TY  - JOUR
A1  - Luft, Angela
A1  - Bremen, Sebastian
A1  - Luft, Nils
T1  - A cost/benefit and flexibility evaluation framework for additive technologies in strategic factory planning
JF  - Processes
N2  - There is a growing demand for more flexibility in manufacturing to counter the volatility and unpredictability of the markets and provide more individualization for customers. However, the design and implementation of flexibility within manufacturing systems are costly and only economically viable if applicable to actual demand fluctuations. To this end, companies are considering additive manufacturing (AM) to make production more flexible. This paper develops a conceptual model for the impact quantification of AM on volume and mix flexibility within production systems in the early stages of the factory-planning process. Together with the model, an application guideline is presented to help planners with the flexibility quantification and the factory design process. Following the development of the model and guideline, a case study is presented to indicate the potential impact additive technologies can have on manufacturing flexibility Within the case study, various scenarios with different production system configurations and production programs are analyzed, and the impact of the additive technologies on volume and mix flexibility is calculated. This work will allow factory planners to determine the potential impacts of AM on manufacturing flexibility in an early planning stage and design their production systems accordingly.
KW  - additive manufacturing
KW  - factory planning
KW  - manufacturing flexibility
KW  - volume flexibility
KW  - mix flexibility
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pr11071968
SN  - 2227-9717
VL  - 11
IS  - 7
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -