New technology implies improved efficiency. This potential is not always realized. It has been observed that implementation of new technology within Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, (SMEs), is not as widely spread as it could be. There are several likely grounds for this, e.g. difficulties to keep up to date on the latest technology, financial grounds due to expensive technology and uncertainty regarding what gain one would get from the new technology. Looking at technology implementation, a major part of the failed implementation attempts are caused by non-technological reasons, such as organizational and human reasons. Visualizing the expected result and also the implementation process to the SME prior to the actual implementation, the communication is much more direct and the actions the SME has to perform before, during and after the implementation is made clear. When implementing new technology, the information process is crucial. This paper discusses the value of communicating the entire process and the results thereof when evaluating a technology for eventual implementation. The results is viewed in two ways, first the realization of the products whether they meet the needs of the companies or not, second the actual realization process is developed and analysed to suit each company.

A new vision in manufacturing is to develop product-service integrated value solutions. Today, few firms have fully realized this vision because they are not able to support the reasoning in the early stages of design. The purpose of this paper is to discuss engineers' cognitive challenge when replacing the core product rationale with value logic. The paper problematizes engineering design by dividing knowledge into the categories technically constructed (explicit) and socially constructed (tacit). In doing so, this study contributes the assumed effects of a perspective shift that could guide the development of computational tools.

Changed conditions in manufacturing industries' business strategies, i.e. intentions to earn more revenue from service provision, motivate the introduction of rough and sketchy prototypes as part of the learning and collaboration activities. This paper presents and compares changed conditions between traditional and novel in general, but particularly exemplifies the importance of prototyping in such a new setting. This is done, not only to inspire CogInfoCom research, but also to contribute to the use of prototyping and learning in modern product development. The paper's objective is to discuss how prototyping can benefit radical thinking and learning for innovation.

Three different cases are presented in this paper, they describe how product development are conducted in micro-sized companies. All companies have novel ideas that they strive to realize into an engineered product and in some cases they also provide an integrated service. Typically, product development literature emphasizes systematic development processes to sustain viable businesses. Often a phased process is suggested as the optimal model. We have found that viable micro-sized companies do not employ such processes, but rather what, seemingly, is an ad-hoc procedure for each type of solution. By doing so they face challenges to grow and to upscale the production. A key result from this study is the finding of a gap between current product development literature and the actual needs of micro-sized firms.

Two year project partly financed by the European Union, via the Interreg IV A Nord programme.

The manufacturing industry applies approaches in early development stages, i.e. product design, that heavily relies on computer support. The concept of Knowledge Based Engineering systems could represent this approach. However an ongoing trend in manufacturing industry to increase the service contents in their offerings is commonly captured beneath the umbrella term Product-Service Systems (PSS). The paper discusses conceptual examples for changes in product design caused by this increased PSS focus. The examples given are brief descriptions of different demonstrators developed in research projects focusing on PSS and product development in early phases. Examples include a discussion how companies shift from single company to becoming inter-organizational partners, how intangible knowledge, and information in the design process can be made tangible and how companies and engineers shift focus from knowledge transfer to sharing experiences

The results written in this document comes from a questionnaire that was sent out within the Interreg IV A Nord project Digital integrated Manufacturing. Partners in the project are CENTRIA Research and Development (Lead partner), Finland, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden and Narvik University College, Norway. The project is financed and supported by the European Commission via Europeiska regionala utvecklingsfonden, Länsstyrelsen Norrbotten, Luleå University of Technology, Lapin Liito, CENTRIA Research and Development, Innovasjon Norge, Troms fylkeskommune, Narvik University College and Nordland Fylkeskommune.The projects purpose is to increase the competence and skills of employees in manufacturing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s) so that they can improve their global competitiveness within their area of expertise. The project aims to approach this by demonstrating and using new technologies and methods throughout the entire business chain.The Projects primary target groups are the employees within the SME’s in the Interreg IV A Nord area which includes the following region in Norway, Finland and Sweden; Lapplands landskap, Mellersta Österbottens landskap, Norra Österbottens landskap, Norrbottens län, Västerbottens län (Skellefteå, Norsjö, Malå and Sorsele kommuner), Finnmark fylkeskommune, Troms fylkeskommune and Nordland fylkeskommuneThe project contained 4 work packages and this report contains the results from Work Package 1: Current status and upcoming DIM-needs amongst SME’s. One task within this work package was to conduct a questionnaire. The purpose with the questionnaire was to get fundamental knowledge and information from manufacturing companies within the Interreg IV A Nord region regarding the following topics:• General company information and current status• Products and Design and production process• Information and Communication Technologies• Business partner relationships• CompetitionSome conclusions from the questionnaire indicate that companies that answered the questionnaire want to maintain their business and make it grow. Regarding DIM technologies some companies have implemented certain methods, tools, machines to a larger extent than others. The companies state that they are more interested in employing personnel with technical skills (both professional and academic degrees) than personnel with economy skills. Robotics was seen as one area of improvement.

In industry today, many different tools and methods using 3D technology are used to create virtual prototypes or products. These tools are excellent for their purpose and offer great possibilities. However, even using these tools, some things are hard to transfer and examine within them. This paper gives you two examples of cases where organic objects are used as an original and then transferred into the digital world. Physical prototypes were used in both cases and the paper explains what they added in addition to the digital 3D-models.

Projektet Digital Integrated Manufacturing är ett gränsöverskridande projekt inom Interreg IV A Nord programmet och är delfinansierat av EU via Europeiska regionala utvecklingsfonden, Länsstyrelsen i Norrbotten, Luleå Tekniska Universitet, Lapin Liito, Innovasjon Norge, Troms fylkeskommune, Nordland Fylkeskommune. Projektpartners är Mellersta Österbottens yrkeshögskolas enhet för forskning, utveckling och fortbildning CENTRIA, Finland, som är Lead Partner, Høgskolen i Narvik, Norge och Lueå Tekniska Universitet, Sverige.Syftet med projektet är att inom programområdet öka kompetensen hos personalen i de tillverkande små och medelstora företagen för att förbättra deras konkurrenskraft samt att bygga upp gemensamma innovations- och utbildningsmiljöer som kan erbjuda programområdets näringsliv och andra offentliga aktörer spetskompetens inom produkt- och produktionsutveckling.Målet med detta projekt är att förbättra den globala konkurrenskraften hos små och medelstora tillver-kande företag inom Interreg lV A Nord området genom ibruktagande av modern informationsteknologi inom hela affärskedjan börjande från marknadsföring, försäljning, produktplanering/design, tillverkning ända till after sales.