A tool to evaluate design performance in SMEs

PurposeThe creation of well‐designed products is widely acknowledged as an important contributor to company success. In principle, an effective design process, as part of the wider new product development (NPD) process, should result in well‐designed products. This paper aims to present a tool to enable a design team to evaluate their design process in a workshop setting, with a view to targeting improvements.Design/methodology/approachThis tool is based on literature and has been iteratively developed using a mixed research approach, including detailed exploratory cases and application in action research mode.FindingsThe resulting tool comprises two main components. A “process audit” based on process maturity principles, which targets the design‐related activities in NPD. The process audit enables a company team to identify improvement opportunities in the design process. A product audit enables perceptions towards product characteristics to be assessed. The audit tool does not seek to be a benchmarking tool, but aims to capture “good design” principles in a form which is accessible and useful to practitioners.Practical implicationsIn use, the tool enabled managers to balance their concern with meeting budget and timescale demands against the importance of producing well‐designed products. By first focusing on the tangible output of the design process – the product – practitioners are better able to understand the way in which design decisions influence product usability, desirability and producibility. Evidence from cases confirms the value and originality of this tool.Originality/valuePrevious tools addressing product development have focused on strategic and managerial concerns. This novel assessment tool focuses explicitly on design issues, within the wider context of NPD.</jats:sec

Towards a Framework for Smart Manufacturing adoption in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Smart Manufacturing (SM) paradigm adoption can scale production with demand without compromising on the time for order fulfillment. A smart manufacturing system (SMS) is vertically and horizontally connected, and thus it can minimize the chances of miscommunication. Employees in an SME are aware of the operational requirements and their responsibilities. The machine schedules are prepared based on the tasks a machine must perform. Predictive maintenance reduces the downtime of machines. Design software optimizes the product design. Production feasibility is checked with the help of simulation. The concepts of product life cycle management are considered for waste reduction. Employee safety, and ergonomics, identifying new business opportunities and markets, focus on employee education and skill enhancement are some of the other advantages of SM paradigm adoption. This dissertation develops an SM paradigm adoption framework for manufacturing SMEs by employing the instrumental research approach. The first step in the framework identified the technical aspects of SM, and this step was followed by identifying the research gaps in the suggested methods (in literature) and managerial aspects for adopting SM paradigm. The technical and the managerial aspects were integrated into a toolkit for manufacturing SMEs. This toolkit contains seven modular toolboxes that can be installed in five levels, depending on an SME’s readiness towards SM. The framework proposed in this dissertation focuses on how an SME’s readiness can be assessed and based on its present readiness what tools and practices the SMEs need to have to realize their tailored vision of SM. The framework was validated with the help of two SMEs cases that have recently adopted SM practices

A Literature Review on Cloud Computing Adoption Issues in Enterprises

Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceCloud computing has received increasing interest from enterprises since its inception. With its innovative information technology (IT) services delivery model, cloud computing could add technical and strategic business value to enterprises. However, cloud computing poses highly concerning internal (e.g., Top management and experience) and external issues (e.g., regulations and standards). This paper presents a systematic literature review to explore the current key issues related to cloud computing adoption. This is achieved by reviewing 51 articles published about cloud computing adoption. Using the grounded theory approach, articles are classified into eight main categories: internal, external, evaluation, proof of concept, adoption decision, implementation and integration, IT governance, and confirmation. Then, the eight categories are divided into two abstract categories: cloud computing adoption factors and processes, where the former affects the latter. The results of this review indicate that enterprises face serious issues before they decide to adopt cloud computing. Based on the findings, the paper provides a future information systems (IS) research agenda to explore the previously under-investigated areas regarding cloud computing adoption factors and processes. This paper calls for further theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the research area of cloud computing adoption by enterprises

Software und Usability Engineering und User Experience in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

Die Forschung zu Software Engineering, ebenso wie zum Usability Engineering und UX hat traditionell – wenn es sich nicht ohnehin um Grundlagenforschung handelt – eher auf große Unternehmen fokussiert. Dies ist sicherlich auch der Geschichte der Informationstechnologie und der Informatik geschuldet, die maßgeblich von großen Unternehmen wie IBM, Microsoft oder Apple vorangetrieben wurde. Die besonderen Herausforderungen, vor denen kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) stehen, wenn sie selbst Software entwickeln oder entwickeln lassen, haben bisher in der Forschung einen weniger deutlichen Niederschlag gefunden. Vor dem Hintergrund einer zunehmenden Digitalisierung und Vernetzung aller Wirtschaftsbereiche scheint eine Auseinandersetzung mit den Auswirkungen auf KMU besonders wichtig

Deoxy technologies: a medical technology startup project: business plan for UK market

L26, O32DEOXY Technologies is a seed-stage medical technology project whose future core business will be based on an innovative Gene Expression profiling (GEP) nanotechnology, developed and patented at Harvard University. The project is located at Ludwig-Maximilian University (Germany) and its goal is to develop diagnostic tests for clinical market where price, speed and automation are competitive advantages. DEOXY Technologies intends to become a global and "lean" company focused on development and manufacturing of molecular tests (in vitro medical devices). This is a strategic analysis and a feasibility study for the breast cancer market. Breast cancer is the most frequent female cancer affecting 12% of women, worldwide and is seen as a paradigm of precision medicine success. The promoter identifies a clinical application for the GEP technology and proposes an alliance with an USA biomarker-focused company whose assets are complementary to the technology. The strategic analysis was based on a macroenvironmental analysis for the entrance market: United Kingdom, where regulatory and reimbursement contexts were systematized, and for Germany the country of development and manufacturing, where the impact of governmental support and the integration in a biotechnology cluster are critical favorable factors. In the microenvironmental analysis the high barriers to entrance and the importance of planning an exit strategy were underlined. The economic and financial viability analysis revealed that governmental funding is a critical success factor, as demonstrated by the positivity of the APV and emphasized the importance of a market expansion plan before starting operations. The scenario analysis explored how reimbursement and healthcare policies may impact the economic and financial viability of the project.A DEOXY Technologies é um projeto, baseado numa nanotecnologia inovadora de análise perfis de expressão genética (APEG), descoberta e patenteada na Universidade de Harvard. O projeto está integrado na Universidade de Ludwig-Maximilians, (Alemanha) e é candidato a fundos de investimento governamentais. A DEOXY Technologies acredita que por possuir uma tecnologia inovadora pode desenvolver máquinas de APEG e testes moleculares para o mercado clínico, onde o preço, automatização e rapidez serão vantagens competitivas. A DEOXY Technologies planeia tornar-se uma empresa global e "lean", focada no desenvolvimento e produção de testes moleculares "in vitro". Este plano de negócios contém a análise estratégica e económico-financeira para o mercado do cancro da mama, em Inglaterra (Reino Unido). O cancro da mama é o cancro mais frequente na mulher, afetando 12% desta população, e é paradigmático do sucesso da medicina de precisão. O promotor identifica uma necessidade clínica e para sua concretização propõe uma aliança com uma empresa biotecnológica detentora de ativos intelectuais complementares aos da DEOXY Technologies. A estratégia proposta baseia-se na análise PEST para o Reino Unido, contendo a regulamentação e etapas-chave para obter reembolso, e análise PEST para Alemanha, destacando-se a relevância do apoio governamental e da inserção num cluster biotecnológico como fatores críticos de sucesso. Da análise micro-ambiental salientam-se as barreiras à entrada e a importância da estratégia de saída nesta indústria. O estudo de viabilidade económico-financeira revelou que os fundos governamentais são um fator critico para a exequibilidade e viabilidade económico-financeira do projeto, sendo o valor atualizado ajustado o único indicador positivo. A análise de cenários demonstra como as políticas de cuidados de saúde influenciam a estratégia e a viabilidade económico-financeira do projeto

The First 25 Years of the Bled eConference: Themes and Impacts

The Bled eConference is the longest-running themed conference associated with the Information Systems discipline. The focus throughout its first quarter-century has been the application of electronic tools, migrating progressively from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) via Inter-Organisational Systems (IOS) and eCommerce to encompass all aspects of the use of networking facilities in industry and government, and more recently by individuals, groups and society as a whole. This paper reports on an examination of the conference titles and of the titles and abstracts of the 773 refereed papers published in the Proceedings since 1995. This identified a long and strong focus on categories of electronic business and corporate perspectives, which has broadened in recent years to encompass the democratic, the social and the personal. The conference\u27s extend well beyond the papers and their thousands of citations and tens of thousands of downloads. Other impacts have included innovative forms of support for the development of large numbers of graduate students, and the many international research collaborations that have been conceived and developed in a beautiful lake-side setting in Slovenia

Electronic commerce logistics in developing countries: The case of online grocery shopping in Jordan

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Docter of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Online grocery shopping is one of the Internet business applications that received much attention in the last few years. Online grocery shopping has grown at a fast scale in the developed countries, where customers and retailers have benefited from it. However, this service remains in its infancy stage in developing countries. Groceries are one of the most difficult objects to sell online mainly, because of sensory and delivery issues. Online customers still worry about product quality, and they demand optimum logistical services, convenience, reliability and timely delivery service. Therefore, retailers have to respond to these expectations by developing convenient logistical services while keeping this process cost-efficient as much as possible. The main aim of this research is to design an e-commerce logistical decision support system for grocery retailers in Jordan as a case study of applying online grocery shopping in a developing country. Grocery retailers will be exposed to this model, and will be able to determine the most suitable logistical delivery system in the future. In order to achieve this aim, the designed system incorporates a web ordering system to collect customer orders, embedded map source (Google Maps) and a database system. The collected data then exported to one of the available routing and scheduling online solutions in order to identify, analyze and statistically compare the cost efficiencies of the available delivery alternatives. Moreover, two specially designed questionnaires were distributed among a group of customers and grocery retailers in Jordan, asking about their attitudes towards online grocery shopping and its delivery service. The results from analyzing the questionnaires data statistically were also used as input parameters for the designed system evaluation process. The findings from the questionnaires data statistical analysis indicated that Jordanian customers and retailers have positive attitudes towards online grocery shopping. The results also showed that customers and retailers have serious concerns towards the delivery service in Jordan. Customers are mainly worried about the availability of a suitable delivery service, while retailers are worried about the market size for the delivery service. The findings from implementing and statistically testing the proposed model over three delivery alternatives showed that there are differences between the mean values of the delivery alternatives among their key performance indicators (cost, distance and time). The questionnaire respondents indicated that they both prefer the pickup point service after home delivery for customers and after shop pickup for retailers. Depending on the level of investments that grocery retailers would like to implement and according to the experiment results, it could be concluded that pickup point solution is the best logistical strategy for retailers to start with.Jerash Private University, Jordan

Implementing Industry 4.0 in SMEs

This open access book addresses the practical challenges that Industry 4.0 presents for SMEs. While large companies are already responding to the changes resulting from the fourth industrial revolution , small businesses are in danger of falling behind due to the lack of examples, best practices and established methods and tools. Following on from the publication of the previous book ‘Industry 4.0 for SMEs: Challenges, Opportunities and Requirements’, the authors offer in this new book innovative results from research on smart manufacturing, smart logistics and managerial models for SMEs. Based on a large scale EU-funded research project involving seven academic institutions from three continents and a network of over fifty small and medium sized enterprises, the book reveals the methods and tools required to support the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 along with practical examples