Johannes Jacobus Krabbendam

Organizing for Manufacturing Innovation: The Case of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Reports research which aimed to find the organizational conditions required for companies considering innovating their operating core by adopting any advanced manufacturing technology, and implementing and operating this technology effectively. Describes a model of the organization of manufacturing innovation which was used in longitudinal case studies of the adoption, implementation and early operation of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), to analyse these processes and to find the conditions affecting their level of success. It appears that the activities, innovation roles, organizational arrangements and slack resources which are required according to the model determine most of the success of the innovation process. Concludes that the model contributes to our understanding of how to organize and manage complex processes such as manufacturing innovation.

Enabling innovative healthcare delivery through the use of the focused factory model: the case of the spine clinic of the future

This paper discusses the concept of the focused factory model. We highlight that the focused factory model combines one of the key generic strategies identified by Michael Porter (1985) and the ideas and concepts from manufacturing. The genesis of this model has its roots in trying to restore the competitive edge for manufacturing in the US. We assert that this model has much benefit for healthcare and, by applying such a model to the structuring of healthcare facilities, we can realise the benefits of this model that have been experienced in manufacturing; namely, we can achieve a competitive edge to healthcare delivery. We illustrate our ideas by presenting the design for a new Spine Clinic in the Netherlands.