Factory-In-a-Box – Mobile Production Capacity on Demand

Change and uncertainty dominate today’s business environment. The competition is becoming truly global with fragmented markets and customers expecting to get the best product at the best price with immediate availability. Meeting customer demands require a high degree of flexibility, low-cost/low volume- manufacturing skills, and short delivery times. In this highly competitive environment there is a great need to identify and develop unique manufacturing capabilities in industry. This paper will present an ongoing research project in Sweden called Factory-in-a-Box with the objective to develop unique manufacturing capabilities in a turbulent business environment. The Factory-in-a-Box concept consists of standardized production modules that are installed in a container and transported by e.g. a truck or by train. The modules may rapidly be combined into production systems that can be reconfigured for a new product and/or scaled to handle new volumes. The key features of this futuristic production system concept are thus flexibility, mobility, and speed. In the research project five fully operative demonstrators are developed and implemented in close cooperation between different academic and industrial partners in Sweden