As production equipment is often designed and built by equipment suppliers rather than made in-house, a collaborative buyer-supplier-relationship could be utilized in order to create robust solutions and enhance innovative ideas. The purpose with this paper is to explore critical user-supplier collaboration activities throughout the different lifecycle stages of the production equipment development. The purpose is accomplished by a literature review and a case study including more than 30 semi-structured interviews at four companies. The challenges vary depending on equipment life cycle phase and user/supplier perspective. A life cycle model with eight stages is proposed including critical interconnected activities for each stage.

Traditional production location decisions are mainly based upon economic factors while factors that facilitate decision makers in selecting the most suitable production location in terms of operations performance are rarely considered. Therefore, this paper presents a developed decision support for production localization that emphasises operational factors to be considered in the decision making. The research methodology combines a literature study with a multiple case study method. The findings are synthesised into a five phase decision process for making production localization decisions in practice. For each of these phases, key activities with related tools and expected output are developed.

Decision are commonly based on the available or easily accessible information; this is also true for more complex assessments like production localization. Where to locate production is often a key strategic decisions that has great impact on a company’s profitability for a long time; insufficient business intelligence may therefore have grave consequences. Six production localization factor studies have been assessed to see if they are focusing on the same issues and if there are any gaps. A new approach for structuring localization factors and the localization process is then presented and assessed with regards to some previously identified critical issues.

A key aspect in the manufacturing footprint analysis is the risk and sensitivity analysis of critical parameters. In order to contribute to efficient industrial methods and tools for making well-founded strategic decisions regarding manufacturing footprint this paper aims to describe the main risks that need to be considered while locating manufacturing activities, and what risk mitigation techniques and strategies that are proper in order to deal with these risks. It is also proposed how the risk analysis should be included in the manufacturing location decision process.

Meeting customer demands require manufacturing systems with a high degree of flexibility, low-cost/low-volume manufacturing skills, as well as short delivery times. On top of these challenges, there is a gigantic need within industry for technologies and strategies that will reduce CO(2) emissions globally. In this challenging environment there is a need to identify and develop new and improved manufacturing capabilities within the manufacturing industry. The Factory-in-a-Box concept consists of standardized production modules that are e.g. installed in a container and transported by truck or by train. The concept has been developed, exemplified and realized in five industrial demonstrators developed by researchers together with competitive manufacturing companies in Sweden such as ABB Robotics, Bombardier and Pharmadule. The objective of this paper is to discuss the possibility of realizing a Product Service System (PSS) using the results from the Factory-in-a-Box project.