Factory Relocation Checklist Template

Start once the business has decided to move, or while it chooses between sites. Enter the last production day at the old site on the first task: every task before it counts back in business days and every task after it counts forward. The first task asks where the sites are, and the fifth asks what customers and regulators require; each answer adds the tasks or notes it needs.

• Set up the relocation: the sites, the shutdown date and the team — the name of the move, the old and new site addresses, the lines and machines that move, the last production day at the old site, the country, and the six people who run each part; later tasks are assigned from these fields
• Record the business case, the chosen site and the budget — why the site or line is moving, the new site and why it was chosen, the options considered, the one-off costs and the approved budget
• List every machine and what happens to it — each machine and asset, its weight, the services it needs, and whether it moves, is replaced, sold or scrapped, with the tooling, gauges, fixtures and spares that go with it
• Set the move sequence and the production gap — the order the lines or machines move in, the move window, the planned restart date for each line and how many working days each part will have no production
• Check what customers and regulators require for a change of site — the contracts, quality agreements and customer requirements that call for notice or approval before parts made at a new site are shipped, and any regulator that registers, licenses or approves the site where the product is made
• Plan for the people — who moves with the work, who leaves, who is recruited and trained at the new site, and how the teams hand over, with HR and legal advice on any consultation

The new building has to take the machines before they arrive: floor loading, a route in for the largest machine, foundations, power, air, water and extraction. The survey asks whether building work is needed; Yes adds the tasks to appoint the contractor and to accept the work before any machine is delivered.

• Survey the new building — the floor slab and its loading, door, ceiling and crane heights, the route in for the largest machine, the existing services and anything to remove first
• Collect each machine’s installation requirements — from the maker’s manuals or the maker itself: the foundation or base, anchoring and levelling, power, compressed air, water, extraction, the working environment and the maker’s instructions for moving it
• Draw the new layout — machine footprints with space for maintenance and access, the flow of material, walkways kept apart from vehicles, storage, inspection areas and emergency routes, agreed with health and safety and quality
• Plan the utilities at the new site — the electrical supply and distribution, compressed air, cooling water, gas, extraction, drainage and network for every machine, with capacity to spare and an isolation point for each
• Appoint the designer and the building contractor — for the foundations, pits, services and structural work: the design, the programme, and who is responsible for health and safety while the work is done
• Accept the completed building work — foundations and machine bases complete and checked against the drawings, services installed, and the contractor’s completion and handover documents received
• Install and test the utilities before machines arrive — every supply installed, tested and labelled at each machine position, with each isolation point marked

Find out what the new site needs before it can make product, and tell everyone who depends on the old one. The regulator and customer re-approval tasks appear when Phase 1 says they apply.

• List the permits and registrations the new site needs — planning or building consents, environmental permits for the process, trade effluent and waste arrangements, fire safety, insurance, and what each permit at the old site requires when you leave
• Ask the product regulator what the move needs — whether you must notify it, register the new site, wait for an inspection or get an approval before product made there is supplied, and how long each step takes
• Agree a re-approval plan with each customer that requires one — what each customer wants to see from the new site (samples, a PPAP submission, a first article inspection, capability data or an audit), by when, and whether it will take parts from the production bank meanwhile
• Tell customers the plan and the dates — the shutdown and restart dates, the production bank that covers the gap, who to contact, and any change to delivery addresses, lead times or paperwork
• Tell suppliers, carriers, insurers and service providers — the new delivery and collection address, the dates, insurance for the machines in transit and at the new site, and the contracts that move or end

The production bank is the finished stock built ahead to supply customers while each line is down. This template sizes it part by part, builds it over the weeks before the shutdown and has quality release it before it is stored. How big a margin to hold is your decision.

• Size the production bank for each part — each part’s demand for the working days its line will not run, plus a margin in case the restart is late, agreed with planning and, where it matters, with the customer
• Secure the materials and capacity to build ahead — raw materials and bought-in parts, overtime or extra shifts, and any other site or subcontractor that will make parts during the move
• Build the bank and track it against the plan — what has been built each week against the target for each part, with any shortfall raised as soon as it appears
• Inspect and store the bank — the bank checked and released by quality, packed, labelled and stored where it can be shipped from during the move
• Run down work in progress and materials at the old site — by the end of the last production day: work in progress finished or moved, materials and consumables used up or transferred, and a decision on what is moved, returned or scrapped

Plan every lift and every load before the shutdown. Moving a machine is a lifting operation, and dismantling or installing fixed plant can be construction work. Record each machine’s condition and settings now, so the re-qualification after the move has something to compare against.

• Appoint the machinery mover or rigging contractor — their experience with machines of this size and type, their insurance, their method statements and the lifting equipment they will bring
• Survey each machine with the mover — its weight, centre of gravity and lifting points, what has to be dismantled, the transport frames or skids it needs, and the route out of the old building and into the new one
• Write and approve the lifting plans — for each lift: the lifting equipment, the slinging, the people, the exclusion zone and who supervises, written by someone competent for lifts of that kind
• Book the transport and the insurance in transit — vehicles suited to each load, any permits or notice an abnormal load needs, the delivery sequence, and insurance cover from the old floor to the new one
• Record each machine’s condition and settings before shutdown — photographs, levels and alignment, known faults, programs and parameters backed up, and current capability or measurement data to compare with after the move
• Confirm the move is ready to start — the bank built and released, customers told, the new site’s foundations and utilities ready, the lifting plans approved and the mover booked; anything not ready is a reason to move the shutdown date

Production stops on the shutdown date. Every machine is isolated from every energy source before anyone dismantles it, and stays isolated until it is reconnected and inspected at the new site.

• Run the last production and close the orders at the old site — the last parts made, inspected and added to the bank, and open work orders closed or moved to the new site
• Isolate each machine from every energy source — electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic and gas supplies and stored energy such as springs, accumulators and raised parts, locked and tagged, with the isolation verified before work starts
• Drain, clean and make each machine safe to move — oils, coolants, hydraulic fluid and process chemicals drained into labelled containers and sent for reuse or disposal, and moving parts secured for transport
• Disconnect, dismantle and label each machine — cables, pipes and guards removed with match marks, parts labelled to their machine, fixings bagged, and tooling, gauges, fixtures and spares packed as controlled items

Each machine is lifted to its plan, moved and set down on its new base. No machine is used at the new site until it has been installed to the maker’s instructions, reconnected and inspected.

• Lift and load each machine to its lifting plan — the lifting equipment checked before use, the exclusion zone in place and each lift supervised
• Receive and check each machine at the new site — each machine checked for damage against the photographs taken before shutdown, before it is moved into place
• Position, level and anchor each machine — on its base, to the layout and the maker’s installation instructions
• Reconnect the utilities and refit the guards — power, air, water and extraction reconnected by competent people with the machine still isolated, guards and safety devices refitted, and isolation points labelled
• Inspect each machine before it is used — a recorded check that each machine is installed correctly and safe to operate, with its guards, emergency stops and interlocks fitted, before energy is restored; their function is tested when the machine is commissioned
• Brief and train the people at the new site — the new layout, emergency routes and isolation points, and any change to how each machine is set up or operated after the move

Prove the moved line makes good parts before it makes product for customers. The customer and regulator tasks appear when Phase 1 says they apply. The release decision is the gate: nothing after it can be completed until the release approver records it.

• Commission and test each machine — dry runs, function tests, safety devices and controls, with programs and parameters restored and checked against the backup
• Recalibrate the gauges and measuring equipment — every gauge, fixture and measuring instrument that moved, checked or calibrated before it is used to accept parts
• Re-qualify the process — capability or validation runs compared with the data recorded before the move, and any difference investigated
• Make and approve the first-off parts — the first parts from the moved line inspected against the drawing, with a full first article inspection where the customer or your quality system requires one
• Get each customer’s approval of parts from the new site — what each customer asked for in its re-approval plan sent, and each decision recorded, with any interim approval or conditions
• Send the regulator what it asked for — the notification, registration or evidence the regulator asked for in Phase 3, with its reply or inspection result recorded before product from the new site is supplied
• Decide whether to release production at the new site — the release approver reviews the inspections, the re-qualification, the first-off approval and any customer and regulator replies, and records the decision

Once production is released, bring each line up to full rate, use the bank down and close the old site. Released with conditions adds a task to meet them, and Not released adds a task to fix what stopped the release.

• Meet the conditions of the release — each condition the release approver recorded, met and evidenced before the line runs at full rate
• Fix what stopped the release — the inspection, re-qualification, first-off or approval that was not ready, fixed and done again, and customers told if the bank will not cover the extra days
• Ramp up to full rate and watch quality — output, scrap and rework, downtime and customer feedback each week against the plan, with extra checks on the first deliveries
• Use the bank down and return stock to normal — ship from the bank until the line is at full rate, then bring finished stock back to its normal level and deal with any surplus
• Clear and hand back the old site — machines, materials and waste removed, foundations and pits made good or left as the lease says, services made safe, and the keys returned on the agreed date
• Close the old site’s permits, accounts and registrations — permits surrendered, utilities, waste and service contracts ended, and insurance and registrations moved or cancelled
• Review the move and record the lessons — against the timeline, the budget, the production bank, quality after the restart and customer feedback, and what to change for the next move