Biomimetics applied to factory layout planning: Fibonacci based patterns, spider webs and nautilus shell as bio-inspiration to reduce internal transport costs in factories

Abstract This paper presents a novel bio-inspired approach to assign operational resources (OR's) like machines, workstations and departments within factory layouts. We investigated the structures and growth processes of the nautilus shell (Nautilus macromphalus) and found that these biological principles and structures help to enhance the allocation of operational resources within factory layouts. Furthermore, we investigated input–output-processes in nature, especially the webs of orb-weaver spiders (Araneidae), to mimic the pattern for factory layouts. In addition, the hunting behaviour of the spider was examined and imitated. To prove the feasibility of the proposed methodology, the first step was to collect material flow data from three Austrian factories. We implemented the original factory layouts within our model as reference. As second step, we applied traditional logistical methods for layout planning according to theory. In a third step, we applied our nautilus shell and spider web layout approach to arrange the material flow system of the three factories. After examining 21 different variants, we found that our bio-inspired approaches were able to keep up with traditional layouts, and in the 3rd factory, one biomimetical approach could even beat the best traditional layout by 13.6%.