The complexities of digitising spare parts manufacturing supply chains – Using the VIPLAN methodology to facilitate within a problem situation

With the introduction of Industry 4.0 and 5.0, and supply chain digitalisation, the use of technology has been argued to enable supply chains to become more resilient and productive. This study aims to investigate the multifaceted approach to functional capabilities and readiness for utilising a Digital Test Bed (DTB) in the end-to-end multi-tier spare part manufacturing supply chain. A digital test bed could be argued to be associated with Industry 4.0. This work adopted participatory action research (PAR) as it attempted to solve the practical problems of supply chain digitisation, is participatory in nature, and aims to create a learning environment as well as contribute to knowledge (Westbrook, 1995; Baskerville and WoodHarper, 1996; Coughlan and Coghlan, 2002; Baskerville and Myers, 2004; Chaitanya and Clegg, 2021). The focus of this study was on several individuals of different organisations within the supply chain. As a consequence, the learning on supply chain digitalisation and what functionality a proposed digital supply chain test bed needed to incorporate was collective and concentrated on change (Yoong and Gallupe, 2001). The many stakeholders engaged in the project had different perspectives and worldviews on what any test bed needs to do and the features it needs to incorporate. This posed a complex and messy problem. In order to help structure this problem, the VIPLAN methodology (Espejo et al., 1999; Harwood, 2021, 2023) was used a way to think about and facilitate the problem situation.