Instead of pipework-based material transportation in conventional batch processes, the pipeless process, a new type of conventional batch process. adopts vessel-based one, where materials are transported by movable vessels traveling among process units called stations. This paper deals with an optimal design problem of pipeless processes considering the structural aspects of the plant and the associated production schedules simultaneously. The proposed MILP(Mixed Integer Linear Programming) problem yields the optimal design solution accounting for capital costs, operating costs and revenues. And a relatively small number of integer variables in the MILP problem makes it applicable to practical processes composed of numerous units producing various products of general recipes. By the concepts of waiting task and waiting cost, the number of waiting stations required can be calculated, and waitings of materials in unstable states can be excluded from the schedule. The usefulness of the approach has been verified through an example.