Enterprise Architecture within the Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

The success of companies in the manufacturing industry depends partly on sustainable performance and flexible response to market developments. This requires that an organisation continuously adjusts its strategy, processes, competencies, and IT systems. The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a transition towards Industry 4.0. This transition is extra challenging because the organisational structure and reporting processes are, in many cases, based on legacy systems. As a result, innovations, business changes, and flexibility to maintain or strengthen the market position can stagnate. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is used for more structure and better overview, and manageability. Implementing EA can cause resistance in terms of adoption in the organisation. When these resistances are overcome, and enterprise-level goals are achieved, EA can act as a catalyst in the transition to Industry 4.0. This study examines the factors that influence EA adoption within the MI and focuses mainly on the aspects related to organisational change. An inductive research approach is used as a basis, combined with a deductive approach using propositions from the existing theory of Syynimaa (2015). Syynimaa (2015) designed the ‘Resistance in EA Adoption Process’ model and ‘EA Adoption Method’ to understand and steer the resistance of EA adoption. His study took place in the domains of higher education in Finland.

Date of Award	18 Oct 2021
Original language	English
Supervisor	Pien Walraven (Examiner) & Karel Lemmen (Co-assessor)