Högskolan i Skövde

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic sustainability implications of reconfigurable modularization and changeability in semi-automatic assembly systems using a system dynamics perspective. Through our applied research, using a multiple case study approach, we assess the potential and drawbacks of reconfigurable modularization to advance sustainable practices in the manufacturing industry with the purpose of improving overall long-term resource allocation in product realization processes. The traditional approach of developing and industrializing one product at a time is becoming obsolete due to factors such as more frequent product introductions, technological innovations, and sustainability requirements. This is due to the increasing trends of product variety and customization, which often necessitate costly modifications to production systems throughout their life cycles. To address these challenges, scholars advocate for the adoption of reconfigurable modular architectures in product and production system designs, facilitated through product platforming. However, when it comes to studies of the long-term economic impacts from the effects in operations, meaning the economic sustainability implications for the production system throughout its life cycle, there is limited research examining the economic rationale for this approach. Therefore, this paper proposes a systematic examination of the economic sustainability implications of reconfigurable modularization in semi-automatic assembly systems using a system dynamics perspective. By leveraging a system dynamics simulation, we structure and investigate the potential economic short- and long-term tradeoffs between the benefits and drawbacks of reconfigurable modularization derived from empirical findings across four case studies. The novelty of this study highlights not only the investment costs and related engineering implications and their costs but also the estimated operation costs encompassing multiple product introductions expected during the life cycle of a production system. We believe that such an approach offers valuable insights into how reconfigurable modularization can be useful from an economic sustainability viewpoint within semi-automatic assembly systems, thereby contributing to the ongoing industrial transformation towards sustainability.

This paper presents results from a simulation case study analyzing care strategies for elderly patients in a regional healthcare system (HCS) in Sweden. Three strategies to reduce emergency visits, hospitalisations, and stays were evaluated: care coordinators at emergency departments, mobile health clinics visiting fragile patients in their homes, and proactive primary care. Using system dynamics modelling and empirical data, the impact on the regional HCS was explored considering the reduced care demand and demographic changes. Subsequently, the impact on the population's health status was assessed. Combining strategies yielded the best outcome, but improving patients' health status may increase long-term care demand. The study emphasizes the importance of implementing these strategies to offer better care for elderly patients and reduce healthcare costs. Findings highlight the potential long-term effects of improving health status and the need for a comprehensive approach to address the evolving care demands of an ageing population.

The traditional way of developing production systems is often limited by merely considering an imminent new product. The longevity of a production system’s lifecycle is at risk following this approach and may create a focus on the current functionality and capacity rather than on fulfilling future product requirements. Changeable production address this challenge, however, support for production engineers to consider more changeable solutions is lacking. Thus, this paper proposes support for evaluating production capabilities and mapping how new products may impact the production system. The support is developed in two industrial cases which studied current production capabilities and future requirements put on two automatic assembly lines. The support allows for estimates of the cost of repurposing the assembly lines to accommodate the new products and paves the way for seeing beyond the dedicated manufacturing paradigm towards increased levels of changeable production.

The manufacturing industry faces the challenge of providing copious product variety at a competitive price. This development has escalated into the point where SMEs are becoming in need to consider product mix as a relevant aspect for automation selection despite low volumes. Apparently such a manually operated production cell has productivity limitations in addressing these increasing demands of mass customization and competitive prices. Therefore, this paper proposes using discrete- event simulation (DES) to assist the decision-making process (DMP) for implementing a new automation technology within a production cell and showcase key performance indicator (KPI) identification using simulation. Two modeling scenarios were designed and contrasted to showcase implementing automation. One consists of a manually operated assembly line, and the other represents a semi- automated assembly line of the same process but with robots in specific areas of the production line. The results indicate that the comparative study between the two scenarios of a manually operated assembly cell and a semi-automated one can provide valuable insights into the DMP. The proposed approach has shown several influencing factors to consider in the DMP. The choice of prioritizing which element should have precedence depends on the requirement specifics. The insights from the study also indicate the requirement of further research in this context, considering different parameters apart from the current research and understanding their influence on the DMP. Moreover, acknowledging the secondary aspects concerning this study context, such as ergonomics, space utilization, workplace safety, and sustainability, require further investigation.

A well-performing product realisation process in order to introduce new products with high frequency to a low cost, is becoming more of a pre-requisite for manufacturing companies. In a multiple case study, this paper investigates applied industrial practices in production development to support the production realisation process and reports on the current ways of working and challenges therein. The areas of current production development practices, production platforms, standardised work, and knowledge development are explored. Identified challenges towards long-term production development based on the explored areas are presented. The inclusion of future need of production system adaptions from future products is argued for to increase its efficiency. Through including future need of the production system, the notion of considering one product at the time during industrialisation is challenged and a more proactive perspective can be taken. The production platform approach is considered as one enabler for such an improved production development.

The product realisation process is one of several formalized supports for industrial actors to excel in concurrent engineering procedures. To satisfy customers today mass customization is increasingly in need, requiring delicate modular architectures, both in product designs and production. Emerging is also the digitalized co-platforming era of automating the synchronization of product and production platforms. Yet, in all these processes, humans as agents have different roles, objectives, and mental models that governs their decision-making, being the bearer of separate ideas on what to optimize from their end. In product development large sensitivity is given to customer demands and trends to design attractive products, while less attention may be placed on evaluating the increase of variation into the production flows from new products, potentially increasing the workload and complexity of assembly systems, as well as, the subsequent material logistics. In production, much effort is invested to increase standardization, increase the pace, and minimize the manufacturing cost, with the objective to minimize required changes to the current production system. Consequently, it is a hard problem to satisfy all criteria at once, and how to solve it has no clear answer. Therefore, this study has applied qualitative System Dynamics modelling, also often referred to as systems thinking, to investigate how these opposing views were represented at an industrialized house builder. The purpose was to explore and model the perspectives and mental models of two leading roles to model their conflicting objectives. As a result, an overall model of main interactions of product and production development is proposed to support interpreting the findings, visualize the identified conflicting dynamics, and work as a vehicle for analysis.

Reshoring manufacturing is a strategic decision because of its cost, implications, and complexity. Existing models have largely focused on cost aspects in reshoring decisions and are considered limited in assisting practitioners in the reshoring decision-making process. Variables like cost and quality have been the most important, whereas environment and sustainability seem not a priority, arguing for the myopic nature of these decisions. Therefore, this study employs system dynamics (SD) to expand practitioners’ mental models for the reshoring decision-making process. To do so, first, variables and heuristics are retrieved from the literature. Next, an industry expert is interviewed to have a practitioner’s input. Finally, a descriptive SD model is built by connecting variables and heuristics. The findings indicate that the behavior of the variables in reshoring decisions is dynamic over time. Furthermore, the variables are inter-linked, resulting in non-linear, multi-caused reshoring decisions. The presented SD model allows incorporating the variables that are sometimes difficult to quantify and provides a holistic view of the variables, their relationships, complexities, and the dynamics involved in the reshoring decision-making process. This study contributes to reshoring literature by using SD perspective in the reshoring decision-making process and proposing an SD model for reshoring decision-making. This study assists practitioners in expanding their mental models regarding the reshoring decision-making process. It is further argued that the proposed SD model may work as a generic steppingstone to further develop company-specific feedback-oriented models to support in their reshoring decision-making processes and to support future research on the topic.

Purpose: Healthcare organisations are often described as less innovative than other organisations, since organisational culture works against innovations. In this paper, the authors ask whether it has to be that way or whether is possible to nurture an innovative culture in a healthcare organisation. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse nurturing an innovative culture within a healthcare organisation and how culture can support innovations in such a healthcare organisation.

Design/methodology/approach: Based on a qualitative case study of a healthcare unit that changed, within a few years, from having no innovations to repeatedly generating innovations, the authors describe important aspects of how innovative culture can be nurtured in healthcare. Data were analysed using inductive and deductive analysis steps.

Findings: The study shows that it is possible to nurture an innovative culture in a healthcare organisation. Relationships and competences beyond healthcare, empowering structures and signalling the importance of innovation work with resources all proved to be important. All are aspects that a manager can influence. In this case, the manager's role in nurturing innovative culture was very important.

Practical implications: This study highlights that an innovative culture can be nurtured in healthcare organisations and that managers can play a key role in such a process.

Originality/value: The paper describes and analyses an innovative culture in a healthcare unit and identifies important conditions and strategies for nurturing innovative culture in healthcare organisations. 

Nowadays customer needs are changing rapidly, resulting in shorter product life cycles and a need for a higher product introduction rate. This requires manufacturers to introduce new products whilst keeping production efficiency at a satisfactory level and production costs low. Based on these challenges, there is a need to consider both production efficiency and potential assembly line investment costs during the planning of new product introductions. Hence, this paper aims to support decision-making regarding whether to introduce and produce a new product in an already existing assembly line or to invest in a new assembly line. To its support, a tool which illustrates how to support manufacturing investment decisions through line balancing techniques has been developed. The tool was based on theoretical findings from two literature reviews, investigating assembly line balancing techniques and assembly line investment costs, and through data collected in a single case study, including how a company is currently supporting investment decisions and performing line balancing. The case study was conducted with a large Swedish company from the automotive industry. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, document studies and a focus group. The proposed decision-supporting tool conducts line balancing for both combined and separate assembly lines, and converts the results into costs. These costs are then compared with the potential investment costs of either producing in an already existing assembly line or investing in a new assembly line. The final output is a summarization of the potential costs related to both alternatives which provides the user with the most economically beneficial alternative by taking both production efficiency and investment costs into consideration.

Purpose – This paper applies systems thinking modelling to enhance the dynamic understanding of how to nurture an innovative culture in healthcare organisations to develop the innovation system in practice and speed up the innovative work. The model aims to provide a holistic view of a studied healthcare organisation’s innovation processes, ranging from managerial values to its manifestation in improved results.

Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on empirical material from a healthcare unit that, within a few years, changed from having no innovations to repeatedly generating innovations. The study uses the modelling language of causal loop diagrams (CLDs) in the system dynamics methodology to identify the key important aspects found in the empirical material.

Findings – The proposed model, based on the stories of the interviewees, explores the dynamics of inertia when nurturing an innovative culture, identifying delays attributed to the internal change processes and system relationships. These findings underscored the need for perseverance when developing an innovative culture in the entrepreneurial phases.

Practical implications – The approach of using systems thinking to make empirical healthcare research results more tangible through the visual notations of CLDs and mental simulations is believed to support exploring complex phenomena to induce and nurture both individual and organisational learning.

Originality/value – The results from this approach provide deepened analysis and provoke the systems view to explain how the nurturing of the culture can accelerate the innovation processes, which helps practitioners and researchers to further expand their understanding of their healthcare contexts.