Cloud Manufacturing: Implementation & Challenges in a Swedish automotive firm

Abstract

During the last century, the idea of industry 4.0 has evolved, based on the rapid development of the industry as well as all the necessary components that are required. As a key component of industry 4.0, cloud manufacturing is emerging as an enabler for a new possible manufacturing paradigm. Within the manufacturing segment, researchers are recognizing the development of the cloud and its implications within manufacturing. Cloud manufacturing enables organizations to increase both resource utilization, and flexibility as well as respond to the versatile needs of customers. The purpose of this paper is to identify the current state of cloud manufacturing implementation and provide guidance on overcoming potential challenges for a Swedish automotive company. Cloud manufacturing in the automotive industry is selected for this thesis, as it is an industry that is currently undergoing several changes, such as the transformation into electric vehicles and technical developments. Moreover, there is a lack of research in the area of cloud manufacturing for the Swedish automotive companies specifically, which calls for further knowledge to be obtained. . A single case study was performed to obtain the information for the thesis purpose. The empirical findings consist of themes that are derived from various interviews with field- as well as academic experts, the examples of themes consist of the integration of cloud & data and security issues. The study concludes with several recommendations for the automotive company to increase the effort of working towards a cloud manufacturing system, creating a clear cloud implementation strategy, reallocating resources for a full-time implementation, joining data transmitting initiatives, and convincing management. However, as the organizational strategy is not to implement cloud manufacturing, further research could study the potential cloud manufacturing implementation process on a global level.