Short title: InComSMEs

Long title: Increasing the Competitiveness of the Domestic SMEs in Order to Improve Their Cooperation with Foreign Investors’ Companies

Sponsors: European Commission

Assignment to our (IMW) research priorities:

• Knowledge transfer and training workshops for students and industry professionals
• Identifying requirements from perspective of both pilot company partners and foreign direct investors (FDIs) for establishing a joint partnership
• Identifying  gaps in the performance (productivity, labor efficiency, on-the-job training, quality and lean standards, etc.) of the domestic companies
• Providing know-how and methodologies for solving the identified problems
• Evaluation of the project outcomes
• Raising management awareness for deficiencies in the knowledge/operations of the domestic companies
• Raising awareness for establishing a sustainable training platform for students and industry professionals, i.e. Learning Factory in North Macedonia

Duration: 12/2017-12/2019

Abstract:

Objectives: The InComSMEs project aims to enable a participative process for increasing the competitiveness of the domestic SMEs in order to improve their cooperation with foreign direct investors (FDIs) at the Republic of North Macedonia. The ultimate goal is to improve the performance of particular in Macedonian companies in order to accommodate European quality standards, become more competitive and enhance cooperation not only with the FDIs, but also with other foreign companies.

Results:

The project resulted in trained personnel in specific production and management philosophies in around 30 Macedonian companies and at five of them industry projects were implemented, which fostered the cooperation of those companies with the FDIs.

The IMW team contributed in scientific supervision of the following pilot projects:

• Project I: Improvement of the processes in order to reduce the scrap in manufacturing
• Project II: Implementation of QMS in accordance with ISO 9001
• Project III: Optimization of the layout and material flow
• Project IV: Implementation and adaptation of an ERP solution with an "efficiency module" in order to measure the machine and labor performance
• Project V: Improvement of the production processes based on Lean Methodology

Partners:

Research institutions:

• Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ss. "Cyril and Methodius" University in Skopje
• Technische Universität Wien

Company partners:

• Economic Chamber of Macedonia (ECM)
• Kemet Electronics
• Van Hool Macedonia
• Kromberg&Schubert Macedonia
• Linde
• TGS
• Aptiv
• KRATER
• Rade Koncar TEP
• TEAL
• KOLUKS
• Vispak-Pela
• SMELT ING

Contact details:

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Fazel Ansari
Theresianumgasse 27, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Email: fazel.ansari@tuwien.ac.at

Project management:

Prof. Robert Minovski (University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering)