Establishing factors to consider while adopting the agile approach in manufacturing companies

Due to the current fast-paced business environment, new approaches to product development (PD) have been requested. In that matter, the agile approach has gained interest among researchers and practitioners. Based on its positive results in the software industry, it has started to be adopted in the manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, there are factors that manufacturing companies must consider while adopting the agile approach, and there is a lack of in-depth empirical studies about those factors. In that matter, this paper presents the preliminary findings of a single case study of a large manufacturing company. The data collection consisted of fifteen semi-structured interviews with persons with key roles in different organizational functions. The identified factors were analyzed and presented according to a product development system (PDS) perspective which encompasses people, process, and technology and tools subsystems. For the people subsystem, the study identified factors related to cross-functional integration and coordination, cross-functional communication, organizational culture, understanding of the agile approach, definition of roles and responsibilities, and people involvement and support. In respect of the process subsystem, the study identified factors associated with workload leveling and development interfaces. Regarding the technology and tools subsystem, the study identified factors related to the integration of information systems, and technology and manufacturing readiness levels. As a result, the study contributes further to the establishment of the factors that may influence the adoption of the agile approach in the PDS of a large manufacturing company.