Rapid and agile production by value stream oriented factory planning

Value stream mapping is a well proven method of designing production logistics. In the meantime there has been gained a lot of practical experiences in using the method in different industrial sectors. The original method is very effective in analysing an existing production flow, especially the fabrication of piece goods. The bequeathed guidelines for creating an optimised value stream are focussed on automotive mass production. For that applied research has first concentrated on developing a wider range of guidelines useful for variant manufacturing. Secondly value stream mapping has been integrated into common factory planning. The hereby introduced procedure of value stream orientated factory planning allows the integrated segmentation of production, design of production logistics and factory layout. These adjusted processes and structures enable the operating of an agile and rapid production which focuses on a customer oriented short lead time. Value stream map and factory layout together give a completely overview to production site.