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This thesis aims to develop a conceptual understanding of the process and mechanisms of co-innovation in the context of bioplastics packaging product innovation, focusing on the business to business (B2B) supplier-customer relationship between the bioplastics packaging manufacturers and product manufacturers. Following the critical realism paradigm, this study places the inter-firm co-innovation experience within a framework grounded in the relational view theory and the absorptive capacity theory as theoretical lenses. This study adopts a multiple case study strategy to explore how co-innovation occurs in real situations, the problems arising during the bioplastic packaging implementation and essential factors within this particular context. The case selection is theory-driven, focusing on developing and packaging application processes for consumer goods, among the biopolymer producers, converters and product manufacturers in the UK and Indonesia. Data from semi-structured interviews and documentation were analysed using template analysis. The findings of this study illustrate the co-innovation processes in two stages: development of a packaging prototype and further development for specific bioplastic packaging applications. This study presents a framework, which built upon the integrated joint activities, joint resources and relationship management as the key mechanisms. These mechanisms are driven by an intensive knowledge transfer, signifying the supplier-customer absorptive capacity in facilitating successful co-innovation, while there is limited creation of specialised assets for bioplastic packaging. In addition, this study presents possible approaches to co-innovation partners in penetrating the packaging market, working in complex development and cultivating supplier-customer interdependency. The research reveals that co-innovation improves bioplastic material, bioplastic packaging quality and the customer's manufacturing processes to work with the bioplastic packaging. More importantly, this study suggests that a successful co-innovation should be followed by creating relational benefits that contribute to the partner's sustainability agenda and commercial benefits, which would preserve partner interdependence for the long term. The primary contribution of this thesis lies in extending the conceptual understanding of co-innovation, emphasising collaborative work and exclusivity among co-innovation partners, bringing forward the concept of relational benefits, enforcing innovation and sustainable values, which bind the partnership in the long-term. This study extends the relational view theory within an interlinked network of stakeholders and indicates a slight anomaly within a strong existing 'regime' of the plastic packaging industry. It also provides a framework that potentially brings bioplastic packaging to a broad implementation while acknowledging the challenges in developing and commercialising bioplastic packaging and penetrating a well established packaging industry. It therefore adds a valuable reference for sustainable product development studies and managerial practices.

This thesis aims to explain the mechanisms of how the agri-food supply chains in the developing world adopt Circular Economy (CE) to tackle food loss and waste (FLW) and the capabilities and resources they need to possess. The main contribution of this thesis lies in identifying the resource of strategic capabilities of Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) as the antecedents of CE principles that have not been discussed in the literature, and thereby this thesis proposes the Circular Capability Framework. This thesis adheres to the critical realism paradigm as well as a natural resource-based view perspective. A multiple case study design was also adopted to elaborate on the theory. The research strategy employed a combination of retroductive-abductive reasoning and basic qualitative description. Twenty cases of agri-food supply chains are selected using purposive sampling in Indonesia comprises upstream, midstream, and downstream stages. The data were gathered using semi-structured interviews triangulation, site visits, in addition to supporting documents, such as company websites and archives from previous research. Analysis is then conducted using within-case and cross-case template analyses. The thesis explains three strategies of NRBV and identifies the deployment of capabilities of its resources at the operational level and the links to CE principles. The strategy is interdependent between pollution prevention and product stewardship, but they are not path-dependent. Therefore, NRBV that was initially postulated as sequential is not valid in this context. Unlike pollution prevention and product stewardship that are interdependent, sustainable development, which consists of two aspects such as technology innovation and social which aims to alleviate the poor, are considered separate from these two strategies. Most of the actors do not rely on sophisticated technology; adopting technology is not favourable due to high investment. The use of technology that is by investing in tomorrow's technology to reduce environmental impact is influenced by external pressure. Consistent with theory elaborating to remain receptive with data, this thesis found unanticipated findings of the digital technology adoption that is prevalent across supply chains. Social aspect is not feasible to be the main avenue in developing a new market but rather as the social responsibility and inclusiveness of the community into the business. As a result, social responsibility is one of the principles that need to be augmented as part of relevant CE principles in tackling FLW. The main barrier is found to be lack of knowledge, structural, and financial that hindered the CE principles to be implemented. Whilst offering practicality by generating framework for CE adoption and conceptually relevant knowledge to the agri-food supply chain literature, the use of the NRBV theory offers a novel perspective by conceptualising the Circular Capability framework in the agri-food supply chain that extends the existing discussion on the adoption of CE in the biological cycle and provide opportunities for future research.

Non-Original Equipment Manufacturer (Non-OEM) Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) service providers of aero-engines are facing challenges resulting from the rapidly changing MRO market. They need to offer innovative service solutions to airlines through, for example, PSS (Product Service Systems) offerings that combine service(s) and products. PSS can be achieved by either servitisation to add service offerings to products or productisation to add tangible products to service offerings. Currently, however, MRO contracts that include PSS offerings have been prepared based on experiences and intuitions. Ideally, these contracts should be designed to bring about a win-win situation for both airlines (as customers) and MRO service providers. This research aims to develop a new robust, scientific method to prepare contracts for decision makers of non-OEM MRO service providers. The research began with studying current general situation of the PSS in the aero-engine MRO market as well as, in particular, of a Non-OEM MRO service provider. From these, this research first identified sufficient key parameters that describe MRO operations with regard to flight operations of customer airline. A computer-based simulation model was built to assess the capacity and capability of the shop floor operations taking flight operations of the customer into consideration using the discrete event simulation. The simulation model was run over a set of systematically and exhaustively created combinations of different types of services and products. This has helped in selecting the most favourable combinations services and products, which can lead to the win-win situation for both the airlines and the MRO service providers.

As technologies become more complex and competition becomes tougher than ever before, manufacturers in the developed world acknowledge the significance of a competitive strategy in increasing sales to their customers. These strategies not only include offering the products, but also offering service contracts and integrated bundles of products and services, where the supplier is responsible for the required engineering services, typically for a relatively long period of time. This is also known as Product-Service Systems (PSS). For many commercial and governmental organisations, purchasing PSS remains challenging. Despite the considerable work that has been conducted to investigate and improve the methodological applications of the concept of PSS from PSS providers’ perspective, purchasing PSS positions the PSS customers halfway between PSS providers’ strategies and the PSS customer traditional strategies. Little effort in the literature describing how to assist PSS customers in the selection and evaluation of the PSS offerings has been observed. Consequently, this research attempts to satisfy the gap in the body of knowledge by proposing a decision-making framework to enable PSS customer to evaluate and select from the various PSS offers. The research began by reviewing the state-of-art of PSS, followed by the identification of the most likely characteristics exhibited by PSS customers. Then, the research investigates the existing PSS frameworks and analyses it to identify its appropriateness for use by PSS customers. The basis of the PSS framework is initially structured on the findings from the literature review, then modified by the result obtained from the field study in Saudi Arabia. The PSS framework is refined through expert feedback. Then, a computerised software tool was developed for the purpose of validation. Finally, the proposed PSS framework is validated by conducting five case studies. The proposed framework can guide purchasing practitioners through a step by step process, from evaluation to selection the most suitable PSS offers, by considering the degree of fitness between the PSS offerings and customer’s characteristics. This research has satisfied the industrial need and filled the gap in the literature, and has made a significant contribution to the knowledge on PSS customers to overcome the challenge of purchasing PSS.

Reverse Logistics (RL) is complex to be managed due to the uncertainty involved e.g. the quality range of products, timing of product returns, and volume of returns. A robust RL design can contribute to increase the effectiveness of RL operations. Therefore, an RL design framework needs to be formalised. Circular economy (CE) focuses on supporting the separation of treatments between technical and biological materials in maximising the design for reuse to return to the biosphere and retain value through innovations across fields. The aim of the research is to develop a new framework to design RL operations based on CE values that can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of RL operations. This research has been conducted through the qualitative research involving cases in product recovery (PR) options that are analysed in-depth. Literature review and interview are the main methods of this research. A test was conducted by interviewing expert and respondents to obtain the expert view and test the research result which is a developed framework to design RL based on CE values. The testing engaged five criteria (usability, feasibility, consistency, effectiveness, and utility). The formal RL design framework, 15 CE values, framework to design RL based on CE values specifically PR options (repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and cannibalisation) are main research findings. The research contributes academically to the development of a formal RL design framework and to the identification, reformulation, redefinition, and implementation of CE values. The research can be used as a basis for an effective design of RL that takes into account the economic, environmental, and social impacts. The research can be used as a guideline or an appraisal tool in designing/modifying RL based on CE values that can support the implementation of a single RL operation and also RL based on CE.

Competition in the global economic scenario has led to the use of simulation in many areas such as manufacturing, health systems, military systems and transportation. With the importance of simulation in supporting decision making and operations, model building has been recognised as one of the crucial steps in simulation studies. However, model building is not as easy as it may seem. It can be time-consuming and expensive, and requires special training, skills and experience. This research, therefore, aims to investigate a new method to rapidly build a simulation model based on the classification of problems in assembly lines using a cladistics technique and template approach. Three objectives were established in order to achieve the aim and a four-stage research programme was developed according to these objectives. The first stage starts by developing a thorough understanding of and collecting typical problems in assembly lines. The next stage formulates the classification of problems and the main deliverable is a cladogram, a tree structure that can be used to represent the evolution of problems and their characteristics. The third stage focuses on the development of a proof-of-concept prototype based on an established classification and template approach. The prototype helps users to develop a model by providing the physical elements and specific elements required for the performance measures analysis. The prototype is then tested and validated in the final stage. The results show that the prototype developed can help to rapidly build a simulation model and reduce model development time.

This thesis deals with the decision support tools for service contracting within the context of Product-Service Systems (PSS). The research contributes to the modelling constructs that can support modellers in developing service contract simulation models in an effective and efficient manner. Overall, the models can assist manufacturers to understand implications of contracting decisions that may either lead to profitable solutions or loss of business opportunities. PSS is recognised as a survival strategy for many manufacturers to sustain their market competitiveness. It is an emerging manufacturing paradigm that integrates services into products to ensure the required capability or availability of products. This concept is often delivered as long-term service contracts which can be made in separation or together with product acquisition. As the contracts can span over decades, the manufacturers need to absorb the future risks. For this reason, a decision support tool that allows the risks and rewards to be visualised and ultimately support contract design is in urgent need. However, PSS has various characteristics beyond the traditional product-selling businesses and involves potential dynamic behaviour. Existing tools are inadequate to effectively analyse the issues and also to be reused across cases or during the contract delivery phase. For this reason, this thesis intends to provide modelling constructs that enhance effective and efficient development of simulation models for PSS offerings To accomplish this aim, various simulation modelling techniques have been first explored from the literature and through the practical model developments to identify the backbone of the constructs. The hybrid Discrete-Event Simulation and Agent-Based Simulation has subsequently been selected as the most suitable technique to represent the PSS cases. This technique was applied in four reported cases to generalise the modelling approach. All the developed models have been verified and validated using several methods. The approach was then analysed and refined to enhance efficiency in building models. The refined approach was used to form the modelling constructs. The constructs were validated using three other cases and tested by three other modellers with different simulation background. The results have demonstrated the applicability, practicality, feasibility, and efficiency of the constructs. The outcomes of this research are the final modelling constructs which provide significant contributions academically and practically. Academically, this research provides a new way of capturing PSS characteristics and dynamic behaviour, and brings together PSS theoretical research, operational planning and decision support tools. Practically, manufacturers can effectively analyse the implication of service contracts and modellers can rapidly develop service contract simulation models.

The drive towards a more globally competitive market has led to an increase in demand for goods and services on a global scale. As a result of this increase in productivity, production systems are being designed and redesigned at an increased rate and that they are becoming more innovative as they progress with time. The challenge this research attempts to address is how to improve the ability of the UKbased manufacturing industry to make a more effective decision during manufacturing systems design/redesign by adopting simulation techniques as both strategic and operational decision making tools. The aim of this research is to develop a classification scheme based on cladistics and evolutionary analysis and to use this classification in the development of a template based modelling library. The research focused on identifying the existing manufacturing layout types, the various layout configurations that are being used and template based model generation. Some of the major developments of the research conducted were the construction of the manufacturing layout and component based cladograms and the RapidSim generator. A literature review on manufacturing systems layouts revealed the types of system layouts which are most commonly used in the manufacturing sector as well as the component configurations and characteristics which are found within each production systems. This research makes a major contribution by providing a cladistical classification of manufacturing systems layouts, an external interface for model building and development and a set of recommendations, which when adopted may help increase the use of template based simulation modelling. Based on the data analysis carried out, the findings suggest that there is room for the development and implementation of a template based modelling approach to the development of simulation based models. The most important result obtained from the validation of the model was that the time taken to build and run the model decreased significantly by around 65% when compared to the conventional model building process.

This thesis describes the application of a novel decision support process for machined part estimating in small and medium-sized engineering companies. Many SMEs tend to adopt manual estimating techniques, however this dependence on human expertise represents a risk to such organizations. Better information management in estimating can improve process performance and contribute to increased competitiveness. The research which is the subject of this thesis investigated whether a systems approach to machined part estimating would extend the capacity of an SME to manage knowledge more effectively. The research explored the workplace learning context, the provision of learning opportunities and the management of organizational knowledge; before determining that an intelligent information system offered the most beneficial solution to the situation-of-interest. The case study company produce low-volume, make-to-order, medium and large sized machined steel forgings; utilising conventional machine tool equipment. The application of the decision support system enabled novice estimators to produce viable cost estimates; reducing the risk from reliance on human expertise inherent in manual estimating. The hybrid feature-based costing / case-based reasoning estimating technique, which is the core of the novel METALmpe cost model, proved exceptionally well suited to the SME environment. Estimates produced using METALmpe were consistently more accurate than those of the human expert; with a level of accuracy that exceeds the initial research aim, i.e. a tolerance of -5% / +10%. Significantly, implementation of METALmpe (hardware, software and support for 5 users), can be provided at a cost which is within the typical information technology budget of many SMEs. With demands on organizations to process and disseminate ever increasing volumes of information, METALmpe can improve an SME’s information management capabilities and contribute to competitive advantage through strengthening strategic assets and core competencies.

In recent years, Singapore's manufacturing sector has contributed more than a quarter of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has established global leadership positions in several manufacturing areas such as electronics, Information Technology (IT) and industrial automation. The Singapore Economic Review Committee (ERC) recommendation states that "software and embedded systems that drive products are one of the most important technologies for the manufacturing sector. " With the increasing adoption of automated and intelligent products, embedded systems have emerged as a crucial technology for Singapore. However, the development of embedded applications is not a trivial undertaking as it can usually involve multi-discipline parties and different application platforms. Most embedded application developments use either vendor specific or desktop based methodologies. Vendor specific methodologies constrain the company to rely on the specific vendor's solutions, whereas desktop-based methodologies are not well suited to embedded application development. Therefore, this research aims to develop a standard-based system development methodology for embedded applications. The research programme comprises 5 stages. The first stage reviews the existing system development methodologies for embedded applications. The next stage formulates the proposed conceptual methodology followed by the development of the proof-of-concept tool to demonstrate the merits of the proposed approach. The methodology is then tested and evaluated respectively by using industrial experiments and feedback from a workshop. The final stage refines the methodology based on the feedback and presents the final system development methodology. The research has provided a sound foundation which future research in methodology for embedded applications to develop further.

Manufacturing companies develop multiple production sites for various reasons from cheaper labour to access to local markets. Expansion of capacity in such a manufacturing network is a complex decision and requires consideration of multiple factors. Traditionally, industrial decision makers attempt to minimise the cost of expansion and, usually as an afterthought, consider soft factors like manpower availability and logistics connectivity. This approach has gained acceptance as the research community has focused on developing better mathematical representations of the problem rather than investigate the larger decision process. A review of the literature revealed that all existing processes for multi-site capacity expansion decision fail in this way. Therefore, this research sets out to fulfil the needs of practitioners by developing a more complete process for the capacity expansion decision in multi-site manufacturing networks. The research programme consists of five parts. In the first part an extensive literature review is conducted to identify the state-of-the-art in capacity expansion decision processes. Then, in the second part, a representative process is formed and industrially tested. This generates the specifications for an advanced decision process which addresses the shortcomings of the present body of knowledge and is developed in the third part of the research. In the fourth part the advanced decision process is applied in an industrial setting to validate its effectiveness. Finally, in the fifth part the advanced decision process is refined and illustrated. The outcome of this research is an improved decision making capability. The advanced decision process has been both validated and appreciated by industrial practitioners. Specifically the contribution to knowledge is an advanced decision process for capacity expansion in multi-site manufacturing network.

This thesis describes research that has developed a decision model for the analytical selection of manufacturing best practices. The competitiveness and growth in the manufacturing sector is critical for Singapore economy. Design and improvement of manufacturing systems is imperative to sustain the competitiveness of manufacturing organisations in the country. It is common for companies to adopt manufacturing best practices in this design process to emulate the success and performance of their counterparts. However, practices should be adapted to the competitive environment and strategy of the company to yield the desired results. Therefore, linkages between best practices and their associated competitive priorities will present useful guidelines for action to help manufacturing organisations achieve superior performance. The research programme has set out to define a decision model for best practice adoption. A broad taxonomy of manufacturing strategies and concepts has been used to identify and cluster a list of popular best practices commonly adopted. The decision framework for best practice adoption process is then formulated and a preliminary decision model constructed. This model is verified through semistructured interviews with industry and academic experts. Validation of model is conducted via case study research on eight manufacturing organisations. Linkages between practices and competitive strategies are then constructed to establish the final decision model. Finally, this decision model is illustrated in the form of a guidebook to help practitioner in the best practice selection process. This research has bridged the fields of manufacturing strategy and best practice research by establishing a comprehensive taxonomy of manufacturing strategies and concepts to classify the popular and commonly adopted best practices. A decision model that links best practices to competitive strategies has been developed to select the most appropriate practices for an environment. Thus, the work presented in this thesis has made a significant and original contribution to knowledge on the provision of analytical decision support for practitioners engaging in the manufacturing best practice adoption process.

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore face particular challenges from increasing competition from manufacturers in China, India and other East Asian countries. For these SMEs, survival and growth depend critically on defining their own competitive space among other companies in the manufacturing supply chains. Unfortunately there is little previous research on Strategic Supply Chain Positioning (SSCP) with most current frameworks and methodologies being developed from the perspective of the larger multinational companies (MNCs). Therefore this research has set out to develop a practical and robust SSCP methodology to support strategic decision making in SMEs in Singapore. The research programme began with a review of the existing methodologies and selecting the most promising methodology for further evaluation. Testing of this methodology was then carried out through four industrial case studies. Based on the results of the evaluation, the methodology was refined and a pilot SSCP methodology for SMEs was developed. Further testing was then carried out with another four case studies to identify particular characteristics for further improvement. The final SSCP methodology was then developed as a computerised software tool and presented in Chapter 9 of this thesis. The research has created a strategic supply chain positioning methodology that provides practical and procedural aid for strategic supply chain positioning efforts for SMEs in Singapore. This methodology guides the practitioner through a series of well-defined steps necessary to define the desired strategic positioning of the company in the supply chain. Such a methodology has been lacking in previous research and, hence, is the main contribution to knowledge in this thesis.