Making the Digital Strategy a Bridge Between Industry 4.0 Initiatives and the Business Plan – Reports from Two Case Studies Towards Manufacturing SMEs

• In this paper we discuss the results of two extensive case studies targeted towards Swedish SMMEs, partly aimed at investigating the current state of practice regarding the strategic work in the companies and its alignment to digitalization initiatives. The case studies were conducted during 2022 and 2023 and includes a vast empirical material, including several site visits, more than 30 interviews, several meetings with the managerial boards of the two companies and workshops, as well as studies of strategic document, product portfolios and Gemba walks. The paper presents a suggestion for how to formulate a one-page digital strategy, which aligns the digitalization initiative with the overall strategy of the company, as well as a vision for the digital transformation initiative. In addition, the one-pager also includes prioritized stakeholder groups, expected effects and prioritized activities. Moreover, we also motivate the reasons behind a one-pager, as well as the topics included therein. Finally, we give some ideas for future work, including the importance of implementing the one-pager in more companies, as a way to further validate its applicability and long-term influence on and relevance for the strategic work in SMMEs. 

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Digital Maturity Index

Digital Strategy

Digital Transformation

Digitalization

Small- and Medium Sized Manufacturing Companies

Business plans

Case-studies

Digital strategies

Manufacturing companies

Maturity indices

Small- and medium sized manufacturing company

Swedish SMMEs

Industry 4.0

Virtual Production Development (VPD)

Virtual Production Development (VPD)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)