  Meson factories are powerful drivers of diverse physics programmes. With beam
powers already in the MW-regime attention has to be turned to target and beam
line design to further significantly increase surface muon rates available for
experiments. For this reason we have explored the possibility of using a
neutron spallation target as a source of surface muons by performing detailed
Geant4 simulations with pion production cross sections based on a
parametrization of existing data. While the spallation target outperforms
standard targets in the backward direction by more than a factor 7 it is not
more efficient than standard targets viewed under 90{\deg}. Not surprisingly,
the geometry of the target plays a large role in the generation of surface
muons. Through careful optimization, a gain in surface muon rate of between 30
- 60% over the standard "box-like" target used at the Paul Scherrer Institute
could be achieved by employing a rotated slab target. An additional 10% gain
could also be possible by utilizing novel target materials such as, e.g., boron
carbide.
