Deploying Process Innovation in Manufacturing

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are increasingly under pressure to innovate due primarily to the intense competition they face, particularly under global market conditions. Innovation is recognised as a precondition for survival. Implementation of innovative initiatives in manufacturing is an important and challenging phase of process innovation. This is more so in the pre-implementation phase, in which manufacturing organisations need to prepare and be appropriately ready to deploy their process innovation initiative. This thesis focuses on the methodology of deploying process innovation in manufacturing to identify the factors influencing deployment readiness, evaluate hypothesised influences of some of the factors on deployment readiness, and provide an accessible method of assessing deployment readiness levels. Several important results and significant contributions to knowledge are arising from the research reported in this thesis. The thesis reports on the findings that several factors can influence deployment process innovation which is characterised along the dimensions of context for process innovation, performance, capability and capacity, resources, and collaboration. Through developing and evaluating a conceptual framework for process innovation deployment readiness, the thesis found a significant positive link between process innovation deployment preparedness and being fully ready to deploy. It was also found that having a deployment plan has a significant positive influence on being fully ready to deploy process innovation. These results have important implications for manufacturing managers, especially regarding the need for a deployment plan, ensuring a good climate for innovation, and being prepared to deploy process innovation in manufacturing. Perspectives of manufacturing managers reported in the thesis indicate that manufacturing companies do not necessarily need to attain a 100% deployment readiness level. On average, the companies appear satisfied with about 70% deployment readiness level. A fuzzy logic method for assessing manufacturing process innovation deployment readiness level presented in this thesis will help manufacturing companies gauge their readiness level and identify areas of improvement should they wish to increase their deployment readiness level prior to implementation. The method was validated in a case study company and found useful. The thesis concludes by reinforcing the need for manufacturing companies to rely more on appropriate techniques, such as those arising from this research, for use in successfully managing the deployment of their process innovation initiatives.