Using Computer-generated Advice for Manufacturing Partner Selection in Industry 4.0

Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation that identifies the factors that decision-makers consider when selecting business partners to form collaborative networks, conceptualises, designs and implements a computerised advisor supporting such decision-makers, and identifies the factors that influence users to utilise the computer-generated advice from that kind of computerised advisors. The research is undertaken in the context of inter-organisational collaboration and digitalisation in manufacturing industries, motivated by the fourth industrial revolution’s push to transforming the team formation process for inter-organisational collaboration through information systems. The investigation utilises the methodology known as Action Design Research (ADR). ADR implies cooperation between researchers and practitioners to address a specific problem embedded in an organisation, and in the case of this research, the focus is on the business partner selection problem. The outcome of ADR is a composite artefact developed with the knowledge acquired through the researcher-practitioner collaboration; in this work, the artefact comprises a computerised advisor and a theory of computer advice utilisation applicable when the advice is provided by a computer in support of business partner selection in manufacturing industries. This research benefits from the involvement of practitioners from a number of organisations including a European aircraft manufacturer, a German aviation cluster with several members from small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and a Welsh SME platform provider to automotive, aerospace and electronic manufacturing clusters. These organisations worked collaboratively in a European Project, to which this investigation had access to, called Decentralised Agile Coordination Across Supply Chains (DIGICOR, https://www.digicor-project.eu). This work extends the limits of knowledge regarding computerised business advisors, knowledge management, and virtual teams in four interwoven contributions. The two major contributions are (1) a working example of a computerised advisor supporting business partner selection, named “Tender Decomposition and Matchmaking System” (TDMS); and (2) a theory of computer advice utilisation identifying, describing and explaining the motivating factors and their relationships when it comes to end-users following computer-generated advice applicable in manufacturing industries. The two ancillary contributions are (3) a theoretical tool to assess the readiness of collaborative platforms and collaborative technologies toward inter-organisational collaboration in the digitalisation context; and (4) an example of the use of Action Design Research method (ADR) for theorising.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Nikolay Mehandjiev (Supervisor) & Pedro Sampaio (Supervisor)