Moveable Factories for Leapfrog Manufacturing in an Industrial Economy

Abstract

Abstract:Moveable factories can enable leapfrogging of fixed industrial factories, and so make immediate contributions to global goals of more resilient sustainable manufacturing. Moveable factories bring into use diverse technological advances that reduce the number, size, and weight of machines needed to carry out manufacturing operations at points of supply and/or demand. However, fixed industrial factories continue to be the principal focus for development and application of new manufacturing technologies. At the same time, fixed industrial factories continue to be seen by policy makers around the world as the default option for developing prosperity: rather than as an old fashioned production paradigm to be leapfrogged over. In this paper, findings are reported from a case study investigating potential for moveable factories to bring leapfrog manufacturing to an industrial economy. This case study comprised literature review, interviews, and theoretical analyses. Study findings indicate that organisations in an industrial economy will consider moveable factories if fixed factories are not feasible, practical, or viable. By contrast, potential for improved efficiency and flexibility may not be sufficient to motivate a shift away from fixed industrial factories.

Smart remanufacturing: a review and research framework

“…There is a need to support businesses in the exploration of flexible or reconfigurable factories (Maronati et al , 2018) and processing lines (ElMaraghy and ElMaraghy, 2016) which have the potential to transform traditional linear value streams with well-defined interfaces and clear risks, to matrix-style operations with moving boundaries and evolving opportunities. The “moveable factory” is an interesting alternative, but currently less attractive proposition (Fox and Richardson, 2017). Whatever the overall approach, lessons can be learnt from the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) sector (Li et al , 2018).…”

A Generic Asset Model for Implementing Product Digital Twins in Smart Remanufacturing

“…Researchers have proposed smart [58], recon gurable [59], collaborative [60][61][62][63] and moveable [64] factories to manage these uncertainties, however, robotics in remanufacturing and automated testing before disassembly is not commonplace. Pre-disassembly testing can be performed to minimise the risk of nding issues later in the remanufacturing process.…”

Moveable Production Systems for Sustainable Development and Trade: Limitations, Opportunities and Barriers

“…The scope for moveable factories is increased by the range of manufacturing machines and power sources that are becoming small and light enough to fit into trucks, trailers, carry cases, etc. [14,15,52]. Moveable factories can expand the inclusivity of production by bringing necessary resources to more people in more places.…”

“…Other moveable factories go to where goods are needed. In such applications, product kits need to be designed to include versatile materials, such as metal sheets and box sections, which can be transported flat-packed within kits [33][34][35][36][37][52][53][54][55][56].…”