A Dynamic Knowledge Management Framework for the High Value Manufacturing Industry

Dynamic Knowledge Management (KM) is a combination of cultural and technological factors, including the cultural factors of people and their motivations, technological factors of content and infrastructure and, where these both come together, interface factors. In this paper a Dynamic KM framework is described in the context of employees being motivated to create profit for their company through product development in high value manufacturing. It is reported how the framework was discussed during a meeting of the collaborating company’s (BAE Systems) project stakeholders. Participants agreed the framework would have most benefit at the start of the product lifecycle before key decisions were made. The framework has been designed to support organisational learning and to reward employees that improve the position of the company in the market place

How to develop suppliers within an Extended Enterprise towards a Digital Enterprise

Complex supply chains span the world connecting a heterogeneous network of firms. Digitisation offers them the opportunity to improve by leveraging, for example: leaner interfirm workflows, swifter data sharing, smarter analytics and knowledge management, greater automation, and empowered decision-making. However, an onerous organisational development and change programme is required to adopt such innovations and move towards a digital enterprise. Research into organisational change tends to be set within the confines of a single firm. Occasionally, it includes clusters of collaborating firms, but rarely does it cover the whole of an extended enterprise supply network. An exception is the supplier development process; yet, studies into its use for digitisation are very shallow. Moreover, research into the adoption and diffusion of enterprise-wide digital technologies has, to date, mostly had to consider them as piecemeal appendages. Suppliers will have choice and may be supportive, ambivalent, or outright hostile to the extent or pace of digital transformation. They may adopt different strategies in response to the investment, capability development, open access, and other such demands placed upon them by the focal firm. This 3-year longitudinal research programme studies Rolls-Royce and a tiered cross-section of 24 of its suppliers, in the aerospace sector, as they confront and embark upon the journey towards a digital enterprise. Literature is synthesised to create a 9 step process, with 28 implementation guidelines, which is given the descriptive title of supplier development for digital transformation (SD/DT). The SD/DT process begins with a strategic review and ends by embedding practices into routine business. The guidelines are used to initiate action research cycles which coalesce around 21 workshops held at various international locations. A theoretical framework is established using a combination of institutional and organisational learning theories. Close to 100 interviews are conducted with buyers and suppliers. Furthermore, supplier scorecards capture quantitative data on a quarterly basis across the supply base. Data is triangulated between supplier outcomes and their relative absorptive capacity. Digital minimum standards are created which provide a shared vision, common vocabulary, and framework for heterogeneous change management. Two interim waypoints are set on the journey towards a digital enterprise and progress is measured for the 24 suppliers in the cohort. Overall, an encouraging success rate is achieved. Also, the use of supplier scorecards to operationalise and measure relative absorptive capacity shows promise. There are only 3 suppliers for whom the results do not triangulate. Transferability is explored together with recommendations for further work.This research was funded by Rolls-Royce. The thesis has been cleared by Rolls-Royce for release on an open-access basis

Modelling for data management & exchange in Concurrent Engineering - A case study of civil aircraft assembly line

This research aims to improve the dataflow performance of the Concurrent Engineering (CE) practice in the detail design stage of the aircraft Assembly Line (AL) in the C919 aircraft project. As the final integrator of the aircraft, Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company Ltd. (SAMC) is responsible for developing the AL with global suppliers. Although CE has been implemented in AL projects to shorten lead time, reduce development cost and improve design quality, the lack of experience and insufficient infrastructure may lead to many challenges in cooperation with distributed suppliers, especially regarding data management/exchange and workflow control. In this research, the particular CE environment and activities in SAMC AL projects were investigated. By assessing the CE performance and benchmarking, the improvement opportunities are identified, and then an activity-oriented workflow and dataflow model is established by decomposing the work process to detail levels. Based on this model, a Product Data Management (PDM) based support platform is proposed to facilitate data management/exchange in dynamic workflow to improve work efficiency and interoperability. This solution is mocked-up on the Siemens Teamcenter 8.1 PLM(Product Lifecycle Management) software and its feasibility is checked. The mock-up is evaluated by SAMC experts and suppliers. The feedback shows the acceptance of the model by experts and the urgency of improving data/work flow design before PLM implementing. The result of this research is useful for enterprises in similar environments transiting from pre-PLM to implementing PLM and who wanting to strengthen CE in the new product development

The applicability and impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems:results from a mixed method study on Make-To-Order (MTO) companies

The effect of a Make-To-Order (MTO) production strategy on the applicability and impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is investigated through a mixed method approach comprised of an exploratory and explanatory survey followed by three case studies. Data on Make-To-Stock (MTS) companies is also collected as a basis for comparison. The exploratory data demonstrates, for example, that MTO adopters of ERP found the system selection process more difficult than MTS adopters. Meanwhile, a key reason why some MTO companies have not adopted ERP is that it is perceived as unsuitable. The explanatory data is used to test a series of hypotheses on the fit between decision support requirements, ERP functionality, and company performance. In general, a poor fit between the decision support requirements of MTO companies and ERP functionality is identified, although certain modules can lead to performance improvements – most notably for Customer Enquiry Management (CEM). MTS companies make more use of planning tools within ERP systems, and it is concluded that production strategy is an important contextual factor affecting both applicability and impact. Follow-up cases with two MTO adopters and one MTO non-adopter develop a deeper understanding of the survey results. For example, in one adoption case, a system was rented to minimise the consequences of making a poor selection decision. Future research could explore how more MTO-specific planning concepts can be embedded within ERP systems to improve alignment

Achieving manufacturing excellence through the integration of enterprise systems and simulation

This paper discusses the significance of the enterprise systems and simulation integration in improving shop floor’s short-term production planning capability. The ultimate objectives are to identify the integration protocols, optimisation parameters and critical design artefacts, thereby identifying key ‘ingredients’ that help in setting out a future research agenda in pursuit of optimum decision-making at the shop floor level. While the integration of enterprise systems and simulation gains a widespread agreement within the existing work, the optimality, scalability and flexibility of the schedules remained unanswered. Furthermore, there seems to be no commonality or pattern as to how many core modules are required to enable such a flexible and scalable integration. Nevertheless, the objective of such integration remains clear, i.e. to achieve an optimum total production time, lead time, cycle time, production release rates and cost. The issues presently faced by existing enterprise systems (ES), if properly addressed, can contribute to the achievement of manufacturing excellence and can help identify the building blocks for the software architectural platform enabling the integration