factory A++

university of applied science – muenster school of architecture (msa), Institute for integrated production Hannover (IPH)

Energy Costs represent a great share of production costs in manufacturing companies by now. According to prognoses this trend will continue in the next decades. Since the possibilities in substitution of energy consuming processes are limited, companies will be faced with the task to minimize wastage of energy in their factories. In most cases measurements to reduce energy are contrary to every other target figure regarding the planning and optimization of a factory but especially the efficiency of material flows.

Currently the needed tools to handle such a fundamental conflict of objectives are still not available. The impact of energy efficient factories on the remaining factory planning goals is not yet explored sufficient enough. Hence integrated factory planning tools are urgently required to realize energy-saving potentials. The goal of this research project is the deduction of recommendations on the energy and material flow efficient structuring of factories.

In cooperation with diverse companies a documentation of typical energy intensive processes and plants as well as their point of origin will be produced. Furthermore potentials and fields of action to minimize energy consumption will be identified. The developed criteria for energetically and logistically valuating areas inside the factory will be transferred to a cost-benefit analysis. The identification of energetically relevant areas as well as the gathering of areas that could be optimized leads to a balancing method according to DIN V 18599. The correlation between logistically and energetically goals is documented and the developed method verified with practical examples.