Logistical Crash Barriers: An alternative process evaluation method

The increase in the degree of customisation to satisfy customer needs often leads to extremely high product variety within corporate networks. This circumstance causes barely manageable material flows as the processes are getting more and more diverse. In particular, it is a main challenge to identify which trouble or delay in the value-adding processes is caused by which product variant or customer modification. Companies therefore need methodical support for the identification of the greatest optimisation potentials. This paper provides a method to continuously evaluate the material flows of existing parts based on logistical criteria to identify their weaknesses. The outcome of this evaluation provides optimisation potential of existing as well as new parts in the material flow. In further succession, the course of action when applying the developed method within a real life context is visualised within a multiple case study in the agricultural industry.