Michael Gepp

Framework for standardization programs in the Engineer-To-Order industry

The Engineer-To-Order business encompasses companies producing a broad range of industrial products. Projects in this business are becoming increasingly complex, both from a technical and a management perspective. In this context, standardization programs have become a common approach to improve competitiveness and profitability of ETO companies. Standardization programs have their origin in the product business, which significantly differs from ETO business e.g. by the volume produced and the complexity of functional requirements. Nevertheless the use of standardization programs has increased during the last years. However, there is a methodological deficit for standardization, since approaches and principles which have proven in product business cannot be easily transferred to ETO business. As a consequence guidelines describing how standardization programs can be implemented in ETO companies are very scarce. Based on the analysis of six standardization programs, good practices and lessons learned for standardization in the ETO business have been derived and a framework was developed to support planning and implementation of standardization programs. The framework consists of a procedure model (step-by-step process for implementation), cross-process topics which are important in several process steps (e.g. change management, roles, tools) as well as utilities (e.g. templates, tools, glossaries). The framework provides companies a structured guideline for the planning and implementation of standardization programs in ETO business.

Standardization programs in the industrial plant business: Best practices and lessons learned

Organizations in the industrial plant business are facing an increasing competition and a rising complexity of the plants. Common approaches to increase the profitability of engineering organizations in this business are standardization programs. The underlying methodology of modularization and standardization is already successfully used the product business. In the industrial plant business however standardization programs are only slowly gaining ground, mainly due to the high customer specificity and small number of plants produced in this business. Nevertheless researchers agree that standardization programs have great potential. In this contribution, six standardization programs of a German engineering organization were analyzed in case studies. Based on these programs best practices and lessons learned are identified. The knowledge of these success factors as well as examples how these factors can be practically implemented will support engineering organizations to conduct their standardization programs more efficiently.

System integration in modularization and standardization programs

The Engineer-To-Order business, which encompasses companies producing a broad range of capital goods, is becoming increasingly complex. In order to improve their profitability, engineering organizations in this business use standardization programs. While decomposition aspects in such programs are already in an advanced state, the integration of components, modules or subsystems into a customer-specific solution as well as integration of engineering disciplines, life cycle phases and stakeholders are critical but yet neglected aspects. Therefore, the focus of this contribution lies on the role of system integration in standardization programs. It identifies various objects for integration from which seven types of integration with regard to modularization and standardization programs are derived. The analyses of this contribution are based on a literature review and case studies of six standardization programs.

Migration from traditional towards cyber-physical production systems

Nowadays, many organizations intend to convert their existing production systems towards ones that are terized by adaptability, openness, flexibility and modularity. This requires a redesign of existing information processing systems especially related to control, leading possibly to cyber-physical production systems (CPPS). However, the implementation of new control technologies will have a direct impact on the normal operational status of production while engineers will also face several challenges and obstacles in adopting intelligent automation systems. New step-wise migration strategies are required to holistically support industries in their journey towards CPPS taking into account technical, economic and social aspects. This paper discusses the migration state-of-the-art strategies, analyzing them and providing a first attempt to define a migration approach for innovative production systems.

Reference process for the development of an engineering strategy

The critical influence of functional strategies on business success is undisputed, as well as the impact of engineering. Surprisingly, research on functional strategies for engineering organizations is scarce. Purpose: this contribution aims to provide engineering organizations with a guideline for the development and implementation of engineering strategies. Approach: first, a literature review determines the state of research for functional strategies i.e. which functional strategies are in the focus of research. The review also aims to evaluate approaches for the development of functional strategies. Then, a market analysis gives an overview of consulting offers for strategy development. To gain insight on how engineering strategies are developed in industrial practice, seven projects which focused on strategy development were analyzed. Findings: based on the analysis of seven functional strategy development projects a reference process for the planning and implementation of an engineering strategy is presented. Originality: there is a large body of literature on business and corporate strategies. On a functional level research focuses on marketing, procurement and manufacturing strategy. Functional strategies for engineering received no attention in the literature yet.

Function-based engineering framework for the standardization of industrial plants

Industrial enterprises are facing an increasing complexity of their manufactured products. In order to support engineering organizations to increase their profitability, this paper presents major success factors for efficient plant engineering. These factors are based on the analysis of six case studies regarding standardization programs from the plant engineering domain. Subsequently, a function-based standardization framework for the plant engineering domain is developed. The framework can be applied to fulfill the most important success factors identified in the case studies. It helps to improve the interdisciplinary collaboration throughout the whole engineering process of a plant by using mechatronic (information) objects. By providing a function-based modularization strategy for the engineering of plants, the project comprehensive reusability ratio of developed plant artifacts can be improved as well. Finally, the function-based engineering framework is evaluated in a case study to prove its feasibility.

Assessment of engineering performance in industrial plant business: Challenges for economic considerations in engineering

The plant manufacturing business is characterized by intensifying competition and increasing market requirements. Manufacturers try to increase their competitiveness through the improvement of engineering performance. In order to have a reliable basis for management decisions, engineering performance must be assessed comprehensively. The meaningfulness of such holistic considerations is undisputed, but in industrial practice such holistic considerations are rare. In search for causes for this phenomenon the authors identified 13 challenges which oppose the conduction of comprehensive assessments based on an empirical study and expert interviews. These challenges have their origin in structural conditions of the plant business as well as the complex role of engineering, which is connected in multiple ways to other trades, stages in the value chain and phases of the plant life cycle. In this regard, the prediction of cost developments, the quantification of engineering impact and a lack of common understanding of engineering performance turned out to be the main hurdles for performance assessments in an engineering environment. By considering these challenges in future assessments, engineering can be improved more effectively and its potential to increase the profitability along the complete value-add chain can be seized more efficiently.

Performance assessments of engineering departments: An empirical study

This contribution presents the results of an empirical study about assessments of performance of engineering departments in the German plant manufacturing industry. Engineering plays a central role in the industrial value chain. However, its multiple impact is not considered in an adequate way by current assessments. For instance, economic considerations have a strong focus on costs and consider the engineering department only in an isolated way. Since there is little literature about this topic - existing publications analyze performance from a technical-functional perspective or focus on design aspects - this study aims to evaluate performance criteria and challenges for performance assessments. 36 experts in the domain of plant engineering have been asked in an online survey and personal interviews. A lack of common understanding of engineering performance and the difficulty to quantify the impact of engineering turned out to be the main challenges besides a strong cost focus in the plant manufacturing business. Finally 13 challenges were identified which oppose comprehensive assessments of engineering performance. If recognized, these challenges can help plant manufacturing companies to minimize the ill effects of current economic considerations and to improve their engineering departments more effectively.

The future of engineering — scenarios of the future way of working in the engineer-to-order business

Companies of the engineer-to-order (ETO) business face various trends such as digitalization and globalization. These trends will radically change the way of working in engineering. First, this paper carves out four basic categories of engineering in the ETO business — ‘Easy Engineering’, ‘Zero Engineering’, ‘Perfect Engineering’ and ‘Pioneer Engineering’ — and describes their distinctive characteristics and implications for engineering companies. Second, this paper elaborates engineering scenarios that show how the described trends will change the way of working in the respective engineering categories. It further outlines how the trends will change the relative importance of the engineering categories within the ETO business. Finally, the contribution discusses what challenges engineering companies need to tackle on their way to the future of engineering.

Standardization, modularization and platform approaches in the engineer-to-order business — Review and outlook

Standardization, modularization and platforms (S/M/P) are approaches used by industrial companies to cope with complexity of technical products and systems. Despite a long history in product business S/M/P are considered as a fairly recent idea in engineer-to-order (ETO) business. They are applied with varying degrees of success in this business due to a number of challenges. This contribution describes the development of S/M/P from their beginnings in product business to their application in the ETO business. It provides a selection of relevant literature and studies on S/M/P that reflects the current state of research in the ETO business. The contribution also identifies challenges regarding the implementation of S/M/P among ETO companies. The evaluation of cost and benefit of S/M/P approaches, the integration of modules to systems, the definition of module design criteria, the definition of S/M/P specific key performance indicators as well as the scarce methodological support for implementing S/M/P have been identified as main hurdles in the ETO business.