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Production development : Design and operation of production systems
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Production Development
Monica Bellgran • Kristina Säfsten
Production Development
Design and Operation of Production Systems
123
Monica Bellgran, Dr.
Haldex AB
Biblioteksgatan 11
SE-103 88 Stockholm
Sweden
Kristina Säfsten, Dr.
Jönköping University
School of Engineering
SE-551 11 Jönköping
Sweden
ISBN 978-1-84882-494-2 e-ISBN 978-1-84882-495-9
DOI 10.1007/978-1-84882-495-9
Springer London Dordrecht Heidelberg New York
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The original edition of this book was published in Swedish by Studentlitteratur as Produktionsutveckling – Utveckling och drift av produktionssystem. © Studentlitteratur, Lund, 2005
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v
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
Fig. 1.1, line drawing in Sect. 1.2.4, line drawing in Sect. 1.3.1, Fig. 5.13,
Fig. 5.14, Fig. 5.15, Fig. 8.2, Fig. 8.12, Fig. 8.18, Fig. 10.7, and Fig. 12.1 are reprinted by permission from the originator Mario Celegin; Fig. 1.2 from Crossfunctional co-operation and networking in industrial settings, Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Copyright © 2002 (Gabrielsson 2002) is reprinted by
permission from the originator Åsa Gabrielsson; Fig. 2.2 from Theory of Technical
Systems, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Copyright © 1988 (Hubka and Eder 1988), is
reprinted by permission from Springer-Verlag GmbH, Heidelberg; Fig. 2.3 from
Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing Vol. 3, No. 2, Decision support
in design and optimization of flexible automated manufacturing and assembly,
Copyright © 1987 (Seliger et al. 1987) is reprinted by permission from Elsevier;
Fig. 2.7 from Från Taylor till Toyota, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Copyright © 2000
(Sandkull and Johansson 2000) is reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur
AB; Fig. 2.8 from Performance Assessment of Assembly Systems, Royal Institute
of Technology, Stockholm, Copyright © 2000 is reprinted by permission from the
originator Magnus Wiktorsson (Wiktorsson 2000); Fig. 3.1 and Table 10.1 from
Restoring our Competitive Edge: Competing Through Manufacturing, John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. New York, Copyright © 1984 (Hayes and Wheelwright 1984) are
reprinted by permission from John Wiley & Sons; Table 3.2 from Restoring
Manufacturing in the Corporate Strategy, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York,
Copyright © 1978 (Skinner 1978) is reprinted by permission from John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.; Table 3.4 from Manufacturing Strategy: linking competitive priorities,
decision categories and manufacturing networks, Production Economic Research
in Linköping, Dissertation, Linköping, Copyright © 2002 (Rudberg 2002) is
reprinted with permission from the originator Martin Rudberg; Table 3.5 from
Produktionslogistik, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Copyright © 2003 (Mattsson and
Jonsson 2003) is reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB; Fig. 3.9 and
Fig. 3.12 from Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases, 2nd edition, Palgrave,
Hampshire, Copyright © 1985 (Hill 2000) are reprinted by permission from
vi Acknowledgements
Palgrave Macmillan Publishers Ltd.; Fig. 3.11 and Fig. 8.8 from Operations
Management, 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River,
NJ., Copyright © 2001 (Slack et al. 2001), are reprinted by permission from Pearson Education, Inc.; Table 3.6 from Produktionsekomi, Studentlitteratur, Lund,
Copyright © 2000 (Olhager 2000) is reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur
AB; Fig. 4.3 from Det nya bilarbetet, Konkurrensen mellan olika produktionskoncept i svensk bilindustri 1970–1990, Copyright © 1990 (Berggren 1990) is reprinted by permission from the originator Christian Berggren; Fig. 5.1 and Fig. 9.4
from Pilot Production and Manufacturing Start-up in the Automotive Industry:
Principles for Improved Performance, Doctoral Thesis, Chalmers University of
Technology, Gothenburg, Copyright © 1999 (Almgren 1999) are reprinted by
permission from the originator Henrik Almgren; Fig. 5.2 and Fig. 5.12 from Från
system till process – kriterier för processbestämning vid verksamhetsanalys,
Linköping Studies in Information Science, Dissertation No. 5, Linköping, Copyright © 2001 (Lind 2001) are reprinted by permission from the originator Mikael
Lind; Fig. 5.3 from Product Design: Fundamentals and Methods, John Wiley &
Sons Ltd., Chichester, England, Copyright © 1995 (Roozenburg and Eekels 1995)
is reprinted by permission from Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford; Fig. 5.5 from Manufacturing Systems Design and Analysis: Context and Techniques, Chapman & Hall,
London Copyright © 1994 (Wu 1994) is reprinted with kind permission of
Springer Science and Business Media; Fig. 5.6, Table 5.1 and Fig. 9.10 from
Nyanskaffning av produktionssystem – mer än bara inköp, IVF-Rapport 99827,
Göteborg, Copyright © 1999 (Johansson and Nord 1999) are reprinted by permission from the CEO Mats Lundin; Fig. 5.8 from Handbok för utformning av alternativa monteringssystem till konventionell linemontering, Chalmers University of
Technology, Gothenburg, Copyright © 1981 (Engström and Karlsson 1981) is
reprinted with permission from the originator Tomas Engström; Table 5.5 from
Product Design and Development, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, USA,
Copyright © 2000 (Ulrich and Eppinger 2000) is reprinted by permission from
McGraw-Hill; Fig. 5.10 from Model-based Approaches to Managing Concurrent
Engineering, Journal of Engineering Design, Vol. 2, No. 4, Copyright © 1991
(Eppinger 1991) is reprinted by permission from Taylor & Francis Ltd.
(http://www.informaworld.com); Fig. 5.18 and Table 5.6 from Inter-Project Learning: A Quality Perspective, Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Thesis
No. 839, Linköping, Copyright © 2000 (Antoni 2000) is reprinted by permission
from the originator Marc Antoni; Fig. 5.19 from Lärande mellan projekt, In:
Berggren C, Lindkvist L (eds.) Projekt, Organisation för målorientering och
lärande, Copyright © 2000 Studentlitteratur, Lund, (Tell and Söderlund, 2001) is
reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB; Fig. 6.2 from International
Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 41, pp. 335–341, Manufacturing Strategy
and Capital Budgeting Process, Copyright © 1995 (Pirttilä and Sandström 1995) is
reprinted by permission from Elsevier; Table 6.5 from Strategi för produktion och
produktutveckling: integration och flexibilitet, Publica, Stockholm, Copyright
© 1993 (Lindberg et al. 1993) is reprinted by permission from the editor Per
Lindberg; Fig. 7.2, Fig. 7.3, Fig. 7.4 and Fig. 7.5 from Learning to see, Copyright
Acknowledgements vii
© 1999–2008 Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. All rights reserved, (Rother and Shook
2002) are reprinted by permission from Lean Enterprise Institute; Fig. 7.8 from
Production System Evaluation: A Theoretical Analysis. Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Thesis No. 638, Linköping university, Linköping, Copyright
© 1997 (Öhrström 1997) is reprinted by permission from the originator Pernilla
Öhrström; Fig. 8.4 from Industriell ekonomi, Studentlitteratur, Lund Copyright
© 1997 (Aniander et al. 1997) is reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur
AB; Fig. 3.7 from Materialadministration och logistik: grunder och möjligheter,
Liber Ekonomi, Malmö, Copyright © 1995 (Storhagen 1995) is reprinted by permission from Liber Ekonomi; Fig. 8.9, Fig. 8.10, Fig. 8.11, Fig. 8.13 and Fig. 9.9
from Produktionsekomi, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Copyright © 2000 (Olhager 2000)
are reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB; Fig. 8.14 from Integrerad
organisationslära, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Copyright © 1995 (Bruzelius and Skärvad 1995) are reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB; Table 8.7 from
Control Engineering Practice, Vol. 7, pp. 173–182, Are operators and pilots in
control of complex systems? Copyright © 1999 (Mårtensson 1999) is reprinted
with permission from the originator Lena Mårtensson; Fig. 9.2 from Product Introduction within Extended Enterprises – Descriptions and Conditions. Linköping
Studies in Science and Technology, Licentiate Thesis no. 978, Linköping university, Linköping, Copyright © 2005 (Johansen 2005) is reprinted with permission
from the originator Kerstin Johansen; Fig. 9.5, Fig. 9.6 and Fig. 9.7 from Product
Development Performance. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, Copyright © 1991 (Clark and Fujimoto 1991) are reprinted by permission
from Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation; Table 9.2 and Table 9.3
from Projektering och idrifttagning av nya produktionssystem – en analysmodell
för utvärdering av styrkor och svagheter i det egna företaget, IVF-rapport 96040,
Göteborg, Copyright © 1996 (Johansson and Rydebrink 1996) are reprinted by
permission from the CEO Mats Lundin; Table 10.4, Table 10.5 and Table 11.1
from TPM-Vägen till ständiga förbättringar, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Copyright
© 2000 (Ljungberg 2000) are reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB;
Fig. 10.4 and Fig. 10.5 from Process Efficiency and Capability Flexibility, Developing a Support Tool for Capacity Decisions in Manual Assembly Systems,
Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Dissertation No. 617, Linköping
university, Linköping, Copyright © 2000 (Petersson 2000) is reprinted by permission from the originator Per Petersson; Fig. 11.1 from Quality from customer needs
to customer satisfaction, Studentlitteratur, Lund (Bergman och Klefsjö 2003) is
reprinted by permission from Studentlitteratur AB; Fig. 11.2 from Production
Disturbance Handling in Swedish Manufacturing Industry: a Survey Study (Ylipää
et al. 2004) is reprinted by permission from the originator Torbjörn Ylipää;
Fig. 11.3 and Fig. 11.4 from Effektivare tillverkning! Handbok för att systematiskt
arbeta bort produktionsstörningar, IVF-skrift 04805, Göteborg (TIME-handbook
2004) are reprinted by permission from the CEO Mats Lundin; Press cutting from
SME Manufacturing Engineering Viewpoints section, Vol. 130, No. 2, Lean: Not
Just a Better Toolbox (Flinchbaugh 2003) is reprinted by permission from the
originator Jamie Flinchbaugh.
ix
Contents
1 Production Development over Time...................................................... 1
1.1 Production Development in Focus................................................. 1
1.1.1 Time to Emphasise the Importance of Production ........... 1
1.1.2 Part of the Product Realisation Process............................ 5
1.1.3 Structured Way of Working............................................. 6
1.1.4 Road Map of the Book..................................................... 7
1.2 Industrial Revolutions ................................................................... 9
1.2.1 The Historical Perspective ............................................... 9
1.2.2 The First Industrial Revolution ........................................ 10
1.2.3 The Second Industrial Revolution.................................... 11
1.2.4 Black Ford Model T and Fordism.................................... 12
1.2.5 Annual Model Change and Sloanism............................... 17
1.3 Organisational Fundamentals ........................................................ 18
1.3.1 Scientific Management .................................................... 19
1.3.2 Organisational Theory of Importance
for Industrial Production .................................................. 22
1.3.3 Socio-Technical Organisational Theory........................... 25
1.4 Toyota Production System............................................................. 26
1.4.1 The Founder of Toyota .................................................... 26
1.4.2 Inspiration from USA....................................................... 27
1.4.3 Towards Lean Production ................................................ 29
1.4.4 The Toyota Way .............................................................. 30
1.5 Industrialisation in Sweden ........................................................... 31
1.5.1 Development Towards Mass Production ......................... 31
1.5.2 Alternative Production Concept....................................... 32
1.6 Production Development: A Summary.......................................... 34
1.6.1 External Influences .......................................................... 34
1.6.2 Actual Options ................................................................. 35
1.6.3 Strategies and Fundamental Attitudes.............................. 36
x Contents
2 Production System.................................................................................. 37
2.1 A Systems Perspective................................................................... 37
2.1.1 Characteristics of a System .............................................. 38
2.1.2 Production: A Transformation System............................. 39
2.1.3 Classification of Systems ................................................. 40
2.1.4 Open System .................................................................... 42
2.2 What Is a Production System?....................................................... 43
2.2.1 Terminology..................................................................... 43
2.2.2 The Structure of the Production System .......................... 45
2.2.3 Life-Cycle Perspective..................................................... 46
3 From Business Plans to Production....................................................... 49
3.1 Strategies to Reach Targets ........................................................... 49
3.1.1 Manufacturing Strategy.................................................... 53
3.1.2 Competitive Factors ......................................................... 54
3.1.3 Decision Categories ......................................................... 55
3.1.4 Formulating and Implementing
Manufacturing Strategies ................................................. 63
3.2 The Production System’s Contribution to Competitiveness.......... 65
3.3 Production System and Manufacturing Strategy in Balance ......... 67
3.3.1 Product Profiling.............................................................. 68
3.4 New Production System at Lesjöfors AB...................................... 71
4 Production System Development........................................................... 77
4.1 New or Changed Production Systems ........................................... 77
4.2 Industrial Development of Production Systems ............................ 82
4.2.1 Typical Development Situations...................................... 82
4.2.2 Industrial Practice ............................................................ 83
4.2.3 Structured Ways of Working ........................................... 86
4.3 Evaluation: Part of Development................................................... 88
4.3.1 Evaluation of Existing Production Systems ..................... 89
4.3.2 Evaluation of System Alternatives................................... 91
4.3.3 Evaluation of Equipment- or System Suppliers ............... 95
4.3.4 Evaluation After Change.................................................. 96
4.3.5 Factors Affecting Evaluation of Production Systems ...... 98
4.4 “It Is in the Walls”......................................................................... 100
4.5 Production System Designers........................................................ 102
4.6 New Assembly Plant in Uddevalla................................................ 105
5 Production System Development in Theory ......................................... 109
5.1 Fundamental Concepts and the Knowledge Area.......................... 109
5.1.1 Design and Development ................................................. 111
5.1.2 Evaluation and Follow-Up ............................................... 112
5.1.3 Process ............................................................................. 114
Contents xi
5.2 The Development Process ............................................................. 115
5.2.1 Design: Problem-Solving and Decision ........................... 116
5.2.2 Activities in the Development Process............................. 118
5.2.3 Industrial versus Academic Perspectives ......................... 121
5.2.4 Different Approaches to the Design Process.................... 123
5.3 The Evaluation Process ................................................................. 126
5.4 Production Development: Part of Product Realisation .................. 130
5.4.1 Parallel Development Processes ...................................... 130
5.4.2 Design Activity Dependency ........................................... 134
5.5 Learning and Production System Development ............................ 135
5.5.1 Comprehensive View and Process Perspective................ 136
5.5.2 Development of Production Systems
as Process and Project...................................................... 137
5.5.3 Learning During System Development............................ 140
6 Planning and Preparation for Efficient Development......................... 145
6.1 A Framework Supporting Development
of the Production System............................................................... 145
6.2 Contextual Aspects........................................................................ 148
6.2.1 Perspectives and Attitudes ............................................... 149
6.2.2 Company Preconditions ................................................... 152
6.2.3 Investment Considerations............................................... 153
6.3 Management and Control .............................................................. 156
6.3.1 Resource Allocation to Production Engineering
and Production Development........................................... 157
6.3.2 Time Perspective.............................................................. 159
6.3.3 Work Team Composition................................................. 160
6.3.4 Creativity and Analytical Ability ..................................... 163
6.4 A Structured Way of Working....................................................... 165
7 Preparatory Design of Production Systems.......................................... 171
7.1 Background Study ......................................................................... 171
7.1.1 The Importance of Solid Preparatory Work..................... 172
7.1.2 Starting Point for System Design..................................... 173
7.1.3 Evaluation of Existing Production Systems ..................... 174
7.2 Pre-Study....................................................................................... 179
7.2.1 Pre-Study Content: Strategic and Pushing ....................... 179
7.2.2 To Handle Uncertainties .................................................. 181
7.2.3 Strategy for Future Production Systems........................... 182
7.3 Resulting Requirement Specification ............................................ 185
8 Design and Evaluation of Production Systems..................................... 191
8.1 Design Specification...................................................................... 191
8.1.1 Handling Complexity....................................................... 192
8.1.2 Modelling......................................................................... 194
xii Contents
8.2 Developing Conceptual Production Systems................................. 195
8.2.1 Flows and Flow Principles............................................... 195
8.2.2 Flowcharts........................................................................ 197
8.2.3 Production Planning......................................................... 200
8.2.4 Choice of Process and Layout.......................................... 202
8.2.5 Level of Technology and Automation ............................. 209
8.2.6 Work Organisation and Work Environment .................... 211
8.3 Evaluation of Solution Alternatives............................................... 214
8.3.1 Conditions for Evaluation During
the Development Process ................................................. 217
8.3.2 Methods for Evaluation.................................................... 218
8.4 Detailed Design of the Chosen Alternative ................................... 220
8.4.1 Detailed Layout................................................................ 222
8.4.2 Planning the Layout ......................................................... 225
8.4.3 Work Studies.................................................................... 227
8.4.4 Detailed Design of Work and Work Place....................... 227
8.5 Systems Solution ........................................................................... 230
9 From System Solution to Production System in Operation ................ 231
9.1 Implement Production Systems ..................................................... 231
9.1.1 Terminology..................................................................... 233
9.1.2 Different Start-Up Situations ........................................... 235
9.2 Building Production Systems ........................................................ 237
9.3 Planning and Preparing Production Start-Up................................. 239
9.3.1 Start-Up Model ................................................................ 239
9.3.2 Organisation and Management ........................................ 242
9.4 Carry-Out Production Start-Up ..................................................... 244
9.4.1 Efficient Start-Up of Production Systems........................ 244
9.4.2 Problems During Production Start-Up ............................. 246
9.5 Evaluate the Result........................................................................ 248
9.5.1 Evaluation of Production System After Start-Up............. 248
9.5.2 Prerequisites for Evaluation After Start-Up ..................... 249
9.5.3 Analysis of the Development Process.............................. 250
10 Production System Performance ........................................................... 255
10.1 World-Class Manufacturing .......................................................... 255
10.1.1 Successful Production Systems........................................ 258
10.2 What Should Be Measured? .......................................................... 259
10.2.1 Productivity and Efficiency.............................................. 260
10.2.2 Overall Equipment Effectiveness..................................... 263
10.2.3 Manual Assembly Efficiency........................................... 265
10.2.4 Measures Associated with Competitive Factors .............. 266
10.3 Measures and Methods for Follow-Up in Practice ........................ 268
Contents xiii
10.4 Continuous Follow-Up of Performance......................................... 271
10.4.1 Different Measurement Systems ...................................... 271
10.4.2 Use of Measurement Systems .......................................... 274
11 The Art of Avoiding Production Disturbances..................................... 277
11.1 Related Concepts........................................................................... 277
11.1.1 Dependability................................................................... 277
11.1.2 Production Disturbances .................................................. 280
11.2 Production Efficiency.................................................................... 282
11.2.1 Reduced Disturbances Increases
Production Efficiency ...................................................... 283
11.3 Comparison Between Improvement Models ................................. 285
11.4 To Handle Uncertainty .................................................................. 287
11.5 Eliminating Disturbances During Development............................ 288
11.5.1 Approach.......................................................................... 289
11.5.2 Competence Development and Knowledge Transfer....... 290
11.5.3 Strategic Concerns ........................................................... 292
11.5.4 Development Process....................................................... 295
11.5.5 Participants....................................................................... 298
11.5.6 Means of Assistance......................................................... 299
11.5.7 Cooperation with Suppliers.............................................. 300
11.5.8 Systematic Way of Working:
Basis for Robust Production Systems .............................. 301
12 Production Development in the Future................................................. 303
12.1 Trends and Visions........................................................................ 303
12.1.1 Assembly: The Mirror of Change .................................... 303
12.1.2 Trends Within Two Sectors ............................................. 305
12.2 What is Required from Future Production Systems?..................... 307
12.2.1 Key Areas and Success Factors........................................ 307
12.2.2 Lean Production as an Objective...................................... 308
12.2.3 Right Automation............................................................. 310
12.3 Future Production from an International Perspective .................... 311
12.3.1 Production in Europe ....................................................... 311
12.3.2 Production in USA........................................................... 313
12.3.3 China: The Factory of the World?.................................... 314
12.4 Make or Buy? ................................................................................ 315
12.4.1 Basis of Decisions and Carrying Through ....................... 317
12.4.2 Consequences of Outsourcing and Relocation................. 319
12.5 Production in Focus....................................................................... 320
12.5.1 Snap Shots........................................................................ 320
12.6 Go for Survival: Create Competitive Advantages ......................... 321
References......................................................................................................... 325
Index ................................................................................................................. 335
M. Bellgran, K. Säftsen, Production Development, 1
© Springer 2010
Chapter 1
Production Development over Time
Abstract In today’s competitive situation, it is necessary to understand how production systems should be designed and put into operation in order to support competitive industrial production. Our aim is to increase knowledge of production
development and thereby contribute to the ability of Sweden and other Western
countries to compete internationally with its production capacity. First we describe
the driving forces behind this book. Furthermore, production development in general is discussed, and how the area relates to the overall product realisation process.
A large part of the Chapter is devoted to the historical perspective. Here, the development of production systems over time is presented. The different production
systems of Ford and Toyota are particularly focused upon as are a number of aspects influencing production system development.
1.1 Production Development in Focus
There are a vast number of books concerning production available in the market. Is
that not enough? The reply to that question is both yes and no! There are many good
books that treat production questions from different perspectives. Several of these
books inspired us in our work, which also is made clear from the references we use.
However, we think that it is necessary to highlight the production questions again
and to present it from a different perspective. In order to give you the reader a better
understanding of this book’s content and message we will initially describe the
main driving forces behind the writing of this book.
1.1.1 Time to Emphasise the Importance of Production
“Production development” is a comprehensive concept. It is about the creation of
effective production processes and about the development of production ability.
2 1 Production Development over Time
Production development refers to production systems in operation, where the
question is how to improve already existing systems, and to the development of
new production systems:
“As industrial competition increases it becomes more apparent that improved levels of output, efficiency, and quality can only be achieved by designing better production systems
rather than by merely exercising greater control over existing ones.” (Bennett 1986, p. 2)
The largest potential to achieve “successful” production systems is during the
development of new systems and therefore we consider that this area deserves
extra attention (Fig. 1.1).
In this book, production development refers to development and operation of
production systems. The focus is mainly on questions related to development of
new production systems or major changes to existing ones. Of course several of
the issues are equally relevant in connection with minor changes as well. During
development a holistic perspective is important, involving technology as well as
humans.
To use the term production development instead of the more traditional term
production engineering is a way of emphasising the need for a long-term perspective on production system development. Therefore, one of the issues raised in the
book is the resources devoted to production engineering in general and to production development specifically. With global competition in mind, the focus on the
area of production is a more important issue than ever for every manufacturing
company in Sweden and the rest of the Western world.
We consider that production development is a natural part of the product realisation process. Here product realisation refers to the process from product planning to completed product. Too often product realisation is considered to be on
Fig. 1.1 The largest potential to achieve successful production systems is during the development phase. Management and control of existing systems provides less potential. (Illustration:
Mario Celegin)
1.1 Production Development in Focus 3
equality with product development while production is mentioned incidentally as
something that merely has to be handled and certainly not as a competitive means.
Furthermore, we consider that the work with development of production
systems needs improvement. One way to do this is through tools and methods
supporting a structured way of working during system development. In most
companies product development is a subject that must be continuously improved
particularly in relation to way of working, organisation, and tools and methods
used. Large resources are put into the refinement of the product-development
process. It can easily be concluded that equal concentration on the area of production development implies a large potential for improvement.
Production in this book refers to the process of producing products and services
with support from different production factors such as labour, machinery, and raw
material. The focus is on industrial production which implies emphasis on production within the manufacturing industry. A lot of the literature within the area
focuses on the automotive industry. In this book we take a broader perspective and
also include other lines of business within the manufacturing industry.
The conditions for industrial production continuously change. Being an actor
on a global market provides several opportunities while at the same time the prerequisites change and the requirements increase. The customers expect more than
low prices; high-quality products should be delivered on time at the right price.
Today it is not enough to develop one successful product. In a world where the
demand for new products seems to be endless a long-term ability to develop new
products is required. Furthermore, knowledge concerning realisation of these products in the best way is required.
Industrial production has lately received a great amount of media attention.
Unfortunately most of the attention has been associated with outsourcing issues, the
transfer of production to low-wage countries such as China, Poland, or Malaysia.
The trend of moving production abroad continues, but has lately been more and
more questioned. A growing insight into the significance of production for the individual company and for the country in general moves these questions higher up the
agenda. It is not necessarily an advantage to outsource production to suppliers. This
insight has arisen during a period of increased outsourcing closer and closer to
companies’ core activities and thereby core competences. The question that has
been posed is what will happen when parts of the core competence are missing. If
we do not have the ability to produce products, how long will it be before we also
lose our ability to develop competitive products? The connection between product
development, industrialisation, and production are strong, but if one link is weakened there is a risk that all links are negatively affected.
Already today we can see that several of the countries, designated as low-wage
countries, can be characterised as huge factories without competence for development within product- and production development. On the contrary, in China
alone 1 million engineers graduate annually (SvD 040220), which is of advantage
to Chinese industry and improves their competitiveness both within production
and product development. Therefore, it is necessary that we immediately abandon
prejudices, if any, concerning the unique ability of Sweden, and other Western