Factory of the Furture: Towards an Integrated Theory for One-of-a-Kind Production

J.C. Wortmann Department of Indusuial Engineering and Management Science. Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven. The Netherlands. This paper gives an overview of the Factory Of the Future (FOF) project (ESPRIT 3143). FOF aims at an integration of several fragmented theories about the (re)design of production systems. Such an integration is a prerequisite for a proper understanding of CIM. FOF has undertaken this integration for one-of-a-kind production. This paper shows that FOF distinguishes between a framework for description (called the theoretical framework) and a framework for redesign (called the design framework). The theoretical framework consists of three views: the workflow view, the resources view, and the organizationaJ/decisional vie'1!The design framework consists of a connectance network of design choices (DC's), penormance indicators (PI's), and relationships between DC's and PI's. These relationships are detailed further in relationship models. To some extent, these relationship models can be used as particular models to describe a particular company. These models are integrated in a designer's workbench. This workbench seems to be quite useful in roundtable discussions with companies aiming at organizational learning.