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Completed projects

• The first CINet survey
• CUTE
• CIMA
• CIntranet
• CO-IMPROVE

• The first CINet survey

One of the joint activities of the CInet is its surveys. The first survey was conducted in 1996/1997 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The study involved 1029 companies representing a wide range of industry sectors such as foundries, metal parts, machinery, transport equipment, electrical, optical and measuring equipment, food and drinks, and process and bulk industries.
The survey asked questions about the following broad categories:

• General information about the company (ISIC code, product, profitability, turnover, size, organisational aspects).
• Previous experience with change projects.
• Experience with CI (starting year, progress made, maturity level).
• CI strategy and motives.
• Organisation of CI, including tasks and responsibilities (management, workers), use of teams, involvement.
• The application and perceived importance of CI methods and tools.
• CI enablers.
• Effects of CI on internal and market-related performance.

The survey results were published in Boer, H., A. Berger, R. Chapman and F. Gertsen (eds.), CI changes: from suggestion box to organisational learning. Continuous improvement in Europe and Australia, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2000. The executive summary comprises the main findings.

The 2nd CINet survey was prepared in 2002 and launched in 2003 and is still ongoing.

• CUTE

Continuous Improvement Using Information Technology Towards Excellence

Start date: August 1997
End date: July 1999
Duration: 24 months

The consortium partners were:

• TASIS Ltd, Athens, Greece
• University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
• Hellenic Management Association (HMA), Athens, Greece
• Rotaforme, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Corinth Pipeworks S.A. (CPW), Corinth, Greece

Aim of the project
CUTE was an ESPRIT R&D project focused on improving the performance of SME companies through the application of Continuous Improvement concepts and tools. The project was completed in July 1999. Its main objective was to develop an IT based methodology for the encouragement and guidance of continuous improvement (CI) initiatives within business processes for smaller companies.

The main results of the CUTE project were:

• The CUTE workbook. It provides a practical, step-by-step description of the CUTE methodology for Continuous Improvement together with examples and references to supportive tools.
• The CUTE software system, which is based on the methodology and which supports SMEs to monitor, analyse and improve their business performance. It consists of a business definition (modeling) system, a self-assessment and improvement planning system, an interactive tutorial and a what-if analysis system. It is supported by a performance monitoring module.

More information?
For more information on the CUTE workbook please contact: José Gieskes, University of Twente.
For more information on the CUTE software system please contact: Kostas Seferis, I2S (former TASIS).

• CIMA

Euro-Australian Co-operation Centre for Continuous Improvement and global Innovation MAnagement

Start date: September 1997
End date: August 1999
Duration: 24 months

Consortium partners

• MIP-Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
• ETASS European Trends Association, Seregno, Italy
• CENTRIM, University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom
• CORE, Chalmers University, Göteborg, Sweden
• University of Twente, Department Industrial Engineering & Management, Enschede, The Netherlands
• Trinity College, School of Business Studies, Dublin, Ireland
• InCITe - University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, Australia
• Monash University, Quality Management Research Unit, Melbourne, Australia

Aim of the project

The CIMA project consisted of two interlinked activities:

• The first was to establish Euro-Australian cooperations centres for creating networks of companies to facilitate knowledge transfer between the continents. At this moment there are 2 cooperation centres:
  Europe:
  ETAss, Seregno, Italy. For information please contact: Laura Colombo.
  Australia:
  InCITe, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, Australia. For information: aus-cima@uws.edu.au
  
  
• The second was to help firms identify actions they might take to foster and sustain continuous learning and knowledge transfer within and between product innovation cycles. This second activity, was called trial project. Its objective was to develop, test and disseminate a methodology to support continuous improvement (CI) and knowledge transfer in new product development (NPD).

More information?

For more information please contact: Sara Pavesi, MIP-Politecnico di Milano or José Gieskes, University of Twente.

• CIntranet

Using Intranet technologies to support Continuous Improvement in SMEs

CIntranet is a co-operative research project, partially funded by the European Commission, under the IST programme.

Start date: January 2001
End date: June 2002
Duration: 18 months

Consortium partners

• Simi Aquaculture SA, Rhodes, Greece
• Fourni Rodou SA, Rhodes, Greece
• Norma BV, Hengelo, The Netherlands
• Intergrafipak BV, Nieuw Vennep, The Netherlands
• I2S (former Tasis), Athens, Greece
• TSM Business School, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

Aim of the project

The aim of the project is to support company-wide continuous improvement (CI) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). More specifically, to provide a practical software system (with embedded methodology) to support company-wide application, co-ordination, monitoring and measurement of improvement activities in SMEs. Using this software system, the project aims to improve the major business performance indicators (cost, product quality, delivery reliability, speed) in the participating SMEs by at least 10 % in the first six months of the implementation of the CIntranet results.

A related objective is to encourage a continuous improvement culture in smaller companies by providing the assistance they need for a self-help approach to CI. An indirect benefit will also be the support for the improvement of the competencies of the SME personnel.

For more information please check the CIntranet website.

• CO-IMPROVE

Collaborative Improvement tool for the Extended Manufacturing Enterprise

Start date: March 2001
End date: February 2004
Duration: 24 months

Consortium partners

• Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
• University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
• Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
• Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
• IFS R&D AB, Götenburg, Sweden
• Danfoss Fluid Power, Nordborg, Denmark
• Power Packer, Oldenzaal, The Netherlands
• Aermacchi, Varese, Italy

Aim of the project

CO-IMPROVE is a research project, partially funded by the European Commission, under the Growth programme. The aim of the project is to develop support for collaborative improvement in extended manufacturing enterprises (EMEs).

In many industries, the battlefield of competition is increasingly moving from the level of individual firms to that of EMEs. Consequently, new approaches and tools must be developed and existing ones adapted to enable and enhance collaboration between the partners involved. This pertains to the operational level of co-design, co-manufacturing and co-logistics, including the planning and quality management of these processes, as well as the strategic management of EMEs. The aim of all these activities is to enhance the performance, in terms of the efficiency, quality and delivery reliability, speed (time-to-market, delivery time), flexibility and innovativeness of the EME, relative to other EMEs. Ongoing competition between EMEs requires them, in addition, to pay at least as much attention to continuously try to improve their performance. This is difficult enough for individual firms but even more difficult on the inter-firm level, due to barriers that are related to the functional, geographical and possibly even time separations between partners involved in the EME. Due to especially the latter two aspects, EMEs can hardly rely on traditional (mostly organisational and managerial) mechanisms supporting continuous improvement within firms. Rather, information and communication technology (ICT) is likely to play a crucial role to bridge geographical and time barriers.

Therefore, the objective of the CO-IMPROVE project is to develop a business model, supported by a web-based software system, and implementation guidelines supporting the design, implementation and ongoing development of collaborative improvement between partners in EMEs.

You can find more information on this project on the CO-IMPROVE website.