Guiding firms in the automotive industry with digital transformations
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Production engineering (MPPEN), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Ahmad, Koiar
Dukhan, Rami
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The automotive industry is characterized by high competitiveness and rapid development.
One of the most recent drivers for technological innovation is electrification,
which is currently reshaping the industry. Car manufacturers are rapidly adapting
to the new dynamics of both increased competitiveness and changing customer requirements.
To satisfy customer demands and remain competitive, car manufacturers
need to be flexible in their production and adapt to the increased complexity as
a consequence of higher levels of customization and shorter lead times. In addition,
the growing availability of more advanced technologies to create better products also
increases the complexity of the production processes. One way to meet these demands
is to increase the level of digitalization by implementing digital technologies.
However, a common challenge for manufacturing companies is to understand how to
adapt digital transformation to enhance value creation and increase the utilization of
digital implementations. To address this gap, this thesis explores the organizational
capabilities needed to enable the development of a digital twin and how operational
strategy and digital technology can be interpreted to support digital transformation.
Through a literature review, interviews and a case study, this thesis concludes that
there are five essential capabilities that organizations must have to advance in digital
transformations. Also, by integrating the development of these capabilities into
strategies, they can be better utilized. Secondly, operation strategies can be used to
support car manufacturers to successfully undergo a digital transformation and enable
the implementation of digital technologies by aligning the way of working with
the vision to reach the organization’s goals. This thesis proposes a framework for
automotive companies to support them in creating new ways of working to advance
in digitalization by proposing seven dimensions to consider. By doing so, the results
of this thesis can support automotive companies to overcome the most common obstacles
faced when advancing in digitalization and increase the utilization of their
capabilities, hence, easing the digital transformation process.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
organizational capabilities , operation strategy , digital technologies , digital transformation , Industry 4.0 , automotive industry , manufacturing , framework , digital twin