RESPIRE: Rethinking the management of unexpected events for resilient and sustainable production systems

RESPIRE: Rethinking the management of unexpected events for resilient and sustainable production systems

Project time: 2021 – 2024

Budget: 6 917 995 kr

Production risk and resilience; unexpected events; production disturbances; knowledge-sharing; cross-sectoral

The COVID19 pandemic has shown how unpredictable global crisis events can have a far-reaching impact on the manufacturing industry. It shows how companies need to function efficiently in a changing and dynamic environment with significant uncertainty regarding demand, delivery, transport, business relationship, etc. Systems and processes for handling a “normal situation” with deviations in production are not entirely transferable to crisis management. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up a large part of the industry, focus on such systems for minor deviations (as opposed to systems for crisis events with a higher impact) but are strongly affected by unexpected crisis events. Though, a crisis situation can also create new opportunities that can be integrated into normal operations. Such opportunities may, for instance, be about expanding the product portfolio or increasing the volume. Therefore, new knowledge is needed on how to prepare for and handle future unexpected events in production. Experience and knowledge of crisis management in sectors such as humanitarian and military, where this is part of their core business, are most valuable to transfer to the manufacturing industry. In the three-year RESPIRE project, we intend to investigate, develop, and transfer knowledge between sectors and companies about crisis preparation and management of unexpected events that affect production. A theoretical model in 6 steps from the humanitarian sector is used as a learning basis and integrated into the production context for manufacturing in SMEs. The model drives an original and scientific approach in the project.

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