Production decision-makers are under pressure: heterogeneous system landscapes, technological leaps, volatile supply chains, and limited budgets require integrated planning. The early phase is particularly critical, as this is when investment decisions are made that determine the efficiency, costs, and future viability of entire production sites for years to come.
Industry relies on smart manufacturing
According to Deloitte's "Smart Manufacturing Survey 2025," 92 percent of manufacturers consider smart manufacturing and intelligent operations to be essential for productivity and business growth. The BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Group report significant efficiency gains through digital twins: up to 30 percent lower planning costs (BMW iFACTORY) and 50 percent fewer coordination cycles and double the speed of hall conversion (Mercedes-Benz Group).
Investment decisions in the early phase
In the early planning phase of smart factories, there is often a lack of reliable data, benchmarks, and comparative values for layout, processes, and technologies. However, production decision-makers and factory planners need well-founded answers to key operational questions, such as:
- How does production scale when quantities change?
- What alternatives are there when space is limited?
- Which layout variant uses space more efficiently?
- How do technology changes affect existing processes?
- How do alternative supply chains affect CAPEX and OPEX?
The solution: the Smart Factory Network Configurator
The EDAG Group addresses this challenge with the Smart Factory Network Configurator, a planning tool that generates robust layout concepts including logistics and material flow simulations, integrates technology options, calculates costs, and analyzes the supply chain (feature available from 2026). This creates the basis for data-driven investment decisions.
The configurator uses a proprietary platform with a software-supported workflow. This parameterizes and evaluates layout, processes, equipment, and logistics. It uses generative AI, agent-based AI, and machine learning applications to calculate and evaluate hundreds of thousands of variants from just a few input parameters and generate the optimal smart factory. The configurator identifies bottlenecks and inefficiencies at an early stage. Space and resources are used optimally.
The core elements of the Smart Factory Network Configurator include:
- Factory configurator with connected knowledge database
- Algorithms for automatic information generation based on framework parameters
- Conceptual process planning
- Review and use of different technology options
- Automated calculation and configuration of layout concepts
- Direct implementation of logistics and material flow simulations
- Valid cost calculation (CAPEX and OPEX)
Reliable layout concepts in minutes instead of months
In the very first workshop with the EDAG team, meaningful initial layout concepts based on specific objectives—such as CAPEX, OPEX, output, location parameters, and energy values—are created within a few minutes..svg)
Fig.: EDAG Group, From idea to reliable layout concept in six steps
Customers can run through different scenarios using various input parameters. The data provided is used to generate context-related results. These are incorporated into the detailed module planning and transferred to the material flow simulation. The simulation applications then visualize the layout concepts and material flow (see figure). This enables production decision-makers and planners to identify early on which variants are technically and economically suitable. They receive a sound basis for decision-making. This transparency shifts the discussion from "What is possible?" to "What is worthwhile?"
Based on the workshop results, the EDAG experts then refine the layout. The data is enriched. This is followed by detailed feasibility analyses, detailed planning, and validation of critical systems.
Practical examples: scaling and location comparison
Two examples from industrial practice illustrate the benefits: A battery cell manufacturing company used the Smart Factory Network Configurator to simulate and compare several scalable layout variants and precisely increase production capacity by a factor of 1.5. Another company used the configurator to compare locations in Europe and the US. Within minutes, reliable CAPEX and OPEX scenarios and optimized layouts for both locations were available.
The result: greater planning reliability and a sound basis for strategic investment decisions.
From configuration to visualization in the industrial metaverse
The generated layout concepts can also be seamlessly transferred to digital twins and visualized in the Industrial Metaverse. This allows production decision-makers and factory planners to experience production processes virtually and validate optimizations.
This end-to-end data link from concept to virtual factory increases planning quality, shortens coordination processes and time-to-market, and reduces costs throughout the entire planning process.
Key advantages at a glance
- Speed and efficiency: Analysis of hundreds of thousands of variants within minutes
- Decision-making confidence: Robust layout concepts in the early phase
- Risk minimization: Evaluations and simulations reveal bottlenecks, space problems, and cost traps at an early stage
- Flexibility: Reconfigurations in seconds when requirements change
- Sustainability: Optimized layouts and process chains reduce energy consumption and CO₂ footprint and ensure greater resilience
Conclusion: Plan faster and more reliably with the Smart Factory Configurator
Dynamic markets, complex production structures, and fragmented supply chains make informed decisions in the early planning phase critical to business. EDAG's Smart Factory Network Configurator generates reliable layout concepts, including logistics and material flow simulation and technology evaluation, from hundreds of thousands of variants in minutes. The configurator enables the transfer of data to digital twins and visualization in the industrial metaverse.
There is currently no comparable tool on the market that offers such a sound basis for decision-making in the early planning phase and enables a continuous workflow from the initial idea to the virtual factory.
If you have any further questions, please contact Philipp Hummel, Specialist Consultant, and Maximilian Ronneburg, Professional Manufacturing Engineer, both Planning Smart Factory. The white paper "Implementing smart factories faster, more securely, and more predictably with the Smart Factory Network Configurator" provides in-depth information on how you can secure your investment decisions and accelerate your path to the smart factory.
