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The purpose of this paper is to examine how communication with suppliers influences performance during production ramp-up. Often, time, cost or quality targets are missed in production ramp-ups while the number and frequency of ramp-ups is further increasing. The goal of this paper is thus to contribute a better understanding if and to which extend communication content or communication relationship is affecting ramp-up performance.

The research uses data from a dyadic survey (N = 160) in the German automotive industry. The data set comprises responses from buyers and suppliers. Constructs, namely, information and relationship quality, as well as communication satisfaction, are measured. The effect of communication is evaluated referring to cost, quality and time dimensions of performance. The analysis is applied with structural equation modeling methodology. This research is complemented by a multigroup analysis (MGA) especially comparing buyer and supplier respondent groups.

The results indicate that communication satisfaction positively influences ramp-up performance and that information quality is of higher relevance than relationship quality. Briefly, information exchange (what information to transfer) is more important than relationship management (how to transfer information). This finding contrasts previous literature focusing on relationship factors in communication settings. Furthermore, findings from MGA sustain the findings, because effects are also analyzed from a supplier’s or buyer’s viewpoint. Overall, the findings imply that supplier communication in production ramp-up must of course provide a high level of information quality. However, to optimize ramp-up performance also a high level of relationship quality is required.

This study featured data from the German automotive industry from buyer’s and supplier’s perspective. This limits its generalizability, yet provides opportunities to test the findings through longitudinal studies, potentially gathering data from other sectors.

This research recommends managers deliver high information quality to improve communication satisfaction. Hence, this survey provides support for business communication o enhance ramp-up performance to achieve success in buyer–supplier relations.

Besides the original dyadic database, this research addresses production ramp-up as a very dynamic process. Plans and forecasts change often, thus supplier communication takes place in a stress situation. Then, communicators might overstate information quality and lose sight of relationship quality. The study contributes to this field of research and postulates that (automatic, autonomous) data exchange requires behavioral and relational support. The findings are useful for companies in stress situation (e.g. also a pandemic supply crisis) and will avoid that the optimization of information exchange disregards the relationship aspect.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate dependencies that arise between companies during the ramp-up of production volume in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain.

An inter-company case study method has been used. Data were collected via tours of manufacturing plants, workshops and interviews from multiple tiers in a supply chain, namely, a niche EV manufacturer, as well as two of its tier-one suppliers and five of its tier-two suppliers.

As production volumes increased, a more relational approach was found to be necessary in inter-company relationships. The authors’ research showed that key suppliers, in addition to providing the parts, pursued a supply chain orchestrator’s role by offering direct support and guidance to the niche EV manufacturer in designing and executing its development plans.

The resource dependence theory (RDT) is used to analyse and explain the changing dependencies throughout the planning and execution of production ramp-up.

This study will help supply chain managers to better manage resource dependencies during production ramp-up.

This study explores dependencies during the early stages of the production ramp-up process in the EV sector, which is in itself in the early stages of evolution. RDT is used for the first time in this context. This study has moved beyond a simple dyadic context, by providing empirical insights into the actions taken by an EV manufacturer and its suppliers, towards a multi-tier supply chain context, to better manage resource dependencies.

This paper aims to elaborate the concepts of boundary subjects and boundary objects in constructing and communicating relevant accounting facts for managing product development (PD). Boundary subjects as reflective actors benefit effective accounting enactment, by building a shared understanding about different actors’ roles and information needs, and by helping to respond to these needs with new boundary objects.

The paper uses a longitudinal interventionist case study of a machinery manufacturer. The focus of this case study was the production ramp-up phase at the end of a PD program. Different actors’ needs were first collected and elaborated by interventionist researchers (boundary subjects). Then accounting prototypes (boundary objects) provided new means of communication.

The findings show that dealing with boundaries is crucial in accounting development. The role of boundary subjects was fundamental in the process of choosing, constructing, elaborating and communicating accounting facts. During this process, accounting prototypes integrated new accounting facts, the boundary subjects mitigated the boundaries and the boundary objects focused and restricted communication about accounting facts.

The paper tests the pragmatic constructivism approach by examining accounting enactment under uncertainty and ambiguity. The study refines pragmatic constructivism in terms of boundaries, boundary subjects as actors and boundary objects.

The intentional use of boundary subjects and objects as communication platform could push a more active inclusion of business controllers as active business partners.

The paper contributes to the literature on accounting development by highlighting the use of boundary subjects and boundary objects as fundamental mechanisms in constructing and communicating accounting facts.

With shortening product life cycles and an increasing number of product variants, manufacturing firms perform more production ramp-ups. In this context, learning is crucially important to quickly achieve high production process quality and stability. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Through a laboratory experiment, this study analyzes spillover learning between consecutive ramp-ups and how this phenomenon is influenced by tacit knowledge transfer through observation and imitation.

The results prove the existence of spillover learning between consecutive ramp-ups. Moreover, they provide evidence how tacit knowledge transfer through observation and imitation enhances learning of new tasks in consecutive production ramp-ups.

Future research could focus on the specific psychological processes driving tacit knowledge transfer and spillover learning, a topic which is only touched upon in this paper.

The findings show that manufacturing firms should not only aim at reaching a steep learning curve during a single production ramp-up, but should also take into account the effects of spillover learning with regard to future production ramp-ups. Furthermore, the paper provides novel insights concerning the allocation of workers to production tasks with regard to previous experience when introducing new personnel and during ramp-up phases.

Previous evidence on the existence and characteristics of spillover learning in production ramp-up situations is not conclusive. This paper provides new and unambiguous insights by considering different organizational settings.

Digital library managers are faced with growing pressure to digitize materials efficiently on a larger scale. This paper aims to address the staffing and other resources needed to evolve smaller scope operations into teams capable of outputting larger-scale production.

Much of the current literature focuses on philosophy of these projects and issues of metadata and user access. In contrast, this article seeks to supply the much-needed practical information for digital library managers who need to take immediate action to meet new mandates and reach higher target goals within the constraints of limited resources.

The author will provide an overview of resources needed to increase digitization output and provide an analysis of three key resources that can be targeted by digital library managers in a range of environments. These resources will be examined with practical advice given on how new staffing configurations, outsourcing of materials and high-efficiency equipment can be implemented in phases.

This paper examines the gap between smaller-scale digitization and successful large-scale projects, and offers several possible scenarios for organizations to consider as they choose to move forward in a way that suits their goals. The focus of this study is neither on the rationale for large-scale digitization nor on the detailed specifications for large-scale digitization workflows. Rather, it will outline the types of resources (internal and external), decision points and specific practical strategies for digital library managers seeking to start ramping up the production.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the characteristics of low-volume manufacturing industries influence the product introduction process and factors which can facilitate that process in low-volume manufacturing industries.

A literature review and a multiple-case study were used to achieve the purpose of the paper. The multiple-case study was based on two product development projects in a low-volume manufacturing company.

The main identified characteristics of the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries were a low number of prototypes, absence of conventional production ramp-up, reduced complexity of the process, failure to consider the manufacturability of the products due to an extensive focus on their functionality and increased complexity of resource allocation. It was determined that prior production of similar products could serve as a facilitator of the manufacturing process.

The main limitation of this study is that the identified characteristics and facilitating factors are confined to the internal variables of the studied company. A study of the role of external variables during the product introduction process such as suppliers and customers could be the subject of future studies.

This research will provide practitioners in low-volume manufacturing industries with general insight about the characteristics of the product introduction process and the aspects that should be considered during the process.

Whereas there is a significant body of work about product introduction process in high-volume manufacturing industries, the research on characteristics of the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries is limited.

In the context of transferring manufacturing knowledge to new locations, whether this is to parties inside or outside the legal boundary of a firm, a key problem remains, that it is often difficult to explain what operators really know, or why what they do really works. Still most attention is given to planning the physical move and to the explicit knowledge associated with normal operations. The paper argues that manufacturing processes rarely contain the necessary robustness that can be replicated in a new context. The transfer, therefore, should encompass a wider range of task situations and the associated sets of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method that may help to identify and capture the knowledge tied to non‐normal task situations as a basis for supporting an accelerated learning at the new site.

Three case studies based on observations over one‐and‐half years and interviews (n = 59) with operators, management and technical support staff on both sides of the relationship, illustrate and support the developed model. A fourth case study is used to test the method.

The case studies show that the classification of task situations can be used in the process of identifying hidden knowledge.

The paper operationalizes knowledge tied to different task situations at the shop floor and shows that the non‐normal task situations deserve increased attention in the literature as well as in practical work of preparing for a transfer of manufacturing processes. The proposed method may help companies identify hidden knowledge and prepare a comprehensive training program.

The authors present a framework for assessing knowledge of various task situations and a method for transfer of non‐normal task situations.

Short-term problem solving during production launch may result in extended lead times and increased overall costs of new product development, thereby reducing the overall profitability of a new product. While the previous literature suggests formalized procedures and systematic problem solving approaches, empirical analyses indicate improvised, non-systematic, and ad hoc responses actually being used in firms’ real world problem solving processes. The purpose of this paper is to explain the role of such non-systematic approaches for the efficiency and effectiveness of problem solving processes during production launch.

The paper empirically explores the impact of improvisational problem-solving behavior on a firm's production launch efficiency and on the success of new products. Moreover, the paper investigates the moderating role of technology familiarity, project complexity, and the number of occurring problems during production launch.

The paper finds evidence for a positive curvilinear effect of improvisational problem-solving behavior on new product success and production launch efficiency. Additionally, the paper finds that improvisation is especially reasonable in complex and familiar projects or in the case of many unplanned changes during production launch.

The study provides evidence for the relevance of routinized and improvisational behavior during production launch.

Improvisational behavior decreases the performance of the production launch and the financial performance of a new product in the case of frequent product changes or complex projects.

For the first time behavioral theory is applied to the phenomenon of production launch and problem solving.