InterAct Hub
CarbonVue is an innovative digital tool that enables businesses to increase efficiency whilst reducing costs and CO2 emissions from their supply chains. Using CarbonVue, companies can highlight key points in the configuration of their supply chains to target with improvements to help produce a greener tomorrow.
The transition to sustainability coincides with an industrial digitalization. While this latest industrial revolution creates new challenges, it also revives historical ones encountered in previous transitions. Through two parallel systematic reviews, challenges are identified for the current digitalization transition and historical transitions: mechanization, electrification and computerization.
The aim of this research is to identify lessons from history that may help overcome the challenges of industrial digitalization. The paper provides illustrative examples of social factors that are either internal to a technology adopting organization or external, related to wider societal change. These factors suggest actionable insights that may support the adoption of Industrial Digital Technologies. The following videos and report introduce the project in more detail and provide a full accounting of their findings.
This research was conducted by Dr. Ahmad Beltagui, Dr. Brian Sudlow (Aston University) Dr. Miying Yang, Glen Jonata (Cranfield University), and Qinglan Liu (Exeter University). This work was supported by the UKRI Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and the Economic and Social Research Council via InterAct [Grant Reference ES/W007231/1].
For further discussion or questions about this project, please contact Ahmad Beltagui.
Download “Report - Insights from history: a systematic review of historical industrial transitions”
Learning-from-histories-Report.pdf – Downloaded 4979 times – 221.55 KB
The competitiveness of industry in the UK is dependent on the rapidly growing digitalisation of manufacturers. Digitalisation provides the opportunity to drive the efficiency and innovativeness of manufacturers, and forms the basis for creating new business models. Yet, manufacturers are lagging in their investments into digitalisation and risk missing out on capturing the opportunities digitalisation offers. The below report, guide and video outline the specific challenges the manufacturing industry faces when making effective investments into digitalisation and identifies the key questions they should address to overcome them.
This research was conducted by Dr. Andreas Schroeder, Dr. Yang Zhao and Dr. Daniel Andrews (Aston University). This work was supported by the UKRI Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and the Economic and Social Research Council via InterAct [Grant Reference ES/W007231/1].
For further discussions or potential applications/collaborations, please contact Andreas Schroeder.
Download “Mini-guide - Making investments into digitalisation: the manufacturer’s perspective”
InterAct_BusinessCaseDigitalisation_MiniGuide_submitted.pdf – Downloaded 2366 times – 1.74 MBDownload “Report - Digital investment for manufacturers: a literature review of challenges and good practices”
InterAct_BusinessCaseDigitalisation_Report_submitted.pdf – Downloaded 2788 times – 1.03 MB
This project explores the application of digital servitization business models in the context of UK Manufacturing Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), by empirically depicting its antecedents and firm-level implications. Following the completion of a large empirical study, the key contextual and organisational factors that determine successful implementation of business models have been identified. The study’s key findings suggest that SMEs can achieve high performance through adoption of digital servitization business models, depending on how well each model aligns with the organisation’s context and design.
To assist the UK Manufacturing community, in addition to the main report, the project’s deliverables are accessible to stakeholders through its dedicated microsite, SME toolkit, video training manual and practitioner webinar.
Download “Report - Business model innovation and digital servitization in UK manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises”
Business-Model-Innovation-and-Digital-Servitization.pdf – Downloaded 4145 times – 1.46 MBProject microsite
The microsite provides SMEs with a valuable resource that practitioners can engage with, to better understand digital servitization and its corresponding business models. Developed in an illustrative manner, the microsite provides a visual overview of the study’s data and key findings and constitutes the project’s primary means of impact on business practice.
SME toolkit
A key project output, the self-assessment toolkit aspires to assist SME principal decision-makers in diagnosing the contextual and organisational conditions of their business and determine the suitability of digital servitization business models. Toolkit users are invited to complete an anonymised questionnaire and in turn, they receive a recommendation of which business model might represent the best match to their current conditions.
Video training manual
The video training manual represents a step-by-step guide to the toolkit and provides users with the key terms of interest and the process of answering the toolkit questions.
Online webinar
As a primary dissemination activity, the project’s first ex-post webinar has been delivered in early August 2023 to raise awareness about the project, communicate the study’s findings and promote the publication of the main report and its accompanying intellectual outputs.
This research was conducted by Dr. Dimitrios Dousios and Dr. Antonios Karatzas (University of East Anglia). This work was supported by the UKRI Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and the Economic and Social Research Council via InterAct [Grant Reference ES/W007231/1].
For further discussions or potential applications/collaborations, please contact Antonios Karatzas.
The Storytelling Fellowship programme is a core element of the InterAct Network. It aims to harness the power of stories to learn from, and address, the human aspects of the diffusion of new technologies in industry. These human aspects include themes such as:
• Productivity
• Resilience
• Competitiveness
• Sustainability
• Levelling-up/inclusion
• Wellbeing
Our Storytelling Fellows have created a growing archive of digital, video stories that you can access below:
Find out more about InterAct, our aims and how we’re helping to build a more sustainable, effective manufacturing future.
InterAct Co-Director and Dean of Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics, Professor Janet Godsell, hosts a panel discussion on ‘Leading global manufacturing operations against the backdrop of a highly disrupted supply ecosystem’.
Hear from InterAct Co-director, Professor Jillian MacBryde, as she answers some of the frequently asked questions around our Early Career Researcher (ECR) Fellowship.
Refer to our funding opportunities webpage to find out when the ECR Fellowship application windows are open.
UK manufacturing supply chains have been tested to their limits by the global disruptions of recent years, from Brexit to COVID 19 and the crisis in Ukraine.
To regain competitiveness during this turbulent time, firms are urged to take stock of their supply chains and consider:
• What could the future of UK manufacturing look like? • What are the associated business models?
• How can they leverage industrial digital technologies to create a more sustainable, responsible future?
This webinar examined the results of a survey of manufacturing firms in the Midlands region and launching the ‘Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems’ project. This is a joint programme between the InterAct Network led by Professor Jan Godsell (Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University), Make UK and Midlands Engine.
This session, led by InterAct Co-director Professor Jan Godsell and featuring successful InterAct grant applicant Dr. Andreas Schroeder examines examples of successful applications, developing opportunities for networking/feedback, and through sharing our knowledge of navigating the administrative processes associated with funding calls.
Find out more about how you can develop better funding proposals and more effectively tie your research in to the overall aims and objectives of InterAct and Made Smarter Innovation.