow layer. Keep forklift aisles and pedestrian paths off the product path.

  5. 5

    Add utility drops and drains

    Put power, compressed air, CO2, nitrogen, water and drains on their own layers, each with a drop marker at the machine that needs it.

  6. 6

    Dimension and export

    Dimension the aisles and offsets, then export DXF or DWG for the contractor and mechanical engineer.

DWG and DXF

Can you send a factory layout to contractors as DWG, DXF or PDF?

Yes. Export DXF or DWG from the editor and the layers come with it, so a contractor in AutoCAD, BricsCAD or DraftSight opens the same drawing you made. For readers who only need to look, the free converter makes a PDF from any DWG or DXF.

Canning line layout

In use: a beverage canning line

Bayou City Hemp Co. in Houston is laying out the expansion of its canning line in CADdillo: filling, seaming, nitrogen dosing and packaging, with the equipment footprints, clearances and utility drops on separate layers. Read about the project on the Bayou City Hemp expansion page.

Honest capabilities

What it does, and what it doesn't

What it does

  • 2D equipment layout drawings in feet and inches or metric.
  • Free plan-view blocks for tanks, racks, pallets, conveyors, compressors, drains and conduit.
  • Named layers for equipment, clearances, flow and utilities.
  • Dimensions, offsets, arrays and the usual AutoCAD-style edit commands.
  • DXF and DWG export, and DWG or DXF import.

What it doesn't

  • No 3D model and no BIM data.
  • No throughput simulation or line balancing.
  • No automatic clearance or code checking.
  • No blocks for filling, seaming, dosing or palletizing machines.
  • No routing of process gases to equipment.
Keep exploring

Related tools and answers

Answers

Factory layout software, answered

What is the best free factory layout software?

It depends on the job. CADdillo is a free, browser-based 2D CAD editor suited to equipment layout drawings, plant floor plans and production line layouts that need to leave as DWG or DXF. It is not a 3D plant modeler or a throughput simulator. If you need simulation or a 3D walkthrough, use a dedicated factory-design package.

Can I draw a manufacturing floor plan online without installing CAD?

Yes. CADdillo runs in a browser tab with AutoCAD-style commands: line, rectangle, polyline, offset, trim, move, rotate, array, layers, dimensions and feet-and-inches input. There is nothing to install and the editor is free to use.

Does CADdillo have blocks for production equipment?

It has free plan-view blocks for brewery vessels, tanks, pallets, pallet racking, conveyors, dock levelers, scales, compressors, chillers, forklifts, floor and trench drains, and conduit, drawn at real footprints and downloadable as DXF. It does not have blocks for filling machines, seamers, nitrogen dosers or palletizers, so those are drawn as to-scale footprints or inserted from the manufacturer's CAD file.

How much clearance should I leave around production equipment?

Take the figure from the equipment manufacturer's installation drawing and your safety and code requirements, then draw it. Plan separate envelopes for operation, cleaning and maintenance access, because the maintenance pull (a motor, a filler head, a seamer chuck) is often the largest. CADdillo draws the envelope you specify; it does not check clearances for you.

Can I show compressed air, CO2 and nitrogen drops on the layout?

Yes, as drawn geometry. Give each utility its own layer, mark the drop at each machine, and run lines with the PIPE command or plain polylines. The AI MEP tool routes building plumbing, electrical, HVAC and fire sprinkler on a floor plan; it does not route process gases to equipment, so draw those yourself.

Can I send the layout to a contractor in DWG, DXF or PDF?

Yes. Export DXF or DWG from the editor, and contractors can open either in AutoCAD, BricsCAD or DraftSight. The free converter turns any DWG or DXF into a PDF for anyone who only needs to read it. Layers carry through, so the contractor can freeze the clearance layer and keep the utilities.

Can I plan a canning or bottling line layout in CADdillo?

Yes, as a 2D equipment layout. Lay out the depalletizer or can supply, filler, seamer or capper, dosing, labeling, packing and pallet staging in flow order, with clearances, aisles and utility drops on separate layers. It does not simulate line speed or balance the line; it documents the physical layout.

Draw the line. Keep the layers. Send the DWG.