• Project Management.
• Motivation strategy
• Collaborative Based Factory Planning
• System Integration
• Virtual Production Planning
• Conflict Management
• Team Selection
• Competency development programme

Nowadays factory planning has to face a turbulent environment due to changes in customer demand and rules of competition. Thus, there is a growing need for responsiveness, rapidity and predictability of the outcome in the planning stage. This can be obtained only if the planner is fully integrated with the system and is able to “turn the route “ promptly.
The aim of this work is supporting manufacturing industry to facilitate the full integration of the planning team with factory planning processes in order to minimise the variability of the expected output of the project, which is introduced by the involvement of the human factor. This variability can affect the desired outcome because it induces uncertainty.
“Factory planning project is not a black box as well as human factor is not a machine”.
The trigger of the study is an evident lack of a holistic approach in the planning stage due to a widespread “watertight compartments view” which avoids the integration of each factory planning area with the system and mainly with the brain, the planner. Accordingly, The innovation of this study is contained in the ability of providing a comprehensive approach to avoid local optimisations and detachment of planning decision points within compartments. Another key aspect is the analysis that derives from the awareness that it’s impossible to achieve synergy between planner and system just considering technical aspects and neglecting the human and psychological ones.
The outcome of the research is a set of structured methodologies and a qualitative model with the aim of avoiding local optimisations and supporting the planner in the decision making process. Human issue cannot be ignored without huge benefits reduction in the production system.