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A modular production plant consists of predefined apparatuses with a fixed design, called equipment modules. Selecting the equipment module with the appropriate suitable capacity to compensate fluctuations in production rate is one of the key challenges in module-based plant design. The equipment module’s operating window needs to fit and determines the point in time when a capacity expansion is required so that the operating window of the equipment module also affects a capacity expansion strategy. In order to avoid an unnecessary use of multiple apparatuses in parallel, equipment modules should be developed specifically for a large operating window in contrast to conventionally designed equipment. Therefore, an approach is required to design equipment modules for flexibility in production rate. In this work a method to design equipment modules for flexibility based on a global sensitivity analysis and the deduction of design rules of thumb is introduced. This method is applied to the design of a liquid/liquid heat exchanger without phase change. The resulting design for flexibility is compared to the conventional design with regard to the operating window and investment as well as operating costs. It is shown that for 14% higher annual costs a four-fold operating window can be obtained. This presents an important step towards increasing the competitiveness of modular production plants.

Continuously operated multi-product plants enable an efficient and flexible production of new products. As a future plant concept, a modular design allows the possibility of a stepwise capacity expansion when market demand is increasing. Choosing the right plant capacity combined with a suitable expansion strategy is a key challenge in this context. Therefore, additional costs for expansion have to be balanced against an achievable economic performance and a reduction of investment risk. In this work a framework to evaluate the production capacity of a continuously operated modular multi-product production line for a production line wise capacity expansion will be presented. As a result, a decision tree analysis integrating production planning by a capacitated lot sizing method is introduced to evaluate the economic performance of plants with different capacities in an uncertain market. The framework is applied for a case study considering a continuous production of a set of three different products. As a key result it can be said that the investment risk can be reduced by applying smaller scale modular production lines. However, the low scalability of investment costs of a small scale production line negatively affects an economic expansion strategy.

© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.cit-journal.com V2.03 Integration eines Mikroreaktor-basierten MultipurposeAufbaus in eine containerartige Produktionsinfrastruktur Dr. P. Lob (E-Mail: patrick.loeb@imm.fraunhofer.de), Dr. T. H. Rehm, Dr. A. Ghaini, Dr. T. Illg, Dr. J. Lang, Dr. H. Richert Fraunhofer ICT-IMM, Carl-Zeiss-Strase 18–20, D-55129 Mainz, Germany Evonik Industries AG, Rodenbacher Chaussee 4, D-63457 Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany DOI: 10.1002/cite.201450478