Speeding Up the Delivery Process Through Knowledge Transfer in Engineer to Order Contexts
Mahmood, Ahsan (2020)
Mahmood, Ahsan
2020
Degree Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management, MSc (Tech)
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-05-27
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005185462
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005185462
Tiivistelmä
In engineering to order (ETO) companies, short lead times are regarded as a source of competitive advantage for businesses. After a customer order has been received, the production of ETO products either starts from scratch or adjusts according to customer specifications. When delivering ETO products, significantly longer processing times are one of the primary reasons for the slowness of the delivery process due to their high degree of engineering complexity. Hence, to decrease the processing time of engineering activities from the delivery process, the timely availability of complex information to engineering functions regarding customer specifications is necessary. However, to obtain such complex information from the customers upfront requires strong technical competencies. One of the most important strategies for enhancing technical knowledge is to ensure easy access to knowledge sources.
Thus, the objective of the thesis is to speed up the delivery process of ETO products through the knowledge transfer approach. The study is done for a company whose product demands a timely availability of information related to customer specifications for speeding up its delivery process. This study is performed from the perspective of a complex organizational system (COS), considering the viewpoint of complex ETO products. To fulfill the objective and develop a theory in the research field, the thesis aims at answering what are the different requirements and the related knowledge transfer techniques for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products.
The empirical data was primarily collected through existing material that includes documentation available in the company’s intranet pages, and qualitative interviews with employees at the case company. The literature review together with the empirical results was used to propose and validate the theoretical framework and examine the feasibility and effectiveness of its implementation.
The results show that knowledge transfer can prove to be an important tool for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products. The findings also indicate that in ETO companies, the role of sales function becomes highly crucial to ensure timely availability of customer specifications to engineering teams. Hence, suitable knowledge transfer techniques should also be employed to increase the technical knowledge of the salespeople when attempting to reduce the processing time of ETO products. Even though there are certain limitations attached to the results of the thesis, the study provides a theoretical framework for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products through knowledge transfer. This might be an insightful examination for academics and practitioners interested in the topic.
Thus, the objective of the thesis is to speed up the delivery process of ETO products through the knowledge transfer approach. The study is done for a company whose product demands a timely availability of information related to customer specifications for speeding up its delivery process. This study is performed from the perspective of a complex organizational system (COS), considering the viewpoint of complex ETO products. To fulfill the objective and develop a theory in the research field, the thesis aims at answering what are the different requirements and the related knowledge transfer techniques for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products.
The empirical data was primarily collected through existing material that includes documentation available in the company’s intranet pages, and qualitative interviews with employees at the case company. The literature review together with the empirical results was used to propose and validate the theoretical framework and examine the feasibility and effectiveness of its implementation.
The results show that knowledge transfer can prove to be an important tool for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products. The findings also indicate that in ETO companies, the role of sales function becomes highly crucial to ensure timely availability of customer specifications to engineering teams. Hence, suitable knowledge transfer techniques should also be employed to increase the technical knowledge of the salespeople when attempting to reduce the processing time of ETO products. Even though there are certain limitations attached to the results of the thesis, the study provides a theoretical framework for speeding up the delivery process of ETO products through knowledge transfer. This might be an insightful examination for academics and practitioners interested in the topic.