The Role of Participation in the Factory Planning Process

The continuous improvement of the current construction and planning processes is a relevant factor for the company’s success. New and existing factories must be economical, flexible and attractive at the same time. On the basis of constantly changing or even new requirements, continuous planning adjustments are required. An increasingly important need in factory planning, in addition to the participation of internal planning stakeholders, is the participation of external actors. More and more often, inadequate project-specific involvement of these actors leads to delays or cost increases in factory planning projects. This can be caused, for example, by increasing regulatory requirements, declining technology acceptance of the population in the direct environment and growing legal capacity to appeal to residents ("Not-In-My-Backyard"). Therefore, the participation of external actors in factory planning projects has not been sufficiently considered in the relevant literature. In order to enable stakeholder acceptance, appropriate project-specific integration of relevant stakeholders into the construction project is crucial. The basis for efficient participation is the choice of the right participation features. This article addresses the current state of research in the intersecting point of factory planning and participation research and shows the need for further research.