Thomas Weber 
AGVs (automated guided vehicles) are also on everyone’s lips when it comes to forward-looking logistics concepts. Driverless is often seen as the next, higher goal after forkliftless. In lean management, however, tugger trains are the means of choice. Are AGVs now making tugger trains obsolete? In terms of transport history, the development in the 20th … Read more
Assembly lines within one-piece-flow (OPF work systems) are very popular in assembly planning. Great advantages are associated with this in lean production. In this context, particular mention should be made of the following: Short lead times, low inventories, good possibilities of automation also with the use of (collaborating) robots, continuous production and last but not … Read more
Very many, if not most, planning projects in industry involve restructuring the manufacturing site: Part of the manufacturing is to be relocated to another site. A product generation is replaced by a new one. New series order for the company is in acquisition. A turnaround technology promises growth. So space for manufacturing is needed somewhere, … Read more
Lean production methods and lean management traditionally focus on continuous improvement (KAIZEN). Many lean methods therefore logically focus on discovering waste in existing processes. In this way, they trigger the continuous improvement process in the company. In factory planning, on the other hand, completely new productions are created on the drawing board. Innovative processes are … Read more
In contrast to our illustration, which may seem sarcastic in view of climate change, production cells refer to a type of production in which different machines or workplaces are usually grouped together locally. This allows similar work on several different products to be concentrated in one area, ideally producing functionally self-contained outputs (intermediate products, assemblies). … Read more
Cardboard Engineering is a lean management method for designing workplaces on a 1:1 scale using cardboard or wooden models. This is carried out as a workshop involving the people who (will) work at the workplaces. Therefore, the Cardboard Engineering solutions are well accepted. In addition, production and processes benefit from the ideas and experience of … Read more
Larger investments are an extraordinary burden on the budget and should pay off over several years. Minimizing the investment sum is therefore one of the TOP 5 targets for most people. It is not uncommon for savings to be made where the benefits are not really apparent – in the planning costs. But are investments … Read more
The material flow matrix (also: transport, flow, or intensity matrix) is one of the best known and not least simple formal models for the representation of logistical processes in manufacturing companies. The following is recorded in it: Sources and sinks for material flow: In logistics, this refers to the locations (resources) from which material is … Read more
If a new production layout is to be planned, the question of space requirements always arises. In factory planning, the resulting task is called floorspace dimensioning. It is assigned to the planning step Dimensioning. In the course of a factory planning project, dimensioning is a prerequisite for layout planning. This is because only objects that … Read more