Johannes I.M. Halman

Platform-driven development of product families, linking theory with practice

Firms in many industries increasingly are considering platform-based approaches to reduce complexity and to better leverage investments in new product development, manufacturing, and marketing. However, a clear gap in literature still exists when it comes to discussing the problems and risks related to implementing and managing product families and their underlying platforms. Using a multiple-case approach, we compare three technology-driven companies in their definition of platform-based product families, investigate their reasons for changing to platform-driven development, and analyze how they implemented platform thinking in their development process and which risks they encountered in the process of creating and managing platform-based product families. The field study shows that the companies involved in the study use a homogeneous concept of platform-based product families and that they have similar reasons to turn to platform thinking and to encounter comparable risks. However, the companies analyzed use mainly product architecture as a basis for their platforms (and ignore many of the platform types advocated in literature), while on the other hand they show divergent applications of the platform concept regarding the combinations of product families and market applications. Through this exploratory study, some important white spots in literature became evident as well. In the discussion part of this article these white spots are discussed and directions for future platform research are proposed. The article concludes that given its importance, platform-driven development of product families clearly deserves further research to provide more insight into strategic planning for new products.

Explaining innovative efforts of SMEs. An exploratory survey among SMEs in the mechanical and electrical engineering sector in The Netherlands

Innovations are among the most important means through which small and medium sized enterprises contribute to increased employment, economic growth and economic dynamics. A lot of research has been carried out to determine which factors enhance innovative efforts of SMEs. This study uses a regression-based methodology to examine the importance of each factor, controlling for the other factors. The study is based on data collected through telephone interviews with managers of Dutch SMEs in the metal-electro-sector. In the analyses innovative efforts are used as the dependent variable. Out of 14 potentially independent variables, three appear to contribute significantly to innovative efforts: using innovation subsidies, having links with knowledge centres, and the percentage of turnover invested in R&D. This article suggests that innovativeness is the result of a deliberately chosen and pursued policy. If governmental and or sectoral institutions want to stimulate SMEs to become and remain innovative, they should encourage these companies to implement an innovation directed policy. Without such a policy, SMEs seem unable to digest successfully stimulating measures and subsidy schemes.

Innovation and interorganizational cooperation: a synthesis of literature

Purpose – In construction, literature interorganizational cooperation is argued to be an important aspect of construction innovation. From this perspective, several distinct bodies of literature provide relevant insights. In literature on complex product systems (CoPS), it is argued that construction industry is a CoPS industry and that in CoPS industries systems integrators set-up and coordinate interorganizational innovation. Furthermore, various bodies of literature provide information about factors that affect the success of innovation and interorganizational cooperation. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the findings from these bodies of literature. Design/methodology/approach – To uncover the present state of knowledge about systems integrators, a comprehensive literature review is conducted. Furthermore, the paper analyzes various fields of literature to derive an overview of factors which have been empirically related to the success of innovation and interorganizational cooperation. Findings – First, this paper structures the current knowledge on the role and characteristics of systems integrators. Subsequently, the paper translates this knowledge to the context of construction industry and discusses the basis for classifying a firm as a systems integrator in construction industry. Furthermore, the paper presents a list of relevant success factors derived from literature on new product development, strategic networks and alliances, open innovation, and construction innovation. Originality/value – By integrating various bodies of literature, this paper provides a solid base for future theory development on how firms achieve interorganizational innovation in construction industry.

Project alliancing in the offshore industry

In this paper the shift towards new types of project organisation within the Offshore Industry is explained and discussed. Special focus is given to the organisational concept of Project Alliancing. The principles, structure and culture of a Project Alliance as applied within the Offshore Industry are described. In the paper the organisational concept of Project Alliancing is discussed on its potential to reduce project costs and enhance profits, both for the operator (oil and gas company) as well as for participating contractors. A Risk and Reward Mechanism developed to share project risks and rewards between allied parties is explained for an alliance case. Based upon an in-depth study carried out within a contractor company in the Offshore Industry the organizational and financial implications of Project Alliancing are presented.

Variation in Housing Design: Identifying Customer Preferences

House builders in different countries are exploring ways to deliver higher levels of customisation in housing design. To create such variety at acceptable cost, it is important to know how potential buyers of new houses prioritise the different elements such as bathroom, kitchen and roof type of a house design. For parts with a great variety, several alternative solutions could be created in advance while parts with a low variety can be produced as standard solutions for all homes, thereby taking advantage of economies of scale. This paper presents the findings of a vignette-based survey about the requirements for customisation among potential buyers of new houses in the Netherlands. Based on the survey, a list of priority housing attributes is derived. This priority listing is of great importance for building developers who offer (or are considering offering) customised housing. Although people generally prefer to have the opportunity to select from options, they will be less inclined to do so if this option also means a considerable increase in price. Therefore, this study also examines the trade-off relationship between the value customers place on variety and the maximum price that can be asked for a customised housing proposition. The paper concludes with implications of the studys findings for evaluating trade-off decisions between standardisation and customisation.

Modular Approaches in Dutch House Building: An Exploratory Survey

In many European countries, changing housing policies are now offering clients more influence over the final building. This means that construction firms need to adopt concepts that have a greater customer focus. The electronics, software and automobile industries, and others, have dealt successfully with the trade-off problem that exists between, on the one hand, offering customer variety and, on the other, minimising manufacturing costs by developing product platforms. This paper presents the results of a field study in which opportunities, limitations and external restraints on the implementation of platform-based approaches in the Dutch house building industry are explored. Based on a cross-sectional analysis, the perceptions of architects, construction firms, suppliers and municipalities are compared. Specific attention is paid to the roles to be fulfilled by these various actors. The study shows that while all the actor-groups agree that a platform-based approach could deliver substantial improvements in the house building process, substantial changes are still necessary to realise this. The implications for each actor-group are then described.

Complex products and systems: Potential from using layout platforms

In their quest to manage the complexity of offering greater product variety, firms in many industries are considering platform-based development of product families. Key in this approach is the sharing of components, modules, and other assets across a family of products. Current research indicates that companies are often choosing physical elements of the product architecture (i.e., components, modules, building blocks) for building platform-based product families. Other sources for platform potential are widely neglected. We argue that for complex products and systems with hierarchic product architectures and considerable freedom in design, a new platform type, the system layout, offers important commonality potential. This layout platform standardizes the arrangement of subsystems within the product family. This paper is based on three industry case studies, where a product family based on a common layout could be defined. In combination with segment-specific variety restrictions, this results in an effective, efficient, and flexible positioning of a companys products. The employment of layout platforms leads to substantial complexity reduction, and is the basis for competitive advantage, as it imposes a dominant design on a product family, improves its configurability, and supports effective market segmentation.

Modeling Risk‐Related Knowledge in Tunneling Projects

Knowledge on failure events and their associated factors, gained from past construction projects, is regarded as potentially extremely useful in risk management. However, a number of circumstances are constraining its wider use. Such knowledge is usually scarce, seldom documented, and even unavailable when it is required. Further, there exists a lack of proven methods to integrate and analyze it in a cost-effective way. This article addresses possible options to overcome these difficulties. Focusing on limited but critical potential failure events, the article demonstrates how knowledge on a number of important potential failure events in tunnel works can be integrated. The problem of unavailable or incomplete information was addressed by gathering judgments from a group of experts. The elicited expert knowledge consisted of failure scenarios and associated probabilistic information. This information was integrated using Bayesian belief-networks-based models that were first customized in order to deal with the expected divergence in judgments caused by epistemic uncertainty of risks. The work described in the article shows that the developed models that integrate risk-related knowledge provide guidance as to the use of specific remedial measures.

Risks in major innovation projects, a multiple case study within a world's leading company in the fast moving consumer goods

This paper investigates which risks characterise radical innovation projects. In-dept case studies were carried out via interviews and a questionnaire. The risk concept applied in this study includes three dimensions: certainty, controllability and impact. Three structural or unambiguous risks were found: new product performance according to specification, reliability of suppliers and new product adoption by consumers. The incidental or ambiguous risks that were found relate to: internal organisation and project management. These results can provide guidance for project teams and innovation managers regarding issues they must seek to tick off early and issues that continuously require team and management attention.

Evaluating effectiveness of project start-ups: an exploratory study

In this paper an exploratory study is reported about the effectiveness of project start-up (PSU) practices within a world-scale operating, high technology innovating and manufacturing company. The emphasis is on the focal position of both project owner and project manager. To uncover potential differences between both parties, pairwise comparisons of project owner and project manager of the same project have been made. The research findings support the general made assumption that a PSU contributes in getting a better understanding of the intended project purpose, scope and objectives in an early phase of the project process. The study however also makes clear that there certainly is room for improving the start-up process. In particular expectations of both project owner and project manager of the same project concerning project purpose and scope as well as their particular role in the process should be thoroughly discussed and aligned during the design phase of the PSU workshop.