07 Technology Planning Flashcards
Technology Planning
Making the right decisions regarding the enterprise’s future technological orientation and thinking the realization of those decisions ahead.
Core Result of Technology Planning
Technology plan (technology roadmap), that describes which technology should be used at what time and for what purpose.
o Furthermore, information is given from where the technologies are received and about which guidelines are applied to the resource planning.
Product and Manufacturing Technologies
- Manufacturability of the product and its individual components (-> the realization of product technologies) is ensured by manufacturing technologies
-> Assignment of technologies to one of the two is not always distinct -> Depends a lot on the consideration focus if the respective company (e.g. milling machine producer and company that uses the milling machine to produce goods)
Tasks of technology planning
o Technology selection
o Determination of the possible technological performance
o Determination of the possible period for the technology usage
o Definition of the form of technology source and technology exploitation
o Synchronization of product and technology planning
o Technology evaluation
o Project and resource planning
Questions to be answered by technology planning
Which production technologies enhance the…
o Increase of turnover and market share,
o Best meeting of customer requirements,
o Strength of the company’s technological potentials,
o Achievement of competitive advantages and time advantages?
Scope of technology planning
The technology planning scope focuses on manufacturing technologies as well as assembly technologies with regard to the management of a production
Methods of technology planning
The major qualitative methods of technology planning include morphological boxes, technology portfolios and technology roadmaps
Steps of the technology planning process
4 Stages:
- Development of technology strategies
- Derivation and evaluation of measures
- Development of roadmaps
- Monitoring and adaption of planned goals
Systematic structuring of a technology strategy - Questions for a systematic structuring
- Object Level -> What? (Object of practical use?)
a. Product, concept, software, material, components … - Function Level -> Why? (Which functions should be fulfilled?)
a. Process, technological principle - Technology Level -> How? (Specific technologies?)
a. Sensors, augmented reality, ethernet, …
Technology field
o Serve as a technological solution space for the realization of innovation.
o Often defined in strategy workshops with management participation
o Reflect the technological aspects of the company vision
o The detail level of technology fields are specific to every company
Used as the input for the derivation process of product concepts that can be presented in morphological boxes
Morphological box
o Serves as a systematic classification of a study object by introducing logical criterions, which are adapted to a study’s specific objectives
o Used to illustrate a production concept with its relevant technology fields
Technology strategy
- Defines the technological objectives in the regarded technology field
- Describes which technologies are used by a company for achieving a specific purpose, with technological performance level is striven for, at what time the use takes place and from where the technologies are drawn.
- The current and target position are defined for every technology field in the technology strategy and defined in the dimensions performance, technology timing, technology source and technology utilization
Input factors for the process of developing technology strategies
- Core competence analysis
- Strategic Plans
- Environment analysis
Essential elements of technology planning
- technological vision
- prioritized technology fields
- strategic positioning
