Design for X – Site-Specific Adaptation of Production Processes and Products

When a new production facility is set up abroad, it is necessary to consider the specific requirements of the respective location in order to align the production facility to the local market conditions and thus fully exploit the potential of global production. This is basically possible in different ways: On the one hand, a pure adaptation of the production technology and the internal logistics (e.g., change of the degree of automation or adaptation of the material flow) can be carried out. On the other hand, the design of the product manufactured abroad also offers scope for adaptation to the local conditions. Such adaptations can be market-related or—as in this chapter—bring the product closer to the locally available labor force, skills, and production resources, thus leading to an optimized and cost-reduced production for the foreign location. In order to provide practitioners with guidelines for the location-specific adaptation of production processes and product design when opening a new production site abroad, this chapter gives an overview of the factors that need to be examined with regard to necessary adaptations. Besides, the chapter presents different design options being used to adapt products and production processes to local conditions.