Design of a Scalable Modular Production System for a Two-Stage Food Service Franchise System

Abstract

The geographically distributed production of fresh food poses unique challenges to the production system design because of their stringent industry and logistics requirements. The purpose of this research is to examine the case of a European fresh food manufacturer's approach to introduce a scalable modular production concept for an international two-stage gastronomy franchise system in order to identify best practice guidelines and to derive a framework for the design of distributed production systems that perform in a highly dynamic environment. The design framework was developed by creating a theoretical model through literature review and the thorough analysis of an industrial case. Information was collected through multiple site visits, workshops and semi-structured interviews with the company's key staff of the project, as well as examination of relevant company documentations. By means of a scenario for the Central European market, the model was reviewed in terms of its development potential and finally approved for implementation. However, research through case survey requires further empirical investigation to fully establish this approach as a valid and reliable design tool.

(Re-)Design of a Demonstration Model for a Flexible and Decentralized Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS)

“…The same holds for DP 4 and FR 5 . These off-diagonal interactions, showing a coupling of DPs and other FRs, are explained more in detail in Section 4.3.6 on the different levels.…”

“…Also DP 3.5 is affecting FR 4.1 , as the status notification at the delivery station needs position data of the vehicles. The last offdiagonal interaction is between DP 4.1 as well as DP 4.2 and FR 5 . Both DPs (NFC as communication technology and the use of autonomously navigating vehicles) influence the possibilities to visualize the production from the point of view of the product.…”

“…4 Event-based dynamic control and monitoring of a production line for mass customized products. FR 5 Visualize the production from the point of view of the product. DP 1 Lightweight robot and vision system for bin picking at the loading station.…”

“…Many companies in various industries have reorganized their production in the recent past, following the principles of Lean Production [3,4] or even taking advantage of novel production strategies such as Agile Manufacturing [5] and Mass Customization [6], and thereby increasing flexibility and achieving significant progress in productivity and in readiness for delivery [7].…”

Sustainable production in emerging markets through Distributed Manufacturing Systems (DMS)

“…E.g., manufacturing systems based on a Mini-Factory approach is one of the modern pervasive production models providing tailored products with low cost and short delivery time . In this context, only how to design and plan decentralized production networks for masscustomized products generally (Mourtzis et al, 2012b;Mourtzis and Doukas, 2014b) in a scalable and modular way (Matt and Rauch, 2012) were examined. The focus of much of this research is essentially the development of system capabilities for flexible and so-called "plug and play" manufacturing systems, in which production units can be rapidly interchanged, reconfigured and yet be capable of determining their own role in production (McFarlane, 1998).…”