Capability management of manufacturing research centres: challenges and opportunities

This paper is the first to investigate capability management of manufacturing research centres within the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC). The HVMC was established to address the valley of death by bridging the gap between industry and academia in order to drive the UK's economic and technological growth. However, the current literature does not fully recognise capability management of manufacturing research centres, and hence overlook its link with operations management and strategic management within research centres' environment. Regarding technology capabilities, manufacturing companies usually adopt their own measurements or assessment tools such as technology readiness levels (TRL) or manufacturing readiness levels (MRL) to track their technological progression. These tools, however, are not sufficient to devise important capability management practices due to research centres' unique operating characteristics. It is evident that standardising such practices within the HVMC is vital, and this drives the need of developing a new capability management framework.