Agile Methods And Tools: A Multi-Level Systematic Literature Review And Classification Approach In The Context Of An Iterative Quality- and Factory Planning Process

Abstract

Product quality is critical to the competitiveness of manufacturing companies facing complex challenges such as shorter product life cycles and competition that has shifted from customers competing for products to manufacturers competing for customers. Therefore, quality management is essential to satisfy today's quality requirements, focusing on error prevention rather than error detection. Since the factory planning process provides the framework for the production factors and restrictions of factory operation, it is necessary to integrate quality management into factory planning at an early stage. The integration must ensure a flexibility to adapt to constant changes, proactively prevent expensive error elimination and ensure high-quality processes. A previously conducted literature review indicated that the existing solutions do not sufficiently integrate quality management into factory planning. Consequently, there is currently no optimal solution approach available that effectively enables targeted and iterative communication between the disciplines of factory planning and quality management. Agile methods and tools can bridge this interface. However, to effectively integrate these methods and tools, they must first be organized into a toolkit that provides methods and tools for different purposes and situations. This paper aims to develop a modular toolkit through a multi-level systematic literature review. This approach categorizes 26 agile methods and tools based on their inputs, outputs, and purposes. The result is a modular toolkit that consists of nine categories and forms the basis for the successful integration of agile methods and tools into the factory planning process according to the Association of German Engineers (VDI) 5200 guideline.