Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences

Abstract

The study is devoted to the co-design concept which is not widely studied in the manufacturing industry area. The concept is just practiced but not theorized and not investigated enough, although it greatly deserves it because of its perspectives and advantages potential in the technology changes era. This study aims to present an investigation of literature views on co-design in manufacturing operations, with the comparison to service literature where it is widely discussed; the study also aims at in-depth investigations of co-design occurrences in two industrial cases of product development to understand their nature and circumstances. In addition, the influence of Industry 4.0 technologies and their coexistence with the concept of sustainability will also be strongly taken into consideration in the empirical part of this study. The process of the individualized production of the industrial line for animal food packing and cardboard packaging production has been studied according to case study methodology. The study demonstrates that co-design could contribute to bettering the process of new product development and achieving products more accurate for the final users' requirements. It goes hand in hand with one of the core ideas of sustainability, which is to have long-lasting products, exploited by the customer with a high level of satisfaction for a longer time. The study implies that the technologies of Industry 4.0 could support wider and more effective co-design exploitation by manufacturing entities.