Abstract
This chapter presents the Innovation Factory North (IFN) as a platform for a collaborative approach to trigger and accelerate industry 4.0 based innovations in small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises. The potentials for SME becoming ‘smarter’ are huge and well-recognized. However, ‘how’ to approach this is difficult. In IFN, manufacturing companies, technology vendors, and academia join forces to trigger digital transformation. The IFN approach has been developed during an ongoing regional research and innovation project in a collaboration between industry, academia, and the government. This chapter presents the generalized approach and discuss the preliminary findings from more than 60 cases of applying the approach as steps towards making the participating companies smarter.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abele, E., Metternich, J., & Tisch, M. (2019). Learning factories.
Abele, E., Metternich, J., Tisch, M., Chryssolouris, G., Sihn, W., ElMaraghy, H., Hummel, V., & Ranz, F. (2015). Learning factories for research, education, and training. Procedia CIRP, 32, 1–6. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.02.187
Ahlskog, M., Bruch, J., & Jackson, M. (2017). Knowledge integration in manufacturing technology development. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 28(8), 1035–1054.
Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective translated by anonymous. Addison-Wesley.
Baena, F., Guarin, A., Mora, J., Sauza, J., & Retat, S. (2017). Learning factory: The path to industry 4.0. Procedia manufacturing, 9, 73–80. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.04.022
Barley, W. C., Leonardi, P. M., & Bailey, D. E. (2012). Engineering objects for collaboration: Strategies of ambiguity and clarity at knowledge boundaries. Human Communication Research, 38(3), 280–308. Available at: https://api.istex.fr/ark:/67375/WNG-F3T1NKKJ-M/fulltext.pdf
Boeddrich, H. J. (2004). Ideas in the workplace: A new approach towards organizing the fuzzy front end of the innovation process. Creativity and Innovation Management, 13(4), 274–285.
Brynjolfsson, E., McAfee, A., & Cummings, J. (2014). The second machine age work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies translated by anonymous.
Cannon, M. D., & Edmondson, A. C. (2005), Failing to learn and learning to fail (intelligently): How great organizations put failure to work to innovate and improve. Long Range Planning, 38(3). SPEC. ISS
Coughlan, P., & Coghlan, D. (2002). Action research for operations management, 22, 220–240. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570210417515
Garvin, D. A. (1993). Building a learning organization. Harvard Business Review, 71(4).
Karlsson, A., & Larsson, L. (2016). Overcoming innovation inertia in production processes—Managing the introduction process. Innovation and Product Development Management Conference.
Kerr, C., & Phaal, R. (2015). Visualizing roadmaps: A design-driven approach. Research Technology Management, 58(4), 45–54. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5437/08956308X5804253
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development translated by Anonymous. Prentice-Hall.
Kurkkio, M. (2011). Managing the fuzzy front-end: Insights from process firms. European Journal of Innovation Management, 14(2), 252–269.
Larsen, M. S. S., Lassen, A. H., & Nielsen, K. (2019). Process innovation in learning factories. Springer Publishing Company.
Lassen, A. H. (2022). Part 5: People. In O. Madsen, U. Berger, C. Møller, A. H. Lassen, B. V. Waehrens, & C. Schou (Eds.), The Future of smart production for SME—A methodological and practical approach towards digitalization in SMEs. Springer International Publishing.
Lassen, A. H., & Waehrens, B. V. (2021). Labour 4.0: Developing competences for smart production. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, 14(4), 659–679. Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JGOSS-11-2019-0064/full/html
Leonard-Barton, D. (1992). The factory as a learning laboratory. Sloan Management Review, 34(1), 23. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1302971272
Li, F. (2020). Leading digital transformation: three emerging approaches for managing the transition. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 40(6), 809–817. Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOPM-04-2020-0202/full/html
Lidón, I., Rebollar, R., & Møller, C. (2011). A collaborative learning environment for management education based on experiential learning. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 48(3).
Madsen, O., & Møller, C. (2017). The AAU smart production laboratory for teaching and research in emerging digital manufacturing technologies. Procedia Manufacturing, 9, 106–112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.04.036
March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2(1).
Møller, C., & Hansen, P. K. (2006). Business process innovation: The LEGO case. 2006 IEEE International Technology Management Conference, ICE 2006
Møller, C., Hansen, A. K., Palade, D., Sørensen, D. G. H., Hansen, E. B., & Uhrenholt, J. N. (2022a). Researching small and medium-sized enterprises—An action design research approach to study digital transformation in SME. In O. Madsen, U. Berger, C. Møller, A. H. Lassen, B. V. Waehrens, & C. Schou (Eds.), The future of smart production for SME—A methodological and practical approach towards digitalization in SMEs. Springer International Publishing.
Møller, C., Madsen, O., Berger, U., Lassen, A. H., Waehrens, B. V., & Schou, C. (2022b). The vision of smart production. In O. Madsen, U. Berger, C. Møller, A. H. Lassen, B. V. Waehrens, & C. Schou (Eds.), The future of smart production for SME—A methodological and practical approach towards digitalization in SMEs. Springer International Publishing.
Müllert, N., & Jungk, R. (1987). Future Workshops: How to create desirable futures. Institute for Social Inventions, London, United Kingdom.
Nardello, M., Madsen, O., & Møller, C. (2017). The Smart Production Laboratory: A Learning Factory for Industry 4.0 Concepts. In CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1898, (5).
Palade, D., & Møller, C. (2022). Paperless production—Integrated solutions for smart production. In O. Madsen, U. Berger, C. Møller, A. H. Lassen, B. V. Weahrens, & C. Schou (Eds.), The future of smart production for SME—A methodological and practical approach towards digitalization in SMEs. Springer International Publishing.
Rother, M. (2009), Toyota Kata translated by Anonymous. McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt Limited.
Rycroft, R. W., & Kash, D. E. (2000). Steering complex innovation. Research Technology Management, 43(3), 18–23. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08956308.2000.11671347
Sjödin, D. R., Parida, V., Leksell, M., & Petrovic, A. (2018). Smart factory implementation and process innovation, Research Technology Management, 61(5), 22–31. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08956308.2018.1471277
Thomke, S. (2020). Building a culture of experimentation. Harvard Business Review, 98(2).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Møller, C. et al. (2023). Innovation Factory North: An Approach to Make Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Companies Smarter. In: Madsen, O., Berger, U., Møller, C., Heidemann Lassen, A., Vejrum Waehrens, B., Schou, C. (eds) The Future of Smart Production for SMEs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15428-7_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15428-7_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15427-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15428-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)