Digitalized Work and Organising

Important results from the project

The project aim is to enhance the ability of the companies within the innovation area Metallic materials to benefit from the innovation opportunities offered by digitalisation with focus on organisational innovations and business models. An extensive mapping and analysis of the Swedish metal industry has resulted in several recommendations how the industry should navigate in order to meet challenges as a result from digitalisation. The project has not fulfilled the target to establish a post-graduate school that combines industrial economy and working science.

Expected long term effects

From conducted studies of several production-units, a collection of recommendations has been presented within three different categories: content, organization and leadership of the work. A comprehensive survey of the metal industry gives many examples of how companies manage the potential of digitalization. The study has resulted in a number of overall recomendations that address issues relating to all parts of the business.

Approach and implementation

The project has been conducted by researchers from Chalmers and Mälardalens Högskola after two tracks. The first with the subject of business models and strategic management, the other with working methods, organization and leadership. The work itself is a combination of "top-down" and "bottom-up", which gave a very comprehensive overview of how the Swedish metal industry manages the effects of digitalization. This setup has been successful since digitization is a matter that concerns all parts of a company and the responsibility is often unclear and divided into several functions.