Low operation equipment efficiency, OEE, in manufacturing industry indicates a potential for improvements by reducing production disturbances during the life cycle of a production system. Here, the question of preventing and handling production disturbances in the production system during its design, start-up, ramp-up and full production phases is concerned. It requires measurement of performance, and utilisation of process data and information of production disturbances appearing during the different life cycle phases. It also requires a focus on eliminating production disturbances already during the production system design process. The objective of the research project presented in this paper is to develop a methodology for analysing and dealing with production disturbances on both a short-term and long-term basis, including also the utilisation of software support. The ongoing development of the methodology is based on, and will be applied in extensive case studies at Swedish manufacturing companies. Keywords Production efficiency, effectiveness, production disturbances, production system, life-cycle perspective, methodology development.

The objective of this case study is to gain deeper insights in how cultural aspects influence a product introduction with product development carried out in Sweden and industrialization in China. Data were collected through semi-structured individual and group interviews and workshops. The study showed that the companies faced a number of challenges during the product introduction, such as problems with the product design, updating versions of drawings, infrastructure for communication, and quality issues. There were, however, a number of issues that were directly or indirectly influenced by cultural aspects and lack of understanding about cultural differences. Challenges included interpersonal communication related to language barriers and differences in degree of direct communication of needs, demands and own capabilities. Based on literature on cultural dimensions and actual challenges during a specific product introduction when two national cultures interact/collaborate, this paper results in an initial approach for further model development and research on how to link cultural dimensions to product development models in a systematic and prioritized way. This is needed to develop organizational support to increase knowledge of cultural strengths and differences, how to manage these issues and further facilitate organizational learning for increased efficiency of product introductions.

In a time of change focusing on the application of technology, there is a high risk of underestimating the compliance of internal needs and adaption to context. The research study employs a qualitative approach using the case study methodology. The source of data comes from five different manufacturing companies categorized as Small to Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs). A multidisciplinary team performed semi-structured interviews and fieldwork at each site, along with regular online meetings with the partners. The study employs five dimensions of the information quality perspective to assess information utilized to support deviation handling and connects the information quality deficiencies to the digital tools' impact. The empirical findings indicate the need for the companies to perform a requirement analysis of information needs before the adoption of digital systems or digital tools, to assess their current state in terms of data and information. The paper discusses the impact digital tools may have on deviation management in SMEs and under which circumstances digital tools could improve deviation management. Lastly, this paper intends to shed light on the utilization of digital technologies for disturbance handling on the production shop floor. © 2020 The authors

This paper aims to describe how to create and structure a meeting arena bycombining organisation structure and information structure; this will be used in orderto create an innovative and creative arena for knowledge sharing and problemsolving within the company. The model is exemplified by four industrial casestudies.Results reveal that most of the companies do not have any standards forinformation- or knowledge sharing, most improvement potentials are seen instructuring and storing the right information (IS), aiming from tacit towards explicitknowledge (OS) and this could be done by structuring the questions in the OS-M-ISmodel and by creating innovative and creative meeting arenas.

Mass customisation increases the number of product variants, shortens product cycles, and results in increasingly complex production systems. The complexity needs to be defined, and further operationalized to support management of production complexity. This paper's contribution is the empirical findings of perceived production complexity at three manufacturing companies, from the perspective of different functions/roles within the production systems; production engineers, operative personnel, internal logistics, and in one company also man-hour planning. Data was collected through observations, interviews, and cross-functional workshops. Results show that mass customisation is the greatest driver and cause of complexity. The increase of product variants affects complexity for all three investigated roles in the production system.

Mass customization and more variants, components, and frequent changes increase production complexity. This paper presents research project aimed at developing a feasible definition of complexity, a method for measuring complexity, which supports line rebalancing, man-hour planning, and complexity management, competence, and information support. The project is done in collaboration between Swerea IVF, Chalmers, Volvo Cars, Electrolux, Stoneridge, Electronics, and AB Volvo. Industrial studies were carried out to understand the needs for handling complexity. In parallel, a literature study was conducted over research on definitions, models and methods for complexity. In literature, complexity is commonly modelled by information and entropy of the system (randomness); and categorized into static/dynamic and subjective/objective. The research further concludes: unknown events increase with complexity, making management of uncertainty increasingly important, not only reducing but also coping with complexities; the role of humans and technology in work systems is crucial for coping with uncertainties; complexity models and methods must be easy to understand and use; and must take a holistic view of production; and include different user’s perspective and the subjective complexity.

This paper seeks to identify critical events and factors that facilitate realization of changes in production. Major planned changes were studied in two industrial cases. The results showed a large number of unpredicted critical events which require development of strategies for both minimizing and coping with uncertainties. The most important facilitators for realization of planned changes in production were related to organizational and human aspects, and to a lower degree technology aspects. In the transition from the preparation phase to the implementation phase of the planned change, factors related to organizational aspects dominated, while factors related to human aspects had increased significance for the overall realization.

Det finns en övertygelse om att sättet som vi utvecklar industriarbetet på ger fördelar och konkurrensfördelar som inte går lätt att kopiera! Denna skrift visar hur några av de bästa företagen i Sverige utvecklar industriarbetet för att stärka sin konkurrenskraft och produktion i Sverige. Här är produktion och produktivitet i fokus som samtidigt skapar bra förutsättningar för individen och erbjuder ett attraktivt långsiktigt hållbart arbete. I en grundbild beskrivs gemensamma kvaliteter som företagen eftersträvar att stärka och vidareutveckla. Skriften ger inspiration för att ta fram en gemensam målbild inom det egna företaget för utveckling av industriarbetet som har förutsättningar att skapa fördelar både för företaget och medarbetare. Den innehåller också ett workshopunderlag för att analysera nuläget (bra initiativ, aktuella utmaningar, företagets egna styrkor), för att identifiera och prioritera aktiviteter och ta fram ett underlag till en handlingsplan. Skriften bygger på erfarenheter från  SKF, Scania CV, Alfa Laval Lund, SSAB EMEA, Atlas Copco Secoroc, Skaraverken, Furhoffs Rostfria, Westbaltic Components, Volvo Personvagnar och forskare från olika forskningsfält i Sverige. Studien och denna skrift har genomförts på uppdrag av IF Metall, Teknikföretagen, Swerea IVFs Intressentförening och Vinnova.

Purpose: Resistance is expected to emerge with the implementation and use of new technologies in production systems. This work focuses on identifying sources of resistance to the use of Industry 4.0 technologies when managing production disturbances and suitable managerial approaches to deal with them. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was chosen in this research. The authors conducted a literature review and a series of interviews. Thirty-one papers from the literature review were analysed, and 16 people from five different companies were interviewed. Findings: The authors identified five different sources of resistance and three managerial approaches to dealing with them. The sources of resistance were based on (1) feelings of over-supervision, (2) unclear values, (3) feelings of inadequacy, (4) concerns about loss of power and jobs and (5) work overload. The three approaches to dealing with resistance are (1) communication, (2) participation and (3) training. Originality/value: This work identifies the sources and strategies to deal with resistance to the use of Industry 4.0 technologies in the management of production disturbances. The managerial literature in this area is limited, and to the authors's knowledge, the specific sources for resistance and strategies to deal with that in this topic have not been systematically investigated before.

Half of manufacturing companies' production capacity is estimated to be compromised due to disturbances. With the upcoming Industry 4.0, this problem is expected to be minimized through technological solutions. The aim of this article is to propose alternatives to handle production disturbances by means of technological support, to minimize their occurrence and impacts. To this purpose, we conducted a literature review and a series of interviews with five companies. We distinguish six stages for handling production disturbances: Detection, diagnosis, mitigation/correction, root cause analysis, prevention, and prediction. Our results indicate that all these stages are expected to benefit from Industry 4.0 technologies significantly. Furthermore, our results point out that practitioners perceive the stages of prevention and prediction with the highest potential for improvement. However, focus on the diagnosis and root cause analysis stages is also necessary since those stages are coupled to the prevention and prediction. The contributions of this article are twofold. Firstly, it provides a holistic view of the stages and technologies to handle production disturbances in Industry 4.0, from which practitioners can extract directions for implementation. Secondly, the paper provides focus for further research in the field of disturbance management with the identification of the current challenges

The increased mass-customisation of production requires operators to manage an increasing number of complex work tasks. From a social sustainability perspective, better sharing and dissemination of production information supports operators cognitively to manage and understand their work tasks, which in turn improves quality of work. So, the focus of this paper is to study how production planning meetings can be improved. Previous research suggests that the MEET model can be used as a framework for improving meetings and information sharing by studying 10 different areas within a company’s Organisation System (OS) and Information System (IS) whilst considering the time and place prerequisites and aims for these meetings. In this paper, the applicability of the MEET model and its 10 areas are tested at a small production company by applying two different approaches. First, a questionnaire was presented to and filled out by a manager, the results of the questionnaire identifies the improvement potential of each of the 10 areas. Second, a comprehensive current-state analysis based on observations on the shop-floor and interviews with operators were carried out with regards to the 10 areas. The results from these two approaches were compared and the comparison showed that both approaches point towards similar areas for potential improvements. This paper concludes that the MEET model can be used as a general framework to inspire change by suggesting areas with potential improvement in information sharing. While the selfassessment questionnaire can identify a direction, additional information and involvement of other stakeholders are recommended for actual implementations of change. For future research, the methods based on the MEET model will be further developed to improve accuracy and the suggestions provided to the case company in this paper will be tested as a validation of the model.

The complexity of modern manufacturing industry and the emergence of Industry 4.0 puts changing cognitive demands on human operators at work. Operators in this environment, Operator 4.0, will share knowledge through the use of new digital technologies that should be implemented in parallel with an organizational development towards Organization 4.0. On an individual level within the organization, people benefit from understanding their own knowledge needs and gain necessary knowledge through knowledge sharing activities. In pre-Industry 4.0 organizations, this is done primarily through meetings. Originally developed to create smart meetings in smart factories, an elaborated version of the MEET model (Gullander et al, 2014) is used in this paper to evaluate the needs for sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge, both in regards to how it affects the Information System and the Organization System. By adding a systematic process approach to mapping individual knowledge needs related to production activities, these needs can be identified for each process step. By using this systematic approach to apply the MEET model, two Swedish SMEs within the manufacturing industry have developed their knowledge sharing activities. This human-centred study, based on questionnaires and interviews, focuses on how shop-floor operators perceive changes in knowledge sharing activities due to the use of the MEET model. Novelty in this research lies in the attempt to link the technology-intensive Industry 4.0 development with an organizational emphasis. Results show that the applied method can be used to pragmatically improve knowledge sharing from certain aspects, but further research is required to determine the correlation between different areas and their effect on knowledge sharing. This paper suggests that knowledge sharing in organizations can be benefitted from Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, introducing this as Organization 4.0. 

CompleXity Index (CXI) is a method developed to help manufacturing companies to describe complexity as experienced and to assist in reducing the effects it has on operator performance. The method is targeting the perceived complexity and was tested at Volvo Cars Corporation. Reproducibility of the method could be seen between respondents and was considered a valuable tool for visualizing problem-areas at the stations. It is suggested that objective data could be one way to identify which stations should be tested in-depth with the CXI method, and that CXI could be used for suggesting improvements or appropriate support tools. © 2012 The Authors.

In order to manage increasing numbers of product variants, tools that can reduce or manage production complexity are vital. The paper describes CompleXity Index (CXI), an index-based method and tool that assess the complexity at an industrial workstation. CXI was validated at three Swedish manufacturing companies investigating how different roles affect the index calculation and if the method measures what was intended. In all three cases, CXI was seen as a useful tool that provided a holistic view of the problems seen at a station. In addition it was indicated that complexity and unbalanced work was connected and that the method could be used to predict problem areas on new stations.

In order to measure complexity and stay competitive, manufacturing companies need to be able to quantify production complexity. For this reason, two methods were developed within the context of two concurrent research projects are compared: the Belgian Complexity Calculator, CXC, measures objective complexity and the Swedish Complexity Index, CXI, focuses on subjective complexity, as experienced by operators in the stations. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the two methods by comparing them to seven relevant existing quantitative methods and by examining results from case studies. It is observed that the two methods can be used as a compliment to one another, where CXC can be used for scanning data automatically CXI can be used for in-depth analysis. In addition, the comparison of existing methods provides insight on how to measure complexity depending on need and scope. copy; 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

In a constantly evolving global market, manufacturing companies need to be flexible and adaptive to survive. Digital twins of production systems have been proposed as one part of the solution, however this comes with multiple challenges. Manufacturing SMEs have limited resources and need to direct their efforts in this area wisely. This paper presents a tool for holistic assessment of an SME manufacturer's level of digitalization, in order to visualize current gaps and guide digitalization efforts over a production system's life cycle. The tool was empirically developed together with Manufacturing SMEs and has strengthened their digitalization awareness and capabilities. © 2020 The Authors.

Purpose: Manufacturing companies struggle to manage production disturbances. One step of such management deals with prioritising those disturbances which should undergo root cause analysis. The focus of this work is on two areas. First, investigating current challenges faced by manufacturing companies when prioritising root cause analysis of production disturbances. Second, identifying the stakeholders and factors impacted by production disturbances. Understanding the current challenges and identifying impacted stakeholders and factors allows the development of more efficient prioritisation strategies and, thus, contributes to the reduction of frequency and impact of disturbances. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the intended purpose of this research, a qualitative approach was chosen. A series of interviews was conducted with practitioners, to identify current challenges. A series of focus groups was also held, to identify the impacted stakeholders and factors by disturbances. Findings: Various challenges were identified. These are faced by manufacturing companies in their prioritisation of production disturbances and relate to the time needed, criteria used, centralisation of the process, perspective considered and data support. It was also found that a wide range of stakeholders is impacted by production disturbances, surpassing the limits of production and maintenance departments. Furthermore, the most critical factors impacted are quality, work environment, safety, time, company results, customer satisfaction, productivity, deliverability, resource utilisation, profit, process flow, plannability, machine health and reputation. Originality/value: The current situation regarding root cause analysis prioritisation has not been identified in previous works. Moreover, there has been no prior systematic identification of the various stakeholders and factors impacted by production disturbances. © 2021, Adriana Soares Ito, Torbjörn Ylipää, Per Gullander, Jon Bokrantz and Anders Skoogh.

Lean principles and methods, originating in a Japanese cultural context, have spread to a large number of companies throughout the world. The aim of this case study research is to identify and compare national cultural aspects that influence Lean Production and Lean Product Development implementation in Swedish companies. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and an industrial workshop with Swedish Lean practitioners. The study shows that some sub-areas in Lean, such as value definition, control systems, leadership, team development, knowledge management, and strategies, are highly dependent on contextual factors related to human, cultural and organizational aspects. These are related to the national culture and should be considered to a higher extent for successful sustainable implementation of Lean in different cultural contexts. As for implementing Lean in Sweden, national cultural characteristics, such as individualism, autonomy and supportive management style fit well with Lean thinking.