Establishing a maturity model for design automation in sales-delivery processes of ETO products

• Published in: Computers in industry Vol. 82; pp. 57 - 68
• Main Authors: Willner, Olga, Gosling, Jonathan, Schönsleben, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.2016; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Automation; Competitive advantage; Custom design; Deliveries; Design analysis; Design automation; Design engineering; Design improvements; Engineer-to-order; Knowledge base; Knowledge-based engineering; Maturity model; Product configuration; Product quality; Strategy; Studies; Tasks; Tendering; Knowledge-based engineering; Design automation; Product configuration; Engineer-to-order; Maturity model
• ISSN: 0166-3615; 1872-6194
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compind.2016.05.003

•This paper proposes a maturity model for design automation in ETO companies.•The model supports the analysis and improvement of design automation activities.•5 different levels of maturity across 4 dimensions were identified.•4 empirical cases give in-depth insights in the different dimensions. Short delivery times are considered a competitive advantage in the engineer-to-order (ETO) sector. Design-related tasks contribute to a substantial amount of delivery times and costs since ETO products have to be either fully developed or adapted to customer specifications within tendering or order fulfillment. Approaches aiming at a computerised automation of tasks related to the design process, often termed design automation or knowledge-based engineering, are generally regarded as an effective means to achieve lead time and cost reductions while maintaining, or even improving product quality. In this study we propose a maturity model as a framework for analyzing and improving such activities in ETO companies. We contribute to the literature in being the first to investigate design automation in the ETO sector from a maturity perspective. Beyond that, we extend the extant literature on design automation, which is of a highly technical nature, by providing a framework considering organizational and managerial aspects. The findings indicate that five different levels of maturity can be achieved across the dimensions strategies, processes, systems, and people. Empirical cases give insight into these different levels. Our investigation draws from extant literature and a comparative case study involving four companies over two years.