Presentation of cases
| Case characteristics | Case A | Case B | Case C | Case D | Case E | Case F | Case G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company size (# of employees) | Medium (82) | Medium (190) | Medium (120) | Small (19) | Medium (87) | Medium (99) | Small (31) |
| Type of production | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete |
| Process structure complexity | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, low systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, high systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks |
| Product line complexity | Multiple product categories with low to medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with low to medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products |
| Manufacturing strategy | Low-cost | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost | Low-cost |
| Current employee competence profiles | Some unskilled, most vocationally trained, few higher education | Some unskilled, most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education |
| Status of innovation project at the time of data collection | The innovation is implemented and is being used in operations | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The innovation is undergoing final test runs | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The design and technical specifications of the solution are decided | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The design requirements are chosen |
| Type of problem | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex |
| Manufacturing innovation | Has mounted sensors on machines in production to measure OEE performance live. The operators can monitor the performance on tablets and get indications if machine settings need to be adjusted. Data from all machines is aggregated in a dashboard, which the production manager can use to track OEE performance | Has made a configurator for managing product variety. Currently, customers can use the configurator to design a product | Has invested in a new intelligent production line where the whole process except feeding and packaging is hands-off. The production line’s design reduces changeover times from approximately two hours to 20 min | Has installed an intelligent tool cabinet, which assists employees in picking the correct tool. The cabinet also keeps track of tool inventory levels and informs management if a reorder point is reached | Introduction of an AGV in the production to move products to and from inventory | Dashboard in the control room, which shows quality control results from production. The controller in the control room uses this information to assess whether adjustments are needed in the production | Sensors on the production line shall collect OEE data to continuously monitor the line, identify problems, and improve efficiency |
| Prior solution | OEE monitoring was calculated when the production order was finished. Operator experience informed adjustments to machine settings | Three employees would design the product manually | Use other production lines with longer changeover times and more manual handling in the production process | Employees would grab the tools they needed, and the need for reordering had to be controlled manually. Also, tools were often not returned after the end of use, and colleagues had to search the production to locate a tool | All movements of products in the production were performed with manually operated forklifts | All results from one day’s quality control were collected into one file, manually transported, and handed over to the control room | Identification and evaluation of problems on the production line was based on operators’ experience |
| Future extensions of the solution | Integration to ERP system and more features in the dashboard | The following steps are to connect the configurator to a webshop and design it to generate data to produce the product | Sensors are built into the production line, so the company looks into which data is collected and how it can exploit it to improve the production line further. The company is also planning to introduce AGVs to the production line | The tool cabinet will be linked to customer orders to ensure the correct match between product specifications and tool attributes | The current project focuses on introducing one AGV, but once the company has successfully installed this, it expects to invest in more AGVs to replace manual transportation in production | The dashboard is continuously updated with new features based on inputs from operations and management | Eventually, all information on whiteboards and paper in the production should be digitalized |
| Case characteristics | Case A | Case B | Case C | Case D | Case E | Case F | Case G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company size (# of employees) | Medium (82) | Medium (190) | Medium (120) | Small (19) | Medium (87) | Medium (99) | Small (31) |
| Type of production | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete | Discrete |
| Process structure complexity | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, low systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, some systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks | High mechanization of production processes, high systemization of production processes and activities, and some degree of interconnection of production process tasks |
| Product line complexity | Multiple product categories with low to medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with low to medium complexity of end-products | Multiple product categories with medium complexity of end-products |
| Manufacturing strategy | Low-cost | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost/mass customization | Low-cost | Low-cost |
| Current employee competence profiles | Some unskilled, most vocationally trained, few higher education | Some unskilled, most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education | Most vocationally trained, few higher education |
| Status of innovation project at the time of data collection | The innovation is implemented and is being used in operations | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The innovation is undergoing final test runs | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The design and technical specifications of the solution are decided | The innovation is implemented and used in operations | The design requirements are chosen |
| Type of problem | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex |
| Manufacturing innovation | Has mounted sensors on machines in production to measure OEE performance live. The operators can monitor the performance on tablets and get indications if machine settings need to be adjusted. Data from all machines is aggregated in a dashboard, which the production manager can use to track OEE performance | Has made a configurator for managing product variety. Currently, customers can use the configurator to design a product | Has invested in a new intelligent production line where the whole process except feeding and packaging is hands-off. The production line’s design reduces changeover times from approximately two hours to 20 min | Has installed an intelligent tool cabinet, which assists employees in picking the correct tool. The cabinet also keeps track of tool inventory levels and informs management if a reorder point is reached | Introduction of an AGV in the production to move products to and from inventory | Dashboard in the control room, which shows quality control results from production. The controller in the control room uses this information to assess whether adjustments are needed in the production | Sensors on the production line shall collect OEE data to continuously monitor the line, identify problems, and improve efficiency |
| Prior solution | OEE monitoring was calculated when the production order was finished. Operator experience informed adjustments to machine settings | Three employees would design the product manually | Use other production lines with longer changeover times and more manual handling in the production process | Employees would grab the tools they needed, and the need for reordering had to be controlled manually. Also, tools were often not returned after the end of use, and colleagues had to search the production to locate a tool | All movements of products in the production were performed with manually operated forklifts | All results from one day’s quality control were collected into one file, manually transported, and handed over to the control room | Identification and evaluation of problems on the production line was based on operators’ experience |
| Future extensions of the solution | Integration to ERP system and more features in the dashboard | The following steps are to connect the configurator to a webshop and design it to generate data to produce the product | Sensors are built into the production line, so the company looks into which data is collected and how it can exploit it to improve the production line further. The company is also planning to introduce AGVs to the production line | The tool cabinet will be linked to customer orders to ensure the correct match between product specifications and tool attributes | The current project focuses on introducing one AGV, but once the company has successfully installed this, it expects to invest in more AGVs to replace manual transportation in production | The dashboard is continuously updated with new features based on inputs from operations and management | Eventually, all information on whiteboards and paper in the production should be digitalized |
Source(s): Authors’ own work
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