Distributed manufacturing

Adoption of product lifecycle management in new product development: a case study of automotive organisation

Purpose

The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system has found varieties of deployments in various domains of product-based industries. Current study aims to provide a framework for the adoption of PLM systems in manufacturing organizations to meet the actual requirements of industries.

Design/methodology/approach

First, a systematic review of extant literature was performed, and further, the case study approach is opted to study the process of New Product Development (NPD) in a manufacturing organization. Triangulation methodology was adopted wherein the interview results, actual observations, and authorized documentations were used to validate the result and provide conclusions.

Findings

A conceptual framework and implementation architecture for PLM is derived. The complete ecosystem for digital footprint is mapped for New Product Development (NPD) activities.

Practical implications

The study could be helpful for Techno-Functional Managers. For individuals with only functional/technical knowledge, additional training might be required to adopt the framework in actual practices.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a framework and demonstrating the feasibility of implementation through the case study.

Applying Industry 4.0 technologies in the COVID–19 sustainable chains

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is 1) to investigate the effects on the crucial Industry 4.0 technological innovations that interact between the real and virtual worlds and that are applied in the sustainable supply chain process; 2) to contribute to the identification of the opportunities, the challenges and the gaps that will support the new research study developments and 3) to analyze the impact of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators of the sustainable supply chain performance in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Design/methodology/approach

This research is performed through a bibliographic review in the electronic databases of the Emerald Insight, the Scopus and the Web of Science, considering the main scientific publications on the subject.

Findings

The bibliographic search results in 526 articles, followed by two sequential filters for deleting the duplicate articles (resulting in 487 articles) and for selecting the most relevant articles (resulting in 150 articles).

Practical implications

This article identifies the opportunities and the challenges focused on the emerging Industry 4.0 theme. The opportunities can contribute to the sustainable performance of the supply chains and their territories. The Industry 4.0 can also generate challenges like the social inequalities related to the position of the man in the labor market by replacing the human workforce with the machines. Therefore, the man-machine relationship in the Industry 4.0 era is analyzed as a gap in the literature. Therefore, as a way to fill this gap, the authors of this article suggest the exploration of the research focused on the Society 5.0. Also known as “super-smart society,” this recent theme appeared in Japan in April 2016. According to Fukuda (2020), in addition to the focus on the technological development, the Society 5.0 also aims at the quality of life and the social challenge resolutions.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the analysis of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators in the sustainable supply chain performance. It addresses the impacts of the Industry 4.0 technologies applied to the supply chains in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it analyzes the research gaps and limitations found in the literature. The result of this study can add value and stimulate new research studies related to the application of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators in the supply chain sustainable performance. It can encourage the studies related to the COVID-19 impacts on the sustainable supply chains, and it can promote the research development on the relationship among the man, the machine and the labor in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Twenty-five years’ contribution of “Benchmarking: an International Journal” to manufacturing strategy: a scientometric review

Purpose

This study aims at reviewing the articles on the themes of manufacturing strategy (MS) published in “Benchmarking: An International Journal (BIJ)” and investigating the trends of publication for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

Five-stage methodology to conduct a literature review is adopted comprising: (1) article collection, (2) inclusion/exclusion criteria, (3) reviewing the articles, (4) analyzing the articles and (5) future research directions. A total of 57 articles specific to MS domain published in BIJ are reviewed. Further, a bibliometric analysis comprising keywords co-occurrence, citation and co-citation using a VOSviewer© software followed by content analysis to analyze the type of research, type of industry and type of tool/method used is carried out.

Findings

The study helps to find the scope of the journal and research gaps in the MS domain to provide future research directions. Most of the work found is survey-based or case-based in nature. However, there is a need for empirical research to be done in the field of MS.

Research limitations/implications

The study facilitates researchers willing to publish in BIJ to understand different themes of accepted papers concerning MS domain. The identified research gaps and future research direction can motivate researchers and practitioners to coin new approaches in the MS domain.

Originality/value

A comprehensive review and analysis of the MS literature published in BIJ has been provided. To the best of authors' knowledge, the current study is the only review study in MS domain focusing on one specific journal.