Generative design for sustainability-oriented factory planning

Factories are key for efficient value creation but are also connected to significant environmental impact over their life cycle. While factory design significantly influences later performance and life cycle impact, early-stage assessment and decision support remains challenging due to data gaps as well as the high degree of uncertainty and complexity. This paper presents a novel generative design approach to derive and systematically analyze multiple layout scenarios in factory planning. With an integrated perspective on both environmental impact and factory performance, it allows the identification of critical factors and promising design parameters towards an informed life cycle engineering of factories.