Anders Haug

1. The consumer goods industry faces extreme demand volatility, short life cycles, strong seasonality and frequent new product introductions (NPIs) (Anitha & Neelakandan, 2025). These hinder balanc...

Manufacturers increasingly face demands to provide sustainability evidence related to their products. While many ETO (engineer to order) firms use product configurators to support product specification, these remain decoupled from LCA/EPD (lifecycle assessment /environmental product declaration) tool chains, making variant-level footprints impractical in high-variety production. In this context, previous research does not provide detailed approaches to support the development of product configurators capable of performing LCA calculations and generating EPDs. This study develops a configuration-native approach for computing ISO 14040/44-aligned LCA results and EN 15804-structured EPD outputs at configuration time. The approach operationalizes a modular product-production architecture that links selectable attributes (materials, modules, routings, logistics, operating profiles, and end-of-life treatments) to stage-specific inventory parameters and impact factors, enabling additive, traceable aggregation across EN 15804 lifecycle stages. A case study at a large industrial circulation pump manufacturer is conducted to evaluate the usefulness of the proposed approach, which includes benchmarking outputs against a third-party EPD and assessing design sensitivities and uncertainty using Monte Carlo propagation and paired statistical tests. Results show that the proposed approach supports the development of configurators that can generate high-quality variant-specific LCAs and EPD-ready documentation, which enables more scalable environmental assessments and promotes greener product design decisions. Overall, the approach shifts sustainability assessments from post hoc evaluations to a dynamic configurator-integrated assessment across abstraction levels.

Engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturers face persistent cost and complexity challenges driven by product variety, including duplicate components, redundant variants, and inconsistent procurement setups. Although enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems contain detailed Bills of Materials (BOMs) and procurement records, they typically lack portfolio-wide support for systematic cross-product commonality analysis without substantial manual effort. Structured approaches to design reuse and modularization in ETO contexts exist, but lightweight portfolio-level analytics tools operating on exported enterprise data remain scarce, and companies often still rely on ad hoc spreadsheet analyses. This paper introduces product commonality analysis tools (PCATs) and develops and evaluates one such tool in an action-research collaboration with a European ETO laser manufacturer. The PCAT operates on exported enterprise data to provide interactive portfolio-level views of component reuse and cross-product consistency. Usefulness is evaluated through scenario-based think-aloud usability sessions and a functional comparison against Excel workarounds, standard ERP/PLM reporting, and vendor customizations. The results indicate that a lightweight PCAT can integrate into existing ERP/PLM workflows with minimal disruption and reduce the effort required to prepare reusable portfolio views for engineering and procurement reviews.

Engineer-to-Order (ETO) manufacturers face persistent cost and complexity challenges driven by product variety, including duplicate components, redundant variants, and inconsistent procurement setups. Although enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems contain detailed Bills of Materials (BOMs) and procurement records, they typically lack portfolio-wide support for systematic cross-product commonality analysis without substantial manual effort. Prior approaches are either conceptual (e.g., indices and modularity frameworks) or ad hoc in practice, often relying on one-off spreadsheet analyses. This paper introduces the concept of Product Commonality Analysis Tools (PCATs) and develops and evaluates a lightweight PCAT in an action-research collaboration with a European ETO laser manufacturer. The PCAT operates on exported enterprise data to provide interactive portfolio-level views of component reuse and cross-product consistency. Its usefulness is evaluated through scenario-based think-aloud usability sessions and a functional comparison against Excel workarounds, standard ERP/PLM reporting, and vendor customizations. The results indicate that a lightweight PCAT can be integrated into existing ERP/PLM workflows with minimal disruption and can reduce the effort required to prepare reusable portfolio views for engineering and procurement reviews.

Purpose: This study explores the barriers to adopting Industry 4.0 technologies within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. Despite the potential for transformative benefits, the sector has been slow in embracing these technologies due to unique regulatory and operational challenges. This paper seeks to understand these challenges in greater depth by analyzing key obstacles that pharmaceutical companies face during their digital transformation efforts.Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining maturity assessments with insights from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry. The study identifies and categorizes the main barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption, providing a sector-specific analysis.Findings: The primary barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption in pharmaceutical manufacturing were found to be "prioritization and strategic alignment," "technological challenges," and "financial constraints." Contrary to common assumptions in the literature, "regulatory and compliance challenges" were perceived as less impactful by stakeholders, as these are often ingrained in routine operations.Research limitations/implications: The research focuses on a single pharmaceutical manufacturing company, which may limit generalizability. However, as the company operates within the broader pharmaceutical industry as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), the findings could reflect broader industry dynamics.Practical implications: Pharmaceutical companies should prioritize overcoming strategic and technological barriers to facilitate Industry 4.0 adoption. Clear leadership direction, strategic alignment, and addressing interoperability challenges are critical for successful digital transformation in the sector.Originality/value: This study provides a novel contribution by offering a detailed analysis of barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption specific to the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. It challenges the traditional view of regulatory hurdles as the primary obstacle, emphasizing the increasing integration of regulatory management into daily operations and shifting the focus toward overcoming technological and strategic challenges.

Background: Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has gained significant attention in recent years, with the term Logistics 4.0 (L4.0) emerging in the logistics industry. However, L4.0 remains vague and lacks a unified definition or classification of related technologies. Existing studies defining L4.0 are mainly conceptual and speculative, rather than grounded in empirical research. To address this gap, this study contributes to defining L4.0 through the sub-area of Warehouse 4.0 (W4.0), focusing on the challenges of adopting I4.0 technologies in warehouses. Methods: Through the I4.0 and L4.0 literature, an initial classification of W4.0 technologies in third-party logistics (3PL) was developed. This was refined using a case study of a global logistics service provider (LSP) in the 3PL industry, through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Results: The empirical findings identify new application areas for I4.0 technology in 3PL warehouses, including horizontal and vertical system integration, big data, and cybersecurity, technologies that can enhance 3PL competitiveness. Conclusions: This study offers a structured classification of W4.0 technologies and insights into the application areas of W4.0 in 3PLs. It contributes practical insights into which I4.0 technologies are relevant for the 3PL warehouse industry and their potential application areas.

E-commerce’s rapid growth has increased demand for logistics services, pressuring logistics service providers (LSPs) to offer more competitive solutions in a fragmented industry. This drives a shift from customized to standardized services, which also impacts business processes. While configuration systems are widely adopted in manufacturing companies to support the sales process of products, their application in LSPs remains unexplored. A case study explored their feasibility in warehouse services and found that these services could be modeled and incorporated in a sales configurator, saving time on customer communication, reducing errors during the sales process, and enhancing collaboration on warehouse service design. Thus, the study points to a new application area for configurators, which neither the industry nor academia has given much focus.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate the impact of digitalized manufacturing (DM) on operational performance (OP) and the mediating role of supply chain resilience (SCRES) in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on 328 complete and useable responses to a questionnaire survey conducted from November 2022 to January 2023 among Danish manufacturers. Findings: The paper reveals a positive association between companies’ adoption of DM and OP, with SCRES mediating this relationship. Additionally, the paper identifies a moderating positive effect of demand uncertainty on the DM-OP relationship, as well as a negative moderating effect of demand uncertainty on the mediating role of SCRES. Research limitations/implications: The paper relies on responses from a single representative per company, exclusively from Danish respondents. Practical implications: Companies and governments should invest in digital transitions and SCRES to enhance OP. Managers must ensure DM systems are flexible to adapt to demand fluctuations, leveraging technological capabilities for resilience. Policymakers should support flexible digital adoption while addressing supply-side challenges through resource security initiatives. Originality/value: The paper is among the first to investigate the mediating role of SCRES on the relationship between DM and OP and how demand and supply uncertainty moderate the relationships.