Focus on pop-up factories: How mobile production is making our industry more resilient
The 24th episode of the VDW podcast Tech Affair – Industry for Future is dedicated to the forward-looking concept of pop-up factories – an approach that redefines flexibility, speed, and innovation in production.
At a time when supply chains are fragile and security of supply requirements are high, temporary and mobile production structures are becoming increasingly important. With this episode, the podcast puts a topic on the agenda that is not only theoretically exciting, but also provides practical answers to the question: How can we make production faster, more adaptable, and more accessible?
Why pop-up factories? Perspectives from practice
Pop-up factories are not a distant vision of the future, but a concrete solution to current challenges. In this episode:
- Dr.-Ing. Manuel Moritz from the New Production Institute at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg
- Dr. Susanne Vernim from the software company Tulip Interfaces
discuss specific questions together.
👉 What makes pop-up factories special?
👉 How can they be implemented technically and organizationally?
👉 What potential do they offer for industry and society?
As Susanne Vernim emphasizes, the discussion is not just about technical innovation, but about rapid responsiveness in times of crisis. The use of mobile production units allows critical goods to be manufactured at short notice, thereby closing supply gaps—an issue that is becoming increasingly important in light of global uncertainties.
Rethinking production: From workshop to pop-up model
Traditional production models are often static and planned for the long term. Pop-up factories, on the other hand:
✔ can be constructed in a modular and scalable manner
✔ are temporary, but highly flexible
✔ enable production to be brought to where it is urgently needed
This opens up new possibilities for decentralized production—both in an industrial context and in exchange with the population. As Dr. Moritz explains in the podcast, the setting can be used to make production visible and tangible, thereby creating a direct dialogue between technology, business, and society.
Conclusion: Pop-up factories as a building block for the future of production
The 24th episode of Tech Affair provides an exciting glimpse into what tomorrow’s production might look like – not as a rigid construct, but as a living, adaptive structure that flexibly adapts to challenges. For the New Production Institute, this underscores the importance of interdisciplinary research and close collaboration between science and industry – because innovation arises where vision meets reality.
🎧 Listen now at:
Episode 24: Pop-up factories – From vision to reality – VDW
or wherever podcasts are available.
