ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Sustainable product development strategies: Business planning and performance implications

Copyright © 2012 by Institution of Mechanical Engineers. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.Manufacturing firms are under many financial and competitive pressures which focus attention on the performance of their manufacturing processes. In this paper the opportunities for improving the environmental impact of products within the constraints of existing manufacturing infrastructure are examined. Approaches which support sustainability in two aspects are proposed, firstly, the provision of products to the users in ways which extend the product life and secondly, manufacturing approaches which reduce resource usage. This paper outlines three different sustainable development strategies for different product types and describes the cost implications for manufacturers across the life-cycle. The performance measures affected by these strategies are examined drawing on product development case studies from a number of high technology sectors to highlight the different approaches taken. The results are intended to aid manufacturers during the earliest stages of business planning to consider alternative product development approaches which are more sustainable

From Data to Decision Support in Manufacturing

Digitalization is changing society, industry, and how business is done. For new companies that are more or less born digital, there is the opportunity to use and benefit from the capabilities offered by the new digital technologies, of which data-driven decision-making forms a crucial part. The manufacturing industry is facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but most manufacturing organizations are lagging behind in their digital transformation. This is due to the technical and organizational challenges they are experiencing. Based on this current state description and existing gap, the vision, aim, and research questions of this thesis are: Vision - future manufacturing organization to be driven by fact-based decision support based on data rather than of relying mainly on intuition and experience.Aim - to show manufacturing organizations the applicability of digital technologies in digitalizing manufacturing system data to support decision-making and how data sharing may be achieved.Research Question 1. How do manufacturing system lifecycle decisions influence the requirements of data collection towards interoperability? Research Question 2. What makes interoperability standardization applicable to sharing data in a manufacturing system’s lifecycle?This research is applied, addressing real-world problems in manufacturing. For this reason, the main objective is to solve the problem at hand, and data collection methods will be selected that can help address it. This can best be explained by taking a pragmatic worldview and using mixed methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The research upon which this thesis is based draws on the results of three research projects involving the active participation of manufacturing companies. The data collection methods included experiments, interviews (focus group and semi-structured), technical development, literature review, and so on. The results are divided into three areas: 1) connected factory, 2) standard representation of machine model data, and 3) the digital twin in smart manufacturing. Connected factory addresses the question of how a mobile connectivity solution, 5G, may be used in a factory setting and demonstrates how the connectivity solution should be planned and how new data from a connected machine may support an operator in decision-making. The standard representation of machine model data demonstrates how an international standard may be used more widely to support the sharing and reuse of information. The digital twin in smart manufacturing investigates the reasons why there are so few real-world examples of this. The findings reveal that a manufacturing system’s lifecycle impacts data requirements, including a need for data accuracy in design, speed of data in operation (to allow operators to act upon events), and availability of historical data in maintenance (for finding root causes and planning). The volume of data was identified as important to all lifecycles. The applicability of standards was found to depend on: 1) the technology providers’ willingness to adapt standards, 2) enforcement by OEMs and larger actors further down a supply chain, 3) the development of standards that consider the user, and 4) when standards are required for infrastructure reasons. Based on the results and findings obtained, it may be stated that it is important to determine what actual manufacturing problem should be addressed by digital technology. There is a tendency to view this change from the perspective of what the digital technology might solve (a technology push), rather than setting aside the solution and focusing on what problem should be solved (a technology pull). This work also reveals the importance of the collaboration between industry and academia making progress in the digital transformation of manufacturing. Proofs-of-concept and demonstrators of how digital technologies might be used are also important tools in helping industry in how they can address a digital transformation

How will standards facilitate new production systems in the context of EU innovation and competitiveness in 2025?

Standards are very important as they provide requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. They contribute to remove technical barriers to trade, leading to new markets and economic growth for industry. They also facilitate technology transfer and they contribute to ensure safety of products thereby affecting the daily life of citizens. This report ‘How will standards facilitate new production systems in the context of EU innovation and competitiveness in 2025?’ is the outcome of a foresight process looking at how standards and standardisation can become even more relevant policy tool supporting different European policies. The study has especially looked at the areas where Europe drives innovation, where the development of new products and processes could lead to new trade of goods, services and technologies. The foresight process has dealt with standardisation by using a holistic approach. It explored at how effective standards can be developed within a European industrial landscape vision able to contribute to jobs and growth in a sustainable manner. The report provides a clear overview of the evolution of the European production system and illustrates what are the drivers of change influencing the future production system. The Industrial Landscape Vision was used to identify the its implications on the European Standardisation System and it highlights priorities for the development of standards in the future.JRC.DDG.02-Foresight and Behavioural Insight

An Integrated Method for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supported Energy Efficiency Evaluation and Optimization in Manufacturing: Knowledge-based Approach and Energy Performance Indicators (EnPI) to Support Evaluation and Optimization of Energy Efficiency

This thesis develops a holistic evaluation and optimization of energy efficiency in manufacturing. The innovation of this thesis consists in the integrated method applying an expressive and adaptive ontology knowledge base capable of learning, and sector-independent, straightforward energy performance indicator for evaluating different processes and units within a company. This thesis also develops a hyper-heuristics-based energy-optimized and flexible production scheduling

Manufacturing Value Modelling, Flexibility, and Sustainability: from theoretical definition to empirical validation

The aim of this PhD thesis is to investigate the relevance of flexibility and sustainability within the smart manufacturing environment and understand if they could be adopted as emerging competitive dimensions and help firms to take decisions and delivering value

Greening information management: final report

As the recent JISC report on ‘the ‘greening’ of ICT in education [1] highlights, the increasing reliance on ICT to underpin the business functions of higher education institutions has a heavy environmental impact, due mainly to the consumption of electricity to run computers and to cool data centres. While work is already under way to investigate how more energy efficient ICT can be introduced, to date there has been much less focus on the potential environmental benefits to be accrued from reducing the demand ‘at source’ through better data and information management. JISC thus commissioned the University of Strathclyde to undertake a study to gather evidence that establishes the efficacy of using information management options as components of Green ICT strategies within UK Higher Education environments, and to highlight existing practices which have the potential for wider replication