Toolset for Integrative Factory and Logistics Planning

Layout-planning and material-flow simulation are two significant tasks in the process of todays factory-planning: Layout-planning and its visualisation is done with 2D CAD-drawings or 3D CAD-models. Material-flow will be designed and estimated with the aid of simulation-tools. Those tasks affect each other since the results of the capacity planning with material-flow simulation will directly influence layout-planning of the factory and vice versa. The integration of those processes to a CAPE process (computer-aided production engineering) would speed up the whole planning process and increase the reliability of the planning results. Based on its Virtual Reality simulation system, Fraunhofer IPA has now developed an integrated simulation system, combining Virtual Reality simulation with material-flow simulation. The object simulation component is directly driven from the output files of a material-flow simulation system. In this paper the structure and the development of the necessary s oftware components will be discussed and first projects carried out with this simulation-tool will be shown.