Autor: Thomas Harms

Regarding the optimisation of capacity utilisation the increasing product diversity has been an unsolved problem in job lot production for a long time. State of the art for solving such problems is the concept Heijunka, which means “levelled production”. The application of group technology offers the possibility to utilise this concept with regard to a low volume and high mixed production. In this context the characteristics of job lot production are investigated. Referring to these characteristics the concept Heijunka used in mass and serial production is adapted. The approach was applied in collaboration with Robert Bosch GmbH.

With Standardised Processes on the Right Track to Customised Factories The approaches of factory planning that have been developed many years ago have to be adjusted to today’s challenges. Therefore the basic systematics of the Supply Chain Operations Reference- Model (SCOR-Model) are consulted and transferred to the processes of factory planning. The aim is to accelerate the planning process and to generate planning results in a higher quality while decreasing the planning effort. This will be achieved by use of a consistent process orientation which bases on standardised processes, field-tested methods, models and tools and on best-practice examples. This article explains the system and contents of the Process Model of Factory Planning and will give an impression of the first software-based prototype.