Flexible Design of Lean Production Systems in Response to Fluctuations Due to Logistics and Traffic

A value creating supply chain of physical products involves several actors in the fields of production, logistics and traffic. The diversity of these stakeholders often leads to unplanned disruptions in the chain. Industrial production plants, especially those set up according to the principles of lean production, suffer severely from disturbances. One approach for at least partially absorbing the effects is raising the overall flexibility levels within production itself. The focus of this chapter is thus set to how flexibility can be leveraged in lean production systems to deal with disturbances resulting from fluctuations in logistics and traffic.