Carl-Henric Nilsson

Making manufacturing flexibility operational – part 1: a framework

Develops a framework for manufacturing flexibility which illustrates how to obtain consistency from manufacturing strategy to the resource characteristics in the production system. Provides guidance on how to analyse and develop manufacturing flexibility in a corporate decision‐making context. Uses the well‐known input‐transformation‐output (ITO) model as a starting point for building the frame‐work. Makes a clear distinction between internal and external factors impinging on the company, connecting the market demand for flexibility, the characteristics of the production system and the flexibility of the suppliers. Pursues the connection from the strategic level to the individual resource characteristics in the production system.

Introducing intellectual potential

Intellectual capital has gained increasing attention concerning both research and more practically oriented applications during the past five years. Intellectual Capital and other knowledge management tools are topics that have emerged in the light of a broader trend of redirecting the foundation of competitive advantage from the companys tangible assets to its intangibles such as knowledge base, brands and the content and structure of computer‐based systems. In this paper, the concept of intellectual potential is introduced. Intellectual potential is a further development of intellectual capital, using four principles: strategy basis; management orientation; process orientation; and context sensitivity. The concept is a tool for the strategic management of an organisations intangible assets in order to increase its long‐term revenue‐generating capabilities. The case of Alfa Laval is used as an illustration of how intellectual potential can add value as a management tool.

Managers' Perception of Flexibility in Manufacturing - A Study in the Swedish Engineering Industry

Managers’ perceptions of flexibility in manufacturing were investigated in a research case study conducted at six Swedish companies within the engineering industry. The goal of the study was to establish which factors managers considered to be important for manufacturing flexibility and how companies and managers perceived flexibility. The size of the company, the complexity of the products and the level of technology used in production were factors found to be important for issues concerning manufacturing flexibility. The findings have implications for both managers and researchers. Managers should be aware of the lack of conformity in the perception of flexibility within companies and its possible consequences. Gives researchers suggestions based on this study, for further research in manufacturing flexibility.

Making manufacturing flexibility operational – part 2 : distinctions and an example

Structures the concept of flexibility by making clear distinctions in three generic dimensions, describes the use of the framework for manufacturing flexibility by working through a concrete example. The framework was presented in “Making manufacturing flexibility operational – part 1: a framework”, IMS, Vol. 6 No. 2. Makes distinctions between the concept of flexibility in the three generic dimensions: utilized flexibility versus potential flexibility, external flexibility versus internal flexibility, and requested flexibility versus replied flexibility. The framework makes a clear distinction between the internal and the external factors impinging on the company, and brings together the market demand for flexibility, the characteristics of the production system, and the flexibility of the suppliers. Furthermore, pursues the connection from the strategic level to the single resource characteristics in the production system. Using the framework as a systematization for handling flexibility related issues in companies, can be especially useful for managers.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES, TRICK OR TREAT?: THE CASE OF SCANIA

Most authors are pro-alliances, and the casual reader may be lulled into a false sense of security concerning the advantages of strategic alliances. The literature on strategic alliances is reviewed concerning the motives for forming alliances and the way in which examples of alliances are used, and misused, in the literature by scholars. The case of Scania, the Swedish heavy truck producer, is then presented as an example of the strategic advantages that can be achieved by not entering into horizontal alliances.

Fostering Automatic Control Students to Become Innovators

Today, innovation is a key word for many universities, as it constitutes an important part of most universities’ public and scientific outreach task. Many universities are striving to increase the number of innovations generated at the university. A common method is to provide various support for research projects e.g.; providing researchers with information about international patent rights (IPR), offering administrative or financial help concerning patent applications, giving entrepreneurship and start-up support, etc. However, fostering innovators and entrepreneurs can start already in undergraduate/graduate courses, i.e. long before a student potentially reaches the research level. We believe that key factors for success in this matter are diversity and freedom. A course that strives to promote innovation capability must allow for students with different backgrounds and different curricula to meet and work together, and must allow for students to freely use their current knowledge within new contexts. This is generally not a setting provided in traditional undergraduate/graduate courses. This article describes the execution and outcome of an graduate course “international Market-Driven Engineering (iMDE)” in which diversity and freedom are key factors. The course is international and multi-disciplinary in terms of students, teachers and subjects. Graduate students with prior knowledge in automatic control constitute one important part of the course population. We believe that the diversity amongst the students, and their freedom when it comes to both innovation process and product, provides a promising platform in which seeds of ideas can grow into conceptual prototypes that build a solid foundation for full-scale innovations. On of the iMDE- projects, the Elderly Accessible Chair, or EA Chair, with its automated scanning and automatic seat- provider functionality, is one concrete example of this.

The strategic grounding of competitive advantage — The case of Scania

Scania has performed well above average in the heavy truck industry during a considerable time span. Scanias sources of competitive advantage are presented and their interrelations and significance for the business strategy analysed in order to explain the success of Scania. Strategic issues are traditionally analysed in a top-down procedure starting with the corporate strategy and proceeding by disaggregation of the strategy down in the organisation. This is known as the grand strategy perspective and views strategy as a “chain of causality”. We introduce the grounded strategy perspective which views strategy as a “pattern in a stream of decisions and actions”, and takes its starting point in the stream of activities within the company. Grounded strategy synthesises the strategy according to a bottom-up procedure. The case of Scania and the heavy truck industry is analysed according to these two different perspectives on strategy. The methodological approach may be different depending on the perspective. The results of the case study from each perspective reveal interesting implications to strategists: scholars as well as practitioners. The grand strategy approach appears to be advantageous for analysis at the higher levels of strategy, while the grounded approach appear to be advantageous at the lower levels of strategy.

Analysis and Evaluation of Flexible Capital Investments

Modern production systems are technologically advanced. The change in technology has made it increasingly possible to modify the flow of products and to handle different product variants. The ability to offer customized products has become an important competitive factor. The companies at the cutting edge of the advanced technology are forced to adjust to these changes and, hence, operate under a higher degree of uncertainty. Flexibility in manufacturing is, therefore, of substantial significance to all companies in the manufacturing industry.

The usage of learning journals in a Technology Management Education

Place Technology Management is a unique program at Lund University, where a selected number (40) of students from the Faculty of Economics and from the Faculty of Engineering are taught together during their last 2 years of study. Their degree will be a Masters degree. Their views on problems and challenges in todays industry often complement each other. In addition it is important to complement their academic knowledge with insights about themselves and their own behavior. The introduction of so-called Learning Journals has proved to be a successful step in this direction. The learning journals are introduced in the course Project Leadership. Throughout the whole course (2 semesters) the students are writing learning journals and supervisors are commenting monthly. The learning journals have the purpose of 1) enabling personal reflection on the own process, 2) enabling reflection on the own position and part in the group, and 3) through the longitudinal effect of the course; it provides an opportunity to compare journals over time to become aware of and able to analyze the own learning process. In a newly performed Placement report, students that have graduated from the Technology Management programme the last 10 years, rate their education 4.37 out of 5. Some students even consider the Learning Journals among the most valuable parts of the whole programme in retrospect.