Digital Facility Layout Planning

Abstract

In recent years, companies have increased their focus on sustainability to achieve environmental-friendly improvements, to manage pressures from society and regulations, and to attract customers that appreciate sustainability efforts. While companies have mainly aimed short-term/operational improvements, long-term improvements are difficult to reach. One of the fundamental, strategical decision-making processes for a company is facility layout planning. The layout of a facility can have a significant impact on daily operations. Aiming for the goal of sustainability, a dynamic layout decision-making process can support in achieving it. However, the technologies used currently enable only the design of a static layout due to the time-consuming operations involved. In this paper, the introduction of emerging technologies such as 3D mapping, Indoor Positioning System (IPS), Motion Capture System (MoCap), and Immersive Reality (IR) for dynamic layout planning are assessed and discussed. The results obtained clearly demonstrate that the usage of these technologies favor a reconfigurable layout, positively affecting all the three pillars constituting the sustainability concept: the costs involved are reduced, social aspects are improved, and the environment is safeguarded.