COPE: Core Plant Excellence
The purpose of the COPE-project is to increase knowledge on how the Swedish manufacturing industry can preserve and strengthen its’ role as core plant with undiminished competitive capabilities, in order to compete with excellence. There is representation of core plant issues in literature, however there is as of yet limited insights on what capabilities are required for a core plant to be excellent.
Concluded
Project website
Start
2016-05-01
Conclusion
2019-10-31
Main financing
Research area
Project manager at MDU
Description of the project
The Swedish manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly affected by globalisation. Many Swedish manufacturing organisations have therefore implemented the concept of core plants, also known as lead factories, in strive for operational excellence and competitive production development. The role of a core plant holds great potential but entails challenges as well as possibilities. It should act as an intermediary in communicating the organisation’s development of technology, processes and methods of working, and also hold responsibility for coordinating global collaboration, designing strategies for effective knowledge exchange between factories and management.
The expected main deliverable of this project is a set of tools and contributions that may enable the Swedish manufacturing industry to design their core plants after best practice and in accordance with the prerequisites of the organisation in question. The project is driven in collaboration between Mälardalen University and Jönköping University, with funding from The Knowledge Foundation. Partners in the three-year project are Alfa Laval, AstraZeneca, Bombardier, Volvo GTO, Volvo CE, Volvo Cars, GKN Aerospace and SKF.