Lead factory operationalisation and challenges

Granlund, Anna; Rösiö, Carin; Bruch, Jessica; Johansson, Peter

doi:10.1080/09537287.2018.1534292

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Usually, support is person-dependent, performed ad-hoc, and may require face-to-face assistance regarding short-and long-term initiatives. The absence of formal structures, such as processes, routines, and structures, can confuse coordination performance, such as providing support [38]. Also, the likelihood of a factory sharing information within the IMN is small without first establishing internal systems and communication channels across functional borders [29].…”

Section: Coordination Of International Manufacturing Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Formalization also includes written policies, rules, job descriptions, and procedures [36]. Moreover, the collaboration between factories does not happen organically; instead, it needs a detailed plan [38] to remove functional silos across factories in an IMN [40]. Also, close collaboration with corporate and local management [33] and participation in decision-making [41] are pinpointed as a means to coordinate.…”

Section: Coordination Of International Manufacturing Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coordination of Digital Transformation in International Manufacturing Networks—Challenges and Coping Mechanisms from an Organizational Perspective

et al. 2022

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Coordinating the digital transformation of globally dispersed factories within international manufacturing networks has become a critical issue for competitiveness, yet there has been limited attention paid to this issue in previous research. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to, from an organizational perspective, explore the challenges in coordinating the digital transformation in an international manufacturing network and the coping mechanisms to overcome those challenges. A case study is conducted in a manufacturing company within the heavy vehicle industry, thus contributing to the limited empirical research covering coordination of digital transformation. The data is analyzed through organizational structure and design theory, and the findings are mapped into four core dimensions: differentiation, integration, centralization, and formalization. The results show 15 challenges and 11 coping mechanisms for coordination of digital transformation in international manufacturing networks, identifying the significance of the coordination uncertainty within the formalization dimension that is particularly exposed to the changes induced by digital transformation. The findings include the need for a coordination-oriented organizational structure that incorporates how and where coordination can be actualized. The research implications contribute with new insights by providing a detailed description of the created organizational structure and, in contrast to previous research, focuses specifically on the coordination aspect of digital transformation in an international manufacturing network.

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Section: Coordination Of International Manufacturing Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coordination Of International Manufacturing Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordination of Digital Transformation in International Manufacturing Networks—Challenges and Coping Mechanisms from an Organizational Perspective

et al. 2022

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“…Yet the manner of support it provides for the subsidiaries must be adjusted according to the difference within the subsidiaries experience, competence, resources and technology maturity. All of which affects the extent and degree of needed support from the lead factory, and requires that the lead factory achieve an understanding of the subsidiaries needs and competences [25].…”

Section: Coordination Of the Imnmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The manner in which development of Industry 4.0 technologies can be coordinated in IMNs has gained limited research attention [15], especially important is the technology development and transfer which is performed by the lead factory and is a resource extensive task [25]. The enabling Industry 4.0 design principles (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges with Coordination of Technology Development and Transfer of Industry 4.0 Technologies in IMNs

Badasjane

Ahlskog

Granlund

et al. 2020

Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering

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Within an international manufacturing network (IMN), one particular factory, called the lead factory is responsible for development of new products, processes and technologies as well as transferring these to the subsidiaries within the IMN. These responsibilities require coordination, which is found difficult even in the best-performing companies due to its complexity. When the responsibility for development of Industry 4.0 technologies are included such as cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things the complexity increases further. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify what are the challenges with coordination of technology development and transfer of Industry 4.0 technologies in IMNs. Accordingly, a real-time embedded case study was carried out with six manufacturing companies. One major finding is that development of Industry 4.0 technologies does not fit the current way of organizing technology development at lead factories. Another finding is that several of the identified challenges connected to technology development can be derived from a lack of a long-term strategy ensuring competence for future needs.

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“…In particular, the strategic role of plants (overseas plants) was categorized into six categories for the role of plants/factories including outpost, offshore, server, source, contributor, and lead based on the factors 1 of site competence and strategic reason for the location of overseas plants. Empirical studies subsequently examined the role of plants within global production networks based on this model 2(Blomqvist & Turkulainen, 2019;Cheng & Farooq, 2018; Feldmann & Olhager, 2013 Demeter, Szasz, & Boer, 2017;Granlund, Rosio, Bruch, & Johansson, 2019;Maritan, Brush, & Karnani, 2004;Vereecke & Dierdonck, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Factory strategy

Fukuzawa

2019

ABAS

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Papers on operations management in major journals have studied (1) relationships between the level of alignment in business and manufacturing strategies, practice realization, and performance; (2) the role of plants in global production networks; and (3) the reconciling of business and manufacturing strategies by operational executives. However, while these studies have positioned the role of plants as a strategic weapon in firms, their perspective is that the role of plants is imparted by headquarters or business units. Actually, the phenomenon which Japanese domestic plants have continued to work on various issues in an advanced manner from a global view went beyond this scope. There is a need for exploratory research from the perspective of plants as to the relationship between the role of plants and the strategic behavior of factory managers in continuing to grow while trying to survive in challenging environments and organizational capabilities built in plants.

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Lead factory operationalisation and challenges

Cited by 5 publications

References 41 publications

Coordination of Digital Transformation in International Manufacturing Networks—Challenges and Coping Mechanisms from an Organizational Perspective

Coordination of Digital Transformation in International Manufacturing Networks—Challenges and Coping Mechanisms from an Organizational Perspective

Challenges with Coordination of Technology Development and Transfer of Industry 4.0 Technologies in IMNs

Factory strategy

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