Glossary
Factory planning from A to Z
Short, citable definitions of the most important terms in layout planning, material flow analysis and plant structure planning.
- From-to matrix
- A table of all transport relationships between areas, stations or workplaces. Rows represent sources, columns represent destinations; each entry contains the transport volume (units, weight or transport trips) per period. The from-to matrix is the basis for material flow analysis and for calculating transport intensities.
- Transport intensity
- The product of transport volume and transport distance (volume × distance), typically in tonne-kilometres or unit-metres per period. A high transport intensity between two areas indicates that they should be located close to each other in an optimised layout.
- Transport performance
- The total transport work of a conveyor system or factory per unit of time, expressed as transport volume × distance (e.g. t·m/h or units·m per shift). Used as a key figure for the utilisation of transport equipment and the efficiency of factory layouts.
- Floor space balance
- The structured recording and evaluation of all types of floor space in a factory building or area: production space, storage and buffer space, traffic routes, social areas and other space. The floor space balance shows how efficiently space is used and forms the basis for replanning and expansion decisions.
- Plant structure planning
- Planning the fundamental spatial and organisational structure of a plant or site — including site selection, site division, access and building arrangement. Plant structure planning is the top planning level that frames factory planning and layout planning.
- Variant evaluation
- The systematic comparison of several planning scenarios (variants) against defined criteria — e.g. transport intensity, space requirements, investment costs and flexibility. The aim is a traceable, data-based decision rather than a purely intuitive choice of layout.
- Layout planning
- The graphical and computational planning of the spatial arrangement of machines, equipment, workplaces, storage and conveyor technology within a building or area. Layout planning takes material flows, occupational safety requirements, traffic routes and space efficiency into account. In matflow, layout planning happens in the browser.