Innovation Driver New Production Technologies: Strategic Planning using Technology Roadmapping

International audienceAs innovation cycles are becoming shorter and technological progress faster, the need for reliable decision support for product and production planning is rapidly gaining crucial importance. To this aim, strongly innovation-driven industries like automotive use roadmaps relating products and technologies to a timeline from a specific company's viewpoint. Technology-driven manufacturing companies are struggling to apply technology roadmapping in a transparent, traceable and risk-minimizing way to plan their future production technology and competence needs. This paper points out the necessity of a holistic and integrated approach to using this instrument to help prepare organizations for new manufacturing processes and technologies in a timely and successful manner. It investigates the state of the art of technology roadmapping for strategic production planning, and derives necessary fields of action in the context of an industrial research and innovation project