Factory layout benchmark with extended failure mode and effect analysis

The factory as a place of value-adding activities is forced to adapt continuously to turbulent conditions. New requirements regarding flexibility, speed, mobility and cost efficiency must be recognized during factory planning projects. To meet these requirements the factory planning process cannot be a one-time task any longer, and it has to be changed to a continuous planning task to achieve high quality planning results. Therefore it is necessary to modify the existing planning processes. Especially in the layout planning phase only a few suitable methods exist to ensure an objective benchmark. For this reason the Institute for Advanced Industrial Management developed an approach to analyze and benchmark factory layouts. This includes a risk assessment which supports the development of future scenarios and to evaluate their influences on the developed factory layouts. The evaluation also includes several relevant key performance indicators (KPI). This approach is based on the failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA).