Production Planning

Due to shortening product life cycles and to the continuous enlargement of product ranges the ramp-up of production systems has become a significant criterion for innovation dynamics of producing companies. Besides the in-creasing technical complexity, a growing number of different parties are involved with different targets and interests. The result is a rising number of possible disturbances for the ramp-up process. In order to better control and shorten ramp-up projects, methods and tools have to be developed to manage the project along the complete value chain. The article gives an outlook on the ramp-up of the future by describing an approach that is the basis for a research project supported by the German ministry of research and education.

The efficiency in manufacturing can be increased by using new local control methods in combination with situational working plans. New degrees of freedom and additional reaction possibilities are generated in manufacturing, if the resource allocation and the processing order of the working steps are not predetermined anymore. The following article describes a new planning chain, consisting of production planning, closed loop production control and process planning, that is able to make use of these degrees of freedom. New material flow requirements are pointed out.