Economic efficiency of automated manufacturing systems design

Systems for the automated planning and design of manufacturing systems have been widely studied and are a promising answer to current challenges arising from shorter product life cycles, high labor costs, and increasingly complex production resources. However, implementing these systems entails substantial investment, and their profitability depends on various factors. One of the major difficulties in implementing automated planning systems in an industrial context has been establishing a suitable database of resource models. This article presents an evaluation method to compare the economic efficiency of manual and automated planning, including resource modeling. It also explores different application scenarios to determine under which preconditions automated planning is advantageous and where the limits of their application lie.