It is nearly impossible to predict future manufacturing processes and the corresponding space requirements of an industrial plant in this day and age. The plants adaptability within the range of tolerance marks the level of operational flexibility. Referred to the building itself this means to define versatility of all building systems as well as sufficient capacity of the supply and disposal systems. Structurally speaking this includes particularly span width, clearance height, loads on floor slabs and maintaining the possibility of horizontal as well as vertical extensions.

In accordance to structural changes the supply and disposal systems have to allow a variable conditioning of all rooms. Installations should be accessible in open routes and built independent from structural systems so that changes can be performed without disturbance of the ongoing operations. Flexibility, in this context, does not mean oversizing spaces, heights or connection values, but the possibility of easy changes in dimensions or fast embedding of changed components. An economic guiding rule thereby is that the pre-investment made in precautions needs to be lower than the costs resulting in a future change without those precautions been made.

This means that the term 'flexibility' conventionally applied on only the building itself is enhanced to all fields of design in the sense of versatility.Previous polarisation of rigid default solutions to flexible universal structures divides into a slender structure analysis which is unique for every project.