Master thesis : "Cooperate-level strategic marketing and design of business models for automated CAM and CNC programming."

Abstract

Every application around the globe from aerospace to medical industry and more relies on mechanical parts. Due to adoption to digital technologies, often CNC machines and CAD/CAM software are the equipment and technologies that are utilized for manufacturing the parts. The CNC machining market was valued at $67.78 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $103.43 billion in 2025, driven by the ever-increasing demand from the automotive, industrial, and energy sectors. However, CAM and CNC programming is multidisciplinary iterative task which must be performed by knowledgeable CAM and CNC programmers who have rich machining knowledge. For manufacturing firms this prerequisite means long programming time and training cycles. This issue combined with the limitation of available solutions, being mostly manual and human dependent, reduces the efficiency and productivity of manufacturing firms. Therefore, to response to the worldwide exploding demand for manufacturing, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on current technological trends in CAM and CNC machining to automate productions. ModuleWorks GmbH is supplier of manufacturing technologies for CAM and CNC programming to CAD/CAM software vendors, CNC control manufacturers and MTB (Machine Tool Builders). The aim for ModuleWorks as technology supplier is to ride with the industry technology trends and identify areas where it can generate and propose impactful values. How can ModuleWorks help partners with enhancing CAM and CNC programming for manufacturing firms, so that the need for increased productivity and efficiency by automation in digital manufacturing workflow is satisfied? By answering following research questions, • What are the sources of challenge for manufacturing firms regarding NC programming? • How might ModuleWorks provide added value, such that NC programming become easier? Which sustainable business models are recommended? this study determined few product-market fits for automated CAM and CNC programming and explained how the proposed-values can be generated by suppliers and delivered to manufacturers. Implementing and marketing the product lines properly can contribute to the growth of ModuleWorks. Hence, business models for all the products were designed and delivered at the end of the thesis. The proposed business models and generated materials could be used as reference to coordinate further internal actions for strategic product development and external iterations for targeted and integrated marketing and business development.