Stable and Agile All at Once

Production processes should always be stable, but at the same time it is important to react flexibly to short-term changes. Deike Ihnen, researcher at Fraunhofer IPK, and Dirk Busse, Managing Director of budatec, explain how this can be achieved.

© Fraunhofer IPK / Larissa Klassen

Agility versus stability – what does that mean for companies?

Ihnen 

Small companies such as budatec GmbH are inevitably very agile – after all, there is less room for standardization with fewer employees. In large companies like AZO GmbH, processes are generally standardized and rigid, and innovation can easily be left on the sidelines. In the AmbiProd project, we want to help large companies become more agile, while small companies take more advantage of standardization.

Busse 

In principle, we are approaching the challenge from two sides: the large companies from the stable, standardized perspective and us from the flexible side. The aim is to bring us closer together and learn from each other.

How can this be achieved in practice?

Ihnen 

We were inspired by how the police conduct situation reports, for example in the case of a hostage-taking. We are transfering this concept to manufacturing companies: When a component is missing, you also move from a standardized hierarchical organization to a situation in which you have to make flexible decisions. This is particularly important when it comes to last-minute changes – an employee calls in sick or a customer wants a specific part in red instead of blue just a few days before delivery. Through ambidextry – which essentially means »two right hands« – we want to achieve a smooth transition between standardized and flexible processes. 

What does ambidextry mean for budatec?

Busse 

In a stable production environment, you have clear assignments and you know who is responsible for what. When unexpected circumstances arise, responsibilities and processes change. You can compare this to a journey you enter into your navigation system. If everything goes according to plan, the navigation system suggests the standard route. If there is a traffic jam or a road closure however, it determines possible alternative routes. In a similar way, ambidextrous software recognizes where problems occur and suggests solutions so that we can react in a good time.

Ihnen 

All of this can only succeed, though, if the employees are on the same page. That's why, with the company Accentus, we also have an organizational and personnel development consultant on board.

More information

Research project

AmbiProd

The holistic ambidextrous (Latin for "two-handed") approach, which refers to connecting and networking all areas along the value chain, is intended to close gaps for future production systems. 

Funding notice

The project AmbiProd is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the »Future of value creation – research on production, service and work« (02J21C000) program and managed by the Project Management Agency Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (PTKA). Funding code: 02J21C191