Flexible Facility Development

Flexible Facility Development for the Manufacturing and Life Sciences Sector

The Manufacturing and Life Sciences industry works in a unique and competitive environment, riddled with uncertainty. From market demand to the manufacturing system itself, this uncertainty adds complexity to the facility planning and design process. This can have substantial cost and time-to-market implications. Waiting on the manufacturing facility to be built can result in production delays, thus reducing market share, revenue streams, and sales. Conversely, long lead facilities may need to start before the process or product is fully designed. As such, companies often need to make decisions regarding their facilities without full knowledge of the demand, the product, or the manufacturing system to be housed within. As these uncertainties become increasingly prevalent, the future of manufacturing will require that flexibility be considered and included in the design of new facilities.

This webinar will share results of CII Research Team MLS-01, which was tasked with creating a method for developing a flexible, long lead facility with an evolving manufacturing process and uncertain market demand. Recognizing a need to focus on the early evaluation of flexible facility investments, this team developed three tools that can assist project teams in the feasibility and conceptual design phases. These include a decision making workshop, a cost estimation tool, and a flexibility ideation tool (M-FIT). Combined, these provide objective, fact-based decision support tools for the development of flexible facilities. Join us for a brief refresher on how to effectively move the flexible facility design process forward, supporting the speed to market that your business is looking for.