Abstract

Changes, derived from new technologies and increasing demands for flexibility, characterize the current environment of producing companies. Especially new strategies and governmental initiatives such as Industry 4.0 (Germany), Industry of the Future (France) or the Intelligent Factory (Italy) support these changes as well as the creation of new flexibility approaches for future production systems.

These concepts manly focus on the technological realization, without further analyzing the approaches from an economical point of view. Analyzing the economic effects of these approaches is however crucial for the success of the suggested strategic approaches in the context of preparing the production for the future.

This research project aims therefore at overcoming this gap by introducing a simulation framework for a cost-analysis that compares the as-is situation with the target situation, in which the identified flexibility demand is realized.

Research Picture