Illustration Of The Need For A Synergetic Factory Planning For Sustainable Factory Operations

Abstract

The topic of sustainability has established itself as a global megatrend and requires comprehensive rethinking and action due to challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity. Companies are under increasing pressure from regulations and market demands from consumers. Manufacturing companies in particular are affected by these challenges. Factory planning offers a key starting point here, as it plays a decisive role in determining the sustainability of factory operations over their life cycle. For small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, factory planning offers a good starting point for implementing sustainable practices, since their resources are oftentimes limited. But there is often a lack of transparency about the early planning phases in which decisions can be made that lead to an increase in sustainability during operations. The aim of this article is to explain the requirements for such a factory planning process and to provide an outlook on a possible solution for the development of a process model for sustainable factory planning