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Securing the Future for the Manufacturing Industry : towards the adoption of the Smart Industry

Moester, D.A. (2017) Securing the Future for the Manufacturing Industry : towards the adoption of the Smart Industry.

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Abstract:Introduction: Currently around the world, the traditional manufacturing industry is in the throes of a digital transformation, also called “Smart Industry” or the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. The vision is a smart connected and data driven factory accelerated by exponentially growing technologies such as Internet-of-Things, Cloud Computing and Big Data analytics. The transition towards Smart Industry is a hot topic among practitioners and scholars. However, due to the novelty of the topic there is little to no research on the adoption and acceptance of the new information technology. Purpose: The purpose of the study is twofold. First, the study explores the current intention of manufacturers to implement Internet-of-Things in their products or production processes. Second, the author expects on forehand a high Behavioral Intention in combination with a low Perceived Ease Of Use indicating the expected challenges organizations face for Smart Industry adoption. Therefore, the second part aims to develop a method that contributes to the adoption of Smart Industry. Main research questions: The first part of the study is guided by the following research question: “What is the current intention of Dutch manufacturing companies to implement the Internet-of-Things technology into their products or production processes”? The second part of the research is guided by the question: “How to achieve a business innovation towards Smart Industry for manufacturing organizations?” Research Methods: To fulfill the aim of this research and to answer both research questions a multi-method approach is used. First, exploratory research is performed to collect opinions and to measure the behavioral intention of manufacturing organizations to implement the Smart Industry following the Technology Acceptance Model. Data is collected by means of an online questionnaire among 43 manufacturing organizations. Second, an Action Design Science study is performed to develop a method that contributes to the adoption of Smart Industry. Data is collected via semi-structured interviews within two cases. Both cases are manufacturing organizations which are both in a different implementation phase towards Smart Industry. Conclusions: Looking at the results of the first research question, the aforementioned assumptions are confirmed. The Behavioral Intention to adopt Smart Industry is high among the manufacturers. However, the majority is still in the research phase due to challenges and the low Perceived Ease of Use. The constructed method derived from business innovation and Smart Industry literature suggests the following steps to successful adoption: Initiation, Smart Ideation, Smart Idea Conversion and Implementation whereby each phase is guided by frameworks and feedback loops. The main challenges identified are the necessary new skills as data analytics and online security.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Innovadis, Enschede, Netherlands
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/73296
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