Modular thinking can merge editorial and manufacturing cultures in magazine production

摘要

The rapid development of the magazine industry in Sweden has stressed the importance of modular thinking. However, using modular thinking in the magazine architecture is not yet established in the magazine industry despite the need for shorter lead-time and improved content quality. A magazine production can be divided into two phases; the editorial phase and the manufacturing phase. Surprisingly the two different phases are seldom synchronized even if they co-operate on the same product. The aim of this research was to evaluate the use of modular thinking in the product and focus on its manufacturability as well as its influence on relationships between the corporate cultures of the two phases. The company culture is often mirrored in the product and in the manufacturing process. In this research we further develop the results from two previous projects where it was concluded that the magazine's product architecture regulates the work flow speed and that the company's culture is a dynamic factor which both affects and is affected by the product. The theoretical analysis shows that a magazine can successfully be re-designed, integrating both manufacturability and layout in the product architecture. The degree of modularity in the product architecture determines the performance of three parameters: lead-time, quality of the content and the level of relationships between the two corporate cultures.