European Manufacturing Industry Research Articles

Characterization and explanation of the sustainability of the European wood manufacturing industries: A quantitative approach

This paper has a twofold purpose. First, to characterize the sustainability of the European wood manufacturing industry. In this way, a ranking of the European countries analyzed in terms of sustainability is established. To undertake this task the sustainability of each country is defined by using several indicators of diverse nature (economic, environmental and social). These indicators are aggregated into a composite or synthetic index with the help of a binary goal programming model. In this way, a ranking according to the sustainability of the wood manufacturing industry in the European countries studied is obtained. The second step in the research consists of explaining the causes behind the level of sustainability of each country. This task is carried out by taking the composite indexes of sustainability as endogenous variables and a tentative set of economic, environmental and social variables as explanatory variables. The link between endogenous and exogenous variables is made with the help of econometric models.

Training ultra precision engineers for UK manufacturing industry

Ultra Precision Engineers are in demand in both UK and European manufacturing industries. Engineering Companies can address this skills shortage by training existing staff or recruiting new staff with the appropriate skills. Since companies are understandably reluctant to lose key staff for re-training, it is preferable to meet the shortfall by recruitment. This paper describes how UK engineering companies have worked in partnership with academia to design a postgraduate course in ultra precision technologies. The new Masters level course has come to fruition under the auspices of the integrated knowledge centre in Ultra Precision structured surfaces (UPS2), as a component of its Knowledge Transfer portfolio. The MSc in "Ultra Precision Technologies" is led by Cranfield University, with support from University College London and the University of Cambridge. The role of industrial partners is described, from course design to student placements for individual project work; and the lessons learned from the first four cohorts are discussed.

Does downsizing really matter? Evidence from Japanese multinationals in the European manufacturing industry

This article empirically examines the antecedents and consequences of organizational downsizing using a sample of 67 Japanese multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries operating in the European manufacturing industry. To date, existing findings on the occurrence of downsizing at the subsidiary level are based on anecdotal accounts or simple descriptive surveys without any clear-cut conceptual framework that addresses factors and consequences of downsizing events. This study provides evidence that the macro-environmental (e.g. demand declines, international competition) and organizational factors (e.g. stagnant sales growth and poor profitability improvement of international competitiveness, development of stable management) were the central motivations for firms to engage in workforce reductions. Using the ordered probit and multiple regression techniques, a negative relationship was found between the adoption of downsizing by firms and perceived market and organizational performance, namely sales growth and employee motivation. This article also presents managerial implications and methodological limitations.

Support system for efficient dosage of orchard and vineyard spraying products

This paper establishes a system to support the dose evaluation part of the pesticide registration process so that growers can make more efficient use of different spraying products across a broad range of European orchards and vineyards. The system comprises: a dose adjustment model and a small database of standard target structures (i.e., regional exemplars where efficient and efficacious use of pesticide is obtained at the label dose rate). The model includes a generalised scaling group relationship between the parameters that describe: sprayer output, target row structure and spray volume deposit. The upper limit for dose adjustment is based on the environmental fate of pesticide and this is represented in the model by the ratio of maximum ground area dose rate to minimum efficacious deposit which is normalised for alignment with target structure measurements. The model is used to examine the leaf-wall-area dose rate recently proposed by the European agrochemical manufacturing industry for harmonising pesticide registration. Good agreement is demonstrated between published measurements and model predictions of ground area and leaf-wall-area dose rate variation at constant deposit for a wide range of target structures (i.e., English pome- and stone-fruit orchards and Italian vineyards). The results are used to establish standard target structures for spraying products with different uses. These standards are needed by regulators to: translate between the different methods of expressing dose rate and improve the accuracy of label dose recommendations. The standards are also needed by growers to enable: more accurate calibration of spraying equipment and prediction of the optimum adjustment of label dose rate for different orchards and vineyards.

Impact of disaggregated ICT capital on electricity intensity in European manufacturing

In this article we empirically analyse the impact of disaggregated ICT capital on the electricity intensity in five major European manufacturing industries (chemical, food, metal, pulp and paper, textile). The analysis of each industrial sector is based on an unbalanced panel including data for eight EU member countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK) for the period 1991 to 2005. The panel-econometric approach, in which we account for country-specific fixed effects, is based on a factor demand model similar to the one derived in Collard et al. (2005) for the French service sector. On the one hand, our analysis provides some evidence for an electricity-saving effect on production, induced by communication technologies in all sectors considered. On the other hand, the effect of computers and software on the electricity intensity of industrial production is not that clear-cut, but it does seem to be strongly dependent on the sector-specific production processes involved. Overall, the net effect of ICT diffusion on electricity intensity of production appears to be in favour of an enhancement of electricity efficiency in production.

The relevance of service in European manufacturing industries

PurposeCase study findings increasingly indicate that the implementation of service‐based business concepts is becoming a global business trend. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a broad European survey to understand the extent to which service infusion has already deeply affected manufacturing industries and the factors influencing service infusion.Design/methodology/approachData from 3,376 companies participating in the European Manufacturing Survey were included in an evaluation of service offerings and service sales. Multivariate data analyzes were used to develop statistically relevant conclusions regarding service infusion and the factors influencing it.FindingsWhereas, the vast majority of companies surveyed offer services, the turnover generated by services was still low, and the adopted service strategies did not seem fully developed. The most significant determinant of service sales was the breadth of services offered. Other relevant explanatory factors included the characteristics of the type of products sold, whereas the position in the supply chain did not seem to affect service infusion.Research limitations/implicationsUsing large‐scale survey data, this analysis provides a representative picture of service infusion in manufacturing industries and related causal relationships. Further qualitative research should develop interpretations of the relationships found in our quantitative analysis; as such, subsequent quantitative analyzes are necessary.Originality/valueAs most previous studies on service infusion are based on case study reports, the value of this paper comes from its use of a broad empirical database. Thus, the paper supports, confirms, and generalizes previous qualitative findings.

Delocation in the Manufacturing Sectors in the EU: A Regional Overview

The question of delocation in main industrial regions across the EU is approached here, and its effects on jobs losses estimated. Seventy five regions are selected following the double criteria of size of the manufacturing industries and high per capita income levels. Taken together, the selected regions account for 65% of total manufacturing GVA in the EU-15. Delocation affected half of them in the period 2000-2005 when competition in the international markets rose and shows higher intensity in most of the British, French and Italian regions although its aggregate effect on employment seems have being offset for growth in services sectors. On the other hand, regions located in the continental area with more market potential have the highest concentration of location effects. Therefore delocation has changed the location of European manufacturing industry, benefiting those latter regions and perhaps bringing higher spatial concentration.

The Effectiveness of the Public Support Policies for the European Industry Financing as a Contribution to Sustainable Development

In recent years, the debate about the role of the Public Institutions in the fields of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development has gained momentum. Nevertheless, the ambiguity of the latter concepts makes it difficult both to measure them and to estimate the impact that the different public initiatives may have on them. In this sense, the present research has the aim to design a fuzzy logic-based methodology applied to the evaluation of the above-mentioned processes in relation to the state-aid policies for the European industry. Regarding the study contour, the European Union state aids seems not to have introduced important changes leading to socially responsible results and, therefore, favourable for the sustainable development generated by the European manufacturing industry.

Demand and innovation in productivity growth

The labour productivity impact of demand and innovation is investigated in this paper combining insights from the Kaldorian and Schumpeterian traditions. After a review of studies in such traditions, a general model is proposed for explaining productivity growth in European manufacturing and service industries in the late 1990s, followed by two distinct specifications for the industries oriented toward product innovation, and for those where process innovation dominates. The empirical analysis is based on the match of the SIEPI‐CIS2 database developed at the University of Urbino and Eurostat Input–Output Tables at the industry level, for 22 manufacturing sectors and 10 services sectors. Six European countries are considered: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The results show that productivity growth in European industries can be explained by a combination of technology factors and demand dynamics, confirming the complementarity of technology and demand effects. On the demand side, household consumption emerges as the most pervasive component of demand, able to stimulate greater efficiency in all manufacturing and service industries. Investment also has a role, focused however on the capital goods producing industries. On the technology side, the mechanisms of productivity growth are fundamentally different in the industries oriented towards product innovation and in those dominated by process innovation. This evidence supports the view that innovation in firms and industries can be associated to two contrasting strategies, searching either for technological competitiveness, through knowledge generation, product innovation and expansion of new markets, or aiming at greater cost competitiveness, through job reductions, labour saving investment, flexibility and restructuring.

The future of manufacturing industry in Europe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges facing European manufacturing industry in an age of increasing global competitiveness and to explore models for survival.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reflects on trends in global manufacturing and examines the issues faced by European manufacturers.FindingsManufacturing still has an important role to play in ensuring community welfare; and there are ways in which European manufacturing industry can establish a secure future.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests ways in which industry, supported by government, might change to become more competitive in an era of global competition.Originality/valueThe paper presents a useful exploration of the issues and challenges facing modern manufacturing organisations in Europe.

The interactions between national systems and sectoral patterns of innovation

Do national and sectoral innovation systems interact with each other? The paper explores this unexplored question by carrying out a cross-sector cross-country analysis of European systems of innovation in the 1990s. The empirical study takes Pavitt’s (Res Policy 13:343–373, 1984) taxonomy as a starting point, and it investigates the cross-country variability of Pavitt’s sectoral patterns of innovation. The analysis leads to three main results. First, the various technological trajectories show large differences across countries, due to the influence of national innovation systems. Second, there is evidence that the interaction between national systems and sectoral patterns of innovation constitutes an independent source of variability in the sample. Third, the analysis leads to the identification of eight sector- and country-specific technological trajectories in European manufacturing industries, and, based on that, proposes a refinement of Pavitt’s taxonomy. The refined taxonomy, in a nutshell, suggests that sectoral systems must be supported by and interact with their respective national systems in order to become industrial leaders.

Exposure to inhalable dust and its cyclohexane soluble fraction since the 1970s in the rubber manufacturing industry in the European Union

Objectives: As exposures to airborne particulates in the European rubber industry might still be causing genotoxic risks, it is important to assess trends in levels of inhalable dust and its...

Creating agile supply networks in the fashion industry: A pilot study of the European textile and clothing industry

Despite the rapid downfall in the European textile and clothing industry, strategic management research within the sector has been fairly limited. European textile manufacturers have had to work hard to sustain profitability and respond to large-scale imports from low labour rate sources of production. For the European industry to survive, further research is needed to support manufacturers, distributors and retailers in creating strategies for the global textile supply chain to be managed efficiently and effectively. This paper introduces agile merchandising as a new value adding strategy for the European clothing and textile manufacturing industry. Developed from existing theory and a case study involving 11 European textile manufacturers, the concept of creating strategic agile supply networks in the textile fashion industry has been investigated. The results suggest that by incorporating the cooperative advantages of European manufacturers into the sourcing process, retailers would be better able to respond to the volatile and unpredictable nature of fashion garment demand.

Innovation and Productivity in European Industries

The labour productivity impact of innovation is investigated in this paper combining neo-Schumpeterian insights on the variety of innovation with the importance of industrial structures and firm size; two models are proposed for explaining productivity and export success in European manufacturing industries and firm-size classes. The empirical estimates are based on data from the European innovation survey (CIS 2), covering Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK, broken down by 22 sectors and for large, medium, and small firms. The econometric results, obtained adopting cross-sectional estimation methodologies able to account for unobserved industrial characteristics, show that productivity in Europe relies on product and process innovation, with the support of the efficiency gains provided by grouped business structures. Conversely, in Italy the introduction of new machinery linked to innovation appears as the key mechanism supporting domestic productivity. When export success is considered, all countries have to rely on an innovation-based model of competitiveness.

Managing knowledge in manufacturing: results of a Delphi study in European manufacturing industry

We examine the role and importance of knowledge management in European manufacturing, based on a comprehensive Delphi survey that covers a wide range of aspects relevant for future competitiveness of European manufacturing. The importance of various knowledge management activities, their estimated time of realisation, effects on employment, competitiveness, living and working conditions and possible barriers of implementation such as the level of education and qualification, economic viability, social acceptability, technical feasibility are analysed. The results highlight the consensus about the importance of knowledge as a strategically important resource and indicate a shift from resource-based towards knowledge-based manufacturing has already started. The results reveal inconsistencies between avowed importance of knowledge management and scepticism toward some aspects that potentially foster knowledge developments. It also indicates that education emerges as frequently mentioned barrier for implementing knowledge management activities. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at strengthening knowledge-based production in the European manufacturing.

Strategic R&D Location in European Manufacturing Industries

We develop and empirically test a model of foreign R&D investments that takes into account strategic interaction in R&D location decisions by multinational firms in the context of R&D spillovers and foreign technology sourcing strategies. In a two-country, two-firm model with cross investments, the optimal share of R&D performed abroad depends on the efficiency of intra-firm international technology transfer, the degree of inter-firm R&D spillovers, the intensity of product market competition, and the importance of the general knowledge pool. The impact of these factors differs markedly between technology leading firms and technology laggards. We find support for most of the predictions of the model in an empirical analysis of patents based on innovations in foreign countries by 131 leading European manufacturing firms in 22 ISIC industries in 1996-1997. For technology leaders, the share of patents originating in other EU countries responds positively to host country product market competition and is strongly increasing in the level of intellectual property rights protection. Foreign R&D by technology laggards is discouraged by host country competition but increases with the efficiency of (reverse) technology transfer. Foreign R&D of both leaders and laggards increases with the size of the local knowledge pool and the size of production operations in the host country.

The location of American and Japanese multinationals in Europe

This paper examines the determinants of location choice of American and Japanese foreign direct investment in European manufacturing industries in the early 1990s. The new data used in this study covers 340 Japanese-owned affiliates and 2,312 US-owned affiliates distributed across 38 regions and 7 member states in the European Union. The statistical analysis finds, most importantly, that the location decisions of US and Japanese MNEs are not the same. The Japanese results are consistent with the behavior that firms consider production-cost factors more important than demand-side factors, suggesting Japanese firms’ motive to establish local production capacity to export within the EU market. On the contrary, both cost-side and demand-side factors are found important determinants of location choices for US firms. The results also suggest that location decisions are industry-specific.

Field comparison of inhalable aerosol samplers applied in the european rubber manufacturing industry

Several studies have been done in Europe to evaluate exposure to dust and fumes in the rubber industry. However, different aerosol sampling devices have been used which perform differently depending on the environmental conditions and particle size distribution. To compare measurements of rubber dust and fumes among countries and surveys we initiated a field comparison of personal inhalable samplers using a novel reference inhalable aerosol sampler (CALTOOL). Measurements were done in four factories in the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland and Germany in the mixing and milling and curing department. The Seven-hole sampler, PAS-6 sampler, Millipore (25 and 37 mm) cassette, IOM sampler and a Polish sampler were mounted on the reference CALTOOL device and used simultaneously. All samplers except the IOM sampler under-sampled inhalable dust. To compare measurements from different studies and countries, correction factors should be applied to all but the IOM sampler, which was the only sampler that performed similar to the CALTOOL sampler.

Strategic R&D Location in European Manufacturing Industries

We develop and empirically test a model of foreign R&D investments that takes into account strategic interaction in R&D location decisions by multinational firms in the context of R&D spillovers and foreign technology sourcing strategies. In a two-country, two-firm model with cross investments, the optimal share of R&D performed abroad depends on the efficiency of intra-firm international technology transfer, the degree of inter-firm R&D spillovers, the intensity of product market competition, and the importance of the general knowledge pool. The impact of these factors differs markedly between technology leading firms and technology laggards. We find support for most of the predictions of the model in an empirical analysis of patents based on innovations in foreign countries by 131 leading European manufacturing firms in 22 ISIC industries in 1996-1997. For technology leaders, the share of patents originating in other EU countries responds positively to host country product market competition and is strongly increasing in the level of intellectual property rights protection. Foreign R&D by technology laggards is discouraged by host country competition but increases with the efficiency of (reverse) technology transfer. Foreign R&D of both leaders and laggards increases with the size of the local knowledge pool and the size of production operations in the host country.

Are Variance Components of Exposure Heterogeneous Between Time Periods and Factories in the European Carbon Black Industry?

Occupational exposure to chemical agents can vary enormously within- and between-workers, even when carrying out the same jobs. When repeated measurements are available, the variance components can be estimated using random- or mixed-effects models. Pooling the variance components across the fixed effects, in mixed-effects models, reduces the complexity of the models; especially, when there are a large number of fixed effects. The analyses presented in this paper tested the assumptions of homogeneity in the variance components between factories and surveys for inhalable dust exposure in the European carbon black manufacturing industry. In total, 5296 measurements from 1771 workers were available collected during two surveys carried out between 1991 and 1995. Workers were grouped into eight job categories, and for each of these separate mixed-effects models were developed, including factory, survey and in some cases the interaction term as the fixed effects. The likelihood ratio test was used to test the assumptions of homogeneity of the variance components. Statistically significant heterogeneity of the variance components was observed for two of the eight job categories, 'Fitter/Welder' and 'Warehouseman'. The heterogeneity was due mainly to differences in variance between the factories. When estimating the probability of overexposure for all the factories combined, there was little difference between the models with and without heterogeneous variance components for 'Fitters/Welders'. For the 'Warehousemen' the probability of overexposure in the last survey changed marginally from 4% in the pooled model to 6% in the heterogeneous model. Larger differences between the models were observed when estimating the probability of overexposure for individual factories, which was due to over- or under-estimation of the variance components in the pooled models. In conclusion, for most job categories pooling of the variance components appears to be justified in this database. In addition, no large differences were found when determining the industry-wide probability of 'overexposure' when comparing the pooled with the heterogeneous models. However, when evaluating the factory-specific probability of 'overexposure' or when using the models to provide exposure estimates for epidemiological studies heterogeneity in the variance components should be investigated.