Projects

Adoption of New Technologies

Adoption and Impacts of New Technologies and Techniques in the Paper Manufacturing Sector in Georgia

Full Description

As manufacturing faces increasing pressures from foreign operations in lower cost locales, the ability of U.S. firms to compete hinges on the ability to harness knowledge, adopt modern manufacturing technologies and techniques, and be innovative. Nowhere is this more true than in the pulp and paper industry, which although generally considered a mature and resource-intensive industry, is increasingly focused on issues such as how to minimize waste and environmental byproducts, how to reduce capital and operational costs, how to better organize workers, how to acquire and use knowledge, and how to develop new product, process or service innovations that can be differentiated from the competition.

Objectives of the Proposed Project

The objectives of this project are to:
(1) Measure the adoption and use of current and emerging technologies and techniques among pulp and paper manufacturers, including new manufacturing, design, information, communications, web, supply integration, knowledge management, and organizational technologies and techniques
(2) Benchmark pulp and paper manufacturers use of these technologies and techniques against those of other manufacturing industries.
(3) Assess the outcomes and net benefits that accrue to paper manufacturers from using these technologies and techniques, including effects on innovation in products and processes, productivity, quality, profitability, and growth.
(4) Identify technological, financial, human capital, and market issues affecting the adoption of these technologies and techniques and their business and policy implications.

Research Strategy and Methodology

To explore these objectives, we propose to conduct a survey of manufacturing establishments in the state of Georgia , USA . Aside from geographic proximity, the pulp and paper industry the primary reason we choose Georgia is because the state has a history of conducting manufacturing surveys, which, since 1994, have been focused on the adoption of new technologies (including information technologies). This dataset can be drawn on to benchmark new investigations of current and emerging trends and technology adoption patterns for pulp and paper industries. (a) As the table below shows, the survey has generated a significant number of paper and wood product respondents.

Georgia has about 10,000 manufacturers that employ more than 450,000 workers. Of these, the wood and paper product manufacturing industries account for 890 establishments-540 with 10 or more employees-and 52,000 workers. Ten percent of the value of pulp and paper shipments in the U.S. is generated by Georgia firms.

Georgia 's manufacturers are fairly typical of the nation and exemplify a relatively untapped market for innovation, the adoption of technology, and use of improved knowledge management practices and IT/software systems. While 92 percent of Georgia manufacturers used email in 2002, only 36 percent used enterprise resource planning or other software for production planning and control of orders and inventories. (b)

For the proposed study, we will focus our research through a comprehensive set of questions about the current (2004) and planned (2005-2007) adoption of technologies and management practices by pulp and paper sector industries and other industries in Georgia . Our probes will include:

•  Trends in use of ICT hardware, networks and web-based systems, and application software, including use of systems and security

•  Manufacturing design, quality, process performance, customer care technologies and techniques

•  Human capital issues and practices, including use of teams, training, knowledge policies, inter-company sharing, and other knowledge practices

•  Benefits from use of technologies and techniques, including items about qualitative benefits, quantitative benefits, and impacts on innovation, quality, productivity, profitability, and sales growth.

•  Technological challenges and needs

•  Use of public and private technology and business assistance resources

We focus not so much on the unique process machinery and products that are specific to the paper sector and other industries, but rather on the integrative and complementary technologies and techno-infrastructures which are increasingly important in competitiveness.

We will develop data on these questions through a survey protocol mailed to all manufacturers with ten or more employees in the state of Georgia . We estimate that approximately 540 paper and wood product manufacturers and 4,250 total manufacturers fit this requirement. An administration plan has been developed for the survey based on proven research and experience in mail questionnaire response rates. (c) The plan consists of three waves of mailings: (1) a pre-notification letter, (2) a first wave mailing of the questionnaire, and (3) a second wave follow up mailing of the questionnaire. Postage paid envelopes for returning completed questionnaires will be provided to enhance response. In addition, we will supplement the mailings with selected phone calls and on-site delivery of questionnaires using Georgia Tech's field network of 18 Economic Development Offices in Georgia and in conjunction with other organizations. We anticipate securing between 500 and 1,500 total responses. We will pursue a stratified follow-up design to ensure effective response, paying particular attention to ensuring good response from paper and wood products manufacturers by broad size classification. As appropriate, we will undertake a non-response analysis and are able to weight responses to ensure the representativeness of the final data set.

Results will be analyzed in several ways: (1) examining diffusion trends and patterns of key technologies, based on date of first adoption and penetration rates within establishments (density of use); (2) cross-sectional analysis, including comparison of establishments that have adopted various technologies, techniques, and innovations with those that have not; (3) examination, using statistical modeling, of relationships between use of technology and performance metrics such as productivity (value-added per employee), profitability, and growth, with relevant controls for industry, size, and other factors; (4) projected trends in technology use; and (5) technology lags and knowledge gaps facing establishments in the pulp and paper and other sectors in the adoption of new and improved technologies and methods. In addition, a full breakdown of aggregate responses to each question will be provided, as will cross-tabulations by size and industry group.

Duration

This is a 12-month project. We would plan to start September 1, 2004 and continue through to August 31, 2005 .

The project will be implemented in three consecutive phases, as follows (assuming an August 2004 start).

•  Phase I: September-December 2004 - Project Start-up; Protocol Design; Review of Protocol Design by Industry Experts; Pilot Test of Protocol; Revision and Finalization of Protocol; IRB Approval; and Printing. Concurrently, finalization of establishment data base for study based on available state and private establishment name, industry, address, management, and employment databases.

•  Phase II: January-March 2005 - Survey Protocol in the field, including implementation of survey waves and follow-up; response analysis; data entry and validation of data (with checks for missing or inconsistent responses); development of survey data base (SPSS).

•  Phase III: April-August 2005 - Survey Analysis, Written Report, Papers and Short Reports on Results, Customized Benchmarking, and Other Dissemination Strategies (see under deliverables).

Data confidentiality

We will maintain and conform to the highest professional data integrity standards. In particular, all data reported from respondents will be aggregated so that no individual respondents can be identified. Additionally, the Georgia Tech Institutional Review Board will review and validate our data collection, storage, and reporting methods.

Expected deliverables

The results of the survey will be disseminated and used in multiple ways.

•  A full final report will be prepared. This will be posted to the Worldwide Web. An executive summary of the report will also be available.

•  A special "Technology and Innovation in the Georgia Paper Sector" report will be prepared, and made available. This will be posted to the Worldwide Web and made available to CPBIS.

•  Customized benchmarks will be developed and sent to each participating manufacturer. (We have done this before with prior surveys and it is effective.) Each participating paper manufacturer will receive this customized report. This will allow benchmarking comparisons to be made within the sector and with other sectors.

•  Press releases will be developed for distribution to national and regional news outlets and publications.

•  We will target at two articles to peer reviewed journals for publication of the results of this project. One article will focus on the overall study. A second article will discuss what we have learned about technology adoption and innovation in the paper industry, including discussing opportunities for improvement.

•  Results will be presented to CPBIS (e.g. at a seminar), at workshops in Georgia (to economic development, technology, and business groups) and at conferences in the US (and possibly internationally).

•  We will also make the study available to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (US Department of Commerce), for distribution to their network of 70 centers in all 50 states.

•  We will make the database available to CPBIS and other researchers (with data agreement and non-disclosure of individualized information), subject to compliance with IRB procedures. We will also use the database for further special studies.

(a) Comprehensive manufacturing and technology surveys have been conducted in Georgia in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002 by Georgia Institute of Technology by the authors of this proposal.

(b) Source: 2002 Georgia Manufacturing Survey, Georgia Institute of Technology, directed by Jan Youtie and Philip Shapira.

(c) Don A. Dillman (2000). Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 2 nd Edition . New York : Wiley.