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A Method for Facilitating the Design of Industry 4.0 Collaborations and its Application in the Aerospace Sector
Industry 4.0 envisions quick formation of manufacturing supply chains to ensure rapid reaction to new product requirements and configurations. This paper proposes a method for facilitating the design of collaborative teams which can implement sections of these supply chains by responding to invitations to tender by a manufacturer. The method includes five core design tasks which are applied recursively by partners to construct a collaboration model – (1) decomposing manufacturing goals, (2) team formation to tackle goals, (3) operationalizing goals into manufacturing processes, (4) decomposing processes and (5) defining execution workflows. The application of the method is shown using a case study from the aerospace industry with evidence of its utility in speeding-up collaborations.