Manufacturing IT Research Articles

Digital supply chains for ecosystem resilience: a framework for the Italian case

AbstractContingency where exogenous and dramatic factors (i.e. Covid) impact not only on political and social life but also on economy is changing the way business is managed. Grounded on recent works studying the relationship between digitalisation and resilience, this work aims to systematize the links between the two dimensions at Supply Chains (SC) and at ecosystem level. A conceptual framework for manufacturing companies and policy makers is proposed to cope with disruptions thanks to digital technology implementation. The work is based on the results of an explorative analysis held with the support of practitioners from the manufacturing sector, IT providers and policy makers in Italy to systematise results and to demonstrate that public–private partnership can help to face disruptions. This paper contributes to the theory of ecosystems to establish a systemic framework to go beyond the border of each SC proposing a cross-collaboration model.

The Potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence Across Disciplines: Perspectives and Future Directions

ABSTRACT In a short span of time since its introduction, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered much interest at both personal and organizational levels. This is because of its potential to cause drastic and widespread shifts in many aspects of life that are comparable to those of the Internet and smartphones. More specifically, generative AI utilizes machine learning, neural networks, and other techniques to generate new content (e.g. text, images, music) by analyzing patterns and information from the training data. This has enabled generative AI to have a wide range of applications, from creating personalized content to improving business operations. Despite its many benefits, there are also significant concerns about the negative implications of generative AI. In view of this, the current article brings together experts in a variety of fields to expound and provide multi-disciplinary insights on the opportunities, challenges, and research agendas of generative AI in specific industries (i.e. marketing, healthcare, human resource, education, banking, retailing, the workplace, manufacturing, and sustainable IT management).

Cyber-physical production system approach for energy and resource efficient planning and operation of plating process chains

Plating process chains are characterized by a high specific energy and resource demand as well as a high complexity due to dynamic interdependencies between and within processing steps. Planning and operating plating process chains should focus on aspects from cleaner production such as a high energy and resource efficiency, low impacts on the environment as well as on economic aspects. A high process transparency is required to meet these objectives and to evaluate the effects of improvement measures. An energy and resource flow simulation can support this by providing a fully parameterizable digital twin of the physical plating line. This simulation is integrated into a cyber-physical production system approach and connected to the IT environment of the plating company for the simulation of real scenarios. For the parameterization of the energy model, continuous and temporal measurements are combined systematically while the resource flow model is parameterized through information from the manufacturing IT systems. The successful implementation at a job plating company with an industrial acid zinc-nickel plating line indicated reachable electricity and resource savings of up to 10% in four scenarios. The electricity and plating metal demand was allocated to single carriers and products as basis for a product-based environmental and economic analysis. Especially in case of different carrier load levels, the energy and resource demand per product varies significant. The developed approach and its successful implementation emphasizes the need of a high process transparency for planning and operating plating process chains to accelerate the shift towards cleaner production.

Effect of Cooperation on Manufacturing IT Project Development and Test Bed for Successful Industry 4.0 Project: Safety Management for Security

A new direction of the 4th industrial revolution in manufacturing and IT industries is presented in this study, wherein the manufacturing sector will be able to survive in this period by achieving rapid and flexible change through effective convergence between both industries. Under such an environment, manufacturing IT requires speedy development and a new distribution form, as well as a new method of IT project development which is adequate for that form. Thus, this study compares and analyzes the waterfall method which is being used in general manufacturing System Integration (SI) projects and the proposed DevOps method, which requires faster distribution and improvement. This study confirms that the required human resources are less than the existing SI projects when system improvement is made using the DevOps method. At the same time, this method provides much-improved quality for the same price. Therefore, future manufacturing IT projects would achieve a faster and more efficient development and operation form by adopting the DevOps method to perform continuous and repetitive improvement and operation through the convergence of manufacturing and IT. Also, some of the current smart factory models can be found in several ICT (Information & Communication Technology) advanced countries, and they have actually increased the efficiency in their factories and generated much value-added business. As with the production facilities, materials, and methods, human resource management occupies an important role in the smart factory system to increase efficiency. This study aims to validate such logic by proving the effectiveness of a Bluetooth beacon-based worker positioning system by which workers’ safety can be secured along with the security of the factory itself. This system can be foundational to establishing a safer working environment by controlling accesses to the critical production facilities and determining their whereabouts in case of an accident.

Аутсорсинговые отношения в экономике и предпринимательстве

The purpose of this article is to test the methodology of the ‘five forces of outsourcing’. The testing is based on the analysis of a wide range of industries within the long-term timeframe. The ‘five forces’ model is based on some well-known economic theories as well as on new theoretical frameworks. It is a comprehensive model and as such has no analogies in Russian or foreign economic science. To test the model an in-depth study has been undertaken in 2015–2018 on oil and gas and other mining and manufacturing industries, utility, metallurgy, logistics, IT, consulting and other sectors of the Russian economy. The research was based on various industry reviews, company data, information of regulatory bodies, etc. To test the hypothesis we conducted new surveys or, where applicable, used existing ones. The research has shown that outsourcing relations in the economy and outsourcing decisions of a specific firm are influenced by transaction costs, competitive advantages, trust and commitments and the level of economic development. These factors define whether the ‘sourcing cycle’ moves towards outsourcing or in-house operations. The evidence of the existence of the ‘sourcing cycle’ has been found in every analyzed industry, where firms under the influence of different factors switched there and back between outsourcing and insourcing of the same business processes. The ‘ive forces’ model has additional value. Not only does it explain the outsourcing processes within the economy, but it also facilitates the understanding of decentralization, privatization and delegation of power within a firm – the phenomena which are of the same nature with outsourcing

IT in lean-based manufacturing industries: systematic literature review and research issues

This systematic literature review is the first to explore the role of IT in lean manufacturing contexts, characterising literature on the field, identifying and exploring the main issues approached, and identifying potential future lines of research. Grounded on an accurate screening process, 124 papers were selected for analysis from the SCOPUS and the ISI Web of Knowledge databases. The structured content analysis process highlights five key issues approached in literature: (1) software and technologies used, (2) benefits achieved through applying IT in lean manufacturing, (3) importance of IT integration, (4) IT and lean as complementary or independent options and (5) role of human resources. Despite an apparent scepticism concerning compatibility between IT and lean, claiming that IT may lead to processes’ complexity, extra tasks, resource consuming, among other issues, among other key findings, the review shows that several different IT instruments may boost improvements, acting as a facilitator in developing lean industrial environments, especially when lean-based improvement processes are introduced first, and then IT infrastructures. Because both IT and Lean may require significant investments in terms of managerial attention, employees’ capabilities and financial resources, it is important for management to balance investment decisions. Authors point to several shortcomings in literature which represent significant opportunities for further research: (1) significant lack of integrated comprehensive frameworks, (2) lack of knowledge concerning hybrid manufacturing systems, supply chains as research unit of analysis, how organisations can respond to staff resistance, and role of IT across the distinctive stages of lean maturity.

Virtual Process Data Linkage of Assembly Stations in High Variance Workshop Production

The advance of digitalization changes the requirements of processes in industrial production and assembly. For this reason, production and assembly must now be able to execute complex process steps. This is about quality and productivity expectations, as well as flexibility and reliability of production, lines and plants [1]. Today, data is generated by almost every system, machine and sensor, yet it is hardly used for process optimization. Manufacturing processes are usually organized as workshop production or chained production systems, in addition to standalone machines [2,3]. Most analytic projects focus on chained systems and serial production, unlike individual machines and specific workshop production. Depending on manufacturing IT, process data from serial production is stored in data bases, which are usually optimized for traceability. Standalone machines and machines within workshop production are scarcely connected to a common data base. The required process data is stored either on the module itself or inside a local data base [4]. The identification of dependencies between individual assembly processes, energy data and the quality of the finished product is necessary for an extended optimization. These optimizations can be process-specific, as well as environmental and resource related. Due to decentralized process data storages, an overall view of a dynamic order-oriented value chain is denied. Therefore, the potential of the machines is largely unused. Based on Data Mining, this advanced development can be counteracted by process monitoring and optimization. Therefore, this paper provides a solution for a virtual process data linkage of assembly stations. This enables the acquisition, processing, transformation and storage of unstructured raw data by special software and methods, which is also able to cope with chained production systems and standalone machines. For further analysis of interdependencies, a visualization is developed for advanced monitoring and optimization [5,6].

Internet of Things for Real-time Waste Monitoring and Benchmarking: Waste Reduction in Manufacturing Shop Floor

In today's manufacturing IT system (e.g. ERP), waste streams in operations are rarely tracked in real-time. Therefore, operational decision that is based on late and incomplete information becomes untimely and not optimal. This paper presents an approach for real-time waste monitoring, analysis and discovers waste reduction potential in manufacturing shop floor. The objective of this study is to learn the waste performance in manufacturing shop floor. Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) is conducted to perform waste benchmarking analysis and the outcome is presented as relative efficiency. The efficiency values are then classified using quartile into 3 performance classes: normal, warning and abnormal. With the performance status, it leads manager to discover achievable waste reduction targets and hence empowers optimization of operational efficiency. A case study using microfluidic device manufacturing line is studied to demonstrate real-time waste monitoring and benchmarking.

Industry 4.0: Reality, Future or just Science Fiction? How to Convince Today's Management to Invest in Tomorrow's Future! Successful Strategies for Industry 4.0 and Manufacturing IT.

Manufacturing IT and Industry 4.0 is the Fourth Industrial Revolution with a potential of 12 bn Euros in Germany's chemicals industry. But Switzerland is currently the best prepared of all countries in Europe. Many of the ideas are still very vague. This article discusses how to identify what is already reality, which ideas might become reality in the future and which ideas will stay science fiction. As projects in Manufacturing IT and Industry 4.0 are different from classical technical projects other strategies, for example agile project management, are necessary to secure success.

A mobile dashboard for analytics-based information provisioning on the shop floor

Today’s turbulent global environment requires agility and flexibility of manufacturing companies to stay competitive. Thus, employees have to monitor their performance continuously and react quickly to turbulences which demands real-time information provisioning across all hierarchy levels. However, existing manufacturing IT systems, for example, manufacturing execution systems (MES), do hardly address information needs of individual employees on the shop floor. Besides, they do not exploit advanced analytics to generate novel insights for process optimisation. To address these issues, the operational process dashboard for manufacturing (OPDM) is presented, a mobile data-mining-based dashboard for workers and supervisors on the shop floor. It enables proactive optimisation by providing analytical information anywhere and anytime in the factory. In this paper, first, user groups and conceptual dashboard services are defined. Then, IT design issues of a mobile shop floor application on top of the advanced manufacturing analytics platform are investigated in order to realise the OPDM. This comprises the evaluation of different types of mobile devices, the development of an appropriate context model and the investigation of security issues. Finally, an evaluation in an automotive industry case is presented using a prototype in order to demonstrate the benefits of the OPDM for data-driven process improvement and agility in manufacturing.

Towards a Rule-based Manufacturing Integration Assistant

Recent developments and steadily declining prices in ICT enable an economic application of advanced digital tools in wide areas of manufacturing. Solutions based on concepts and technologies of the “Internet of Things” or “cyber physical systems” can be used to implement monitoring as well as self-organization of production, maintenance or logistics processes. However, integration of new digital tools in existing heterogeneous manufacturing IT systems and integration of machines and devices into manufacturing environments is an expensive and tedious task. Therefore, integration issues on IT and manufacturing level significantly prevent agile manufacturing. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises do not have the expertise or the investment possibilities to realize such an integration. To tackle this issue, we present the approach of the Manufacturing Integration Assistant - MIALinx. The objective is to develop and implement a lightweight and easy-to-use integration solution for small and medium-sized enterprises based on recent web automation technologies. MIALinx aims to simplify the integration using simple programmable, flexible and reusable “IF-THEN” rules that connect occurring situations in manufacturing, such as a machine break down, with corresponding actions, e.g., an automatic maintenance order generation. For this purpose, MIALinx connects sensors and actuators based on defined rules whereas the rule set is defined in a domain-specific, easy-to-use manner to enable rule modeling by domain experts. Through the definition of rule sets, the workers’ knowledge can be also externalized. Using manufacturing-approved cloud computing technologies, we enable robustness, security, and a low-effort, low-cost integration of MIALinx into existing manufacturing environments to provide advanced digital tools also for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The secure manufacturing IT system

The secure manufacturing IT system

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY (CASE STUDY: PT MCM)

IT Department in PT MCM has to carry out the duties and functions of developing solution to support the business unit in their operation and gain some benefits which should be obtained by using IT in manufacturing such as increasing efficiency, improving the effectivity in making decision and helping to promote the products. This study aims to design information technology strategic planning in accordance with the strategic plan. The research method is using the IT Strategic Planning framework of Alex Cullen and Marc Cecere. This study uses SWOT and IT Balanced Scorecard to analyze the needs of IT at PT MCM. The results of this study are recommended strategic steps to optimize the implementation of IT in the company to improve the performance from IT division to obtain the benefits by implementing IT in manufacturing and to form IT Blueprint, which is part of the information technology strategic plan in PT MCM.

Emerging Russian Multinationals: Innovation, Technology, and Internationalization

This article examines the role of technology and innovation, as ownership advantages, in the internationalization process of Russian companies. It focuses on three distinctive groups of firms—medium-technology manufacturing enterprises, software and IT companies, and state corporations. We identify different roles of innovation in internationalization of these companies and provide corresponding examples. First, medium-technology manufacturing enterprises tend to expand abroad led by a technology-seeking motive, seeking to boost their technological competence through foreign acquisitions. Second, companies in the emerging IT and software sectors internationalize driven by innovation and using their competitive advantage. This international expansion is often organic in terms of establishment of greenfield subsidiaries rather than acquisitions of foreign firms. Third, state corporations engage in international operations, too, and the role of innovation differs. This internationalization may be either technology-driven or technology-seeking. The article concludes with managerial recommendations and policy implications.

It's good to talk

Interview with Kevin Roach, Rockwell Automation. The latest company to attack the manufacturing IT arena is Rockwell Automation, with its Factorytalk product.

Final say: Integrating Manufacturing IT

Final say: Integrating Manufacturing IT

The Application of PSL to Product Design Across Construction and Manufacturing

As the use of IT in manufacturing and construction has matured, the capability of software applications to interoperate has become increasingly important. Standards-based translation mechanisms, such as the use of STEP, have simplified integration by requiring only a single translation to a neutral format. This approach works well where the meaning of the information to be shared is the same and cannot easily be misinterpreted. However, understanding and defining the meaning of information is still a challenge which is especially apparent for process information which is used by many software applications, each in a different way. This paper explores the use of a language called Process Specification Language (PSL), across the different but related industrial sectors of mechanical products and building engineering, where the meaning associated with the terms used is often very different and therefore both semantics and syntax need to be considered when translating to a neutral standard. The PSL creates a neutral, standard language for process specification to integrate multiple process-related applications.

Information Technology for World-Class Manufacturing: Quo-vadis India!

The success of Indian manufacturing in meeting the global competition will depend on its readiness to move itself from a protected domestic to world-class global manufacturing status quickly and confidently. The present paper aims at exploring the current status of IT applications and management practices in manufacturing in India; examining the discrepancies with world-class practices; and identifying important issues which need to be addressed in order to facilitate strategic use of IT in manufacturing. The findings of the survey are somewhat alarming and they show that fragmented information management systems may not enable Indian manufacturing companies to deliver superior value to their customers and to lead them to world-class status. They must, therefore, direct their IT initiatives towards agile manufacturing rather than introducing IT to merely enhance their operations in a conventional manner.