Lean Innovation towards Flexibility and Productivity increase : A Case study in Ericsson’s filter manufacturing system

Abstract: In the recent years, substantial shifts of advanced technologies have enabled more and more companies to adopt and implement innovation strategies within their products and operations. Industries tend to behave more flexible in order to stay updated to new significant technological shifts. On the other hand, the need to remain productively stable, makes strategies towards innovation necessary for numerous corporations in order to adapt to an ever changing commercial, social and technological environment. Innovation represents one of the main factors that allow followers to achieve success and depending on the radical content, innovation leads companies to beneficial results. An innovative approach based on technological, business and market development, drives companies towards the exploitation of the full potential of innovative methods, while striving to achieve high flexibility and productivity. In this thesis an industrial case at Ericsson assembly lines is studied, current hurdles are defined and potential innovative strategies are analyzed. The study aims at providing a theory on a methodology that can support a business project at Ericsson Corporation in defining innovative applications and seizing the full potential of new conceptual frameworks which increase innovativeness and create new more productive and flexible logics.