Modern Communication And Flexible Manufacturing Methods

IKEA own 43 IKEA industry production unit in 11 countries. Swedwood factory which is the largest factory located in Southern Poland handles manufacturing and production of all IKEA wood-based products. During manufacturing, IKEA produces pieces of home furniture were designed for the customer to assemble. The pieces are designed to fit into convenient and flat packaging, which benefit both customer and IKEA. As we know IKEA is a huge company that sell over 9,5aa products. So efficient and flat packaging will take up less space in the truck and indirectly increase the number of products that can be

Leases are contracts between the lessor (owner) and the lessee (client) to use an asset for a specified period of time in exchange for rental payments over the term of the lease.  For many companies leasing an asset verses owning has distinct advantages. Leasing offers companies the option of financing at fixed rates and flexibility giving them financial stability, cheaper rates, and the option of short or long-term leases; it allows the lessee to upgrade the asset so they can remain competitive in the market; it offers tax advantages reducing their taxes and leasing offers off-balance sheet financing which doesn’t increase their debt thus aiding in the potential for future borrowing. (Kieso et al., 2016, P.1198)

FuturePrint, 3-D printing company from Canada is well established with several locations generating huge profits. It offers full 3-D printing services by providing flexibility to customers through navigating three options and has online presence focused on local market and therefore, FuturePrint expanded to India with local company named Biodesign Technologies five years ago to form a joint venture named “Biotech FuturePrint” with Competitive Strategic Alliance by adopting Transnational approach. Biodesign Technologies was engaged in offering high level 3-D design services in the healthcare industry; however, it was lacking manufacturing competences and had to outsource manufacturing services.

Another advantage to leasing is that the company will not have to find a buyer at the end of 3 years when the equipment is no longer needed and regardless of what they sell the equipment for, they still have a $80,000 balance to pay no matter the outcome. The tax advantage isn't as great with leasing as it is with purchasing the equipment but there is still some tax savings. Lower payments and the certainty of knowing all of the financial factors upfront also make leasing a wiser decision.

Improved manufacturing efficiencies and cost and substantial improvements to a logistic network while improving quality and customer service levels.

While mass customization is a viable option in manufacturing with digital factories and employing lean manufacturing designs, service firms have to employ a more productive environment to make mass customization profitable. Mass customization refers to using mass production technologies to quickly and cost-effectively assemble goods that are uniquely designed to fit the demands of individual customers (Daft, 2016, p. 271). The key challenge for service mass customization is to translate information about consumer preferences gained through market research into a format that can be easily used for service modularization decisions and customer-contact personnel training (Haas & Kunz, n.d., p. 603). In the service arena, mass customization becomes an ongoing configuration process with direct involvement of the customer coupled with professional advice by service personnel who understand the configuration rules and know them by heart. A clear understanding of the customer’s needs is required, as well as a requirement by service personnel to provide the customer clear and concise configuration options that strike the perfect balance between flexibility and complexity. Also, a continuous interaction between frontline contact personnel and the customer is a consequence that must be

By reducing the introduction of new products, cost such as product development, R&D and advertising can be avoided.

3D printing is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. This technology is beginning to be used in a broad range of applications including rapid prototyping, molds and tooling, digital manufacturing and personal fabrication [1]. As the technology improves and become more affordable, it is expected to penetrate different markets and become a dominant force to be reckoned with. In order to predict the future growth of 3D-printing, we need to investigate into its past and determine what stage of growth 3D-printing is currently located. To begin, we examine the type of innovation 3D-printing is classified as. Figure 1 on the right, is broken down into two dimensions: technology and market. There are four types of innovations shown, and the types of innovation is determined by the placement of a technology in respect to the two dimensions. Referring to figure 1, we can determine that 3D printing is as a disruptive innovation, considering that 3D printing was a new technology that served an existing market that was currently being dominated by topography and photosculpture technologies. At the very beginning, 3D-printing targeted low demanding customer by offering a product that provided lesser quality in terms of the development of 3D-models, however the technology provided an easier to use technology and one at a much cheaper price compared to the topography and photosculpture methods (sustaining innovations). Figure 2 demonstrates how a disruptive innovation enters

Deep integration across disciplines. To initiate the Micro-Manufacturing discussion, the perspectives of multiple science, technology, educational and societal interests need to be included. Some of the initial questions that cannot be answered by any single discipline are: How should Micro-Manufacture operations be organized? How do we prepare workers to have the flexible range of skills and knowledge to function in Micro-Manufacture concerns? How do we design products and processes suited to efficient Micro-Manufacture? What are the units of modularity to support the range of products that may be produced? How do

+ Customers have better understanding of quality, benefits, and cost of the product by showing the value of the product.

To minimize the cost of logistics and overall product’s cost by being more efficient while delivering the product at same quality.

There are benefits to commercial leasing. When you lease, you avoid large cash outlays with a down payment. In addition, leasing payments are tax deductible. “Along with the tax advantages, commercial equipment leasing does not affect your business credit”. When you lease, the equipment pays for itself while generating revenues. Leasing saves working capital, it converts a large cash purchase into a low, affordable, tax-deductible monthly payment. It eases the strain on your working capital by providing 100% financing. Meaning you has more funds available for things like payroll, advertising and other expansion efforts.

Cost Efficient Technology: It is proven from studies that large-scale companies have already started using 3D printing technology over their conventional manufacturing because 3D printing of their products turned out to be relatively cheaper. This makes sense because why would someone go to a store to buy something when he can print it by himself at his own home.

Additive manufacturing (AM) methods in product development and manufacturing are projected to grow over 300% within the next 10 years

| The industry is based on ‘Build to Order’ and the machine specs differ from customer to customer.