Development of a technology roadmap for the production in high-wage countries

To remain competitive in the future and to ensure long-term success, manufacturing companies from high-wage countries must focus on future markets and must have the ability to produce the right product at the right time. In todays global economy, it is necessary to develop the underlying production technologies and methodologies in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. The so called »Polylemma of Production« describes the most important challenges for manufacturing companies from high-wage countries, namely the two dichotomies economies of scale versus economies of scope as well as planning orientation versus value orientation. In order to focus on important research and technology development activities, technology foresight and especially roadmapping as a distinctive method supporting strategic decision-making, become relevant. Thus, a technology roadmap for advanced production technologies and approaches has been developed, encountering the challenges which manufacturing companies in high-wage countries have to face. On the one hand, the roadmap provides an overview about relevant technologies and their technological readiness. On the other hand, the roadmapping process aims at identifying relevant trends, technological developments and research challenges in order to align research activities within the Cluster of Excellence »Integrative production technology for high-wage countries« with relevant and up-to-date topics. In this paper we report on results and key findings of the roadmapping process including a survey focussing on Germanys manufacturing industry.