Industrial Production System Design: Process, Challenges, and Tactics

Purpose – The overall purpose of this article is to deepen our knowledge about the design process of industrial productions systems that easily to adapt to new upcoming market opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – The article synthesizes the empirical findings of seven case studies carried out at four manufacturing companies.Findings – The results show that the production system design typically consists of four different sub-phases comprising both formal and informal activities. Overall challenges including lack of system perspective, short-term perspective, limited advanced engineering skills, and absence of a project model for production system design are described and tactics to overcome these challenges identified.Research limitations/implications – We propose a process for designing production systems, which is better suited to adjust to future needs. The major limitation of the research is that all cases have been carried out in the automotive industry and thus additional empirical studies to establish generic results are required.Practical implications – The findings are particularly relevant to production engineers and plant managers interested in increasing the efficiency of their production system design process by clarifying key activities facilitating a long-term perspective in the design process and highlighting challenges and tactics for improvement.Originality/value – Although high-performance production systems are critical for the success of manufacturing companies, the process of designing production systems is neither clear in research nor in industry. This paper stretches this fact by giving a comprehensive picture of the production system design process and the activities that need to be considered in order to meet these challenges.