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In manufacturing, dedicated machine tools and flexible machine tools are failing to satisfy the ever-changing manufacturing demands of short life cycles and dynamic nature of products. These machines are limited when new product designs are introduced. The solution lies in developing responsive machines that can be adjusted or be changed functionally when these change requirements arise. These machines are reconfigurable machines which are becoming the new focus, as they rapidly respond to product variety and volume changes. A sheet metal working machine known as a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM) has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology, function-oriented design approach (FODA), which was developed for the design of the RGS&BPM.

The design of the machine is based on the six principles of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), namely, modularity, scalability integrability, convertibility, diagnosability and customisability. The methodology seeks to optimise the design process of the RGS&BPM through a design of modules that make up the machine, enable its conversion and reconfiguration. The FODA is focussed on function identification to select the operational function required. Two main functions are recognised for the machine, these being cutting and bending; hence, the design revolves around these two and reconfigurability.

The developed design methodology was tested in the design of a prototype for the reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine. The prototype is currently being manufactured and will be subjected to functional tests once completed. This paper is being presented not only to present the methodology by to show and highlight its practical applicability, as the prototype manufacturers have been enthusiastic about this new approach.

The research was limited to the design methodology for the RGS&BPM, the machine which has been designed to completion using this methodology, with prototype being manufactured.

This study presents critical steps and considerations in the development of reconfigurable machines. The main thrust being to explore the best possibility of developing the machines with dual functionality that will assist in availing the technology to manufacturer. As the machine has been development, the success of the design can be directly attributed to the FODA methodology, among other contributing factors. It also highlights the significance of the principles of RMS in reconfigurable machine design.

The RGS&BM machine is an answer for the small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), as the machine replaces two machines with one, and the methodology ensures its affordable design. It contributes immensely to the machine availability by eliminating trial and error approaches.

This study presents a new approach to the design of reconfigurable dual machines using principles of RMS. As the targeted market is the SME, it is not limited to that as any entrepreneur may use the machine to their advantage. The design methodology presented contributes to the body of knowledge in dual reconfigurable machine tool design.

Reconfigurable machines tools (RMTs) are gaining momentum as the new solutions to customised products in the manufacturing world. The driving force, among others, behind these machines is the part envelope and the part family of products that they can produce. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new class of RMT known as a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM). A part family of products that this machine can produce is developed using hierarchical clustering methodologies. The development of these part families is guided by the relationship of the parts in the family in terms of complexity and geometry.

Part families cannot be developed in isolation, but that process has to incorporate the machine modules used in the reconfiguration process for producing the parts. Literature was reviewed, and group technology principles explored, to develop a concept that can be used to develop the part families. Matrices were manipulated to generate part families, and this resulted in the development of a dendrogram of six possible part families. A software with a graphic user interface for manipulation was also developed to help generate part families and machine modules. The developed concept will assist in the development of a machine by first developing the part family of products and machine modules required in the variable production process.

The developed concepts assist in the development of a machine by first developing the part family of products and machine modules required in the variable production process. The development of part families for the RGS&BPM is key to developing the machine work envelope and modules to carry out the work. This work has been presented to demonstrate the importance of machine development in conjunction with a part family of products that the machine will produce. The paper develops an approach to manufacturing where part families of products are developed prior to developing the machine. The families of products are then used to develop modules that enable the manufacture of the parts and subsequently the size of the machine.

The research was limited to the development of part families for a new RGS&BPM, which is still under development.

The study reflects the development of reconfigurable machines as a solution to manufacturing challenges in terms of group technology approaches adopted in the design phase. It also highlights the significance of the concepts in the reconfigurable machine tool design. The part families define the machine work envelop and its reconfiguration capability.

The success of the research will usher an alternative to smaller players in sheet metal work. It will contribute to the easy development of the machine that will bridge the high cost of machine tools.

The study contributes to the new approach in sheet metal manufacturing where dedicated machines may be substituted by a highly flexible reconfigurable machine that has a dual operation, making the investment for small to medium enterprises affordable. It also contributes to the body of knowledge in reconfigurable machine development and the framework for such activities, especially in developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights about the approaches and techniques of professionals that nowadays are designing Digital Products and Services (DPS) in the European agriculture. The emphasis is paid on the integration of end-users and participatory approaches such as agile, considering its current influence.

A survey was conducted to professionals of businesses and entities from 14 European countries. A balanced sample of replies was achieved between private–public background, size of the business or experience of experts. Afterwards, the collection of answers and the opinions of professionals were compared with the state of the art referred in the literature. It allowed checking its soundness and critically discusses the results.

From the raw analysis of responses, professionals show awareness about the importance of end-user involvement and they are eager to incorporate innovative farmers and early adopters to collect the best requirements for products and services. They also declare knowledge and uptake in their companies of new approaches, such as agile. Confronting results with literature, the discussion highlights some inconsistencies and possibilities for leveraging. Types of end-users considered should be enlarged. Their superficial participation must also be avoided.

There is a lack of research on procedures for projects in agro-food sector. Due to the momentum in the digital transformation of agriculture, there are many project teams working in developing DPS and are relevant to discuss about proper methodologies for improving success.

Companies with global ambitions need to pay close attention to how innovation is achieved in India. In particular, corporate leaders still have much to learn about how this economic powerhouse is likely to develop in the coming decades and what strategy and innovation plays are most likely to be successful.

This “Masterclass” examines the lessons from three important recent books that offer valuable insights on how Indian businesses are addressing the innovation challenge: Conquering the Chaos by Ravi Venkatesan, former Chairman of Cummins India and Microsoft India, identifies the leadership blueprint for creating most value in this and similar emerging “VUCCA” markets. India Inside by Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam discovers a significant opportunity and challenge – India's rapid emergence as a global hub of innovation. Reverse Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble presents an alternative strategy to “glocalization” as a more promising way to drive global growth, using emerging markets like India as the innovation platform.

The article looks at why only 25 to 30 of the more than 1,300 major multinationals currently operating in India have made it into the “high-growth trajectory, market leadership” category within that country.

Every company with global ambitions would now be well advised to make to make innovation in India central to their own ambitions, so that they might become the global disruptors of the future not the victims.

While most of today's multinational CEOs see pursuing significant market participation in China as a “no-brainer,” rising, or failing to rise, to the challenge of India, with at least as much urgency and commitment, may turn out to be their most “defining” strategic legacy.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the antecedents of reverse innovation.

Data were collected through an online survey administered using telephone assistance and sent to the 1,000 largest (in terms of revenue) foreign subsidiaries in Brazil. The responding companies numbered 167. For the data analysis, the authors chose the statistical technique of structural equation modeling.

The paper shows that reverse innovation is related to headquarters’ support, autonomy, and integration. Specifically, the authors consider the power of strategic integration between headquarters and subsidiaries as one of the important antecedents of reverse innovation.

Integration has an important role to reverse innovation. In order to stimulate integration, the executive of a subsidiary can make such efforts as invest in the mechanism of the relationship and exchange knowledge with headquarters. For example, it is recommended to encourage travel to the headquarters to more accurately align perceptions of parent and subsidiary executives and to utilize expatriates from headquarters to provide knowledge to subsidiaries about the main processes of the company and to promote subsidiary innovations.

Literature contains some articles discussing and relating some cases of reverse innovation. However, this paper shows the organizational structure necessary for reverse innovation.

Interest in reverse innovation (RI) is increasing. According to the authors’ review, more than 350 reliable sources (scientific publications, academic books and working papers) examine or at least discuss the concept. As RI gains popularity among academic authors, some discrepancies have started to appear. This wealth of publications could impact prior advancements related to understanding of the phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to decrease fragmentation and focus on identifying and understanding RI.

A systematic review of RI was conducted. The review conformed to a rigorous set of core principles: it was systematic (organized according to a method designed to address the review questions), transparent (explicitly stated), reproducible and updatable, and synthesized (summarized the evidence relating to the review question).

This systematic review provides an improved theoretical and practical framework for the concept of RI. In terms of theory, the authors have demonstrated that the idea behind the concept is not entirely new. A consensus on the definition of RI is not reached in the literature, and descriptions in organizational theory contexts are sometimes misleading. The authors analyzed all the various definitions provided in the literature. From a practical point of view, the authors have explained the academic interest in RI in relation to organizational strategy, in particular the context in which strategies are adopted. The concept of RI has significant managerial implications, and the authors have proposed a conceptual framework to help managers understand and grasp the implications of RI. Finally, the authors have provided suggestions for future research on RI.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first exhaustive literature review on RI.

This interview aims to illuminate some of the implementation issues inherent in a new conceptual approach to managing change offered by John P. Kotter. His very promising and compelling idea is a dual operating system, comprised of a traditional management-driven hierarchy focused on delivering day-to-day performance and a strategic accelerator network focused on innovation and agility.

Kotter, a noted change management expert and Harvard professor emeritus, is questioned about his dual operating system concept by veteran strategist and author Brian Leavy.

Looking back, at some stage in almost every corporate history, network and hierarchy will be found to have co-existed symbiotically for some period of time before the traditional tendency for the hierarchy to dominate eventually took over. In effect, the network half of the dual operating system mimics “successful enterprises in their entrepreneurial phase,” where initiatives and sub-initiatives typically “coalesce and disband as needed.”

Kotter’s fieldwork has found that in even the most un-entrepreneurial organizations, there is 5 percent of the workforce that has the energy and desire, if organized correctly, to be an entrepreneurial force.

By asking Kotter some hard questions about implementation, the interview provides executives with a fuller view about how a dual operating system would address change management in their firm.

The purpose of this study is to explore the suggestions that construction processes could be considerably improved by integrating building information modelling (BIM) with 3D laser scanning technologies. This case study integrated 3D laser point cloud scans with BIM to explore the effects of BIM adoption on ongoing construction project, whilst evaluating the utility of 3D laser scanning technology for producing structural 3D models by converting point cloud data (PCD) into BIM.

The primary data acquisition adopted the use of Trimble X7 laser scanning process, which is a set of data points in the scanned space that represent the scanned structure. The implementation of BIM with the 3D PCD to explore the precision and effectiveness of the construction processes as well as the as-built condition of a structure was precisely captured using the 3D laser scanning technology to recreate accurate and exact 3D models capable of being used to find and fix problems during construction.

The findings indicate that the integration of BIM and 3D laser scanning technology has the tendency to mitigate issues such as building rework, improved project completion times, reduced project cost, enhanced interdisciplinary communication, cooperation and collaboration amongst the project duty holders, which ultimately enhances the overall efficiency of the construction project.

The acquisition of data using 3D laser scanner is usually conducted from the ground. Therefore, certain aspects of the building could potentially disturb data acquisition; for example, the gable and sections of eaves (fascia and soffit) could be left in a blind spot. Data acquisition using 3D laser scanner technology takes time, and the processing of the vast amount of data acquired is laborious, and if not carefully analysed, could result in errors in generated models. Furthermore, because this was an ongoing construction project, material stockpiling and planned construction works obstructed and delayed the seamless capture of scanned data points.

These findings highlight the significance of integrating BIM and 3D laser scanning technology in the construction process and emphasise the value of advanced data collection methods for effectively managing construction projects and streamlined workflows.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of a new conceptual model and the associated diagnostic tool which can measure the status of maintenance and manufacturing strategies and how well they are linked together.

The new model was developed in two stages. First, a conceptual framework was produced and then a holistic diagram. From this theoretical model a diagnostic tool was generated. This tool was then verified and tested during an empirical research phase which produced four extensive and detailed case studies. A brief overview of one of the case studies is provided in this paper.

It was found that the conceptual model provided an accurate representation of the strategic processes and links which should exist in a manufacturing plant. Moreover the diagnostic tool proved a valid and reliable instrument to measure and display this information.

The diagnostic tool provides a snapshot of the status of manufacturing and maintenance strategies which then can be used to benchmark improvements over time. When required the individual questions from the questionnaire can be reverse engineered to provide detailed information for senior managers to carry out corrective action.

The diagnostic tool provides a snapshot of the status of manufacturing and maintenance strategies and furthermore by reverse engineering the individual questions from the questionnaire can provide detailed information for senior managers guiding them towards the key areas where corrective action is needed.

This theoretical and empirical research closes a gap in the literature relating to the linkage between maintenance and manufacturing strategies. It does so by providing a unique and holistic representation of the strategic processes and links which should exist within a manufacturing plant. Moreover the diagnostic tool produced from the model is a convenient audit facility which enables companies to move towards functional coherence.