Mini Factory: A Successful Model for European Furniture Industry?

Abstract

Part 2: Case StudiesInternational audienceManufacturing system based on mini factory is one of the modern pervasive production models spreading as a response to demand for customized products with low cost and fast delivery time. However, as the term is far from being uniform and unique, its application in research and industry by managers is still challenging and represents somehow a riddle. Consequently, the various meanings associated with the term mini factory in literature are critically assayed. The results depicted three main areas of the model of mini factory: "Work organisation model", "Agile Assembly Architecture" and "Distributed mini factories network". Steming out from the third model, the possibility of using the mini factory model presented by Reichwald, Stotko & Piller was explored. Indeed, due to its characteristics, this model seems to be able to respond more effectively to the challenges in the European furniture sector, in particular for SMEs

A production system model for Mini-Factories and last mile production approach

“…This activity has shown that a limited number of studies on this specific topic and all of them presented a conceptual approach [4]. Secondly, authors have used three instruments in this paper for developing an operationalized model of Mini-Factory: Light case studies, survey and face-to-face interviews.…”

“…With respect to the above-mentioned challenges, a production system based on a Mini-Factories network could be an effective solution [4], able to ensure high-personalized products while dealing with the high heterogeneity among EU local markets [5]. Within this paper 'Mini-Factory' concept refers to a smallscale production unit based on a single CNC machine and directly connected to a design configurator, aiming at producing customized furniture.…”