In the competitive world of manufacturing, the companies would like to produce their products at reduced price and superior quality. In the production system, the company faces many problems during the production of their products. Over the past years the manufacturing industry follows suitable techniques in their production system for the improvements in production. Still, companies are in search for new technology or techniques to improve their production in radical ways during a short period of time. Many researchers have discussed the development of production system through continuous improvements. Techniques like lean, kaizen etc are implemented in the production system but the effect of these techniques is realized in production unit only after many years. Kaikaku is another technique in lean production which occurs in a radical way to eliminate waste to provide a greater value. It is a radical process improvement which takes place in short period of time. Kaikaku is normally used when Kaizen techniques are not providing enough positive results to keep an organization effective. Still, radical improvements often need capital investment. It is often focused on introducing new technology, new strategies, or completely new production system. This main objective of this thesis is to understand and analyze the production system development process in manufacturing industries and suggest how it is effective to keep an organization competitive. The basic conception and research aid of various authors are explained in the theoretical framework, and is done for the enhanced understanding of the reader and also a new conceptual theory structure framework is done to introduce the new concept of process innovation for radical improvements in the company. The proposed structure framework can help companies to practice the process innovation in the production system for development in short period of time.  Based on the conceptual structure and relevant theoretical understandings, the interview questions are framed and case companies are analyzed for the process improvements and process innovation performance in the production system. The empirical data is collected from case companies through interviews. With the help of empirical results and the related theoretical results, an analysis and discussion is made which clearly explains about the problems faced in the production system and how they can be solved through in a radical way.

Manufacturing Industry as an important part of European and Swedish economy faces new challenges with the daily growing global competition. An enabler of overcoming these challenges is a rapid transforming to a value-based focus. Investment in innovation tools for production system development is a crucial part of that focus which helps the companies to rapidly adapt their production systems to new changes. Those changes can be categorized to incremental and radical ones. In this research we studied the Obeya concept as a supporting tool for production system development with both of those approaches. It came from Toyota production system and is a big meeting space which facilitates communication and data visualization for a project team. Four lean companies have been studied to find the role of such spaces in production development. Results indicate a great opportunity for improving those spaces and their application to radical changes in production development projects / EXPRES

As the speed of change is increasing, it’s of great importance that manufacturing companies strive to achieve not only incremental improvements, but also radical improvements within their production systems. Thus, more research has to be focused on how to realize radical improvement. In accordance, the objective of the licentiate thesis is to, through theoretical and empirical work, increase the understanding about radical improvement in production and identify what elements need to be considered when designing support on how to implement radical improvement in industrial production. Throughout the research process these issues has been addressed through theoretical and empirical studies. Three studies have been conducted in total, of which two are mainly of theoretical character and one of empirical character. Besides, a state-of-the-art theoretical review has been carried out as well, further framing the findings. The research results imply that radical improvement in production is a teamwork process that embraces the facilitation of creativity and innovation. The research further implies that there are a number of issues to consider when creating industry-applicable support on how to realize radical improvement in industrial production. For instance, what level of innovation is striven for must be decided, creativity must be facilitated throughout, the opposing cultures of incremental and radical innovation must be managed, and there is a need to apply a holistic perspective, thus embracing not only productivity results but organizational learning as well. As further work, creating industry-applicable support on how to realize radical improvement in industrial production is advocated, focusing not only on meeting the issues addressed above, but also how to make the support industry-applicable. / Kaikakuprojektet / INNOFACTURE - innovative manufacturing development

The resource based radical change from semiconductor manufacturing into the artificial plant factory is studied by understanding the resource capabilities in each industry separately. Due to lack of scientific research in the resource re-utilization process, the phenomenon is explored by studying the role of three different resources from a holistic view. By a qualitative research method, the motivating reasons for the change, the resources involved in the change, duration, and the resource based information were studied. The collected data are analysed under three different categories such as knowledge, infrastructure, and production technology. The identified problems were the unsatisfied resource capabilities, which have to be solved during the change process. As a result of the analysis, a framework is developed by combining all the three resources from a holistic view, in the change process. The framework is structured in three separate phases and inferred to support the resource re-utilization in the radical change process.

Purpose To evaluate how lean production should be modified to be suitable for implementation in the production of digital, customized products and how the first phase of this implementation can be conducted. Research Questions RQ1: What constitutes waste when producing digital, customized products, and to what extent can the waste be eliminated? RQ2: Which lean concepts and tools are suitable to apply in the production of digital, customized products? RQ3: What steps are necessary for initial implementation of lean production for production of digital, customized products, and how should they be prioritized? Methodology The empirical findings are the result of a single case study focused around in-depth analysis and understanding of concepts and relationships. The data is collected through interviews work shops and observations during a period of three months. Conclusions RQ1: The types of waste are; Waiting, Transportation, Over processing or incorrect processing, Excess inventory, Unnecessary efforts, Defects and Unused employee creativity. Waste are further classified as removable, non-removable and in some instances necessary. RQ2: Unsuitable concepts: Value stream mapping (varying level of unsuitability), Kaikaku, Just in time, Stopping the  line (without modifications) and Physical visual controls. Redundant concept: Pull. Especially suitable concepts: 5 Why, Decentralized responsibility, Digital visual controls and Isolating variation. Suitable concepts: Elimination of waste, Root cause analysis, Genchi genbutsu, Kaizen events, Flow, Stopping the line (with modifications) and Standardization. RQ3: Step I: Aligning the production strategy and process with the organization’s strategy and goals. Step II: Standardization. / Syfte Att utvärdera hur lean production bör modifieras för att vara lämpligt för implementering i produktion av digitala, kundanpassade produkter och hur den första fasen av implementationen bör genomföras. Forskningsfrågor F1: Vad utgör slöseri när man producerar digitala, kundanpassade produkter, och i vilken utsträckning kan slöseriet elimineras? F2: Vilka lean-koncept och lean-verktyg är lämpliga att använda i produktion av digitala, kundanpassade produkter? F3: Vilka steg är nödvändiga för initial implementation av lean production i produktion av digitala, kundanpassade produkter, och hur ska de prioriteras? Metod En fallstudie med fokus kring djupgående analyser och förståelse för koncept och samband utgör de empiriska resultaten. Datan är inhämtad genom intervjuer, work shops ochobservationer under tre månader. Slutsatser F1: Typerna av slöseri är: väntetid, transport, onödiga eller felaktiga processteg, överproduktion, onödig ansträngning, defekter och outnyttjad kreativitet. Typerna av slöseri är vidare klassificerade som eliminerbara, icke eliminerbara eller i vissa fall nödvändiga. F2: Olämpliga koncept: värdeflödesanalys, kaikaku, just in time, jidoka, fysisk visuell kontroll. Redundanta koncept: pull. Speciellt lämpliga koncept: 5 Why, decentraliserat ansvar, digital visuell kontroll och isolering av variation. Lämpliga koncept: eliminering av slöseri, analys av rotorsaker, Genchi genbutsu, Kaizen event, Flöde, Jidoka (med modifikation) och Standardisering. F3: Steg I: Strömlinjeforma produktionsstrategin med organisationens strategi och mål. Steg II: Standardisering.