Factories of the Future

2014 – ‘Factories of the Future’ is a project of Flanders Synergy (FS). In this project, FS promotes an innovative work organization (based socio-technical systems design) for designing organizations in the Flemish manufacturing industry.

Features
The characteristics of this approach are:

– Clear roles and short coordination lines; a cross-functional structure provides for a reduction of the co-ordination lines between departments.

– The operation realizes or surpasses the strategic aspirations; by organizing the accountability and the oversight of production flows as clearly as possible, quick responses to variations or disturbances in the operation are possible. This may also contribute to  costs savings for overhead in complex operations or planning systems.

– Committed and competent staff who work together and are result-oriented; the team design aims at as many interdependencies as possible. Cross-training and broad availability of team members support the flexibility.

FS is working with the University of Leuven and thus mobilizes scientific knowledge, expertise and practical experience in the field of innovative work organization.

Cases
The website of FS includes descriptions of good examples of the application of this design method.

More information
More information about Flanders Synergy, the design method and process as well as case descriptions you can find on the site of FS: https://www.flanderssynergy.be/

Theme: flexible organization, self-management, teamwork
Sector: Manufacturing Industry
Source: Multimedia, cases