digital planning

Material flows provide an established basis for the quantitative evaluation of layout alternatives in factory planning. The functionalities for visualization, evaluation and optimization of material flows are not yet or only supported by a few tools (stand-alone solutions) of the Digital Factory. This paper describes the successful integration of material flow functionalities into a modelling and design tool.

An increasing customer-driven rate of individualisation as well as the lack of brand loyalty is leading to a greater competition within the automotive industry. Project organisations integrate innovations and technologies into the product under enormous permanent pressure. Especially the defined targets concerning time-to-market, costs, and quality set new challenges to the project management throughout the often decentralised innovation network of engineering partners and manufacturers.