Ultra-flexible Factories: An Approach to Manage Complexity

Ultra-flexible factories require a high degree of complexity. The Matrix Fusion Factory of the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and Management IFF can adapt the complexity of the production system to the complexity of the products. This allows the factory to operate with the lowest possible effective complexity and simplifies complexity management. This is only possible by considering the complexity requirements at all levels of the factory. Starting with data acquisition, via order throughput, up to control and design of the machines themselves. This adaptability and the resulting characteristics of the different entities in the production system are presented and discussed.