Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Uncertainty in product development and market demand can affect facility design and construction. Adding flexibility in manufacturing processes can mitigate this uncertainty, but can also create costly solutions. This is particularly true when manufacturing facilities have long design and construction lead times. In these cases, manufacturers take risks by starting facility construction before the product development is complete to meet time-to-market needs. Similarly, uncertain market demand can create the need to build facilities with additional volume or the ability to expand. This paper presents an analysis of how manufacturing flexibility affects building system costs and proposes a solution for understanding the tradeoffs. The research method maps various types of manufacturing flexibility (e.g., process, routing, volume, etc.) to ASTM UNIFORMAT II building systems (e.g., substructures, shell, interiors, etc.). Based upon this mapping, initial cost models are proposed to explore the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and facility construction cost. The models are intended for use in the earliest stages of capital facility planning. These results will help manufacturing facility owners, designers, and constructors make informed decisions about how to build flexibility into their buildings at lower costs while mitigating for uncertainty and meeting time-to-market needs.
Keywords
Flexible Facilities, Manufacturing and Life Sciences, Cost Estimation, Uncertainty
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
1.Introduction
The manufacturing and life sciences (MLS) industry is fast-moving, dynamic, and ultra-competitive. When combined with uncertainties in product, process, and market demand, the development and construction of manufacturing facilities remains a challenging, yet critical, component to the overall success of an organization. If properly developed, these facilities can provide a competitive advantage for the organization. The primary goal in manufacturing facility design is to ensure the building can support the needs of the manufacturing processes housed within. For this reason, traditional facility development approaches have focused on designing a facility around a specific manufacturing platform. These custom-designed, high-cost facilities have proven to be very effective for supporting their specific design intent. However, over time, manufacturing processes are required to adapt to new products, technologies, or demands, which can create unforeseen impacts on the ability of a facility to function as intended. Optimized facilities (i.e., dedicated facilities) are often unable to absorb these changes to the manufacturing system, creating a situation in which a manufacturing...