Industrial enterprises face constant challenges, such as increasing complexity in decision-making, interoperability issues, and data fragmentation across planning and operational phases. At the same time, factory planning is undergoing a fundamental transformation due to emerging digital technologies to establish a smart factory. One of these technologies is the Industrial Metaverse, which has the potential to become the main platform for another major technology – the Digital Twin. Major industry players like Nvidia are pioneering new business models in the space of Industrial Metaverse like Nvidia Omniverse. To fully understand the impact of these technologies on the factory planning, it is essential to first analyse, characterize, and describe this factory planning ecosystem. While previous research has largely focused on process-oriented approaches, this ecosystem-oriented perspective remains largely underexplored. This understanding includes identifying key stakeholders across different project phases and examining how they are interconnected in planning and operational workflows. 

Understanding the factory planning ecosystem is crucial for using emerging technologies effectively. Findings from prior research indicate that Digital Twins enhance decision-making by providing real-time, data-driven models, while the Industrial Metaverse enables collaborative, immersive planning environments. Building on a systematic literature review we analyse current challenges in factory planning and the potential of new technologies like Digital Twins and the Industrial Metaverse to address these challenges. Thus, this paper takes a first step in describing factory planning and operations as an ecosystem. By synthesizing existing research and identifying knowledge gaps, this paper contributes to a more holistic understanding of how emerging technologies shape the factory planning ecosystem. It provides valuable insights for both academia and industry, guiding future research and practical implementations.