Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify actions and guidelines for enabling and fostering the Industry 4.0 adoption, as well as to understand the role of three ecosystem actors in these actions (i.e. companies, educational organizations and regional policy makers).

52 semi-structured expert interviews in the Tyrol-Veneto cross-border macro-region were carried out and interpreted using the innovation ecosystem concept. In particular, drawing from this latter, six ecosystem building blocks were identified and used to analyze the interviews' content.

The findings allow not only to build a comprehensive framework for action to support Industry 4.0 adoption, but also to confirm the importance of exploring Industry 4.0 through the lens of the ecosystem concept. Indeed, the authors show that R&D activities should be complemented with interorganizational actions, such as training and networking, and that all ecosystem actors should be involved in the Industry 4.0 adoption.

This is among the few studies that adopt the innovation ecosystem perspective to explore best practices for Industry 4.0 adoption, thus overcoming the weakness of existing papers based on a firm-level perspective. It also complements previous ecosystem-based research on Industry 4.0 by exploring the technology adoption side, rather than the technology provision one, and by considering the adoption of a wide set of technologies.

Digital transformation (DT) projects are complex and often unsuccessful. While researchers have suggested many guidelines and best practices on how to successfully roll out DT projects and how they are spread among a large number of scientific papers. The aim of this paper is to synthesize these guidelines into clear overviews.

A systematic literature review was conducted on both Scopus and Web of Science to search for papers suggesting DT guidelines or best practices. In total, 150 papers dealing with DT and guidelines were fully analyzed.

Eight main DT guidelines were found and each one was expanded with several best practices on how to implement these. The results are eight tables giving an overview of the commonly agreed-upon best practices for each DT guideline.

These overviews are useful for both researchers and practitioners, to guide future work and to be inspired respectively. This paper calls for more research on how these guidelines are followed in practice, how these differ per industry and what their impact is on the overall success of DT projects.

The synthesis of DT guidelines organized into an accessible format has not yet been conducted before, and can serve as a seminal pinpoint for future research.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the alignment between current product and manufacturing systems and how it could be achieved.

Case study research method was chosen for the collection and analysis of empirical data. The data was of qualitative nature and was collected using research techniques such as observations through video recordings of processes, documents and open and semi-structured interviews.

The variation of outer side sub-element of the exterior wall element was found to not be aligned with its corresponding assembly. A hybrid assembly of outer side sub-elements characterised by flexibility and reconfigurability can be developed.

The study is limited to the exterior wall element and corresponding manufacturing system.

The presented approach was formulated with the aim to be used both for the analysis of existing products and manufacturing systems as well as for the design of new manufacturing systems.

So far, this is the first study in the context of timber house building where the alignment between product and manufacturing systems was investigated by considering product variety and flexibility of manufacturing systems.

The paper aims at enriching the knowledge of the application of lean management (LM) in emergency department (ED), structuring the methodology for implementing LM projects and summarizing the relevant dimensions of LM adoption in ED.

In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, a systematic literature review has been performed, extracting a database of 34 papers. To answer the research purpose, a descriptive and content analyses have been carried out.

The descriptive analysis demonstrates that the dealt topic is worldwide emerging and multidisciplinary as it arouses interest by medical and engineering communities. Despite the heterogeneity in the adopted methodology, a framework can be grasped from the literature review. It points out the phases and activities, the tools and techniques and the enablers to be considered for guiding the developing of LM project in ED.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview on how to adopt LM in ED, contributing to fill in the gap emerged in the literature. From a practical perspective, this paper provides healthcare managers with a synthesis of the best managerial practices and guidelines in developing a LM project in ED.

This study aims to explore the resource development process implemented by a small consulting firm, active in a traditional industrial context, pursuing the innovation path to develop solutions within the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) domain.

This study undertakes a single qualitative case study of Sinergia, an Italian innovative small consulting firm. The case study is analyzed through critical events and adopting the 4 R model, developed within the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) approach.

The analysis highlights a transition from knowledge broker to solution provider, based on a process of networking, with a relevant strategizing effort, and of assembling internal, external and shared resources. Three patterns in the evolution of the company’s innovation path emerge: resource-oriented networking, hybrid resource development and resource assembly.

The empirical study provides novel empirical evidence over localized innovation processes in I4.0 by exploring the innovation path pursued by a small consulting firm in connection with the local business. The study represents a theoretical development in terms of the 4 R model as it suggests the need to further conceptualize the category of technical resources – including products and facilities – in the increasingly complex I4.0 domain and provides insights on the changing role of actors in networks underpinned by emerging resource structures.

Both technological and human-centric perspectives need to be acknowledged when combining lean production practices and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. This study aims to explore and explain how lean production practices and I4.0 technologies may coexist to enhance the human-centric perspective of manufacturing operations in the era of Industry 5.0 (I5.0).

The research approach is an explorative and longitudinal case study. The qualitative data collection encompasses respondents from different job functions and organizational levels to cover the entire organization. In total, 18 interviews with 19 interviewees and five focus groups with a total of 25 participants are included.

Identified challenges bring forth that manufacturing organizations must have the ability to see beyond lean production philosophy and I4.0 to meet the demand for a human-centric perspective in socially sustainable manufacturing in the era of Industry 5.0.

The study suggests that while lean production practices and I4.0 practices may be considered separately, they need to be integrated as complementary approaches. This underscores the complexity of managing simultaneous organizational changes and new digital initiatives.

The research presented illuminates the elusive phenomena comprising the combined aspects of a human-centric perspective, specifically bringing forth implications for the co-existence of lean production practices and I4.0 technologies, in the transformation towards I5.0.

The study contributes to new avenues of research within the field of socially sustainable manufacturing. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the human-centric perspective when transforming organizations towards Industry 5.0.

The number of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies that have successfully embraced the digital transformation envisioned by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) remains low. This paper argues that one reason is the significant innovation required in manufacturing systems to undergo such a transformation. This innovation demands capabilities vastly different from those traditionally employed for continuous improvements in manufacturing systems. The conventional development of manufacturing systems emphasizes resilience, robustness, and efficiency, typically thriving in stable and predictable conditions. However, developing a manufacturing system under highly complex and unpredictable circumstances requires new capabilities. We term this “manufacturing innovation”. At this stage, learning from successful cases is a valuable step towards unifying scattered evidence and developing coherent knowledge of how SMEs successfully do manufacturing innovation in the context of Industry 4.0.

We conducted a multiple case study involving seven small and medium-sized Danish manufacturing companies to investigate successful manufacturing innovation in the context of Industry 4.0. Cross-case analysis identified four critical propositions regarding the capabilities contributing positively to manufacturing innovation.

The research findings highlight various capabilities for successful manufacturing innovation in the context of Industry 4.0. They suggest that such significant digital transformation of manufacturing systems begins with radical innovations in enabling processes rather than core processes. A flexible approach facilitates it, often operationalized through iterative methods. Moreover, the accumulation of knowledge from previous manufacturing innovation initiatives forms a foundational basis for strategically approaching Industry 4.0, suggesting that experience in manufacturing development generally enhances the capacity to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies effectively.

The results underscore the need for viewing digital transformation towards Industry 4.0 as a manufacturing innovation process, which relies on significantly different organizational capabilities than those supporting continuous manufacturing development. This insight has two implications for research in this domain; (1) Innovation process models must be developed to support radical systemic innovation, gradual learning and agile processes in manufacturing, and (2) Industry 4. 0 technologies enable new potential, but the actualization of this potential is dependent on organizational competences.

The findings also offer several practical implications. Identifying patterns of best practices provides much-needed inspiration and insight into how manufacturing innovation for Industry 4.0 may be approached. While we agree with studies showing that competencies are one of the biggest challenges for companies to get started, our results also suggest that by using a flexible approach, companies can build competencies gradually and as needed, which can yield the right results over time. Furthermore, the findings suggest that a specific starting point for manufacturing companies may be enabling processes rather than core processes. This new understanding of the types of solutions companies manage to progress with may suggest that the technologies here are more mature or that there is greater motivation to get started. This implication is supported by the result that a long-term strategy is needed, but that it must be operationalized into smaller solutions to avoid biting off more than they can chew initially. While other researchers have also pointed this out, we provide a deeper understanding of why it is necessary and how it can be operationalized.

The article is one of the first to make a qualitative study on multiple cases to understand how manufacturing companies successfully introduced manufacturing innovation for Industry 4.0.

The organizational digital transformation (ODT) in companies presents small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – who remain at the beginning of this transformation – with the challenge of offering digital services based on sensor technologies. Against this backdrop, the present paper identifies ways SMEs can enable digital servitization through sensor technology and defines the possible scope of the organizational transformation process.

Around 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from different hierarchical levels across the German manufacturing SME ecosystem. Using the Gioia methodology, fields of action were identified by focusing on influencing factors and opportunities for developing these digital services to offer them successfully in the future.

The complexity of existing sensor offerings must be mastered, and employees' (data) understanding of the technology has increased. Knowledge gaps, which mainly relate to technical and organizational capabilities, must be overcome. The potential of sensor technology was considered on an individual, technical and organizational level. To enable the successful implementation of service offerings based on sensor technology, all relevant stakeholders in the ecosystem must network to facilitate shared value creation. This requires standardized technical and procedural adaptations and is an essential prerequisite for data mining.

Based on this study, current problem areas were analyzed, and potentials that create opportunities for offering digital sensor services to manufacturing SMEs were identified. The identified influencing factors form a conceptual framework that supports SMEs' future development of such services in a structured manner.

This study investigates the relationships among various dimensions influencing the digital maturity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A novel variable, namely SMEs' dependence level on environmental factors, is introduced to broaden the scope beyond traditional linear relationships, providing insights into the multifaceted nature of SME digital maturity.

The study employs correlation and regression analyses to unravel significant correlations and explore the impact of predictors on the dependent variable. The interconnectedness of Technology, Product, Organization, People, Strategy and Operations is scrutinized, revealing their collective influence on SMEs' digital maturity. Importantly, the absence of multicollinearity issues is confirmed, validating the reliability of the study’s results. The regression models demonstrate robust explanatory power, with the inclusion of a mediator significantly enhancing overall model performance.

The findings highlight the interconnected nature of key dimensions, emphasizing the collective influence of Technology, Product, Organization, People, Strategy and Operations on SMEs' digital maturity. Analysis of variance results further support the effectiveness of these predictors in capturing variability in the dependent variable. Beta values provide insight into the distinct contributions of each predictor, emphasizing their individual impacts on SMEs' digital maturity.

This study contributes to the field by emphasizing the need for more holistic models and methodological advancements to understand the complex dynamics that shape SMEs' digital maturity. By introducing the novel variable of SMEs' dependence level on environmental factors, the research expands the conceptual framework, offering a fresh perspective on the multifaceted nature of SME digital maturity. The study’s originality is underscored by robust statistical analyses and an exploration of relationships among key dimensions. The comparison and contrast of findings with existing literature further enhance the study’s unique contributions to the field.