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The core issues of traditional manufacturing industry are production and marketing. Adopting the suitable marketing strategies and production techniques based on each product characteristics will render competitive advantage. In this paper, the relationship between the knowing of production and application process of sales representatives and the marketing process was studied. Customers from different regions having various concerns of the quality and cost, require differently. The customer feedbacks collected and classified as quality and service issues, were delivered to both the production and marketing departments to help them finding the solution together. What is more, the production department can be engaged in the improvement and follow up the result for the execution according to the customer feedbacks collected from sales department and some problems which occur during production. This research provides opportunities for employees to exchange experiences, learn from each other, and improve techniques in order not to make the same mistakes again. They have learned to do everything of their own accords and increase the efficiency of management as well. It also helps the marketing personnel to understand that their knowledge on product properties and production process and successfully stimulates to learn more and enhance the skills of selling and negotiating as well.

The traditional manufacturing industry in Taiwan in these few years have been severely challenged by the changing business environment. Under the public opinions that how the traditional industry gets rid of the fate of becoming the declining industry, there are still some companies achieving their success implicitly. To accompany with human resource practices, they create unique competitive advantages and values to overcome the threat by the economic depression and globalization competitiveness. A case study method is used in this thesis. Ten companies in traditional manufacturing industry with superior organizational performance and histories of transformation or related actions for business growth are targeted to explore how the traditional manufacturing industry strengthens or develops different human resource abilities according to different transformation strategies while facing different evolutional opportunities. In this thesis, internal fit of universalistic perspective and external fit of contingent perspective are used to investigate the internal mutual fitness among the human resource practices within the organization respectively. A set of core human resource practices which fit the characteristics of traditional manufacturing industry in Taiwan will be proposed as the core of integrated human resource practices. In addition, from the point of external fit, this thesis also explores the fitness of human resource practices and organizational strategies. To the companies with different transformation strategies, including changing strategic frame, investing resources, changing processes, and solidifying relationships, appropriate human resource practices should also be addressed to strengthen and develop the correspondent dynamic human resource abilities as needed. Therefore, the following propositions are proposed in terms of the inductive inference of interviewing with the ten cases and reviewing the related literature extensively. Propositions 1: The core human resource practices for traditional manufacturing industry in Taiwan are: Focus on employees¡¦ steadiness, hard-working spirits, and employee disciplines while recruiting, high wages, extensive benefits, incentives with cash payment, behavior-oriented and results-oriented performance appraisal, on-the-job training and skill development, promotion from within, harmonious employer-employee relationship, and long-term job security. The more the organization implements those practices, the more the organization could attain competitive advantages and receive superior organizational performance. Propositions 2: In accordance with different transformation and growth anchors, the human resource practices are also different. There are four anchors of transformation strategies including strategic frames, resources, processes, and relationships. Proposition 3: In terms of reengineering strategic frames as the transformation strategy, the organization should emphasize innovative ability while implementing human resource practices. To reverse employees¡¦ value by hard-culture reengineering, the organization could receive knowledge and ability which is different from the one supporting the old strategic frames. Proposition 4: In terms of investing resources as the transformation strategy, the organization should emphasize intensive ability while implementing human resource practices. To intensify and retain the original core techniques, the organization could upgrade the core techniques to the advanced level in order to expand the potential markets. Proposition 5: In terms of changing processes as the transformation strategy, the organization should emphasize participative ability while implementing human resource practices. The organization could accentuate operation efficiency in order to attain the main purposes of reducing cost and improve quality. Proposition 6: In terms of solidifying relationships as the transformation strategy, the organization should emphasize service ability while implementing human resource practices. The organization could draw on the strength of each to offset the weakness of the other among the stakeholders in order to develop competitive advantages.

Background: Additive manufacturing is a manufacturing process that has for the past 30 years been used substantially within the branch of industry. By adding material layer-by-layer, an object will be designed, and this method is called 3D-printing. Despite the advantage of building an object without assemblage as in traditional manufacturing, there is a lot of limitations with this additive manufacturing. Are there more opportunities than difficulties with additive manufacturing or is this manufacturing process too advanced too take over the traditional manufacturing process once and for all?    Purpose: The purpose with this study is to increase understanding for promises and challenges with additive manufacturing and in which context it is adequate to use. Which elements makes it more appropriate and which are less, with additive manufacturing.   Implementation: In the theoretical frame of reference, an integrative review study has been formed, by collecting and working with data from precious studies. The focus applies on the content of additive manufacturing, differences between traditional manufacturing and additive manufacturing only in theoretical frame of reference, promises and challenge with AM-processes, logistical aspects that focuses on the service elements that interact between organizations and customers but also the quality issues that concern additive manufacturing, order qualifiers and order winners that makes the establishment unique also adequacy of materials for different AM-processes. The empirics contain data and information from two concerned organizations that utilize additive manufacturing, but also how they go about to achieve competitive advantages. The analysis compiles the theoretical frame of reference that is formed by the data from previous additive manufacturing studies. Together with the empirics that has been brought by the concerned companies. Through the question formulation and a designed survey study that was given to the two companies, an information rich integrative review was embodied.   Conclusion: This case study shows, as well as other studies that concern additive manufacturing, the conclusion is the same. The conclusion shows that additive manufacturing leads to elements such as cost reduction regarding manufacturing, reduced tied capital, to shorten the lead time, less haul, more environmentally friendly and to make complex geometric objects that are hard to design through traditional manufacturing. There are differences between the companies chosen AM-processes, because each AM-process uses different material. Material offering is more considerable to Company A that uses plastics than to Rise Swecast AB that uses powder within metal production. Adequacy for additive manufacturing applies more to build geometric complex objects, manufacturing of lower production volumes. It applies less to larger production volumes, limit of material supplies of different AM-processes and also for building larger objects. There are also quality issues that concern the printout, thus there is no feedback equipment, but this controls after each printout to avoid variations between printouts and between AM-processes. Additive manufacturing will take more place in the industry branch, in the future, and eventually replace processes within the traditional production. There are great opportunities for additive manufacturing that will lead to profitability for companies and customers through decentralization, meaning that organizations do not need to invest in a whole factory. / Bakgrund: Additiv tillverkning är en tillverkningsprocess som har på de senare åren börjat användas avsevärt det senaste 30 åren, inom industribranschen. Genom att addera material lager-för-lager bildas ett objekt och denna metod kallas för 3D-printing. Trots fördelen med att kunna tillverka ett objekt komplett utan att behöva montera ihop delar som i traditionell tillverkning, finns det många begränsningar med additiv tillverkning. Finns det fler möjligheter än svårigheter med additiv tillverkning eller är tillverkningsprocessen för avancerat för att ta över den traditionella tillverkningsprocessen helt?   Syfte: Rapportens syfte är att öka förståelsen för möjligheter och svårigheter med additiva tillverkningsprocesser samt i vilken kontext det är lämpligt att använda. Vilka faktorer gör det mer eller mindre lämpligt med additiv tillverkning.   Genomförande: I studiens teoretiska referensram har en fallstudie utförts genom att samla in och bearbeta data från tidigare studier. Här utformas studiens teori med fokus på innebörden av additiv tillverkning, jämförelse mellan traditionell tillverkning samt additiv tillverkning enbart i TR, möjligheter och svårigheter med tillverkningsprocessen, logistiska aspekter som fokuserar på den leveransserviceelement som samspelas mellan företag och kunder samt att detta inkluderar kvalité problem som uppstår med AM, orderkvalificerare och ordervinnare som gör företagen unika samt lämplighet av material för olika additiva tillverkningsprocesser. I empirin hittas data och information från två berörda företag som använder sig av additiv tillverkning inom produktionsområden och hur de går tillväga för att uppnå konkurrensfördelar. I analysen sammanställs den teoretiska referensram som utformats med hjälp av data från tidigare studier om additiv tillverkning, tillsammans med empirin som tagits fram med hjälp av dessa två berörda företag. Genom ett frågeställningsformulär och en utformad enkätstudie som gavs till respektive företag, kunde en informationsrik litteraturstudie utföras.    Slutsats: Denna fallstudie visar likaså majoriteten av tidigare studier som berör additiv tillverkning, samma slutsats. Slutsatsen visar att additiv tillverkning leder till faktorer såsom kostnadsreducering gällande produktion, minskad bundet kapital, förkortade ledtider, färre transportsträckor, mer miljövänligt, skapa komplexa geometrier som är svårt att skapa på traditionellt vis. Det finns även skillnader mellan företagens valda AM-processer då företagen använder sig av olika tillverkningsprocesser och olika 3D-printer samt material. Materialutbudet är större hos Företag A som använder sig av plaster än hos Rise Swecast AB som använder sig av kvartssand vilket används inom metalltillverkning. Lämpligheten för additiv tillverkning passar mer vid uppbyggnad av komplexa geometrier, tillverkning av låga produktionsvolymer. Men lämpar sig mindre vid stora produktionsvolymer, begränsning vid materialval av olika AM-processer samt vid tillverkning av stora objekt. Det fanns även kvalitetsproblem gällande utskrifter då det inte finns några återkopplingsverktyg, men detta kontrolleras vid varje utskrift för att undvika variationer mellan utskrifter och processer. Additiv tillverkning kommer i framtiden att ta alltmer plats inom industribranschen och kommer även eventuellt att ersätta andra processer inom den traditionella tillverkningen just för att den bidrar med både med lönsamhet för företag samt kunder genom decentralisering, det vill säga att man inte behöver vara långt ifrån kunden samtidigt som man inte behöver investera i en hel fabrik.