VDI 5201 Blatt 1:2017-01

A characteristic effect of the industrial competition at the present time is the increasing turbulence in the environment of competition. This requires a just as high ability of adaptation in operative as also in strategic and structural interests of the enterprises, which is generally described as 'adaptability'. The specific planning and control of the adaptability becomes a success factor of competition and, thus, has to be developed and designed specifically by the strategic management. The adaptability has to be continuously supervised during all life cycle phases of the production system to identify undesirable developments in due time and be able to take specific countermeasures. A practise oriented description and measuring of the adaptability of a production system is possible by using the specific key performance indicators given in this standard. The procedure is demonstrated by using examples from the medical engineering industry.