Analysis of Shoe Manufacturing Factory By Simulation of Production Processes

Abstract

In a context of intense competition, severe market disruption, and a changing and increasingly competitive global business environment, innovation becomes indispensable. To be successful an organisation must recognise this imperative and an appropriate innovation system should be put in place to support and extend its strategy. However, this is easier said than done. Numerous challenges and barriers are presented to any organisation that tries to innovate, for both established and young organisations. Many innovation approaches have been developed, addressing innovation challenges to a greater or lesser extent. However, the subject remains highly fragmented in terms of frameworks, models, methods, techniques and tools, which makes the job of practitioners a difficult one. A ‘universal’ framework is envisioned, which can address innovation challenges effectively and can be applicable to organisations of different types, situated in different contexts. The current status of its development is described in this document. The framework is called the ‘High Impact Innovation Framework For Innovation’ (HiFFi) principally because it is intended to support organisations develop and sustain holistic innovation programmes or ‘Strategic Innovation Systems’ to identify and generate high impact business opportunities and ideas, and transform them into purposeful innovations that create significant value for all stakeholders. HiFFi has been designed to be applied in a flexible, agile, modular and scalable manner, so that it can be accessible to a wide range of organisations and can respond to needs and changes in the internal and external environment quickly and nimbly. The HiFFi framework consists of a set of principles, enabling elements, subsystems, and a visual management space (the ‘Touch Room’). The principles set out the fundamental ‘philosophy and rules’ under which a HiFFi system and tools should be configured, integrated and applied. The enabling elements comprise organisational characteristics that are conducive for an innovative and effective internal environment, and its interaction with the external environment. The subsystems comprise collections of resources and tools that are deployed in an adaptive manner, and which interact together by way of driving activities along the innovation journey. The ‘Touch Room’ is intended to be a people-centred space where collective perception, thinking, decision-making and action are continually promoted and accelerated towards aims with the aid of visual devices/tools such as wall charts and templates. The preferred mode of engagement is facilitated workshops involving participatory processes that incorporate multiple perspectives (e.g. technical and commercial) and structure dialogue through visual representations. The core device of a HiFFi system is a Roadmap, providing a focal point for strategy and innovation activities, and an integrative framework to which other management tools can readily connect. The Roadmap provides an up-to-date visual representation of strategy in a single chart that seeks to lay out key aims, the means that will be used to deliver them through time, and any required resources. The HiFFi approach aims to articulate a ‘complete solution’ for strategic innovation management, thus, its design also incorporates ‘best of breed’ features from both established and progressive approaches that have proven their value (e.g. Stage-Gate, de Bono Thinking, Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile Development), and facilitates the integration of tools/toolkits that such approaches provide. The recommendation is to start with a small set of generic core tools that can be customised to fit a specific purpose along an innovation journey, iterating fast, incorporating more tools as maturity increases and knowledge is acquired.