| 1. |
- Agerskans, Natalie, et al.
(författare)
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Critical Factors for Selecting and Integrating Digital Technologies to Enable Smart Production : A Data Value Chain Perspective
- 2023
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Ingår i: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. - : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 9783031436611 ; , s. 311-325
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the development towards Industry 5.0, manufacturing companies are developing towards Smart Production, i.e., using data as a resource to interconnect the elements in the production system to learn and adapt accordingly for a more resource-efficient and sustainable production. This requires selecting and integrating digital technologies for the entire data lifecycle, also referred to as the data value chain. However, manufacturing companies are facing many challenges related to building data value chains to achieve the desired benefits of Smart Production. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the critical factors of selecting and integrating digital technologies for efficiently benefiting data value chains for Smart Production. This paper employed a qualitative-based multiple case study design involving manufacturing companies within different industries and of different sizes. The paper also analyses two Smart Production cases in detail by mapping the data flow using a technology selection and integration framework to propose solutions to the existing challenges. By analyzing the two in-depth studies and additionally two reference cases, 13 themes of critical factors for selecting and integrating digital technologies were identified.
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| 2. |
- Agerskans, Natalie
(författare)
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Digital Technologies for Enabling Smart Production : Examining the Aspects of Selection and Integration
- 2023
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the development towards Industry 5.0, manufacturing companies are developing towards smart production. In smart production, data is used as a resource to interconnect different elements in the production system to learn and adapt to changing production conditions. Common objectives include human-centricity, resource-efficiency, and sustainable production. To enable these desired benefits of smart production, there is a need to use digital technologies to create and manage the entire flow of data. To enable smart production, it is essential to deploy digital technologies in a way so that collected raw data is converted into useful data that can be applied by equipment or humans to generate value or reduce waste in production. This requires consideration to the data flow within the production system, i.e., the entire process of converting raw data into useful data which includes data management aspects such as the collection, analysis, and visualization of data. To enable a good data flow, there is a need to combine several digital technologies. However, many manufacturing companies are facing challenges when selecting suitable digital technologies for their specific production system. Common challenges are related to the overwhelming number of advanced digital technologies available on the market, and the complexity of production system and digital technologies. This makes it a complex task to understand what digital technologies to select and the recourses and actions needed to integrate them in the production system.Against this background, the purpose of this licentiate thesis is to examine the selection and integration of digital technologies to enable smart production within manufacturing companies. More specifically, this licentiate thesis examines the challenges and critical factors of selecting and integrating digital technologies for smart production. This was accomplished by performing a qualitative-based multiple case study involving manufacturing companies within different industries and of different sizes. The findings show that identified challenges and critical factors are related to the different phases of the data value chain: data sources and collection, data communication, data processing and storage, and data visualisation and usage. General challenges and critical factors that were related to all phases of the data value chain were also identified. Moreover, the challenges and critical factors were related to people, process, and technology aspects. This shows that there is a need for holistic perspective on the entire data value chain and different production system elements when digital technologies are selected and integrated. Furthermore, there is a need to define a structured process for the selection and integration of digital technologies, where both management and operational level are involved.
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| 3. |
- Agerskans, Natalie, et al.
(författare)
-
Enabling Smart Production : The Role of Data Value Chain
- 2022
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Ingår i: Advances in Production Management Systems. Smart Manufacturing and Logistics Systems: Turning Ideas into Action. - Cham : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 9783031164101 ; , s. 477-485
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To stay competitive, manufacturing companies are developing towards Smart Production which requires the use of digital technologies. However, there is a lack of guidance supporting manufacturing companies in selecting and integrating a combination of suitable digital technologies, which is required for Smart Production. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) to identify the main challenges of selecting and integrating digital technologies for Smart Production, and (ii) to propose a holistic concept to support manufacturing companies in mitigating identified challenges in order to select and integrate a combination of digital technologies for Smart Production. This is accomplished by using a qualitative-based multiple case study design. This paper identifies current challenges related to selection and integration of digital technologies. To overcome these challenges and achieve Smart production, the concept of data value chain was proposed, i.e., a holistic approach to systematically map and improve data flows within the production system. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.
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| 4. |
- Ahlskog, Mats, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Approaching digital transformation in the manufacturing industry challenges and differing views
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Manufacturing Research. - 1750-0591 .- 1750-0605. ; :4, s. 415-433
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In order to support manufacturing companies in their digital transformation, challenges and views of the term 'digital transformation' need to be identified since digital transformation is considered a source of competitive advantages. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the challenges and differing views of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. A case study was conducted in collaboration with four Swedish manufacturing companies. The results were then mapped into categories of three dimensions (people, process and technology), indicating that digital transformation can have different meanings within a company. We conclude that the term 'digitalisation' is more frequently used in the manufacturing industry than 'digital transformation' and identified challenges relate to lack of best practice for digital transformation, degree of standardisation and therefore affects the workload and limits the possibilities of transferring technical solutions between factories. Our findings are relevant to operations managers and other interested in digital transformation.
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| 5. |
- Ahlskog, Mats, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Differing Views of the Meaning of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Industry
- 2022
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Ingår i: Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering. - : IOS Press BV. - 9781614994398 ; , s. 331-340
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the literature there is no consensus regarding the meaning of the term digital transformation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the differing views of the meaning of digital transformation. A case study has been conducted in collaboration with four Swedish manufacturing companies. The results shows that digital transformation can have different meaning within a company and the main challenge when performing digital transformation is knowledge. This study is the first investigation in a research project focusing on coordination of digital transformation. Therefore, is the underlaying goal to identify how the participating companies in the research project describe digital transformation in comparison with the literature. The research intention is not to define digital transformation rather to explore differing views of digital transformation and highlighting similarities and difference in comparison with the literature reviewed. The findings are practically relevant for manufacturing companies by highlighting differing views of digital transformation and in the creation of a common language within a company.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Staffan Karl Lennart, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Critical Factors Supporting the Implementation of Collaborative Robot Applications
- 2021
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Ingår i: IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781728129891
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The industrial collaborative robot (ICR) is a promising technology for automating assembly systems in manufacturing industries. Yet, ICRs are not widely implemented in the manufacturing industry as there are challenges during its implementation. Furthermore, current research lacks real-world case studies on ICR implementation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical factors supporting the implementation of ICR applications in assembly systems. A multiple-case study with eight case companies is presented in this paper, consisting of thirteen interviews. Moreover, critical factors were identified that could mitigate challenges in the ICR implementation process. By this, the study contributes to the current body of research by identifying and structuring the critical factors using a newness perspective. These factors can support the mitigation of potential challenges when manufacturers implement technology with a high novelty into their assembly systems. Specifically, this paper suggests that manufacturing companies focus on relieving operators from unergonomic tasks rather than focusing on high financial and efficiency gains. This finding contradicts previous research suggesting that financial gains are the main goal for manufacturing companies when implementing ICR applications. Moreover, how manufacturers work with external actors might change when implementing ICR applications, compared to traditional robots. Finally, we suggest testing the critical factors in a real-world case study investigating the whole implementing process to see if these factors, in fact, mitigate challenges.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Staffan Karl Lennart, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Experienced Challenges When Implementing Collaborative Robot Applications in Assembly Operations
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Automation Technology. - : FUJI TECHNOLOGY PRESS LTD. - 1881-7629 .- 1883-8022. ; 15:5, s. 678-688
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The industrial collaborative robot (ICR) application is a promising automation technology that combines human abilities with the repeatability and accuracy of an industrial robot. Yet, industrial challenges have prevented ICR applications from being implemented extensively in industry. Therefore, the purpose of the presented work is to deepen the knowledge of the key challenges that manufacturers experience during the implementation of ICR applications. In this study, a case study approach was used with eight companies to identify those challenges. The analysis of the qualitative data was conducted based on thirteen interviews with respondents from the industry to identify their challenges when implementing ICR applications. In this paper, a defined implementation process is presented that is combined with three significant areas of challenges relevant for the implementation of ICR applications, i.e., safety, knowledge, and functionality. Then, these areas are used as a basis to identify the corresponding challenges during the early implementation phases. The findings of the study point to an insufficient understanding of safety assessment and a lack of operator involvement in the pre-study phase that was propagated into the later implementation phases. The application design phase was identified to have several ad-hoc approaches due to a lack of knowledge concerning the application of ICR. In the factory installation phase, the challenges included increasing flexibility and ensuring standardised ways of working. This paper makes three distinct contributions to the research community. First, it provides rich data to the research concerning the implementation of applications of ICR, and it focuses on three areas, i.e., safety, knowledge, and functionality, and the challenges associated with their respective implementations. Second, contributions are made to the literature on implementing new technology, and they are focused on the early phases. Third, the results of this paper suggest that the role of system integrators might change in ICR application implementation projects. This paper contributes to practitioners a list of challenges that they might face during the implementation of ICR.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Staffan Karl Lennart, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the Capabilities of Industrial Collaborative Robot Applications
- 2020
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Ingår i: Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering, Volume 13. - 9781614994398 ; , s. 109-118
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The increase in customization is pushing companies to use more advanced automation technologies in their production lines. Yet, assembly operations are predominantly performed by humans because of their ability to be flexible. The emergence of industrial collaborative robots provides an opportunity to have robots work alongside humans in a flexible and collaborative application. The aim of this study is to explore the industrial collaborative robot capabilities in a collaborative application compared to traditional robot applications. This interview study draws data from four companies with experience in industrial collaborative robot applications. The companies involved in this study experienced that there are several benefits of using an industrial collaborative robot but challenges still exist, in particular related to usability and the robot integration process.
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Staffan, 1987-
(författare)
-
Supporting the Implementation of Industrial Robots in Collaborative Assembly Applications
- 2021
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Until recently, few technologies have been applicable to increase flexibility in the manufacturers’ assembly applications, but the introduction of industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications provides such opportunities. Specifically, these collaborative assembly applications present an opportunity to, in a fenceless environment, combine the flexibility of the human with the accuracy, repeatability, and strengths of the robot while utilizing less floor space and allowing portable applications. However, despite the benefits of industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications, there are significant gaps in the literature preventing their implementation.Based on this background, the objective of this work is to support the implementation of industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications. To fulfill this objective, this work included two empirical studies; first, an interview study mapped the attributes of industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications. Second, a multiple-case study mapped the critical challenges and enabling activities when implementing these collaborative assembly applications. The studies were also combined with literature reviews aiming to fill the theoretical gaps. The work provides an implementation process with enabling activities that can mitigate critical challenges when implementing industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications. The implementation process shows enabling activities in the three first phases: pre-study, collaborative assembly application design, and assembly installation. These enabling activities are mapped to the 7M dimensions as a way to clearly show how they can support the implementation of industrial robots in collaborative assembly applications. The implementation process contributes to filling the identified gaps in the literature and provides practitioners with activities that managers could consider when implementing collaborative robots in collaborative assembly applications. Finally, this work suggests that future research could aim to validate the implementation process in a case study or investigate further the last two phases of the process.
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| 10. |
- Badasjane, Viktorija, et al.
(författare)
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Adapting the organisational structure for coordinating the digital transformation
- 2023
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Ingår i: 30th EurOMA conference, EurOMA23.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Factories within International Manufacturing Networks (IMNs) need coordination to harness globalization’s potential. Simultaneously, adding additional complexity, they seek to coordinate digital transformation across the IMNs, requiring a holistic view encompassing the organizational structure. The purpose of this paper is to identify how manufacturing companies adapt the organizational structures of their IMNs to coordinate digital transformation. Through a multiple case study of four manufacturing companies, the results show new or adapted functional units, roles and interfaces. The findings describe and exemplify global and local functional units, boundary spanner roles, and formal and informal interfaces created for coordinating digital transformation in IMNs.
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