Greenfield Factory Design

Have you ever designed a factory from scratch? 🏭 It’s an open-ended problem with many variables that can be overwhelming. We are doing this right now for a new aircraft manufacturer but the same principles apply if you’re making ships, spaceships, or other complex products.

To make this design more manageable, one approach is to start by setting clear constraints (or context). For example:

🛩️- How big is the product you’re making? How much space do you need around it for equipment?
📈- How many products are you building? When do they need to be delivered? What drives that volume?
🧩 - How much of the product will you make in house? How much of the product will a supplier make?
⏰ - How much work can be accomplished in a day (or a shift)?
🏠- How many work positions will be required? (this assumes you’re building a lean production system…and you probably should)

By narrowing the scope, we can begin turning a big, abstract challenge like designing a factory into actionable steps. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, start there.

What’s your take? Have you ever tackled a design problem like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts or approaches!