Innovation and I4.0 management in connected and autonomous automotive manufacturing

The paper aims to present the holistic view on the principles and practices of innovation, innovation management and industry 4.0 within connected and autonomous automotive manufacturing environments. It has been seen through literature that innovation management practices enable companies to compete within the autonomous and connected vehicle market and is considered as an emerging and competitive differentiator towards the growth of the product and that of meeting customer demands within the changing markets. Similarly, industry 4.0 has the capabilities to offer new and innovative insights within manufacturing processes, allowing organisations to exchange data across systems and enable them to utilise the information more effectively and efficiently towards future decision-making capabilities. Virtualization of the process and that of the supply ensures more smooth operations between intra-organisations and external partners and hence more advanced data sharing systems are going to be provide the functionality within the global environments. The paper examines the linkage of innovation management and industry 4.0 practices within connected and autonomous vehicles in automotive sector

Business and technological perspectives of Industry 4.0 A framework for thinking with case illustration = Az Ipar 4.0 üzleti és technológiai vetületei Gondolkodási keret esettanulmánnyal illusztrálva

In the last couple of years, we have witnessed an exponentially increasing interest of academia and professionals towards Industry 4.0 (I4.0). By focusing on the firm level of I4.0, the authors propose a framework highlighting several technical (technologies and applications, design principles) and business (vision, impact on competitiveness, integration, types of innovation, maturity) perspectives of the phenomenon. Their goal is to clarify the most frequent perspectives and by using them build a thinking framework, making readers understand what I4.0 is about. While frameworks are usually elaborated on a conceptual basis, this paper illustrates the selected perspectives and their links by an in-depth case study. A factory’s digital transformation interpreted in the framework emphasizes the importance of research design and context. ------ Az elmúlt néhány évben a tudományos élet és a vállalati szakemberek exponenciálisan növekvő érdeklődését tapasztaljuk az Ipar 4.0 (I4.0) iránt. Az I4.0 vállalati szintjére összpontosítva olyan keretrendszert javasolnak a szerzők, amely kiemeli a jelenség számos technikai (technológiák és alkalmazások, tervezési alapelvek) és üzleti (vízió, versenyképesség, integráció, innováció típusai, érettség) vetületét. Céljuk, hogy a szakmai diskurzusban leggyakrabban előkerülő vetületek tartalmának tisztázása után azokból egy gondolkodási keretet építsenek. Míg a keretrendszerek általában elvi megfontolások alapján születnek, a cikk egy feldolgozóipari cég I4.0 transzformációját bemutató esettanulmány segítségével szemlélteti az egyes vetületeket és azok összekapcsolódását. A vizsgált gyár gondolkodási keretben értelmezett digitális átalakulása rámutat a kutatások tervezésének és kontextusának fontosságára

Opportunities of industry 4.0 for SMEs in the area of rebar steel distribution within the construction industry –a PPC potential analysis

Industry 4.0coins a global trend towards applying digital technologies to manufacturing. However, the openness towards related innovations varies among different industries. Whilst for instance many manufacturers within automotive or logistics industries have optimized their factories already, the German construction sector falls back regarding adaptation. Reinforcement steel distributors reflect a fundamental part of this sector and are broadly hesitant to initiate their factory transformation. This research provides an overview of the opportunities of Industry 4.0 in the area of reinforcement steel trade and processing. It analyzes how to derive an innovative factory design leveraging on state-of-the-art production planning methods, by aggregating market information and technology

Innovation in manufacturing through digital technologies and applications: Thoughts and Reflections on Industry 4.0

The rapid pace of developments in digital technologies offers many opportunities to increase the efficiency, flexibility and sophistication of manufacturing processes; including the potential for easier customisation, lower volumes and rapid changeover of products within the same manufacturing cell or line. A number of initiatives on this theme have been proposed around the world to support national industries under names such as Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0 in Germany, Made-in-China in China and Made Smarter in the UK). This book presents an overview of the state of art and upcoming developments in digital technologies pertaining to manufacturing. The starting point is an introduction on Industry 4.0 and its potential for enhancing the manufacturing process. Later on moving to the design of smart (that is digitally driven) business processes which are going to rely on sensing of all relevant parameters, gathering, storing and processing the data from these sensors, using computing power and intelligence at the most appropriate points in the digital workflow including application of edge computing and parallel processing. A key component of this workflow is the application of Artificial Intelligence and particularly techniques in Machine Learning to derive actionable information from this data; be it real-time automated responses such as actuating transducers or informing human operators to follow specified standard operating procedures or providing management data for operational and strategic planning. Further consideration also needs to be given to the properties and behaviours of particular machines that are controlled and materials that are transformed during the manufacturing process and this is sometimes referred to as Operational Technology (OT) as opposed to IT. The digital capture of these properties and behaviours can then be used to define so-called Cyber Physical Systems. Given the power of these digital technologies it is of paramount importance that they operate safely and are not vulnerable to malicious interference. Industry 4.0 brings unprecedented cybersecurity challenges to manufacturing and the overall industrial sector and the case is made here that new codes of practice are needed for the combined Information Technology and Operational Technology worlds, but with a framework that should be native to Industry 4.0. Current computing technologies are also able to go in other directions than supporting the digital ‘sense to action’ process described above. One of these is to use digital technologies to enhance the ability of the human operators who are still essential within the manufacturing process. One such technology, that has recently become accessible for widespread adoption, is Augmented Reality, providing operators with real-time additional information in situ with the machines that they interact with in their workspace in a hands-free mode. Finally, two linked chapters discuss the specific application of digital technologies to High Pressure Die Casting (HDPC) of Magnesium components. Optimizing the HPDC process is a key task for increasing productivity and reducing defective parts and the first chapter provides an overview of the HPDC process with attention to the most common defects and their sources. It does this by first looking at real-time process control mechanisms, understanding the various process variables and assessing their impact on the end product quality. This understanding drives the choice of sensing methods and the associated smart digital workflow to allow real-time control and mitigation of variation in the identified variables. Also, data from this workflow can be captured and used for the design of optimised dies and associated processes

Shipbuilding 4.0 Index Approaching Supply Chain

The shipbuilding industry shows a special interest in adapting to the changes proposed by the industry 4.0. This article bets on the development of an index that indicates the current situation considering that supply chain is a key factor in any type of change, and at the same time it serves as a control tool in the implementation of improvements. The proposed indices provide a first definition of the paradigm or paradigms that best fit the supply chain in order to improve its sustainability and a second definition, regarding the key enabling technologies for Industry 4.0. The values obtained put shipbuilding on the road to industry 4.0 while suggesting categorized planning of technologies

Driving Manufacturing Systems for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

It has been a long way since the aroused of the Industry 4.0 and the companies' reality is not already align with this new concept. Industry 4.0 is ongoing slowly as it was expected that its maturity level should be higher. The companies´ managers should have a different approach to the adoption of the industry 4.0 enabling technologies on their manufacturing systems to create smart nets along all production process with the connection of elements on the manu-facturing system such as machines, employees, and systems. These smart nets can control and make autonomous decisions efficiently. Moreover, in the industry 4.0 environment, companies can predict problems and failures along all production process and react sooner regarding maintenance or production changes for instance. The industry 4.0 environment is a challenging area because changes the relation between humans and machines. In this way, the scope of this thesis is to contribute to companies adopting the industry 4.0 enabling technologies in their manufacturing systems to improve their competitiveness to face the incoming future. For this purpose, this thesis integrates a research line oriented to i) the understanding of the industry 4.0 concepts, and its enabling technologies to perform the vision of the smart factory, ii) the analysis of the industry 4.0 maturity level on a regional industrial sector and to understand how companies are facing the digital transformation challenges and its barriers, iii) to analyze in deep the industry 4.0 adoption in a company and understand how this company can reach higher maturity levels, and iv) the development of strategic scenarios to help companies on the digital transition, proposing risk mitigations plans and a methodology to develop stra-tegic scenarios. This thesis highlights several barriers to industry 4.0 adoption and also brings new ones to academic and practitioner discussion. The companies' perception related to these barriers Is also discussed in this thesis. The findings of this thesis are of significant interest to companies and managers as they can position themselves along this research line and take advantage of it using all phases of this thesis to perform a better knowledge of this industrial revolution, how to perform better industry 4.0 maturity levels and they can position themselves in the proposed strategic scenarios to take the necessary actions to better face this industrial revolution. In this way, it is proposed this research line for companies to accelerate their digital transformation.Já existe um longo percurso desde o aparecimento da indústria 4.0 e a realidade das empresas ainda não está alinhada com este novo conceito. A indústria 4.0 está em andamento lento, pois era esperado que o seu nível de maturidade fosse maior. Os gestores das empresas devem ter uma abordagem diferente na adoção das tecnologias facilitadoras da indústria 4.0 nos seus sistemas produtivos para criar redes inteligentes ao longo de todo o processo produtivo com a conexão de elementos do sistema produtivo como máquinas, operários e sistemas. Estas redes inteligentes podem controlar e tomar decisões autónomas com eficiência. Além disso, no ambiente da indústria 4.0, as empresas podem prever problemas e falhas ao longo de todo o processo produtivo e reagir mais cedo em relação a manutenções ou mudanças de produção, por exemplo. O ambiente da indústria 4.0 é uma área desafiadora devido às mudanças na relação entre humanos e máquinas. Desta forma, o objetivo desta tese é contribuir para que as empresas adotem as tecnologias facilitadoras das indústria 4.0 nos seus sistemas produtivos por forma a melhorar sua competitividade para enfrentar o futuro que se aproxima. Para isso, esta tese integra uma linha de investigação orientada para i) a compreensão dos conceitos da indústria 4.0, e suas tecnologias facilitadores para realizar a visão da fábrica inteligente, ii) a análise do nível de maturidade da indústria 4.0 num setor industrial regional e entender como as empresas estão enfrentando os desafios da transformação digital e suas barreiras, iii) analisar a fundo a adoção da indústria 4.0 numa empresa e entender como essa empresa pode atingir níveis mais elevados de maturidade, e iv) o desenvolvimento de cenários estratégicos para ajudar as empresas na transição digital, propondo planos de mitigação de riscos e uma metodologia para desenvolver cenários estratégicos. Esta tese destaca várias barreiras à adoção da indústria 4.0 e também traz novas barreiras para a discussão acadêmica e profissional. A perceção das empresas em relação a essas barreiras também é discutida nesta tese. As descobertas nesta tese são de grande interesse para empresas e gestores, pois podem-se posicionar ao longo desta linha de investigação e aproveitá-la utilizando todas as fases desta tese para obter um melhor conhecimento desta revolução industrial, como obter melhores níveis de maturidade da indústria 4.0 e possam posicionar-se nos cenários estratégicos propostos por forma a tomar as ações necessárias para melhorar o envolvimento nesta revolução industrial. Desta forma, propõe-se esta linha de investigação para que as empresas acelerem a sua transformação digital

Full, hybrid and platform complementarity: Exploring the industry 4.0 technology-performance link

Literature has increasingly recognized that manufacturing companies should implement a synergic bundle of solutions to fully exploit the potential of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), rather than opting for a scattered technological adoption. Enabling I4.0 technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and additive manufacturing, can be implemented through various combinations to achieve different impacts on a company's performance. But what are the possible ways of combining I4.0 technologies into bundles, and do these ways actually help to achieve a performance that outperforms the adoption of single technologies? This study aims to identify the potential patterns of the technological complementary of I4.0 by considering enabled applications and performance outcomes. We interviewed 13 Italian experts in the I4.0 field, and then combined the obtained information with secondary data collected from more than 150 I4.0 use cases, as well as from websites, reports and press releases. By adopting a systems theory lens, the results of the analysis have allowed us to identify the specific performance effects of both scattered and joint technological adoptions in different application areas. Interestingly, specific examples of I4.0 complementarities emerged, namely full, hybrid and platform complementarity. This study contributes to the growing research on I4.0 outcomes by extending the concept of technological complementary within the I4.0 context. Results show that bundles of technologies have a broader effect on performance than when the same technologies are adopted in isolation, but also that single technologies can impact specific applications and the overall performance of a firm via a systematic I4.0 transformation path

Digitalisation and Business Model Innovation: Exploring the Microfoundations of Dynamic Consistency

The Industry 4.0 paradigm (I4.0) as the digitalisation of manufacturing firms denotes the exploitation of real-time data originating from a ubiquitous interconnection of objects, machines and humans (via the internet) across the entire value network. I4.0 not only serves as a catalyst to improve value-adding activities or to design new product and service solutions but also, more fundamentally, enables manufacturing firms to innovate their established business models (BMs). Against this rapid socio-technological shift, manufacturers face the challenge of holistically innovating their BMs. This requires the individualisation of the value proposition alongside the flexibilisation of their value creating and capturing activities, as well as a continuous adaptation and alignment of these activities with the firm’s organisational systems and the resource and competence base. Adopting the view of a BMI (business model innovation) as a system of interdependent activities, the continuous alignment of activities across the BMI is called dynamic consistency. However, it is not clear what mechanisms denote the notion of dynamic consistency. This thesis operationalises the microfoundations of dynamic consistency in an I4.0-driven BMI by empirically investigating six European manufacturing firms. Following the design themes of BMI, it argues that the notion of dynamic consistency comprises three main aspects: (1) a value focus on data and software; (2) a flexi-directional interlinkage to facilitate the exchange of information and materials; (3) agile working ensembles governing changes to the activity system. Moreover, it proposes open-mindedness and integrity of behaviour as a cognitive foundation that facilitates changes to the activity system. Taken together, these microfoundations provide reasoning for manufacturing firms to transform their traditional make-and-sell BM into a sense-and-act BM, yielding higher profits and profitability. The results demonstrate that the notion of BMI as an activity system must be complemented by the cognitive perspective of BMI to sufficiently operationalise the concept of dynamic consistency. This thesis is anticipated to be a starting point for further studies to achieve consistency during I4.0-driven BMI to generate superior and sustained value appropriation for manufacturing firms.Ford Britain Trust, Queens' Colleg

Smart working technologies in industry 4.0 : contributions to different manufacturing activities and workers’ skills

A Indústria 4.0 é considerada a quarta revolução industrial porque utiliza uma ampla integração de tecnologias de informação e de operação na fabricação industrial. Apesar dessa perspectiva tecnológica, diversos estudos vêm evidenciando a importância de considerar o fator humano para o desenvolvimento de um sistema de manufatura inteligente. Nesse sentido, a dimensão denominada como Smart Working precisa ser melhor investigada, uma vez que entender como as tecnologias afetam os trabalhadores e as habilidades desses são cruciais para o bom desempenho das fábricas. Em razão disso, o objetivo desta dissertação foi entender como as Smart Working Technologies (SWT) podem contribuir para as atividades e as habilidades dos trabalhadores da manufatura. Para tanto, primeiramente foi realizada uma análise abrangente da literatura para identificar as SWT e seus impactos nas capacidades dos trabalhadores em suas atividades de manufatura. Deste modo, foram analisados 80 artigos que relacionam as SWT em oito atividades de manufatura. Posteriormente, foi selecionada uma das SWT mais relevantes conforme a literatura, os robôs colaborativos, para identificar os efeitos das tecnologias nas habilidades dos trabalhadores. Deste modo, foram analisados 138 casos de aplicação reportados por uma das empresas fornecedoras líderes mundiais, bem como três entrevistas com empresas adotantes da tecnologia. Os resultados apontam que existem 15 SWT que podem ser implementadas nas atividades de manufatura e relacionadas às capacidades dos trabalhadores. Além disso, os resultados também apontam que podem existir quatro efeitos das SWT nas habilidades dos trabalhadores. Estes achados demonstram que de acordo com a estratégia da empresa uma SWT pode impactar de diferentes formas os trabalhadores.Industry 4.0 is considered the fourth industrial revolution because it uses a broad integration of information and operating technologies in industrial manufacturing. Despite this technological perspective, several studies have highlighted the importance of considering the human factor to develop a smart manufacturing system. In this sense, the Smart Working dimension needs to be further investigated since understanding how technologies affect workers and their skills are crucial for factories' good performance. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation was to understand how Smart Working Technologies (SWT) can contribute to the activities and skills of manufacturing workers. To this end, firstly a systematic literature review was carried out to identify SWTs and their impacts on workers' capabilities in their manufacturing activities. Thus, 80 articles relating to SWT in eight manufacturing activities were analyzed. Subsequently, one of the most relevant SWTs according to the literature, collaborative robots, was selected to identify the effects of technologies on workers' skills. In this way, 138 application cases reported by one of the world's leading supplier companies were analyzed, as well as three interviews with companies that adopted the technology. The results show that there are 15 SWT that can be implemented in manufacturing activities and related to workers' capabilities. In addition, the results also point out that there may be four effects of SWT on workers' skills. According to the company's strategy, these findings demonstrate that an SWT can impact workers in different ways

Knowledge diffusion at a major central European automotive supplier

Diffusion of knowledge is a topic approached by modern economy to reach and sustain competitive advantage. As the environment is more uncertain, it is essential organisations learn to deal with new environmental changes as a consequence of Industry 4.0. The purpose of this project is to assess the adequacy of valuable knowledge diffusion in organisations during the implementation of Industry 4.0 principles and technologies. This diffusion is implemented in automotive businesses reaching an improvement of communication and production processes and consequently the productivity. This project establishes a case study, was adopted by an automotive industry Group focusing in promotion of knowledge diffusion and Industry 4.0 implementation among various stakeholders of the same company. The processes were analysed using observation, unstructured interviews and focus groups. The proposed challenge was to study how to apply Industry 4.0 to improve relevant knowledge sharing processes within the company. Regarding the needs and challenges identified, the best approach was to develop a communication channel which aligns the knowledge between all stakeholders. To link the two departments, recognize the value of an invention and achieve an innovation, some improvements were suggested and a new mean of communication was developed. The created product have not already been implemented due to time required, stakeholders busy schedule and R&D work dependability. With the proposed solution, the company will overcome the identified communication challenge and reduce the loss of important knowledge to maintain their progress.A difusão do conhecimento é um dos tópicos mais abordados pela economia moderna para alcançar e sustentar a vantagem competitiva. Como o ambiente empresarial é mais instável é fundamental que as organizações aprendam a lidar com as novas mudanças ambientais introduzidas pela Indústria 4.0. O objetivo deste projeto é avaliar no sponsor a adequação da difusão do seu conhecimento mais valioso na implementação dos princípios e tecnologias da Indústria 4.0. Esta difusão é implementada para melhorar os processos de comunicação e produção de forma a melhorar a sua produtividade no setor automóvel. Este projeto constitui um caso de estudo que foi abordado por um grupo da indústria automóvel para promover a difusão do conhecimento, melhorar processos de partilha de conhecimentos relevantes e a implementação da Indústria 4.0 entre os diversos stakeholders da empresa. Os processos foram analisados e os dados recolhidos por observação, entrevistas nãoestruturadas e focus groups. Em relação aos desafios identificados, a abordagem escolhida foi desenvolver um canal de comunicação para alinhar o conhecimento entre todas as partes interessadas. Para ligar os dois departamentos, reconhecer o valor de uma invenção e para alcançar uma inovação foram sugeridas algumas melhorias e desenvolvido um novo meio de comunicação. A implementação do produto ainda não foi realizada devido à sua duração, à agenda ocupada dos stakeholders e à dependência do trabalho resultante da P&D. Com a solução proposta, a empresa conseguirá ultrapassar o desafio de comunicação identificado e reduzirá as perdas de conhecimentos importantes para manter a sua evolução