Development Path for Industrial Enterprises Towards Urban Manufacturing

Abstract

Industrial enterprises are forced to cope with ever higher challenges resulting from trends like the ongoing individualization tendency which results in ever smaller lot sizes, like the limited availability of talents, and like the pressure towards ever lower emissions. A promising approach to cope with the increasing challenges is the application of new production strategies like urban manufacturing. In this contribution, a development path for companies to guide the transition towards urban manufacturing is presented. The development path is structured in seven essential perspectives which are split into five stages. Based on an as-is analysis, the starting point for the advancement of a company can be determined in the resulting raster, and consequently steps for the advancement of the company can be identified.

A Conceptual Definition and Future Directions of Urban Smart Factory for Sustainable Manufacturing

“…Due to their nature, urban factories, located in an urban area, face major challenges, such as spatial issues, regulations, emissions and pollutants, smells, noise and vibration, and logistics and traffic. Limited and lack of affordable spaces, outdated land-use and zoning regulations, political limitations and regulations, planning and construction regulations, high emissions (succeeding the energy sector, the highest emitting sector ahead of the transportation sector), and transportation of materials, components, and products in urban areas are major issues [11,15,[43][44][45][46].…”

Identification of Action Areas for the Promotion of Local Manufacturing in Reference to System Theory

“…Modern production technologies (e.g. additive manufacturing, mobile production units) and the digitalisation of the product creation process promote manufacturing for varying scales that adapt to local conditions and needs [2,[5][6][7]. The goal is to produce locally adapted products at the point of need for the current demand by involving regional stakeholders (local producers, knowledge carriers and customers) and resources (recyclable components and materials, materials from local recycling loops) [2,8].…”