Who doesn’t know such situations: many time-intensive small-volume products that reduce production capacity? Or a product portfolio that has become too large over the years and thus difficult to organize? Stockpiling of raw materials that are rarely used? Necessary rework to correct production fluctuations? Excessive forklift traffic in production and warehouses, or declining margins in traditional processes?

Often, product portfolios have grown over very many years. They were developed by researchers who focused exclusively on the benefits for their customers. Despite this, or precisely because of it, companies are now coming up against capacity and complexity limits. They face the problem of having to make their production and logistics processes more efficient. Only in this way further growth is possible.