Autor: Jochen Merhof

Against the background of constant technological progress in industrial manufacturing plants capital intensive investments have to be made in increasingly shorter time intervals. Due to budget limitations a selection process has to be started. At the end of that process there has to be taken a decision for those investments that offer the biggest added value for the company. For that purpose there are investment evaluation methods, which allow the evaluation of investment objects and the comparison of alternative investments. Based on these methods a methodology was developed, which is able to guide the user in a structured way through the particular steps of the investment evaluation process.

Changes on the product and manufacturing side resulting from intensifying global competition have put pressure on companies to alter their strategy, organization and production. Especially the ability to quickly adapt production equipment has become a crucial factor which can provide great competitive advantage. Current research work of the Institute for Manufacturing Automation and Production Systems (FAPS) at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg focuses on material-flow and production systems that are both self-organizational and self-learning. In this context, concepts have been developed for cost-effective restructuring measures during the operating phase which make a rapid response to dynamic changes and disturbances possible.