Special issue on “Innovative service and manufacturing design”

Abstract

Innovation is the process of creating new solutions to meet new or existing market requirements. Innovation involves the development of more effective business routines for business management, new production processes for product manufacturing, and improved services to enhance customer satisfaction. Design and production are closely related as the former focuses on planning and the latter deals with execution. From the operational perspective, design involves such activities as anticipating potential problems with the product, the manufacturing process or the service, providing creative solutions, and developing effective processes. Design also involves establishing plans for information flow along supply chains, and planning for shipping activities. In the contemporary manufacturing operating environment, the scope of design also extends to the services associated with the product. Service design refers to the planning and organizing activities to improve the linkage between service providers and customers. The key components of service design include identification of market requirements, specification of service, creation of new services, and/or modification of existing service to meet market needs. To remain competitive, it is essential for firms to adopt innovative approaches to managing service and manufacturing design. This special issue consists of 13 papers that address the following key topics in innovative management of service and manufacturing design: service design in contemporary business operations, linkages between service design and manufacturing design, and approaches to manage operational processes.