Versatile factory
A convertible factory is understood to mean a factory in which a convertible production system is implemented, i.e. a factory with a high level of adaptability to changed requirements. Various authors also use the terms convertible factory and future- robust factory in this context .
The need for versatile factories
The reason for the demand for the adaptable factory is an environment of increasing clock speeds , which is less and less constant and less predictable, in which production companies have to act.
"Conventional factories" are planned and designed on the basis of the boundary conditions prevailing at the time of the factory's planning and the forecast future conditions. In the event of unexpected influences and environmental changes, the factory must either be operated suboptimally or adapted to the new conditions at great expense. The main factors that force substantial changes in a factory are often
- a strongly fluctuating demand for the products,
- a changed number of variants of products,
- shorter life cycles of products and technology as well as
- Changed customer requirements for product properties or delivery
called.
The generally different duration of factory, technology and product life cycles is seen as another major reason for the need for adaptable factories. While many products are only produced for three or fewer years, the machines required for production are often used for five to ten years or more and the entire factory is often used for more than 30 years. The tax deduction for wear and tear for machines is usually 10 years and that for building 50. As a result, the machines would have to be designed for the production of successor products and the factory for the following machines, whose properties, however, nobody knows and which are hardly predictable.
As part of production research, the changeable factory represents one of the latest concepts for securing the competitiveness of companies from 2008 onwards .
Planning of adaptable factories
For factory planning , in the context of an uncertain corporate environment, the necessity arises to align the factory and its components to conceivable future boundary conditions, which are to be anticipated with the help of suitable instruments. Here the scenario technique has established itself as an aid for planning. A scenario is understood as a generally understandable description of a possible situation in the future. On the basis of these future scenarios, a factory can be planned for the long term even in the event of uncertainty.
Design of adaptable factories
The essential design requirements of convertible factories or their components are the
- Mobility ,
- Modularity ,
- Compatibility ,
- Universality and
- Scalability
required.
In the practical implementation of the design requirements, modularization and standardization of the technical resources of a factory are of particular importance. Standardized components rather allow a new technical configuration of the factory to be achieved with little effort if necessary with regard to new boundary conditions without disrupting ongoing operations.
Personnel aspects
Because of their constant adaptation to new boundary conditions, adaptable factories always present their employees with new tasks, some of which require completely new knowledge and skills . The term change management (English: change management ) is in this context for the steering and control of change processes with the affected staff. In order to ensure the necessary adaptability of employees, the change management takes up possibilities for fast, flexible and reliable learning for employees and companies (see also: Learning organization ). In addition to the generation of the personal ability to change , the generation of the willingness to change is another important factor of change management. By removing barriers, conveying personal advantages and other measures, the willingness to change can be strengthened among employees.
Economic Review
The main problem when evaluating different design approaches in the context of an unsafe environment is the need to invest more in a versatile alternative at the current time, which only pays off when unexpected influences occur in the future. For the evaluation of the economy , therefore, alternative design solutions for factory usual failing investment calculations . Adapted evaluation methods are therefore based on the statistical modeling of various types of uncertain input parameters (for example with the help of the Monte Carlo simulation ), which influence the advantageousness of investment decisions. The modeled input parameters flow into the calculation of the manufacturing costs , the net present value and other financial decision parameters.
The various design solutions for factories can also be coordinated with an uncertain future in mind.
literature
- Hildebrand, Torsten; Mading, Katja; Günther, Uwe: Plug + produce: design strategies for the versatile factory. Chemnitz: IBF, 2005 - ISBN 3-00-016076-0 .
- Krüger, Wilfried: Excellence in Change: Paths to Strategic Renewal. 3rd, completely revised Wiesbaden: Gabler, 2008 - ISBN 978-3-8349-0231-3 .
- Schenk, Michael; Wirth, Siegfried: Factory planning and factory operation: Methods for adaptable and networked factories. Berlin: Springer, 2004 - ISBN 3-540-20423-7 .
- Wiendahl, Hans-Peter (Ed.); Nofen, Dirk (ed.); Klußmann, Jan (ed.); Breitenbach, Frank (Hrsg.): Planning of modular factories: procedure and examples from practice. Munich: Hanser, 2005 - ISBN 3-446-40045-1 .
- Witte, Karl-Werner; Vielhaber, Wolfgang (Ed.): New concepts for convertible factories and factory parks. Aachen: Shake, 2004 - ISBN 3-8322-3423-3 .