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This paper explores the operationalization of production network coordination – the production transfer (PT) – and the relationships between transfer risk sources, preventive actions, supply chain disruptions, corrective actions and losses to better understand how to mitigate the risk and achieve an effective transfer process.

A longitudinal field study of a PT process from Norway to Spain was studied in depth for 25 months.

The paper presents the implications of three areas of importance for PT success: (1) how the transfer influences the plant roles, (2) the cross-locational management of the transfer project at the sender and receiver and (3) whether adapting the transferred production to the receiver's environment is an enabler or an inhibitor of transfer success.

The findings about how to mitigate the transfer risk and the frameworks of risk sources, supply chain disruptions, losses and preventive and corrective actions, along with the examples from the in-depth study, can aid the practitioners in managing PTs and achieving the relocation goals.

This is one of the first studies of PT, which is from the perspective of both transfer parties, and addresses both preventive and corrective actions and all the transfer phases. Moreover, this study addresses the operational aspects of production network coordination, which received limited attention in earlier research.

This paper aims to develop a procedure for preparing production transfers based on risk management principles. The procedure should help companies reduce the amount of supply chain disruptions during transfers and achieve their outsourcing/offshoring objectives.

The procedure was developed during a three-year Design Science study. First, a literature review and case studies were conducted to frame the research problem. Second, a preliminary procedure was developed based on preventive risk mitigation actions from the production transfer literature. Third, the procedure was implemented during an electronics-offshoring case and refined during workshops with the sender and receiver’s transfer personnel. Fourth, during a seminar, transfer practitioners verified the procedure by applying it to outsourcing/offshoring cases with which they had experience.

Most of the preventive actions were evaluated as relevant for the transfers the procedure was applied to, regardless of industry and relocation type. Moreover, the electronics-offshoring case showed that the success of a production transfer not only depends on the physical, knowledge and supply chain transfers, as presented in earlier research, but also on the administrative transfer and on the organisation, project and quality management actions. This paper also attempts to enhance the production transfer literature by clarifying transfer risk management.

The procedure can be used during the production transfer phase as a preparation procedure. Moreover, it informs the decision-making process during the relocation-decision and supplier-selection phases.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first production-transfer-preparation procedure based on risk management principles.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate an effective project management practice focusing on planning and control. By doing so, it contributes to the debate on rethinking traditional project management practices and accentuates the need for adjustments based on the project context.

This paper extends the project management theory by proposing a lean project planning (LPP) and control framework, developed and tested in collaboration with ten engineer-to-order (ETO) companies. By following a design science research approach, elements from lean thinking and current project planning and control practices are combined into a maturity model (MM).

ETO project characteristics are identified, and their implications for planning and control are discussed. Nine enablers that transform current project planning and control approaches into a lean approach are defined, allowing the analysis of the underlying complexity of planning and controlling ETO projects and thus facilitating the determination of the actions required to improve project performance.

Once fully embedded in an organization, the presented MM can provide a safe framework for self-criticism and can be used to conduct self-assessments without the need for an external facilitator. Thus, this paper is of particular interest to practicing project managers who aim to implement LPP and control.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically examine the journey toward LPP and control from a MM perspective. This research attempts to describe the enablers of LPP and control.

Despite increased interest in the Operator 4.0 concept, there has been scarce attention on practice-oriented frameworks that can assist firms in reaping the potential benefits of technologies within the I4.0 framework. The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative framework on how to engage Operator 4.0 effectively.

Following meta-synthesis logic and integrative conceptual analysis, this study synthesizes and integrates experimental case studies on Operator 4.0 solutions. The analysis is conducted on 24 cases retrieved from peer-reviewed articles.

The analysis revealed several factors that determine the type and extent of benefits that can be realized within a human-cyber-physical system. However, enhancing these capabilities is not straightforward, as several factors can inhibit the realization of these capabilities. Firstly, the benefits vary depending on the type of Operator 4.0. Secondly, the interoperability of the introduced I4.0 solution with the existing systems is crucial. Thirdly, the adaptability of the solution to serve multiple purposes is crucial, as it tends to increase technology acceptance.

The studies reviewed in this research were based on experimental cases, with limited implementation of the solutions they proposed. As such, their implications when implemented on a larger scale are tentative.

The present study has synthesized existing experimental cases and developed an integrative framework to guide the implementation of Operator 4.0. By gathering primary insights from these experiments, we have clarified when and how Operator 4.0 and the required interactions can lead to successful implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a quick maturity test to assist a company's development of a supply chain operations strategy. Maturity tests and models have been developed within several areas, but there is a lack of maturity tests targeting supply chain operations.

A literature review on maturity models is carried out in order to build the structure of the test, while a literature review on best practices in supply chain management is the basis for the test content.

The proposed maturity test is an audit scheme built on best practice statements within seven key strategic decision areas – strategy, control, processes, materials, resources, information and organisation. The test is designed with simplicity as a key feature and takes only one hour to complete. The test results are the input to strategic decisions regarding use of best practices in supply chain operations.

Supply chain managers ask for a simple and quick tool that can be used as an eye‐opener and a compass early in the development process of the supply chain operations strategy. The proposed test has a proven potential to point out directions for supply chain improvement areas.

There is a need for a quick assessment tool for mapping the maturity of a company's supply chain operations. The proposed test is a potential answer to this need.

Engineer-to-order (ETO) supply chains involve multiple companies for performing complex projects. The ability to effectively coordinate cross-business activities is essential to avoid delays, cost overruns and quality problems. Coordination is related to a number of contingent factors that need to be better comprehended. The purpose of this paper is to highlight such contingent factors and to analyse their effect on the occurrence of project delays.

A multiple case study is used to investigate the moderating factors affecting coordination in projects carried out in an ETO supply chain. Such factors are examined through a cross-analysis of six shipbuilding projects based on data from interviews, project documentation and clips from the media press.

In ETO supply chains, the engineering and production activities involve mutual interdependences that need to be coordinated. The findings suggest that both the integration of engineering and production and the production capability are the most critical factors influencing coordination in an ETO supply chain.

The study was carried out within shipbuilding projects as a setting to represent the ETO domain. To extend the findings, further research can examine other types of projects, such as: oil and gas, construction, military and aerospace.

In practice, there is no “one-fits-all” solution for coordination. Each project represents a unique context which has specific objectives, actors and constraints. From that perspective, this study provides a basis to comprehend coordination in a complex setting.

This study builds knowledge upon coordination by generating a number of propositions regarding the effectiveness of coordination on avoiding delays in complex projects carried out in ETO supply chains. Focusing on the engineering and production activities, the authors extend the existing theory by demonstrating that coordination can vary according to the level of several moderating factors.

ETO supply chains produce high-value products on a project basis. The occurrence of delays is a major problem that impacts the performance of a company and its supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cause of delays and to understand the role of coordination to mitigate them.

An in-depth case study was conducted to identify problems that delay a project and to examine such problems from a systemic perspective. Based on data from interviews, group meetings, field observations and documentation, a pattern is proposed to explain the relation between coordination and lead time.

Conceptually, to reduce the project lead time a higher level of concurrency is necessary. However, more concurrency increases the interdependencies between activities, something which demands more coordination effort. Since the coordination mechanisms applied are not appropriate to cope with the increasing coordination effort, a number of problems appear causing reworks and delays which increase the lead time.

The main limitation is that the authors are not able to distinguish which particular project characteristic influences the adoption of a specific coordination mechanism. Further research is required to examine the effect of various coordination mechanisms across a higher number of projects.

Practitioners can benefit from discussions in this study to comprehend how coordination can improve the delivery performance in ETO supply chains.

This study contributes to a better understanding of coordination in ETO supply chains by making sense of problems that delay the project. Matching the coordination mechanisms with the required coordination effort, which is based on the project characteristics, is a way to avoid delays and reduce the lead time.