Increased circular behaviours in Small and Medium-sized (SME) manufacturing companies would strongly contribute to a more circular economy. However, previous research has identified that the development and adoption of a circular economy hindered by behavioural barriers on organisational as well as individual level. With a specific focus on cemented carbide tooling that is frequently used in machining operations, this paper aims to identify actors and interactions between actors that influence circular behaviours related to acquisition, utilisation, and end-of-life activities in manufacturing companies and how circular behaviour can be enabled based on these roles. Findings show that there are several actors with the potential to positively influence the transition to a circular economy if they adopt pro-circular behaviours, e.g. Operators, production planners, production technicians, as well as top management. Also, purchasing professionals are a central actor deeply involved in both recommendations and execution of decisions particularly related to acquisition activities; a framework for intervention is suggested to enable circular behaviours at all organisation levels based on organisational hierarchy and control planned behaviour theory (TPB). 

Production development has for decades concentrated on incremental improvements by exploiting existing manufacturing knowledge to improve existing production systems or adapt them for new product developments. Building up an “ambidextrous innovation” ability, and more specifically in increasing focus on explorative production innovation, is important to balance production development efforts and obtain sustainable development of production. This paper aims to provide a conceptual framework for “ambidextrous production innovation” that conceptualizes and highlights phenomenon characteristics from exploitative and explorative perspectives. The conceptual framework describes “production innovation” as the process of either increasing or developing a new production capability, enabling opportunities for new product designs. This process can be either “product-driven” or “production-driven” depending on the primary objective of the development.

One crucial part of education is teaching students to critically evaluate and reflect on their work. Oneway to perform this is through peer review and self-assessment. In this research paper, we present theresults of a longitudinal study over five years with 239 students following the implementation andevaluation of peer review and self-assessment. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, we exploredifferent types of self-assessment, the benefits of incorporating self-assessment into the learningprocess, and lessons learnt during the years. Results show that students appreciate assessing their ownand others’ work. The students in the study are very good at evaluating their capabilities, the differencebetween the self-assessment and teachers’ final assessment was about 10%. With a studio-basedapproach, with formative feedback throughout the process, individual oral and written presentations andsupport from self-assessment, team feedback and teacher discussions, there is a much higher certaintythat students are assessed accurately.

It is widely recognised that manufacturing companies need to pay attention to sustainability aspects to be competitive. However, there is still no clarity on how to combine requirements for sustainability and profitability to achieve long-Term competitive manufacturing. Furthermore, there is a need for knowledge on how to develop resilient and sustainable production systems. This paper aims to explore the state-of-The art and state-of-practice associated with the development of resilient and sustainable production systems, with a focus on challenges and enablers. To achieve this, a narrative literature review was carried out, combined with results from knowledge creation workshops with five manufacturing companies striving towards resilient and sustainable production systems.

The rapid ongoing digital transformation creates new opportunities to generate value but also challenges companies in the manufacturing industry to adapt to the recent changes. Moreover, committing to sustainability is essential to maintain competitive advantages, build a more resilient company, and manage increasing societal demands and regulations. Referred to as a “twin transition”, the digital transformation can positively impact firms’ commitments to environmental sustainability. This paper explores challenges that small technology solution providers face on their path toward developing sustainable production solutions for their manufacturing customers. An empirical study was conducted in an industrial cluster of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) providing innovative, tailor-made production technology solutions to manufacturing companies. As a result, a collaborative process model was suggested for such SMEs to overcome internal and external barriers to obtaining sustainability, thus better supporting the manufacturing companies, i.e., their customers, to strive towards more sustainable production.

As all technologies come to pass, change by innovation is needed both ways, exploiting current knowledge to do better and exploring new knowledge to do differently. Due to years of continuous improvement (CI), exploitation of current knowledge in production development is rather well investigated, exploration is less. It could be argued that not utilizing the potential explorative operator contributions to production innovation is a lost opportunity to increase a company’s innovation capability. Simultaneously, operators are facing great changes when manufacturing is adopting to digitalization and sustainability challenges enhancing the need for production innovation. This study focused on a team of operators through a workshop series of five sessions about explorative activities in a format using structured and semi-structured interviews. The study provided a basis for constructing a model for positioning operators’ both digital and explorative maturity level. Through the empirical data and the model, the conclusion is illustrated as alternative pathways to reach a desired level of operator maturity. It was concluded that approaching digital and explorative maturity for operators should be done as a two-step process. Increasing both maturities simultaneously, as with the studied team, showed difficult due to the digital and explorative maturity being co-dependent. The suggested two-step process contributes to a better understanding of prerequisites and opportunities for operators to participate and contribute to production innovation in digitalized work environments, ultimately increasing the company’s innovation capability.

To be competitive, it is widely recognized that manufacturing companies need attention on sustainability aspects. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how to combine requirements on sustainability and profitability to achieve long-term competitive manufacturing. Furthermore, there is a need for knowledge on how to develop resilient and sustainable production systems. This paper aims to explore the state-of-the art and state-of-practice associated with development of resilient and sustainable production systems, with focus on challenges and enablers. To achieve the aim of the paper, a traditional literature review was carried out, combined with results from knowledge creation workshops with five manufacturing companies striving towards resilient and sustainable production systems. In the paper, initial results from a three-year research project are included. The research project aims at developing knowledge that can support development of resilient and sustainable production systems, including the value chain, for the future. The industrial relevance of the project lies in ensuring a future-proof adaptable factory in an efficient industrial value chain, based on circularity in terms of minimum waste and long-term overall sustainability with a triple bottom line perspective, including social, ecological, and long-term economic values.

Production Innovations can substantially alter the behavior of the sub-systems of a manufacturing system, for instance: human, technology, information, or management systems. Frequently, such changes occur in combinations of the sub-systems, thus triggering new and improved management strategies, control systems, materials, products, and processes to face emerging internal or external challenges. In this paper, case studies of production innovation from Sweden and around the globe are described, moving towards a conceptual framework for Manufacturing Resilience Engineering. The aim is to identify sets of production innovation factors that contribute to manufacturing resilience and the long-term competitiveness of resilient manufacturing enterprises.

The advances in digital technologies enable organisations to develop new digital products and services, new business processes, and novel business models. Innovative digital solutions and business concepts are changing the environment of traditional production management systems. This paper aims to explore value constellations where small automation solution providers contribute to improving their customers’ production systems. An empirical study is conducted to outline the digital transformation value constellation and possible created values for both automation technology solution providers and manufacturing industries. The paper presents different approaches to how automation solution providers contribute to innovative customised digital transformation in manufacturing firms.

Manufacturing companies constantly strive towards better quality and more cost-efficient production. This development is mainly managed through continuous improvement, somewhat limiting the organization to incremental changes. Meanwhile, existing literature emphasizes the need of managing both incremental and radical innovations to face dual market demands. This paper present proposals that can support an increased understanding of the context in which innovation management could be applied to further improve capabilities of a production organization, towards ambidexterity. Topics of proposals are 1) definitions of innovation in production, 2) innovation management with continuous improvement, and 3) alternative perspective on types of innovations.