Collaboration in the next generation manufacturing: Critical analysis of recent technology foresight projects and research framework

The paper introduces the research work carried on in the last two years within the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI-DIG), which intends to investigate the new strategic production paradigms emerging from the wide adoption of ICT applications in a global manufacturing context. External environmental conditions, market pressures, stakeholder expectations, internal pressures and new strategic paradigms are analysed. The final goal will be the creation of a roadmap to the next generation of production systems. The investigation will rely on several on-field research approaches: investigations and critical analysis on recent and ongoing technology foresight projects, expert panels, Delphi studies, surveys and scenario planning techniques. Here in the followings an introduction of the research framework is given with the intent to stimulate a constructive discussion on it.