Approach for the configuration of flexible factory layouts based on uncertain planning data

为了在市场上取得成功，与生产相关的公司必须应对其动荡的经济环境和全球化的挑战。更短的产品生命周期和更广泛的变种往往会导致一般生产条件的变化。由于销售市场的不可预测性，快速适应对公司来说很重要。在这种情况下，生产结构和工厂布局需要根据效率进行监控，并适应新的条件。规划数据并不总是以可预测的方式变化，而且由于大量的影响因素，数据很难预测。为了应对这一点，在规划时大多已经安排了必要的布局灵活性。因此，在这项请求的研究项目中，需要开发一种基于不确定计划数据的柔性工厂布局配置方法。主要关注的是由于不确定数据而产生的需求与灵活工厂布局的潜力的比较。在这种情况下，不确定的规划数据可能是难以预测的销售量，或者是未来产品组合的扩大。灵活的工厂布局反映了在不进行额外投资的情况下改变产量或生产新产品的潜力，例如通过改变其要素的布置或通过扩大或减少生产面积。因此，该方法通过对不确定数据的系统集成和考虑柔性潜力来扩展常规布局规划。本课题的研究成果是一种根据规划数据的不确定性对柔性需求进行量化的方法。在此基础上，可以制定设计准则，以便为工厂布局找到适当的灵活性。

For success on the market production related companies have to cope with challenges of their turbulent economic environment and the globalization. Shorter life-cycles of products and a wider range of variants frequently cause changes in the general conditions of production. Due to the unpredictability of sales markets a fast adaption is important for the companies. Under these circumstances the production structure and factory layout need to be monitored according to efficiency and to be adapted to new conditions. Planning data does not always vary in a predictable way and because of a large number of influence factors the data is hard to predict. To handle this, the necessary flexibility of the layout is already arranged during planning mostly. Therefore an approach for the configuration of flexible factory layouts based on uncertain planning data is to be developed in this requested research project. A primary concern is the comparison of requirements due to uncertain data with potentials of a flexible factory layout. In this context uncertain planning data could be sales volumes, which are hard to forecast, or an enlargement of the product portfolio in the future. A flexible factory layout reflects the potential to change the output volume or to produce a new product without extra investments, for example by changing the arrangement of its elements or by extension or reduction of the production area. Therefore the approach enlarges conventional layout planning through a systematic integration of uncertain data and through consideration of flexibility potentials. The result of this research project is to be an approach, which quantifies the demand for flexibility according to uncertainty of planning data. On this basis design guidelines could be developed to find the right amount of flexibility for factory layouts.