Simon Haahr Storbjerg | Aalborg University (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Simon Haahr Storbjerg

Although modularization is becoming both a well-described domain in academia and a broadly applie... more Although modularization is becoming both a well-described domain in academia and a broadly applied concept in business, many of today’s firm still struggle to realize the promised benefits of this approach. Managing modularization is a complex matter, and in spite of this, a topic that has received far less attention compared to the theories and methods concerning modularization of technical systems. Harvesting the full potential of modularization, particularly in relation to product development agility, depends on more than an optimal architecture. Key enablers in this context are the organizational and systems related aspects. Recognizing the need for guidance to realize the benefits of modularity, the purpose of this study is through a literature study and a case study to improve the insight into the organizational and systems related enablers and barriers with regard to obtaining the full potential of modularization in terms of product development agility.

Intensified competition and increased demand for customization has put manufacturing companies un... more Intensified competition and increased demand for customization has put manufacturing companies under pressure for finding more efficient approaches at handling the operations. As a response to this, Mass Customization (MC) has arisen as a strategy aiming to build the capabilities needed for delivering customized products, while maintaining the economies of scale. Engineering Change Management (ECM), which concern the handling of technical changes, is another field that has grown in importance with the increased demand for customization. Despite the commonalities of these two fields, the relation between MC and ECM has until now not been studied. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal case study in a global manufacturer. The paper contributes an overview of the key enablers of ECM for pursuing the MC benefits. Based on this, the paper contributes with new knowledge on the relation between the maturity of ECM capabilities and the success of MC.

With the current financial crisis focus of product development in industry has centred on efficie... more With the current financial crisis focus of product development in industry has centred on efficient variant development and increasing the utilisation of existing products and platforms. Together with this change in focus the handling of engineering changes has grown in importance. Several studies however document a slow and inefficient handling of engineering changes, indicating a general low maturity of this area in industry, e.g. (Sharafi et al., 2012), . Although a noticeable amount of work has been published on engineering change, the literature, as highlighted by Jarratt et al. in a recent extensive literature review, overwhelmingly points to the need for more comprehensive guidance in how engineering changes can be handled more efficiently. This paper seeks to address this gap using a capability perspective. Based on literature review and a case study, the process areas especially important to develop capabilities within to ensure an efficient change handling are identified, and an ECM capability framework is proposed. This paper thus enables further research to focus on clarifying ECM capabilities, maturity levels and levers.

Engineering change management is managing an alteration made to the technical system and/or its r... more Engineering change management is managing an alteration made to the technical system and/or its related value chain processes and documentation that has already been released during the product and process design process. The change can either emerge during the process or be initiated internally or externally by for instance customers. Managing initiated engineering changes is a vital source for improving product performance and radically reducing change costs. Customer-initiated engineering change is an area growing in importance decreasing product life cycles and increasing demand for customisation. Through an in-depth case study, this paper investigates which process and what governance setup is appropriate to manage customer initiated engineering changes, referred to as request management. The paper includes a proposal for a request management framework and a task-based iterative process model based on existing engineering change management theory and case study findings.

Mass Customization (MC) has been introduced as the future of manufacturing, and great results hav... more Mass Customization (MC) has been introduced as the future of manufacturing, and great results have been proven. Recent research, however, documents a high failure rate for companies trying to adapt to MC as a business strategy. Making this transition is, as highlighted by several scholars, an enterprise transformation that requires strategic control mechanisms. This paper contributes to existing MC literature with an overview and analysis of available MC performance assessment methods. Shortcomings of the literature are identified and directions for future research given.

Based on the increased demand for product customization and the intensified competition, manufact... more Based on the increased demand for product customization and the intensified competition, manufacturing companies are today more than ever required to deliver product variants in an efficient manner. Research on mass customization has, up until now, primarily focused on clarifying the organizational capabilities defining successful mass customizers. Choice navigation is identified as one of the three fundamental capabilities. The process of building this capability does not occur as a discrete event, it is a change process. Based on literature review and analysis, this paper addresses the change process in relation to implementation of the choice navigation capabilities. A framework for performance assessment, supporting implementing of the choice navigation capabilities, is forwarded.

Although modularization is becoming both a well-described domain in academia and a broadly applie... more Although modularization is becoming both a well-described domain in academia and a broadly applied concept in business, many of today’s firm still struggle to realize the promised benefits of this approach. Managing modularization is a complex matter, and in spite of this, a topic that has received far less attention compared to the theories and methods concerning modularization of technical systems. Harvesting the full potential of modularization, particularly in relation to product development agility, depends on more than an optimal architecture. Key enablers in this context are the organizational and systems related aspects. Recognizing the need for guidance to realize the benefits of modularity, the purpose of this study is through a literature study and a case study to improve the insight into the organizational and systems related enablers and barriers with regard to obtaining the full potential of modularization in terms of product development agility.

Intensified competition and increased demand for customization has put manufacturing companies un... more Intensified competition and increased demand for customization has put manufacturing companies under pressure for finding more efficient approaches at handling the operations. As a response to this, Mass Customization (MC) has arisen as a strategy aiming to build the capabilities needed for delivering customized products, while maintaining the economies of scale. Engineering Change Management (ECM), which concern the handling of technical changes, is another field that has grown in importance with the increased demand for customization. Despite the commonalities of these two fields, the relation between MC and ECM has until now not been studied. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal case study in a global manufacturer. The paper contributes an overview of the key enablers of ECM for pursuing the MC benefits. Based on this, the paper contributes with new knowledge on the relation between the maturity of ECM capabilities and the success of MC.

With the current financial crisis focus of product development in industry has centred on efficie... more With the current financial crisis focus of product development in industry has centred on efficient variant development and increasing the utilisation of existing products and platforms. Together with this change in focus the handling of engineering changes has grown in importance. Several studies however document a slow and inefficient handling of engineering changes, indicating a general low maturity of this area in industry, e.g. (Sharafi et al., 2012), . Although a noticeable amount of work has been published on engineering change, the literature, as highlighted by Jarratt et al. in a recent extensive literature review, overwhelmingly points to the need for more comprehensive guidance in how engineering changes can be handled more efficiently. This paper seeks to address this gap using a capability perspective. Based on literature review and a case study, the process areas especially important to develop capabilities within to ensure an efficient change handling are identified, and an ECM capability framework is proposed. This paper thus enables further research to focus on clarifying ECM capabilities, maturity levels and levers.

Engineering change management is managing an alteration made to the technical system and/or its r... more Engineering change management is managing an alteration made to the technical system and/or its related value chain processes and documentation that has already been released during the product and process design process. The change can either emerge during the process or be initiated internally or externally by for instance customers. Managing initiated engineering changes is a vital source for improving product performance and radically reducing change costs. Customer-initiated engineering change is an area growing in importance decreasing product life cycles and increasing demand for customisation. Through an in-depth case study, this paper investigates which process and what governance setup is appropriate to manage customer initiated engineering changes, referred to as request management. The paper includes a proposal for a request management framework and a task-based iterative process model based on existing engineering change management theory and case study findings.

Mass Customization (MC) has been introduced as the future of manufacturing, and great results hav... more Mass Customization (MC) has been introduced as the future of manufacturing, and great results have been proven. Recent research, however, documents a high failure rate for companies trying to adapt to MC as a business strategy. Making this transition is, as highlighted by several scholars, an enterprise transformation that requires strategic control mechanisms. This paper contributes to existing MC literature with an overview and analysis of available MC performance assessment methods. Shortcomings of the literature are identified and directions for future research given.

Based on the increased demand for product customization and the intensified competition, manufact... more Based on the increased demand for product customization and the intensified competition, manufacturing companies are today more than ever required to deliver product variants in an efficient manner. Research on mass customization has, up until now, primarily focused on clarifying the organizational capabilities defining successful mass customizers. Choice navigation is identified as one of the three fundamental capabilities. The process of building this capability does not occur as a discrete event, it is a change process. Based on literature review and analysis, this paper addresses the change process in relation to implementation of the choice navigation capabilities. A framework for performance assessment, supporting implementing of the choice navigation capabilities, is forwarded.