Economies of Scale and Network Economies in Industry 4.0

Büchi, Giacomo; Cugno, Monica; Castagnoli, Rebecca

doi:10.4468/2018.2.06buchi.cugno.castagnoli

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…As such, the efficiency of operators can be expected to increase as the size of the managed system increases and more processes are completed in tandem. For a deeper discussion of technology-enabled economies of scale, see (Büchi et al, 2018).…”

Section: Economies Of Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Remote nuclear microreactors: a preliminary economic evaluation of digital twins and centralized offsite control

Bryan,

Jesse,

Miller

et al. 2023

Front. Nucl. Eng.

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The nuclear energy industry is looking to next-generation reactor designs to augment, diversify, and expand generation capacity in an increasingly complex and varied energy landscape. A key element in this objective is microreactors—small nuclear reactors which can provide flexible capacity at a reduced scale compared to traditional large-scale nuclear reactors. Specifically, microreactors could be used to provide clean, reliable combined heat and power to remote communities, worksites, or facilities. However, the construction and operations and maintenance costs to supply the required operator staffing and physical supporting assets, such as control rooms, could be a limiting factor for first adopters of the technology. Opportunities to reduce the cost of monitoring and control activities could enable early adoption, allowing economies of learning to take effect, spurring further adoption. A reduction in the number and cost intensity of control rooms and operators per deployed microreactor could significantly decrease the overall cost for a fleet of microreactors. To optimize microreactor economic competitiveness, one solution would be to establish an off-site operation facility for centralized monitoring and control (CM&C) of a fleet of microreactors. Leveraging advances in digital instrumentation and control systems could bolster the safety, reliability, and security of the remote communication architecture inherently required to operate remotely. Digital twins (DTs) are virtual replicas of physical assets which can be used for a variety of applications, including analyzing I&C signals against a validated model to perform several analysis and prediction functions. When implemented properly, DTs can potentially detect anomalies and component failures, and serve as a diagnostic tool for operators. These technologies can enhance operator understanding and awareness, reduce the management demand time on operators, and increase asset uptime by providing early alerts for failures alongside insights to aid in predictive maintenance. Furthermore, a DT system could enhance the secure and reliable communication architecture necessary for remote microreactor operation by verifying signals and suggesting or automating controls, thereby boosting their economic viability. This research examines the economic effects of various control strategies ranging from many individually and on-site controlled reactors to co-management of all microreactors in a system from a single, off-site control center. Results from the analysis are positive, revealing significant cost-reduction opportunities.

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Section: Economies Of Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Remote nuclear microreactors: a preliminary economic evaluation of digital twins and centralized offsite control

Bryan,

Jesse,

Miller

et al. 2023

Front. Nucl. Eng.

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“…For instance, Goldfarb and Tucker (2019) argued that digital technology such as the Internet can cut down the costs of searching, replication, transportation, tracking, and verification [26]. At the same time, digital technology can also help manufacturing enterprises follow the mode of mass production, optimize their production process, augment production efficiency, and minimize production costs [27]. In addition, the management and decision-making system that relies on data-enabling platforms can effectively obtain useful information, alleviate information asymmetry, increase the accuracy and timeliness of decision-making, decrease operating costs, improve financial performance [28], and drive the increment of enterprise value.…”

Section: Enterprise Digital Transformation and Its Impact On Enterpri...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Transformation, Ambidextrous Innovation and Enterprise Value: Empirical Analysis Based on Listed Chinese Manufacturing Companies

2022

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Text analysis was used in this study to construct the index of digital transformation degree in manufacturing enterprises. On this basis, an empirical test was conducted on the relationship between digital transformation, ambidextrous innovation, and enterprise value. The results show that: digital transformation has a significant positive impact on the enterprise value of manufacturing enterprises. Digital transformation can promote the rise of enterprise value through technological innovation, business model innovation, and their combination, where ambidextrous innovation plays a mediating role. For manufacturing enterprises, the impact of digital transformation on enterprise value has a single-threshold effect and a double-threshold effect, respectively, with technological innovation and business model innovation being the threshold variables. The synergy of technological innovation and business model innovation plays a stronger mediating role compared with a single innovation model. The conclusions of this study have certain theoretical and practical significance for systematically revealing the intermediate mechanism of digital transformation affecting enterprise value and then promoting manufacturing enterprises to make remarkable accomplishments in digital transformation.

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“…The focus of the investigation is the field of machine manufacturing and equipment (ATECO sector, 28) and the unit of analysis are the Italian regions (NUTS level 2). The choice of the sector was made as functional and therefore easily associated with growing broadcast of Industry 4.0 while the level of analysis depends on the goal of the research that is the study of the interactions between enterprises, social groups and institutions, effectively captured in territorial analysis Rizzi, 2018;Brondoni et al, 2018;Büchi et al, 2018).…”

Section: Aim Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%