Evaluating Changeable Production Logistics: A Multicriteria Approach

Abstract

In the ever-evolving production landscape characterised by various disruptions and uncertainties, the role of production logistics in ensuring operational efficiency is paramount. The increasing challenge is that production, and with it, the supplying production logistics must adapt to dynamic and unpredictable changes due to climate change, pandemics and other global conflicts. In the practice of many manufacturing companies, external consulting firms plan production logistics. They develop various planning alternatives, which are then evaluated by the company's internal teams based on multiple criteria. However, cost factors usually override the evaluation and changeability is not sufficiently considered. The traditional focus solely on economic viability is no longer sufficient. A paradigm shift towards considering resilience, sustainability, and social aspects is imperative. These considerations are the cornerstones of Industry 5.0 which can be achieved through changeability.By emphasising the concept of changeability - the ability to undergo significant structural changes in response to unpredictable internal and external influences - this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the strategic imperatives in modern production logistics environments. It highlights the importance of embracing change and fostering resilience while addressing economic, sustainability and social concerns. This paper addresses the challenge of evaluating and selecting appropriate strategies to enhance changeability in production logistics while considering these multifaceted dimensions.While product changes and their effects have already been widely studied in research on a factory level, production logistic-side change management is still in its infancy. Most Publications such as those by Hernández or Heger deal with the evaluation of changeability on the level of factory planning. Although production logistics is a critical component in the value chain of manufacturing companies, little research deals specifically with the assessment and evaluation criteria of the changeability of production logistics. Closing this gap in the literature is the focus of this publication, and it opens up the possibility of gaining new insights in this area. This publication aims to develop a method for evaluating planning alternatives in production logistics that does not focus exclusively on economic indicators but, above all, considers the changeability of the system. In addition, further evaluation criteria, such as sustainability and social aspects, are included to enable the most comprehensive possible evaluation of the given alternatives.The structure of this research consists of three parts. First, based on a literature review, an overview of definitions and approaches for the multicriteria evaluation of production logistics changeability is presented. Second, a concrete procedure to evaluate changeability is developed, and third, it is applied in production logistics.Thus, the presented measure is one efficient response to the ever-changing business environment of production logistics and offers a multi-criteria evaluation approach for changeable production logistic processes.

Keywords: Changeability, Multicriteria Evaluation, Production Logistics, Transformability, Industry 5.0

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006448