Carl Christian Røstad

The Use of a 12-run Plackett–Burman Design in the Injection Moulding of a Technical Plastic Component

During injection moulding of technical plastic components it is often the case that 15–20 variables need to be set to operational conditions when the production of a new plastic components is started. In this case study, a 12-run Plackett–Burman design is used in the experimentation with eight factors and nine responses to obtain better operational conditions for the production of a certain product. A 12-run Plackett–Burman design belongs to the class of non-geometric orthogonal arrays. Most of these designs have very good projection properties compared with their run sizes, but due to partial aliasing among effects, standard methods of analysing fractional factorial two-level designs do not apply. In this paper, part of the planning of the experiment, the method of analysis used and the results achieved are presented. Substantial improvement in the operational conditions was obtained. Copyright

Evaluating and prioritizing projects – setting targets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology aiming to improve the process of prioritizing among projects, focusing on the strategic impacts. The methodology is expected to have a particular relevance for companies operating in a distributed organizational environment.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology has been developed within the PROMISE project, where ten applications and eight corresponding companies (application owners) represent the cases where the methodology has been developed and tested.Findings – The paper has documented a need for a methodology that links projects and initiatives to overall the overall company strategies. Through the PROMISE project such a method business effect evaluation methodology (BEEM) is developed. The structure of the method and the process of using it are described.Originality/value – This paper presents a methodology, BEEM, proven relevant in different contexts when projects and units need to be evaluated, compared, prioritized and coordi...

ECO-Boat MOL Capturing Data from Real Use of the Product

In many industries, such as leisure boat production, product design and process engineering are often based on diffuse criteria and a lack of data about the actual use of the products. If design and process development are not based on facts, there is a great risk of setting the wrong quality criteria and performance requirements. In the leisure boat industry the lack of data from how customers actually use their products results in product design based on experience (looking backwards), subjective judgments and input from certain customers or key persons. This often results in too high or wrong quality standards and consequently over-processing. ECO-boat MOL has studied this situation in the leisure boat industry. The paper describes how this research project has approached the need for more fact-based design through three different sources. The project also (re)defines work processes in design and production that take advantage of the new data and information.

An IoT Fueled DSS for MOL Marine Auxiliaries Management

The producers of marine auxiliaries face the challenge, that they need to adapt their middle-of-life activities to the otherwise defined and often not well communicated schedules of the ships, which are carrying their products. This paper presents both the methodological approach to a solution and its prototypical implementation in a specific use case. The solution presented is utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) and the data that is constantly being produced by the ships through the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to help overcome this problem.

Attacking the Critical Parts in Product Development

The product cycle is changing, where time legs are shorter, high volume- and cash cow-phases fading. Rapid product introduction and customization are keywords, and often associated with modularization. The objective is to create a flexible product design, not requiring changes in the overall product design every time a new variant is introduced. This has been a feasible strategy for manufacturers of small boats in high-cost countries where an incremental development process is well suited for modularization. However, also more radical innovations are needed, not only change modules and product configurations but also have to develop new product platforms. We then have to deal with the critical, resource demanding processes. This conceptual paper describes how boat builders take modularization to a higher lever by attacking the critical parts in product development, i.e. the structural elements of boats.

Overcoming Barriers Against Interaction on Innovation Capabilities Within and Between SMEs

Handling metadata and module-based capabilities are enablers for radical new ways of interaction within and between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in terms of innovation. A challenge in this often complex actor and interaction picture is that there can be organizational, process-related, financial and practical barriers which tend to reduce innovativeness. There is thus a need for methods which can provide dynamic and company-based innovation networks. This study investigates the main barriers for effective interaction and sharing of innovation capabilities within SMEs. The factors identified are individual, technological and organizational factors. The success of SMEs lies in overcoming all these barriers in order to ensure effective interaction and sharing of innovation capabilities through their networks. This study suggests the main conditions and elements which can contribute to overcoming the barriers against effective interaction on innovative capabilities among SMEs.

Applying Closed-Loop Product Lifecycle Management to Enable Fact Based Design of Boats

In the design of both leisure as well as professional boats, the experience of the boat designers and builders traditionally play a central role. To reach the desired customer satisfaction especially with high powered vessels, which often are used for decades, the tendency of overengineering is imminent. This is mainly based on the lack of reliable testing data and the high costs of towing tank tests and complex hydro dynamic simulations. The paradigm of Closed-Loop Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) can be employed as the enabling technology to overcome this lack of objectiveness by supplying the necessary product usage information to improve these processes. This paper presents an explorative approach towards a fact-based design and development process utilising distributed sensor data acquisition and high performance computing to enhance and validate the hydrodynamic simulations during the development process with the objective to reduce costs and uncertainties while increasing development speed and customer satisfaction. Beyond the related work and detailed description of the solution approach, this paper explores a concrete application experiment and gives conclusions on the applicability of Closed-Loop PLM as well as the other employed technologies.

Development Projects in SMEs

Innovations and rapid product introduction are keywords for competitiveness in many industries. In larger companies with R&D departments these have often been organized as projects with dedicated resources. However, in smaller companies the project organization has been challenging, as their ability to dedicate resources from e.g. operational activities is more difficult. This is more and more evident in industries where the requirements of rapid product and process development is more demanding. In several research projects, we have investigated different approaches and enablers for a more dynamic way to meet the development requirements. Keywords for these projects have been modularity, inter-organizational collaboration, product-/and process intelligence, and process integration. In this paper, we have a particular focus on how development projects could be integrated in the operations planning, where these development activities become a part of the operations when resources (personnel and equipment) need to be “co-utilized” from production.