Geir Ringen

How enablers for lean product development motivate engineers

This paper discusses how intrinsic motivation is affected by lean enablers such as clear project objectives and Customer Requirements (CR), continuous improvement and cross-functional teams. It is assumed that – if you know what the customer wants, are able to collect a broad variety of ideas and define potential risks as early as possible, and finally continuously work to solve all problems along the way – you probably work according to a lean product development approach. Nevertheless, how does this picture fit into motivation theory and engineer critical psychological states? To investigate this question, a survey was undertaken among Norwegian automotive suppliers. The results show that only the variable CR are significantly related to motivation. Accomplishing CR is seen as the primary activity by product developers and believed to be in closer proximity toan engineer than the other variables.

New renewable electricity capacity under uncertainty: the potential in Norway

Uncertainty affecting project values makes investors hesitate to build new capacity unless profitability is significant. When analysing the potential for new renewable capacity in a region, it is therefore necessary to properly capture both uncertainty effects and decision-making behaviour of investors. Important stochastic factors typically include wholesale electricity prices and certificate prices. We calculate trigger levels for the sum of these factors, and compare these with the current long-term contract prices to estimate the potential for new renewable electricity capacity. We take into account the cost and technical potential of small hydro and wind in Norway, the number of prenotifications, concession applications and grants, and the capacity targets of subsidising governmental bodies. With an electricity certificate policy target of 41 TWh per year new renewable for Sweden and Norway combined until 2016, we estimate that 12 TWh windpower and 6.2 TWh hydropower will be built in Norway. Due to the option value of waiting, most of this capacity will come after 2010

Knowledge based development practices in systems engineering companies: A comparative study

Many companies have introduced Lean practices in product development and innovation processes to gain competitive advantage. However, the application of Lean outside the factory floor is not straightforward, where principles and practices may be translated and contextualized when introduced in functional areas that differ significantly from manufacturing. Especially in such multifaceted contexts as to be found in System Engineering (SE) companies. In this article, we investigate the extent to which SE companies relate their practices to the knowledge component of Lean product development, and the degree to which such lean practices and capabilities are implemented. The overall goal is to determine how SE companies compare to companies in other industrial sectors in this regard, and thereby gaining new insights into strategies for more contextual implementation of lean in engineering functions. A survey is conducted in the Norwegian manufacturing industry to determine Lean practices from the construct of a generic model as basis. The survey was answered by 257 respondents from 50 companies, providing the opinion of individuals as to where they place their current practices and capabilities on the lean maturity scale for each question, including a supplemental set of performance and productivity related assessment items. Results indicate that there seems to be significant differences between perceived LPD - performance in Systems Engineering versus the other sectors when talking about knowledge management. This study may reveal a potential for the Systems Engineering industry to improve upon the way organizational learning is managed to develop and sustain a culture for continuous improvement.

New Renewable Electricity Capacity under Uncertainty: The Potential in Norway

Uncertainty affecting project values makes investors hesitate to build new capacity unless profitability is significant. When analysing the potential for new renewable capacity in a region, it is therefore necessary to properly capture both uncertainty effects and decision-making behaviour of investors. Important stochastic factors typically include wholesale electricity prices and certificate prices. We calculate trigger levels for the sum of these factors, and compare these with the current long-term contract prices to estimate the potential for new renewable electricity capacity. We take into account the cost and technical potential of small hydro and wind in Norway, the number of prenotifications, concession applications and grants, and the capacity targets of subsidising governmental bodies. With an electricity certificate policy target of 41 TWh per year new renewable for Sweden and Norway combined until 2016, we estimate that 12 TWh windpower and 6.2 TWh hydropower will be built in Norway. Due to the option value of waiting, most of this capacity will come after 2010.

Unlocking work standards through systematic work observation: implications for team supervision

Purpose – Companies with routine operations often pursue team‐based continuous improvement in the context of standardized work. Continuous improvement requires that work standards are periodically “unlocked”, i.e. made objects of reflection and improvement. This paper aims to theorize and empirically explore a method for unlocking standards which has received little attention in the literature: systematic work observation. It identifies which factors constitute and promote a work observation practice that supports continuous improvement.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an explorative, qualitative case study of an industrial company in which systematic work observation is practiced. Empirical material was collected from two principal sources: company documentation and teaching material; and interviews with workers, managers and work design experts from three of the companys major plants.Findings – Systematic work observation supports continuous improvement when there is genuine two‐way com...

Organizational Culture: The Differentiated Perspective

This chapter scrutinizes the micro level of the industrial production processes, that is, the level of firm. It shows how global manufacturing/managerial trends, sectoral specific factors, national contexts, and firm specific features are represented into firms’ observable cultural aspects and artifacts. The analysis provides the deeper understanding of subcultures and their respective behaviors, as well as, functions in a manufacturing context.

Policy Implications of the Reindustrialization of Advanced Economies

This chapter reflects upon the body of accumulated knowledge gathered in the previous chapters by identifying the key skills and sensitivities that good management teams within modern manufacturing companies should possess. Given the complexities and variability of modern manufacturing production lines and markets, the management teams must ensure they act in a facilitative manner, that is, to be able to intelligently tap into and act upon cultural understanding to unleash the creative forces and eagerness of learning embedded in the organization. Are these insights adequately embedded in modern industrial policies?

The Financial Crisis

This chapter explores the reasons why the Norwegian industry performed well during the financial crisis and we draw the general lessons that can be learned from this. The chapter relies on the results of an extensive survey investigating how the economic crisis resulted in increased efficiency and effectiveness in Norwegian manufacturing. It paves the way for the remainder of the book by asking how such positive results can emerge out of an external shock, a crisis. This chapter also discusses how to understand the findings from the Norwegian case in a global context. Interestingly, the first part of the survey was completed before the financial crisis, and the second in its aftermath, offering a unique before-after situation analysis of business perspectives.

Culture: Internal Business Contradictions

This chapter broadens and deepens insight from the previous chapter by bringing in another theoretical perspective: the Geertzian perspective of culture. It describes how the import of broader global managerial trends affect knowledge-creation processes and the differentiated cultures they are embedded in.

Development of Suspension Parts Project

From a macro and national perspective, this chapter focuses on the specificities of a manufacturing sector, that is, the Norwegian automotive industry. The chapter introduces the reader to product development in the industry, demonstrating how the organization learns (or not) from the one product development project to the next. This descriptive approach as to how product development occurs in real settings is in stark contrast to the one presented in the firms’ formal description of quality management systems and other types of formal displays. This chapter provides therefore, a unique insight in a) the discrepancies between firms’ fragmented and not always coinciding representations of realities of real production processes and b) the challenges firms’ meet in accumulating knowledge and know-how between projects.