Lean and industry 4.0: a QCA analysis

This work proposes an empirical study on the diffusion of lean practices and industry's 4.0 technologies among italian manufacturing companies. The qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) identifies the combination of practices and technologies that assure a high probability to the enterprises of the sample.ope

The latest age of mass customization: improvements of industry 4.0

Il primo capitolo dell'elaborato verte sulla prima trattazione delle rivoluzioni industriali, sul significato del termine "industria 4.0" e sul come le aziende abbiano risposto ai mutamenti della domanda con la mass customization (m.c.). Nel secondo capitolo vengono analizzate le tecnologie abilitanti dell'industria 4.0 e il loro impiego nella mass customization. Il terzo ed ultimo capitolo racconta come l'azienda padovana O bag abbia applicato la m.c. in un contesto di industria 4.0

Sustainable engineering challenges towards Industry 4.0: A comprehensive review

This article reviews Industry 4.0, its emerging phase, implementation, challenges, benefits, etc. It combines various fields where it has any influence and leaves some changes and where it requires some adaptation. Papers from the last 4 years are taken and analyzed, what is written about this topic in various countries with different backgrounds and economic development. Industry 4.0 affects the production environment by introducing new technologies which require a better-educated workforce so it affects education and requires some changes in curricula and ways of teaching. It brings new challenges and asks for a new approach from management to be able to handle fast and big changes in the business environment and to implement such innovation in production effectively

An investigation upon Industry 4.0 implementation: the case of small and medium enterprises and Lean organizations

In recent years, industries have undergone several shifts in their operating and management systems. Alongside to the technological innovation, rapid market changes and high competitiveness; growing customer needs are driving industries to focus on producing highly customized products with even less time to market. In this context, Industry 4.0 is a manufacturing paradigm that promises to have a great impact not only on improving productivity but also on developing new products, services and business models. However, the literature review has shown that research on Industry 4.0 implementation is still characterized by some weaknesses and gaps (e.g., topics such as the implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs and its integration with Lean Management approach). Motivated by so, this thesis sought to answer four key questions: (RQ1) What are the challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the Industry 4.0 field? (RQ2) What are the resources and capabilities for Industry 4.0 implementation in SMEs? (RQ3) How can these resources and capabilities be acquired and/or developed and (RQ4) How to integrate Industry 4.0 and Lean Management? To deal with the first research question, a semi-systematic literature review in the Industry 4.0 field was conducted. The main goal is to explore the implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs in order to identify common challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the Industry 4.0 era. To face with the second and third research questions, a multiple case study research was conducted to pursue two main aims: (1) to identify the resources and capabilities required to implement Industry 4.0 in Portuguese SMEs. Furthermore, based on mainstream theories such as resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability theory, it sought empirical evidence on how SMEs use resources and capabilities to gain sustainable competitive advantage; (2) to shed light on how those SMEs acquire and/or develop the Industry 4.0 resources and capabilities. Finally, this thesis employed a semi-systematic literature review methodology to deal with the fourth research question. As such, it explored the synergistic relationship between Industry 4.0 and Lean Management to identify the main trends in this field of research and, ultimately, the best practices. The analysis and discussion of the best practices revealed a set of potential relationships which provided a more clear understanding of the outcomes of an Industry 4.0-LM integration.Nos últimos anos, as indústrias têm passado por várias mudanças tanto nos seus sistemas operacionais, como de gestão. Juntamente com a inovação tecnológica e alta competitividade; as mudanças nas necessidades dos clientes levaram as indústrias a se concentrarem na produção de produtos altamente personalizados e com tempo de lançamento no mercado cade vez menores. Nesse contexto, a Indústria 4.0 é um paradigma de manufatura que promete ter um grande impacto não só na melhoria da produtividade, mas também no desenvolvimento de novos produtos, serviços e modelos de negócios. No entanto, a revisão da literatura mostrou que a investigação sobre a implementação da Indústria 4.0 ainda é caracterizada por algumas lacunas (por exemplo em tópicos como a implementação da Indústria 4.0 em pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) e sua integração com a filosofia de gestão Lean Management). Diante disso, esta tese procura responder à quatro questões-chave: (RQ1) Quais são os desafios e oportunidades para as PMEs no campo da Indústria 4.0? (RQ2) Quais são os recursos e capacidades necessários para a implementação da Indústria 4.0 nas PMEs? (RQ3) Como esses recursos e capacidades podem ser adquiridos e/ou desenvolvidos e (RQ4) Como integrar os paradigmas de manufatura, Indústria 4.0 e Lean Management? Para responder à primeira questão de investigação, este trabalho empregou uma revisão semi-sistemática da literatura. O objetivo principal foi explorar a implementação da Indústria 4.0 nas PMEs, a fim de identificar quais são os desafios e oportunidades para as PMEs na era da Indústria 4.0. Para fazer face à segunda e terceira questões de investigação, foi realizado um estudo de caso em 5 PMEs localizadas em Portugal a fim de atingir os seguintes objetivos: (1) identificar os recursos e capacidades necessários para implementar a Indústria 4.0 nas PME portuguesas; (2) esclarecer como essas PMEs adquirem e/ou desenvolvem esses recursos e capacidades. Além disso, com base nas teorias resourcebased view (RBV) e dynamic capabilities, buscar evidências empíricas sobre como as PMEs usam recursos e capacidades para obter vantagem competitiva sustentável. Finalmente, para lidar com a quarta questão de investigação, este estudo explorou a relação sinérgica entre a Indústria 4.0 e a filosofia de gestão Lean Management (LM) para identificar as principais tendências neste campo de investigação e promover as melhores práticas. A análise e discussão das melhores práticas revelaram um conjunto de potenciais relações, o que contribuiu para um entendimento mais claro sobre a integração da Indústria 4.0 com LM

Chapter 1 Transformation of the economy

"This book presents the ways in which three key issues of the modern world – transformation, digitalisation and sustainability – may be combined for the greater good and highlights which activities may be designed to integrate these three directly linked paths. It is an experience-derived and evidence-based analysis of how sustainable development impacts the transformation of the economy and how the business environment influences economic transformation in the light of the sustainable development principles. The book addresses the current challenges and shows how the economy can be transformed further in an organic way that meets the needs of society and the environment, through the use of digital technologies. The multidisciplinary approach to sustainability transformation is one of the core strengths of the book, as it emphasises the need for a holistic approach to the functioning of sustainable development ideas at the micro- and macro-levels. The authors present a fresh perspective, particularly around the regulations stimulating the sustainable development of enterprises, tax systems, and the allocation of capital. Moreover, the book brings together and makes available the results of the latest research on the subject, using a vast amount of primary evidence and both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The authors’ insights go beyond the obvious effects of economic transformation and call attention to ways in which smart technology and digitalisation may help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The book is directed first and foremost towards academics, researchers and students, but also professionals, who would like to expand their knowledge of sustainable development from a scientific perspective.

Digital economy and internationalization

ope

The Change Management Process for Automation Implementations

The objective of this thesis is to identify change management processes in manufacturing and, if they exist, identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. There are many changes encountered in manufacturing as the advances of automation are integrated within production. For this reason, a change management process is required to effectively and efficiently implement these changes. To research this, a case study was conducted at a large manufacturing firm (more than ten-thousand employees). The facility studied produces low volume (~one per week), high complexity (~million components) products. The case study spanned six months, in which sixteen interviews were conducted with nine people from three different functional groups. The case study focused on a change to production, which was an automated machine that was implemented in the facility. This was not a change to the product, but a newly configured production station resulting in a decrease in automation level (bringing more manual activity into the task). The previous manufacturing method was fully automated but was not robust. Therefore, the change was to increase the human-robot cooperation in the robotic system. This study investigated the change process for this newly implemented automation. This was identified as a good case example to study due to several reasons. First, this was implemented within the past five years, which meant that people involved in the change process were still present. In addition to this, since the machine was still in operation it meant the propagation effects were stable and the changes were kept. Another reason this was a good example, was because this was a large-scale investment (~million dollars). This meant the return on investment (ROI) was high, leading to more attention to detail and higher resource allocation. From a research perspective, these reasons ensure the process was a critical case for study. Many change management processes align with the following high-level process: identify opportunity, gather approval to find a solution, form teams to solve, discover a solution, review, deploy a solution, and measure the solution. The change management process identified through the interviews followed this general pattern. In this model, thirty-four tasks were identified. Through a series of follow-up interviews, the process model was validated. However, obstacles were identified throughout some of the tasks in the process that encountered many changes. To explore this, a collaborative design resistance model was applied to see whether the model could accurately identify the tasks of highest resistance. The resistances were applied to the objective data from the interviews, such as team size and communication, and then compared to the subjective obstacles. From this, it was determined that the resistance model accurately predicted the challenges throughout the process. This research resulted in a mapped change management process for typical automation implementations. It additionally helped discover opportunities for making these implementations more efficient by mitigating the resistances. Motivated from this study, the following are some opportunities that were discovered for future work: conducting workshops to have participants build the change process model, studying the process at a small-medium enterprise, studying the process at a company with product change (high volume, low complexity)

Society 5.0

This open access book introduces readers to the vision on future cities and urban lives in connection with “Society 5.0”, which was proposed in the 5th Basic Science and Technology Plan by Japan’s national government for a technology-based, human-centered society, emerging from the fourth industrial revolution. The respective chapters summarize the findings and suggestions of joint research projects conducted by H-UTokyo Lab. Through the research collaboration and discussion, this book explores the future urban lives under the concept of “Society 5.0”, characterized by the key phrases of data-driven society, knowledge-intensive society, and non-monetary society, and suggests the directionality to which the concept should aim as Japan’s technology-led national vision. Written by Hitachi’s researchers as well as academics from a wide range of fields, including engineering, economics, psychology and philosophy at The University of Tokyo, the book is a must read for members of the general public interested in urban planning, students, professionals and researchers in engineering and economics

Robots and the Labour Share: A Panel Cointegration Analysis

Industrial robotics is one of the technologies that, nowadays, is experiencing a remarkable and continuous progress, finding more and more applications in different industries. While this progress leads to productivity gains, it can also have an impact on employment and the labour share. Through a panel cointegration analysis on the sectoral data of nine developed countries in the period 1996-2016, this dissertation analyses the relationship between the implementation of industrial robots and the labour share.Industrial robotics is one of the technologies that, nowadays, is experiencing a remarkable and continuous progress, finding more and more applications in different industries. While this progress leads to productivity gains, it can also have an impact on employment and the labour share. Through a panel cointegration analysis on the sectoral data of nine developed countries in the period 1996-2016, this dissertation analyses the relationship between the implementation of industrial robots and the labour share