Management of the industrialisation process in distributed geographical and organisational contexts

Sammanfattning: Management of new product development (NPD) is one of the most critical capabilities of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The industrialisation process plays a major role in NPD, where the final verification of the product and production system takes place. It is during the industrialisation process that various disturbances arise; if these are not managed, they can delay the production start and prolong production ramp up.Based on two dimensions, geographical and organisational distribution, the following four different types of contexts are defined in this thesis: industrialisation in the local and intra-organisational context (type 1), industrialisation in the local and inter-organisational context (type 2), industrialisation in the international and intra-organisational context (type 3) and industrialisation in international and inter-organisational context (type 4). This thesis addresses types 2–4 and contributes to the literature, which has primarily dealt with the type 1 context. The purpose of the research presented in the thesis is expanding the knowledge on the industrialisation process in distributed geographical and/or organisational contexts with a focus on challenges and mechanisms; this will serve to control the challenges during the industrialisation process.The findings are based on data from three studies in the manufacturing industry, covering both single and multiple case studies. They reveal that there are some similarities between the type 2–4 contexts and challenges and mechanisms previously identified for the type 1 context. However, several unique challenges and mechanisms are found for the type 2–4 contexts. The findings also show that the challenges can be characterised as internal and external. Internal challenges appear in a single industrialisation site and are associated with internal organisational capabilities at the site. External challenges originate from the research and development (R&D) site and the integration between the R&D and industrialisation sites.The findings also reveal that the identified challenges disrupt the industrialisation process in various ways and create uncertainty and equivocality during the industrialisation process. The studies presented in this thesis show that, to deal with challenges that create uncertainty and equivocality, it is wise to allow ad hoc mechanisms to be used. One of the key conclusions is that when the industrialisation processes are carried out in type 2–4 contexts, there is a need to allow for flexibility regarding the use of mechanisms depending on the dynamics associated with the specific context.