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Adequate and economic factory transformability and the effects on logistical performance

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Abstract

Objective-oriented factory planning is a prerequisite for the economic operation of a factory. As intensive discussions in the literature as well as practical findings in factories over the years show, transformability and logistics are among the key objectives of a factory. It is striking, however, that both objectives have not so far been related to each other. Based on these findings, a method for evaluating the actual as well as the target transformability of a factory has been developed. It allows the user to assess whether the factory possesses adequate and economic transformability. In order to make the method more manageable for users in practice, a software tool is presented, and a benchmarking has been derived from the data collected by evaluating factory transformability. In addition, it has been found that transformability can influence logistics. A procedure will be presented that allows major means of adjustment to be found that improve the logistics objectives of a factory by using transformability. Finally, the outlook for future developments is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Hannover Centre for Production Technology (PZH), Leibniz University of Hannover, An der Universität 2, 30823, Garbsen, Germany

    Peter Nyhuis, Tobias Heinen & Michael Brieke

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  1. Peter Nyhuis
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  2. Tobias Heinen
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  3. Michael Brieke
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Correspondence to Peter Nyhuis.

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Nyhuis, P., Heinen, T. & Brieke, M. Adequate and economic factory transformability and the effects on logistical performance. Int J Flex Manuf Syst 19, 286–307 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10696-007-9027-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10696-007-9027-3

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