Uncovering the human evaluation of changeability for automated factory layout planning: an expert survey

Abstract

On the way to automated layout planning numerous challenges must be faced. One of these challenges is the automated layout evaluation, which can be considered as the core of automated layout planning. The research field of factory planning differs from related research topics such as facility layout planning (FLP) from operations research (OR) by focusing for example on qualitative criteria in the evaluation. However, findings on how qualitative criteria can be interpreted in a quantifiable and measurable way are still rare. In this article, we address these questions with a focus on changeability, which can be regarded as the most important qualitative evaluation criterion in layout planning. For this purpose, a survey was conducted that aims to determine changeability from the understanding of industry experts and to define it consistently with the understanding from literature. Based on this understanding, performance metrics are derived to measure the layout changeability.

Digital production planning and human simulation of manual and hybrid work processes using the ema Software Suite

“…Many companies use digital design and simulation tools for their factory as well as work planning processes (Wiendahl et al 2015, Bracht et al 2018, Burggräf et al 2021 The available software provides more and more functionalities such as Integrated Factory Modelling (IFM) model which offers the advantage of being able to access more detailed information than a pure 3D visualization (Burggräf et al 2021). However, digital tools are mostly used separately for designing factories / logistics and for detailed planning of work systems (Bracht et al, 2018, Gunther, 2021.…”