Barriers in repurposing an existing manufacturing plant: a total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach

Abstract

Repurposing of an existing manufacturing plant is an emerging field due to the increase in emergencies of the covid-19 pandemic with the need of rapid responses which has a wide range of potential applications in sustainment of the manufacturing plant in these unfavourable times and helping of the economy. It makes the manufacturing plant adaptable to changes, makes it productive by manufacturing products that are currently in demand, prevents the dissolution of the plant and thus harvests the maximum potential of the manufacturing plant in the need of an emergency. However, not many industries and plants are suited to make the appropriate changes and lack knowledge on how to proceed to do so. The paper identifies the barriers that are faced in the transition for repurposing a general manufacturing plant to a more suited plant for current emergencies that need rapid response. These barriers hinder the repurposing of the manufacturing plant and impact the business decisions to establish a manufacturing plant suited for emergency situations. Surveys and information from various experts in this field are used to identify these barriers and document their interdependencies and influence on one another. The data is graphed and analysed utilizing TISM (Total Interpretive Structural Modelling) and MICMAC (Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification) methodology to further examine by classifying and ranking the relationships. Analysing the relationships between barriers leads to effective decisions towards the successful adoption of repurposing of manufacturing plant. A contextual relationship based structural table called interpretive table and structural model is made to pinpoint influential barriers. Thus, the research explains and explores significant barriers to the adoption of repurposing in manufacturing plant and not only provides a strong methodological and contextual contribution with the help of TISM and MICMAC but also gives research a sense of links of the barriers across various levels. On a practical level, the study is immensely useful to help manufacturing plants overcome repercussions due to disruptions by modifying existing practice and business model to a new model which synchronizes with the new normal to increase the efficiency and survivability of the plant. The result of the research points out that strategical, cultural, technological, and innovation barriers are the most influential barrier in repurposing of manufacturing plant.

Deployment of Resilient Foods Can Greatly Reduce Famine in an Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenario

“…In the 150 Tg scenario, multiple industrial responses would likely develop in parallel at different paces and with varying degrees of success, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic 60,61 , potentially including others not considered in this model such as foods from CO 2 (other SCPs 16 , carbohydrates 62 , electrosynthesized foods 17 , etc.) or synthetic fats 19 .…”

Rapid repurposing of pulp and paper mills, biorefineries, and breweries for lignocellulosic sugar production in global food catastrophes

“…A more recent repurposing has been the variety of industries repurposing to produce equipment to be used to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Perfume, textiles and electronics factories have been repurposed for producing hand sanitizer, face masks and ventilators respectively (Poduval et al, 2021). This repurposing took place in a matter of weeks, with the most complex products taking 4-12 weeks to get production to a point that it is ready to scale (Betti and Heinzmann, 2020).…”

Understanding manufacturing repurposing: a multiple-case study of ad hoc healthcare product production during COVID-19

“…The role of digital transformation in swift repurposing has also been emphasized by Soldatos et al ( 2021 ). Relatedly, Poduval et al ( 2021 ) use a model-based approach to identify and rank 11 types of barriers that played a central role in the repurposing of an existing manufacturing plant. Poduval et al ( 2021 ) show that the identified barriers are interrelated and highlight the complexity of the manufacturing repurposing phenomenon.…”

“…Relatedly, Poduval et al ( 2021 ) use a model-based approach to identify and rank 11 types of barriers that played a central role in the repurposing of an existing manufacturing plant. Poduval et al ( 2021 ) show that the identified barriers are interrelated and highlight the complexity of the manufacturing repurposing phenomenon. However, none of these studies have aimed to provide an understanding of all the internal and external factors that affect manufacturing repurposing and their causal relationships.…”