Production in the digital age: the emergence of acceluction

What will be the dominant mode of production by the year 2020, in the age of massive digitalization? Well, Professor Ahmed Bounfour from Paris-Sud University suggests in his academic work that the answer will be the acceluction regime. The author has coined this term to refer to the fact that enterprises will accelerate the production of links with unclearly defined and volatile production spaces. These new spaces will dramatically transform the company’s mode of production as it needs to simultaneously consider the economic dimension as well as the managerial and societal dimensions.

He identifies five main spaces to consider and articulate. The first is the traditional Lean production space defined by suppliers, customers and the company’s internal resources. Let’s not forget that the traditional concept of Lean is based on constant improvement of the model through the exploitation of the company’s potential.

That’s for now, because by 2020, the frame will be much wider. Professor Bounfour suggests it will be extended to 4 new meta  production spaces besides the traditional Lean production space : the societal space ; the external resources space (which includes resources from competitors, platforms and service suppliers); the mobility space and the data space.

This wider frame brings enterprises to consider three key issues: the first is to clearly identify these production spaces. That’s the starting point to understand the digital transformation dynamics and acceluction as a production regime. Identification means listing the spaces, putting a name on the different actors and finding their articulation with the company’s business. The second issue is to determine the type of links to develop with each space.  This link can be simply trade related or consist in a share of information, knowledge or data. Each type of link raises specific strategic issues about contract management, legal responsibility or copyright. Finally, the third key issue is related to governance. The questions to answer here are “Who drives the links?” and “Which tools are used to manage the links efficiently?” The answers can help to develop an architectural approach based on the company’s own digital resources.

Through these three dimensions, the acceluction regime gives enterprises a fresh new look at the consequences of massive digitalization. And moreover, on how to create value in this context.

Pour aller plus loin :

La Fondation CIGREF : www.fondation-cigref.org
Les Essentiels de la Fondation CIGREF : http://www.fondation-cigref.org/publications/les-essentiels/
La Collection Springer Briefs in Digital Spaces : http://www.springer.com/series/10461"    

CIGREF TV, Production in the digital age: the emergence of acceluction