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The Server Allocation Problem is a significant challenge in manufacturing systems involving deciding the number and version of machines for each stage. This optimization problem is of utmost importance when there is a trade-off between minimizing investment costs and flow time while achieving target performance, such as a minimum throughput. Manufacturing systems often employ hybrid flow lines, with non-identical machines at each stage. This paper analyzes the trade-off between minimizing costs and flow time when allocating servers in hybrid flow lines by proposing a bi-criteria approach that uses an efficient pattern-based problem representation and a Variable Neighborhood Search solution algorithm. The objectives are to minimize total cost and flow time while ensuring a target throughput. A metric for comparing obtained solutions is proposed, providing insights for practical implementation. A comprehensive numerical analysis is conducted, to validate the proposed approach and demonstrate its applicability in real-world manufacturing settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the growing demand for alternative protein sources with the growth of the human population and increasing ecological awareness, the rearing of yellow mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) is a promising option for the production of sustainable protein. The article presents a comprehensive approach to planning and scheduling the production of yellow mealworm larvae in a small enterprise, focusing on the organizational, technical, and economic aspects of the production process. The production installation, the method of rearing using an automated feeding system, and the monitoring of larvae development were described and an attempt was made to identify the key parameters of the process that affect its efficiency. Particular attention was paid to the calculation algorithm implemented in the spreadsheet, which allows the selection of the production batch size and the frequency of their launch, so as to maximize the available capacity of storage racks for cuvettes. In addition, the article analyses logistical challenges related to the production of larvae, including transport activities in order to meet, among others, the demand for feed. Finally, the estimation of revenues and economic indicators, such as profitability and return on investment, is presented, pointing to the need for further improvements in the production process and cost optimization to achieve favorable financial results. The results of the research emphasize the potential of rearing yellow mealworm larvae as a sustainable source of protein while simultaneously pointing to key areas that require further research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the growing demand for alternative protein sources with the growth of the human population and increasing ecological awareness, the rearing of yellow mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) is a promising option for the production of sustainable protein. The article presents a comprehensive approach to planning and scheduling the production of yellow mealworm larvae in a small enterprise, focusing on the organizational, technical, and economic aspects of the production process. The production installation, the method of rearing using an automated feeding system, and the monitoring of larvae development were described and an attempt was made to identify the key parameters of the process that affect its efficiency. Particular attention was paid to the calculation algorithm implemented in the spreadsheet, which allows the selection of the production batch size and the frequency of their launch, so as to maximize the available capacity of storage racks for cuvettes. In addition, the article analyses logistical challenges related to the production of larvae, including transport activities in order to meet, among others, the demand for feed. Finally, the estimation of revenues and economic indicators, such as profitability and return on investment, is presented, pointing to the need for further improvements in the production process and cost optimization to achieve favorable financial results. The results of the research emphasize the potential of rearing yellow mealworm larvae as a sustainable source of protein while simultaneously pointing to key areas that require further research and development.

Manufacturing companies worldwide are facing increasing volatility on international markets. The ongoing digital transformation, characterized by the widespread use of information and communication technologies, is leading to a sharp increase in complexity along value chains and in production systems. Unpredictable events with a global impact, such as the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine, cause massive disruptions and even complete production stoppages in these complex systems. Established approaches to design production systems, such as the lean production approach, focus so far mainly on meeting customer requirements and the three targets quality, costs and time. In view of the political and economic developments, however, it is essential to also take into account resilience as a main target when designing future production systems. This paper evaluates the resilience of lean production systems. Based on a systematic literature review, it is investigated whether there is a correlation between the design of a production system according to lean principles and the resilience of this production system. A descriptive and a content analysis of the results of the systematic literature review is performed out and the results are graphically displayed. The current state of research in the field of resilient and lean design of production systems is highlighted and research gaps are identified. From this future research directions are derived and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To remain competitive in currently unpredictable markets, the enterprises must adapt their manufacturing systems to frequent market changes and high product variety. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) promise to offer a rapid and cost-effective response to production fluctuations under the condition that their configuration is attentively studied and optimised. This paper presents a decision support tool for designing reconfigurable machining systems to be used for family part production. The objective is to elaborate a cost-effective solution for production of several part families. This design issue is modelled as a combinatorial optimisation problem. An illustrative example and computational experiments are discussed to reveal the application of the proposed methodology. Insight gained would be useful to the decision-makers managing the configuration of manufacturing systems for diversified products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it has been argued that the design of production systems is crucial, there is a general lack of empirical studies analysing and identifying resources and capabilities required for an efficient production system design process. One of these resources is the critical role attributed to design information and one such capability is how the design information is managed. To address this research gap, this paper reports the results from two in-depth case studies in the automotive industry focusing on the management of design information in the production system design process. Our results show that design information management needs to be understood as a multidimensional concept having three dimensions: acquiring, sharing and using design information. By focusing on the three dimensions, six characteristics affecting the management of design information when designing the production system are identified. The characteristics are information type, source of information, communication medium, formalisation, information quality and pragmatic information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traditionally, the production system design and reconfiguration planning are manual processes, which rely heavily on the designers' expertise and tacit knowledge to find feasible system configuration solutions. Rapid responsiveness of future production systems calls for new computer-aided intelligent design and planning solutions, that would reduce the time and effort put into system design, both in brownfield and greenfield scenarios. This paper describes the implementation of a capability matchmaking software, which automatizes the matchmaking between product requirements and resource capabilities. The interaction of the matchmaking system with external design and planning tools is explained and illustrated with a case example. The matchmaking approach supports production system design and reconfiguration planning by providing automatic means for checking if the existing system already fulfills the new product requirements, and for finding alternative resources and resource combinations to specific product requirements from large search spaces, e.g. from global resource catalogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the challenges of applying discrete event simulation in the early stages of production system design. Highlighting the implications of new production processes and technologies leading to improved competitiveness, this study provides novel contributions to the understanding of discrete event simulation based on three case studies of the transformation of legacy production systems in the heavy vehicle industry. The findings of this study show that equivocal or ambiguous understanding about new production processes or technologies, and uncertainty about necessary data input and the interrelation of subsystems in production, are critical in addressing discrete event simulation-related challenges. These findings highlight the need for an established process to manage assumptions and simplifications during the design, development, and deployment of discrete event simulation models as a countermeasure against uncertainties, improving manufacturing system design and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capability-based matchmaking aims to support rapid design and reconfiguration of modular plug-and-produce type production systems. It relies on formal ontological descriptions of product requirements and resource capabilities. This paper introduces the structure and content of the developed Product Model ontology, and explains its role as a part of the capability matchmaking procedure. A case product is modelled in order to visualize a matchmaking scenario. We expect that such matchmaking will reduce the workload of system designers and reconfiguration planners as it can automatically suggest potential resources for a certain need from large resource catalogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Resource Description concept aims to support rapid design and reconfiguration of modular plug-and-produce type production systems. The developed information models for resource description describe formally and comprehensively the capabilities, interfaces, executable capabilities, and other characteristics of production resources. The proposed information model produces an integrated container of the resource information, as an extended and detailed electronic data sheet, and it can be applied in several phases of system design and commissioning. This paper introduces, through a set of value propositions and use cases, how different stakeholders can use and benefit from the Resource Description concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many potential diversification and conversion options are available for utilization of natural gas resources, and several design configurations and technology choices exist for conversion of natural gas to value-added products. Therefore, a detailed mathematical model is desirable for selection of optimal configuration and operating mode among the various options available. In this study, we present a simulation-optimization framework for the optimal selection of economic and environmentally sustainable pathways for natural gas downstream utilization networks by optimizing process design and operational decisions. The main processes (e.g., LNG, GTL, and methanol production), along with different design alternatives in terms of flow-sheeting for each main processing unit (namely syngas preparation, liquefaction, N2 rejection, hydrogen, FT synthesis, methanol synthesis, FT upgrade, and methanol upgrade units), are used for superstructure development. These processes are simulated using ASPEN Plus V7.3 to determine the yields of different processing units under various operating modes. The model has been applied to maximize total profit of the natural gas utilization system with penalties for environmental impact, represented by CO2eq emission obtained using ASPEN Plus for each flowsheet configuration and operating mode options. The performance of the proposed modeling framework is demonstrated using a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New generation of rotary transfer machines processing different models of parts is considered. In order to enhance the cost-effectiveness of mixed-model rotary transfer machines, the problems of process planning for the parts to be machined and the configuration of a rotary transfer machine are integrated in the same optimisation problem. This problem is modelled as a combinatorial optimisation problem. The decisions to be taken simultaneously concern the orientation of parts for machining, the machining parameters for processing the parts as well as the configuration of machining units to be used at working positions of the machine. Constraints related to the design of such units – spindle heads, turrets – and working positions, as well as precedence constraints related to machining operations, are taken into account. The problem consists in minimising an estimated cost of the rotary transfer machine, while reaching a given output and satisfying all the constraints. The proposed methods to solve the problem are based on its MIP formulation. The optimisation techniques are validated on an industrial case study. Numerical experiments evaluate the efficiency of the approach against the variety of parts to be produced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Analyzing the output dynamics of a production system gives valuable information for operation and performance evaluation of a production system. In this article, we present an analytical method to determine the autocorrelation of the inter-departure times in queueing networks subject to blocking that can be represented by a Continuous-TimeMarkov Chain. We particularly focus on production systems that are modeled as open or closed queueing networks, and where stations have phase-type service time distributions. We use the analytical results for themean and the variance of the time to produce a given number of products in queueing networks to determine the correlation of inter-departure times with different lags. We present a computationally efficient recursive method to determine the correlation of the inter-departure times in open and closed queueing networks. The method also yields closed-form expressions for the correlations of a two-station production line with exponential servers and a finite buffer. We show how the correlations develop with increasing lags subject to different processing time distributions, buffer capacities, and number of stations, in both open and closed queueing networks. As a result, we propose the analytical method given in this study as a tool to study the effects of design and control parameters on the output dynamics of production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of production and logistic systems is a process of managing both technical and organizational variants in order to identify the best solution for a given system. This is a very well-known industrial engineering issue, where the objectives for designing such a system have been changing over the last decades. Former approaches were concerned about material handling costs only but more recent works include re-layout and product mix costs, together with a great concern on processes – high service levels, optimal scheduling policies, setup times and costs, etc. Nowadays, the rapid technological progress and the associated competitive problems lead to a great need of fast and successful solutions to deal with continuous change (re-design) of the currently used industrial systems. Flexibility, modularity, efficiency and robustness are generally highly desired system properties. For general design of industrial systems, three basic types of software tools are used: Computer Aided Design, Simulation and Information Systems. These tools help on improving the utilization of system resources like equipment, manpower, materials, space, energy, information, etc. Nevertheless these three types of software tools have been used with low levels of integration. This absence of an adequate data connection and integration of outputs cause time delays in the design process, duplication of work and could also be a source of errors. In this work, Production Systems Design software tools integration possibilities are discussed and a unified system architecture solution, implemented on AutoCAD (layout design), Witness (Simulation) and MS-Access (Information Systems) is presented. The aim is to focus on the need of data coherence between different software tools, exploring ways of dealing with data diversity and assuring valid and efficient solutions. MS-Access supports the specification of the system and data exchange between Witness and AutoCAD. Based on the database specification, our application automatically generates simulation programs and also different spatial patterns of project layouts. These tasks are implemented in Visual Basic code. Iteratively the results from the simulations are used to improve AutoCAD layouts and AutoCAD layouts are used in new simulations. The use of our application, in the examples showed in this paper, proved to get quick, valid and efficient solutions.

Many potential diversification and conversion options are available for utilization of natural gas resources, and several design configurations and technology choices exist for conversion of natural gas to value-added products. Therefore, a detailed mathematical model is desirable for selection of optimal configuration and operating mode among the various options available. In this study, we present a simulation-optimization framework for the optimal selection of economic and environmentally sustainable pathways for natural gas downstream utilization networks by optimizing process design and operational decisions. The main processes (e.g., LNG, GTL, and methanol production), along with different design alternatives in terms of flow-sheeting for each main processing unit (namely syngas preparation, liquefaction, N2 rejection, hydrogen, FT synthesis, methanol synthesis, FT upgrade, and methanol upgrade units), are used for superstructure development. These processes are simulated using ASPEN Plus V7.3 to determine the yields of different processing units under various operating modes. The model has been applied to maximize total profit of the natural gas utilization system with penalties for environmental impact, represented by CO2eq emission obtained using ASPEN Plus for each flowsheet configuration and operating mode options. The performance of the proposed modeling framework is demonstrated using a case study.

The design process of production systems is complex with many different aspects to consider for efficiently developing and installing an effective system. Important success factors during the design process are typically the abilities to identify and manage risks, develop mitigation plans, and conduct timely proactive problem solving. The work reported in this paper is part of research addressing methods for how the design process can be supported by using virtual representations of the factory environments captured with 3D laser scanning. This support is evaluated in an industrial study of one industrialization project in the manufacturing industry. The industrialization project follows the process to design layout, work places, and plan for installation of new equipment to create a production system within a refurbished shop floor area. The area will include CNC machining centers, welding stations, product inspection, product cleaning, and material handling. 3D laser scanning is used to provide an accurate and realistic virtual representation of the current shop floor area. This virtual representation is combined with 3D CAD models of the new machining centers and other equipment to provide a realistic visualization of the planned production system. The research approach and its questions investigate the benefits of combining the lean principles to design and development of production systems using a realistic visualization, which include systematic risk analysis and problem solving as important activities. The result shows that visualization support gave a great advantage to identify the possible risks and problems, which resulted in higher confidence and substantial timesaving in planning and execution of the industrialization project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Construction work involves significant physical, mental, and temporal task demands. Excessive task demands can have negative consequences for safety, errors and production. OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study investigates the magnitude and sources of task demands on a concrete operation, and examines the effect of the production practices on the workers' task demands. METHODS: The NASA Task Load Index was used to measure the perceived task demands of two work crews. The operation involved the construction of a cast-in-place concrete building under high schedule pressures. Interviews with each crew member were used to identify the main sources of the perceived demands. Extensive field observations and interviews with the supervisors and crews identified the production practices. RESULTS: The workers perceived different level of task demands depending on their role. The production practices influenced the task demands in two ways: (1) practices related to work organization, task design, resource management, and crew management mitigated the task demands; and (2) other practices related to work planning and crew management increased the crew's ability to cope with and adapt to high task demands. CONCLUSIONS: The findings identify production practices that regulate the workers' task demands. The effect of task demands on performance is mitigated by the ability to cope with high demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cattle rearing can benefit from the environmental support of native wetlands, through the establishment and proper management of units suitable for raising Sistani cattle (Bos indicus) around the Hamoun Wetland in the Sistan region of Iran. In this way, it is possible for cattle rearing to benefits from the environmental support of the wetland, thereby improving food security, fostering economic and social development, and contributing to the environmental protection of this sensitive region. In addition, helping to preserve the Sistani cattle breed, which is in danger of extinction, will be a significant benefit. This study was conducted from 2019 to 2020 on three different beef cattle production systems in the Sistan region. Both emergy and economic analyses were used to examine these production systems; 1) rearing the Sistani breed in an extensive production system, 2) rearing Sistani cattle in a semi-intensive production system, and 3) rearing an exotic breed within an intensive production system. In the extensive indigenous system, the amount of emergy supporting Sistani breed production was 2.30E+17 sej, which was less than the other two systems. Based on the economic output/input ratio (O/I EmV), the yield of the Sistani breed in the semi-intensive system was 62% higher than that breed in an open system and 84% higher than exotic breeds in the intensive system. The values of the Emergy Exchange Ratio (EER), Transformity (Tr), and Specific Emergy (SpE) indices revealed that the Sistani breed outperformed the open system by 1.5 times and the exotic breed by 2 times in the intensive system. However, the sustainability of the Sistani breed raised under extensive and semi-intensive production systems is not guaranteed in the long run, given their dependence on production from the Hamoun wetland and the long-term meteorological data on declining rainfall, as well as, the decisions of Afghanistan, on the allocation of water rights to the upper watershed and to the downstream wetlands, which poses the risk of reducing the free environmental resources supplied to the Iranian wetland system. Due to these risk factors, designing the system for Sistani cattle raising as a semi-intensive production system is recommended as the way to most reliably attain the aforementioned benefits. • Emergy evaluation can be successful in selecting the right production model to improve the agroecosystems sustainability. • The structure and quantity of purchased inputs differed greatly across the systems studied. • Analyzing the economic and environmental condition of agro-ecosystems may assist evaluate their overall sustainability. • Emergy analysis is a comprehensive and explanatory method for assessing the sustainability of agro-ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product design has a huge and widespread impact on the eventual design of the related production processes, such as procurement, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance and recycling, amongst others. Understanding the full the nature of such a complex relationship is a cornerstone in the professional development of any production engineering student and practitioner. Acquiring sophisticated concepts is a long process consisting of acquiring the necessary notions and mentally structuring them through different semantic links in a consistent body of knowledge. This generates a large set of intermediate states between the novice and the expert. Phenomenography focuses on identifying and classifying these perceptions with the aim of identifying the related pattern for good learning. In particular, this phenomenographic analysis focuses on investigating the students' perception of the articulated link between the design of a product and that of the related assembly process. The study is based on courses that exploit the principles of Design for Assembly (DFA) methods to present and detail such a domain. In the first section of the paper, the aforementioned focal issue is fully characterized as a 'Threshold Concept'. The central part of the paper describes five generic levels of understanding of such a matter: from a simple mechanical use of DFA to a more sophisticated correct holistic understanding of all the implications of such a tool. The classification has been inferred through a series of informal, semi-structured interviews with the students. The characterization introduced is finally discussed with the aim of disclosing the pattern of good learning that, in turn, could provide the base for studies aimed at disclosing useful hints for the effective development of the related teaching activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solving equipment selection and line balancing problems together allows better line configurations to be reached and avoids local optimal solutions. This article considers jointly these two decision problems for mass production lines with serial–parallel workplaces. This study was motivated by the design of production lines based on machines with rotary or mobile tables. Nevertheless, the results are more general and can be applied to assembly and production lines with similar structures. The designers’ objectives and the constraints are studied in order to suggest a relevant mathematical model and an efficient optimization approach to solve it. A real case study is used to validate the model and the developed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the planning and optimization of changeable production systems (CPS) has become a top priority item for the strategic management in most industries. Research has already provided a whole bunch of supposedly effective, mainly technical solutions that enhance the changeability of production systems. However, to actually select solutions for CPS, decision-makers do also need tools for their ex-ante evaluation. These are still missing - especially to assess the impact of organizational measures. Further, it appears that decision-makers have difficulties in coping with the dynamic complexity implied by CPS in planning activities. CPS are complex socio-technical systems - both in terms of their structure and their dynamic behavior - and so must be the underlying planning problems. Thus, any planning approach and in particular its related decision support tools must not only fit the dynamic complexity of the planning problem as a formal requirement, but must at the same time foster the decision-maker's understanding of the underlying managerial problem, i.e. it must foster managerial insight. Therefore, this paper aims at closing this gap and proposes an integrated planning approach based on a hybrid Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and System Dynamics (SD) framework. Both simulation methods are interlinked by an integrated planning approach sharing the same conceptual model and a common set of parameters and key performance indicators (KPI). The DES is applied (1) for an in-depth analysis of the effects of any measures to improve the changeability, based on KPIs relevant to the decision-maker, and (2) to verify the major parameters utilized in the SD model. However, the DES can only be applied for a given structural state of the system. Consequently, SD is utilized to investigate its dynamic behavior when it changes from one structural state to the other. The planning approach was successfully applied in an industry context, where it proved its ability to actually leverage the decision quality in current practice to manage CPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study investigates the production practices of a “High Reliability” (HR) concrete supervisor—a supervisor who consistently achieves exceptional production and safety performance. The case describes how the supervisor designed the production system to build the concrete frame of a 10-story building under an accelerated schedule and under severe weather conditions. To shorten the operation’s duration, the supervisor selected formwork systems that reduce installation time, and overlapped the concrete activities by reducing the “batch size,” and by using dedicated crews for deck and vertical concrete. However, the overlapping increased the dependencies between activities, and any deviation from the plan could impact the entire process. In order to create a reliable workflow and mitigate the effect of deviations, the supervisor used several strategies that addressed: (1) the organization of the production process; (2) the activity design; (3) resource management; and (4) crew management. These strategies converged to create a fast and highly reliable work system, and achieved an accelerated schedule with minimum waste and excellent safety results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It has always been an ambition within the ergonomic profession to ensure that design or redesign of production systems consider both productivity and employee well being, but there are many approaches to how to achieve this. This paper identifies the basic issues to be addressed in light of some research activities at DTU, especially by persons responsible for facilitating design processes. Four main issues must be addressed: (1) determining the limits and scope of the system to be designed; (2) identifying stakeholders related to the system and their role in the system design; (3) handling the process' different types of knowledge; and (4) emphasizing that performance management systems, key performance indicators (KPIs), and leadership are also part of the system design and must be given attention. With the examples presented, we argue that knowledge does exist to help system design facilitators address these basic issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In make-to-stock production systems finished goods are produced in anticipation of demand. By contrast, in stockless production systems finished goods are not produced until demand is observed. In this study we investigate the problem of designing a multi-item manufacturing system, where there is both demand- and production-related uncertainty, so that stockless operation will be optimal for all items. For the problem of interest, we focus on gaining an understanding of the effect of two design variables: (i) manufacturing speed-measured by the average manufacturing rate or, equivalently, the average unit manufacturing time, and (ii) manufacturing consistency-measured by the variation in unit manufacturing times. We establish conditions on these two variables that decision makers can use to design stockless production systems. Managerial implications of the conditions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this case study was to (1) investigate differences in mechanical exposure (i.e. mechanical forces arising in the body of the operator) between two production strategies: long-cycle parallelised flow assembly (OLD) and conventional serial flow assembly (NEW), and (2) estimate potential changes in job exposure as a consequence of waste reduction when rationalising a line system. Data on postures, movements and whole body exposure were collected during an ordinary working shift, by means of video recordings synchronised to direct technical measurements of six professional operators. The results revealed the machine paced NEW system to have slower movements with less time spent in movements of high velocity compared to the self-paced OLD system. No significant differences were found between time-median posture levels. ‘Disturbances’ in the NEW system offered lower mechanical risk exposures compared to direct assembly work. Modelling the removal of wasteful ‘disturbances’ revealed both an increase in risk-implying fast movements and decrease in recovery-implying periods at low velocity – effectively isolating a work intensification. This study helps expose the complex relationship between rationalizations and mechanical exposure for system operators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Understanding the barriers and assists to integrating ergonomics into production system design remains a research issue. An action research case study at Volvo Powertrain/Sweden was conducted. Researchers worked collaboratively with the firm in efforts to improve the company''s ability to handle ergonomics in their daily work of improving and developing production systems. Researchers observed and reflected collectively on the change process using field notes and recordings to support their observations. Observed integration barriers included both individual level issues like life events, and organisational aspects such as communication barriers between groups or assignment of tasks to people not involved in decision-making. Observed assists included the ‘political reflective navigation’ (c.f. Broberg, O., Hermund, I., 2004. The OHS consultant as a ‘political reflective navigator’ in technological change processes. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 33 (4), 315–326) by the project owner to find new ways to overcome barriers and anchor ergonomics into the organisation. While special ‘ergonomics’ groups did not survive long, progress was observed in including ergonomics in regular design groups. A cross-functional workshop that fostered discussion across organisational boundaries helped shift focus from retrofitting systems to future production systems and improve engagement of engineering teams. Progress was marked by both success and setbacks and full integration appears to require more than 2 years time. It is concluded that support by senior managers should include succession planning for personnel that are key to the change effort. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]