What factory planning software has to do
Factory planning answers one simple question with many dependencies: which function goes where, on how much space, with which connections to its neighbours? Every answer is a compromise between space requirements, transport effort, investment cost, occupational safety and expandability.
Planning software is therefore not a drawing program. It has to handle three things at the same time:
- Geometry: scaled areas, objects, clearances and traffic routes, so an arrangement can actually be built.
- Key figures: floor space balance, transport intensity and transport performance, so comparing two arrangements does not come down to gut feeling.
- Decision support: variants, comments, approvals and a traceable status, so a drawing turns into a decision.
Tools that only draw produce attractive layouts without justification. Tools that only calculate produce numbers without reference to the floor. What you need is the link between the two.
Planning levels: from plant structure to workplace
Factory planning runs through levels of different resolution. Which software fits depends on the level you work at, and most projects pass through several.
| Level | Subject of planning | Typical result |
|---|---|---|
| Site & network | Which plant produces which product range? | Site concept, capacity allocation |
| Plant structure | Site division, building arrangement, access, expansion areas | Master site plan |
| Block layout | Arrangement of functional areas inside a building | Area allocation with floor space balance |
| Detailed layout | Machines, workplaces, racking, conveyors, traffic routes | Layout ready for approval |
| Workplace | Reach zones, ergonomics, material presentation | Workplace design |
The most common mismatch is a tool that resolves too finely: working out the area allocation of a plant inside a design CAD system wastes time on details that do not influence the decision. Conversely, a pure sketching tool cannot carry a detailed layout, because aisle widths and clearances have to be demonstrable there.
Planning phases per VDI 5200
The German guideline series VDI 5200 (“Factory planning”) describes the planning process as a sequence of phases. It is the common framework in German-speaking projects and helps with the tool question, because every phase makes different demands:
- Setting objectives: trigger, target figures, constraints.
- Establishing the basis: as-is survey: production programme, areas, volumes, existing drawings, transport relationships.
- Concept planning: functional areas, space requirements, ideal layout, rough variants.
- Detailed planning: detailed layout, traffic routes, utilities, workplaces.
- Preparing realisation: execution documents, tendering, schedule.
- Monitoring realisation: implementation against the plan.
- Ramp-up support: start-up, adjustment, handover to operations.
Phases two to four decide the software question. That is where space requirements, arrangement and material flow are created, and it is also where half-tools are used most often: volumes in Excel, areas in CAD, the decision in a slide deck, coordination by email.
Tool classes compared
In practice you will meet five classes. None of them is wrong in principle; what is wrong is using one outside its purpose.
Design CAD (2D/3D)
Strength: exact geometry, standard parts, execution documents. Weakness: no planning key figures, laborious variant maintenance, tied to licences and installation, coordination only by sending files. Indispensable when preparing realisation.
Spreadsheets
Strength: any calculation is built in minutes, whether space requirements, volume structures or transport matrices. Weakness: no reference to the floor. A from-to matrix in a spreadsheet knows no distances, and therefore no transport performance; and once several copies circulate, nobody knows which one applies.
Discrete-event material flow simulation
Strength: dynamics, meaning throughput, buffers, availability, variability, congestion over time. Weakness: high modelling and data effort. Useful for critical sections, not for the first area allocation of a plant.
BIM / building design
Strength: building envelope, structure, trades, lifecycle data. Weakness: production itself, with its volumes, flows and variants, is not what the model aims at. BIM and layout planning complement each other; they do not replace each other.
Web-based planning platforms
Strength: scaled layout, area and flow key figures, parallel variants and coordination in the browser without installation. Weakness: no design-level detail, no dynamic simulation. A precise fit for establishing the basis, concept planning and detailed planning.
| Question | Suitable tool class |
|---|---|
| How much space does each area need? | Planning platform or spreadsheet |
| Which arrangement creates less transport effort? | Planning platform with material flow calculation |
| Will the line hold the planned throughput with this buffer? | Discrete-event simulation |
| How is the foundation detailed? | Design CAD, BIM |
| Which variant do we approve — and who agreed? | Planning platform with comments and version status |
Selection criteria: the checklist
Do not evaluate tools against feature lists, but against your next concrete project. These eight points decide in day-to-day work:
- Data basis. Which as-built data do you have: DWG/DXF, a PDF drawing, a survey, a point cloud, photos? Can the tool take them over to scale, or do you redraw?
- Object model. Are machines, racks and conveyors parametrically scalable? Can you create your own objects and give them attributes (area, height, cost centre, zone)?
- Key figures inside the tool. Do floor space balance, transport performance and aisle-width checks come straight out of the plan, or do they run alongside in a parallel spreadsheet world?
- Variants. Can several arrangements coexist on the same floor plan and be compared automatically? Variant comparison by “save as” is not variant comparison.
- Collaboration. Comments on the plan, roles and permissions, share links for participants without a licence, a traceable version status.
- Export and downstream use. PDF for the decision paper, DXF for CAD, Excel/CSV for further calculation, interfaces for your own analyses.
- Operation. Installation and rollout, licence model (who really needs a licence — only planners, or everyone who reads along?), hosting location and data protection.
- Time to first result. How long does it take from “as-built drawing available” to the first evaluated variant? That number says more about everyday usability than any feature list.
Common mistakes when choosing a tool
- Tool before question. Name the decision the plan is supposed to carry first, then choose the tool.
- Overdoing accuracy. A detailed 3D model does not answer the question of area allocation any better than a scaled block layout, but costs a multiple.
- Keeping key figures beside the plan. As soon as areas and volumes live in separate files, they age at different speeds. By the third variant the decision paper no longer matches.
- Calculating only one variant. Without a comparison variant there is no scale: every number then looks plausible.
- Not planning for coordination. Production, logistics, maintenance, occupational safety and the works council will see the plan anyway. If the tool does not involve them, it happens by email attachment, with all the consequences for version control.
- Letting the plan die after the project. A layout nobody maintains is waste paper after the first move. Settle in advance who keeps it current.
Where matflow fits into this picture
matflow is a web-based planning platform for establishing the basis, concept planning and detailed planning. You work in the browser on a scaled floor plan and get the key figures from the same model you plan in:
- Layout planning with DWG/DXF import, a parametric object library, dimensioning, zoning and a 3D view.
- Material flow analysis based on an imported from-to matrix, with transport intensity, transport performance and flows drawn on the layout.
- KPIs and variants: floor space balance, aisle-width warnings and a scorecard per variant.
- Collaboration through share links, comments on the plan and version history; hosted in the EU (security & hosting).
The boundaries matter just as much: matflow calculates material flow statically, meaning volumes and distances within a reference period. Questions about throughput over time, buffer sizing or behaviour under disruption belong in a discrete-event simulation. Execution documents for construction and equipment are still produced in CAD; matflow provides the DXF export for that.
How a layout planning run works in the browser is described in Online layout planning. Data preparation for the flow calculation is covered in Material flow analysis with a from-to matrix.