Why Production as a Service?

Our unique offering to enable Production as a Service

Key challenges and requirements for manufacturing

Value proposition

Fast-changing market environment requires producers to improve their value proposition (cost, quality, time)

  • Increase capacity utilization
  • Automate production processes

Resilience

Uncertainties in global supply chains and trend towards local production yield in investment and cost risks

  • Decentralize production networks
  • Realize local production beyond low-cost countries

Sustainability

Growing pressure from customers to produce sustainably requires producers to redesign their operations

  • Share new production equipment
  • Adapt production planning towards circularity

The solution: Production as a Service

A highly flexible factory, owned by external
investors and shared by multiple users

External investor

Provides funding and owns factory

Factory

Produces multiple products cost-efficiently

Multiple users

Use infrastructure on pay-per-use basis

Financial Transformation

Smart structuring enables third
parties to share operational risk
and provide funding

  • Access external funds by creating a new asset class for investors
  • Reduce risk of owning machinery / equipment
  • Diversify financing sources and improve financing conditions
Flexible Production

Factory produces multiple products
efficiently and can adapt to
volume changes quickly

  • Produce small lot sizes financially efficient
  • Master the complexity of your own product portfolio
  • Enable time neutral changeovers and eliminate cycle time losses
Sharing

Multiple users share infrastructure
on pay-per-use basis,
variabilizing their fixed costs

  • Optimize utilization of production equipment and reduce costs per part
  • Improve resource sustainability
  • Reduce dependency on single customers

Achieving Production as a Service is a journey

Four maturity levels towards Production as a Service
target picture – each represents a project archetype

Master own production program

Flexible Production

Open production to in-/external

Sharing

Flexible Production

Reduce burden of ownership

Financial Transformation

Flexible Production

Setup Production as a Service

Financial Transformation

Sharing

Flexible Production

Dimensions from the user's perspective

  • Asset Ownership
  • Production cost
  • Utilization risk
  • Plant operations
  • IP / knowledge sharing
Own production

Own production

  • OEM
  • Upfront invest & running cost (CapEx)
  • OEM
  • OEM
  • No
Contract manufacturing

Contract manufacturing

  • Contract manufacturer
  • Upfront invest & pay-per-part (CapEx & OpEx)
  • OEM
  • Contract manufacturer
  • Possible
Production as a Service

Production as a Service

  • Third-party investors
  • Pay-per-part
    (OpEx)
  • Third-party investors
  • OEM or external operator
  • No

We tailor our solution according to your needs

Production as a Service comes with its own complexity and challenges. We thereby act as an orchestrator that connects the necessary stakeholders and designs a business model which is profitable for all parties. Based on risk adjusted financials and a highly automated production layout, our offering further transforms a new factory into an investable asset.

Our Project Approach

  • Initiate project

    • Starting point and project objective
    • Investment teaser light
    • Technical, commercial, and financial feasibility assessment
  • Develop target picture

    • Operating model
    • Business case
    • Technical concept
    • Multi user search (if necessary)
  • Conduct due diligence

    • Technical due dilligence
    • Financial due dilligence
    • Commercial due dilligence
  • Implementation

    • Set up Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
    • Set up project management to steer implementation

Do you have further questions?

We answer your most asked questions about Production as a Service and FlexFactory.

Have a look at our FAQ

Get in touch for more information

Philip PlattmeierManaging Director