Prioritising Low Cost Digital Solutions Required by Manufacturing SMEs: A Shoestring Approach
Conference paper
First Online:
Abstract
This paper establishes a reference set of those low cost digital solutions needed by small and medium sized manufacturers – SMEs – and proposes a method for determining development priorities using input from reference groups of SMEs. The paper describes the approach taken to identifying and classifying common digital solutions used in manufacturing and the results from a series of workshops in which company representatives prioritise different solution types to help guide developments.
Keywords
Digital manufacturing Low-cost automation Digitalisation strategy Manufacturing SMEsReferences
- 1.Bi, Z., Liu, Y., Baumgartner, B., Culver, E., Sorokin, J., Peters, A., Cox, B., Hunnicutt, J., Yurek, J., O’Shaughnessey, S.: Reusing industrial robots to achieve sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ind. Robot: an Int. J. 42(3), 264–273 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-12-2014-0441. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/10.1108/IR-12-2014-0441CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 2.Brunoe, T.D., Nielsen, K.: Complexity management in mass customization SMEs. Procedia CIRP 51, 38–43 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2016.05.099CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 3.CBI: From Ostrich to Magpie - Increasing Business Take-up of Proven Ideas and Technologies. Technical report, November 2017. https://www.cbi.org.uk/articles/from-ostrich-to-magpie-increasing-business-take-up-of-proven-ideas-and-technologies/
- 4.Ciliberti, F., Pontrandolfo, P., Scozzi, B.: Investigating corporate social responsibility in supply chains: a SME perspective. J. Cleaner Prod. 16(15), 1579–1588 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.04.016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 5.Digitalshoestring.net: Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring (2019). https://www.digitalshoestring.net
- 6.EPSRC: EPSRC Details of Grant [Digital Shoestring] (2018). https://gow.epsrc.ukri.org/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/R032777/1
- 7.Ford, D., Caldwell, P., Stevens, T.: A new diagnostic and action planning tool for small and medium-sized manufacturers. In: 3rd International Conference for Manufacturing Research, ICMR 2005, Cranfield (2005)Google Scholar
- 8.Ford, D., Caldwell, P., Stevens, T.: In-site: the development of a new diagnostic and action planning tool for small and medium-sized manufacturers. In: 7th International Conference on Stimulating Manufacturing Excellence in Small and Medium Enterprises, Glasgow, pp. 252–259 (2005)Google Scholar
- 9.Goerzig, D., Lucke, D., Lenz, J., Denner, T., Lickefett, M., Bauernhansl, T.: Engineering environment for production system planning in small and medium enterprises. Procedia CIRP 33, 111–114 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.06.021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 10.Grube Hansen, D., Malik, A.A., Bilberg, A.: Generic challenges and automation solutions in manufacturing SMEs. In: 28th DAAAM International Symposium on Intelligent Manufacturing and Automation, pp. 1161–1169 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2507/28th.daaam.proceedings.161. http://www.daaam.info/Downloads/Pdfs/proceedings/proceedings_2017/161.pdfGoogle Scholar
- 11.House of Commons: Small businesses and productivity Fifteenth Report of Session 2017-19 HC 807. Technical report (2018). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmbeis/807/807.pdf
- 12.Matt, D.T., Rauch, E.: Implementation of lean production in small sized enterprises. Procedia CIRP 12, 420–425 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2013.09.072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 13.McFarlane, D., Ratchev, S., Thorne, A., Parlikad, A., de Silva, L., Schönfuß, B., Hawkridge, G., Terrazas, G., Tlegenov, Y.: Digital manufacturing on a shoestring: low cost digital solutions for SMEs. In: SOHOMA (2019, submitted) Google Scholar
- 14.Publications Office of the European Union: User Guide to the SME Definition (2015). http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/conferences/state-aid/sme/smedefinitionguide_en.pdf
- 15.Rhodes, C.: Business statistics - HoC briefing paper, Dec 2018. Technical report 1 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00554.x. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06152/SN06152.pdfCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 16.Saam, M., Viete, S., Schiel, S.: Digitalisierung im Mittelstand: Status Quo, aktuelle Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen: Forschungsprojekt im Auftrag der KfW Bankengruppe. Technical report (2016). https://www.kfw.de/PDF/Download-Center/Konzernthemen/Research/PDF-Dokumente-Studien-und-Materialien/Digitalisierung-im-Mittelstand.pdf
Copyright information
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020