Research Article

International Journal of Engineering

Business Management
Volume 11: 1–14
The impact of intelligent manufacturing ª The Author(s) 2019
DOI: 10.1177/1847979019863955
elements on product design towards journals.sagepub.com/home/enb

reducing production waste

Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem1,2

Abstract
With ever-increasing market competition and advances in technology, more and more countries are prioritizing for
advanced and intelligent manufacturing technology as a top priority for improving product design and reducing production
waste towards promoting economic growth. Consequently, this study empirically tests the set of intelligent manufacturing
elements (IMEs) that affect product design towards minimizing production waste at mineral water factories in the
Kurdistan region of Iraq. The results of this study were based on the data obtained from the mixed methods represented
in a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews in the framework of the case study. The questionnaire survey
already has been tested. The sample of the study was 269 respondents selected based on a stratified sampling technique.
The criteria for choosing the respondents to be part of the study were based on the status of full-time employee of the
organization. The findings showed that among the IMEs addressed in this study, each intelligent device and intelligent
process had had a strong impact on improving product design, and hence the efficient use of manufacturing resources
towards reducing manufacturing waste in the industrial organizations.

Keywords
Business intelligence, business process, industrial engineering, manufacturing, manufacturing operations and control,
manufacturing planning and execution, operations management

Date received: 26 January 2019; accepted: 24 June 2019

Introduction much as possible.2 As the development of automation is

It can be clearly and notably observed that manufacturing
systems have undergone many changes. Such changes are
largely marked within the international setting of multifa-
ceted industrial build-up. They can also be the result of the
age of an advanced competence, superior tractability and of
a product reduced cost. Historically, the process of manu-
facturing control dominated the early 50s where engineers
came up with numerous techniques which analyse or shape
manufacturing processes to suit the demands of technolo-
gical processes, to specialize the manufacturing fields and
to apply pressure to the decrease of production costs.1
Thus, it was largely claimed that the ultimate goal was to
raise demand for improved product design and optimal
utilization of available resources by reducing the percent-
age of wastes towards raising the quality of the product as
constantly progressing, it is significant to tackle the crea-
tions and the conceivable applications of comprehensive
and beneficial manufacturing patterns by depending on
Intelligent Manufacturing System (IMS). This mainly due
1
College of Administration and Economics, University of Sulaimani,
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
2
College of Administration and Financial Sciences, Cihan University -
Sulaimani Campus, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Corresponding author:
Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem, College of Administration and Economics,
University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq & College of Administration
and Financial Sciences, Cihan University – Sulaimani Campus,
Sulaymaniyah 46001, Iraq.
Email: ramanahmed79@yahoo.com

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open-access-at-sage).
2 International Journal of Engineering Business Management
to that this system (IMS) has a high ability to meet the
needs of the market volatile in terms of the designs and
product specifications, as well as quality and price.3–5
IMS formally commenced in 1995 with the membership
of Japan, the United States, Canada, and Australia and the
projects established in the first 2 years were generally
developments of those which had formed the basis of an
earlier 2-year feasibility study. The agreement in 1997 of
Switzerland and the EU to join IMS and the opportunities
to link into the European Research and Technology Devel-
opment Framework programme have had a profound
impact on the breadth of the IMS programme and provided
further recognition of its relevance and importance to the
manufacturing world of today.6 Thus, almost all OECD
nations now participate in IMS. Each of these regions has
established a domestic secretariat for IMS having direct
links with industry and the government and each of the
regions contributes to the maintenance of the small inter-
national secretariat located in Australia.7,8
The international regulations of IMS include in provid-
ing local assistance and a framework for companies and
research groups to identify and define issues requiring res-
olution, to seek appropriate project partners worldwide, to
establish a mutually beneficial agreement on workload and
disposition of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and in
some instances, to link into sources of government funds.9
These regulations and provisions cover both mandatory and
optional aspects and deal with the requirement for a coop-
eration agreement between project partners, ownership of
intellectual property brought to a project (background) and
developed within a project (foreground), the dissemination
of information, licence rights, confidential information and
applicable law.8,9
On the other hand, the IMS consists of the many inter-
national approaches and systems as follows8,10,11: (1) Next
Generation Manufacturing approaches which are develop-
ing and integrating intelligent information and processing
technologies to support complete product life cycles for the
next generation of manufacturing systems. (2) Holonic
Manufacturing approaches which are developing discrete,
continuous and batch manufacturing systems through inte-
grating highly flexible, agile, reusable and modular manu-
facturing units. (3) Knowledge Systematization –
Configuration Systems for Design and Manufacturing
(Gnosis) that aims to establish the framework for a new
manufacturing paradigm through the use of knowledge-
intensive strategies covering all stages of the product life
cycle. (4) Metamorphic Material Handling system which is
able to change their shape in a highly flexible, automated
and autonomous manner to meet the varying demands from
a flexible manufacturing system. (5) Organizational
Aspects of Human-Machine Coexisting Approach which
aims to pursue a practical methodology to establish the
optimum relationship between humans and manufacturing
facilities based on ergonomic, informational and sociotech-
nical studies on next-generation manufacturing systems.
(6) Digital Die Design System (3DS) which is a system for
constructing a powerful digital die design, it applies partic-
ularly to sheet metal forming. (7) Rapid Product Develop-
ment which is the approach that aims to explore, adapt and
integrate tools and strategies for accelerating the develop-
ment and deployment of new products with improved qual-
ity. (8) Intelligent Composite Products, this is an approach
that aims to develop an integrated design system for com-
posite materials based on the concept of parallel develop-
ment of the product and process.
Thus, what the current research will make high interest
for a wide range of organizations and people interested in
the current field of study is that the idea and main aim of
the implementation of the IMS is akin to any normal man-
ufacturing system in terms of increasing efficiency of the
manufacturing process and improving product design and
reducing production waste, thereby meeting the challenge
which represent in the globalization of the world economy
and growth of competition as well as the rapidly changing
customer requirements in the market which, in turn, are
forcing major changes in the production styles and con-
figuration of modern manufacturing organizations. All
these towards pleasing the demands of the customers
which are fluctuating promptly,12 where the appeal in
favour of the customer is mostly accomplished when there
is an efficient level with a very reasonable cost in the
business environment.13,14
In addition, management and control of production
organizations currently are impossible without an applica-
tion of appropriate techniques supporting decision-making
at each stage of an organization’s functioning from design
through to product exploitation. Intelligent manufacturing
techniques are an example of such available techniques that
enable composite automatization of technological and
organizational preparation for manufacture, current super-
vision, technological process control, organization and
management. These techniques have sufficient flexibility
in satisfying the changing production styles and highly
dynamic variations in product requirements.15
Moreover, in the business organization, the ultimate
demand for manufacture improvement is to increase their
competitiveness in the world markets.16 Given the impor-
tance of the foregoing, the competitiveness is possible to
achieve not only through improving product quality, short-
ening of delivery date and decreasing of production costs,
but also through what the current study has been contributed
in reviewing the set of intelligent manufacturing elements
(IMEs) which will have an effective role during providing
and implementing them properly in influencing on improv-
ing and the permanent development of product design and
thereby increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing pro-
cess and reducing production waste towards promoting eco-
nomic growth. All these will be driving the business
organizations to enhance their competitiveness in markets
with volatile needs. Thus, the IMEs and their impact will
be discussed in detail in the theoretical aspect of the current
Hama Kareem
research which, in turn, will more motivate on the impor-
tance of contribution which was highlighted in the current
search for those who are concerned in this field of the study.
Literature review and hypothesis
development
Intelligent manufacturing is a comprehensive classification
of manufacturing aiming at improving concept production
and product transaction. Manufacturing can be defined as a
multistage process which creates a product from raw mate-
rials. On the other hand, intelligent manufacturing is a sub-
set used for computer control and high levels of flexibility
in physical processes. There is an increased training for the
workforce for such flexibility and the use of technology
rather than specific tasks as is customary in ordinary man-
ufacturing. Intelligent manufacturing also means the use of
common intelligence for people, processes and machines to
influence the macroeconomics of manufacturing. Intelli-
gent manufacturing aims to increase the efficiency of man-
ufacturing resources, improve product design, reduce
production waste and thus improve business value and
safety, all while meeting customer requirements in terms
of delivery and quality.
However, there are the set of key elements of intelli-
gent manufacturing represented in intelligent devices,
intelligent employees, intelligent processes, intelligent
connectivity and intelligent infrastructure, which have a
real and effective role in enhancing the efficiency of man-
ufacturing resources, improving product design and
reducing the percentage of wastes in business organiza-
tions. For this important issue, the current study sought to
investigate whether any of these elements have a greater
impact in improving the product design towards reducing
production waste, thus improving the economic and com-
petitive situation of the organizations under study by
meeting the rapidly changing customer requirements in
terms of suitable quality and price. The following is a
discussion of the literature related to these set of elements
along with building the hypotheses that can reflect the real
reality for the impact of these elements.
IMEs and hypothesis development
The ultimate aim of the current study is to provide a better
understanding of the actual impact of the set of the IMEs on
the product design towards minimizing production waste at
the Kurdish mineral water plants. Subsequently, the current
study will focus on the basic five elements of relevant
intelligent manufacturing, each with their own hypotheses:
Intelligent devices. An intelligent device is any type of equip-
ment, instrument or machinery which has the ability of its
own computing capability.5,17 As computing technology
becomes more advanced and less expensive, it can be inte-
grated into an increasing number of devices of all types.18
3
For example, in an intelligent device, the intelligent sensors,
controls and software applications work together to obtain
real-time information and share those with the arrival of final
goods down the production line. ‘Smart Devices’ will enable
machines to take independent actions.12,19
In order to effectively use manufacturing resources and
the improvement of product design in line with rapidly
changing situations and requirements in the manufacture
of products in world markets, intelligent manufacturing
requires that intelligent devices be capable of changing
their behaviour in response to these changes of situations
and manufacturing requirements. 12,20 Managing and
changing the behaviour of the intelligent device is basically
based on past experience and learning capabilities pos-
sessed by those managing smart devices.18,21 The term
‘intelligent device management’ means using the software
to manufacture products that assist managers in controlling
devices and equipment through the global IP network. This
type of resource is often used in manufacturing and in
other systems where many different devices have to
communicate with each other and collaborate over long
distances.22,23 Thus, according to the above, intelligent
manufacturing and efficient use of manufacturing
resources and improved product design can have a signif-
icant and real role towards reducing of manufacturing
waste which can occur as a result of rapid and sudden
changes in product design and manufacturing in order to
respond to volatile market demands. As such, the following
hypothesis can be formulated:
H1: Intelligent devices have an influential impact on
product design towards reducing production waste in
industrial companies.
Intelligent employees. Intelligent is used in its broad sense to
refer to the high intelligence quotient (IQ). Webster’s dic-
tionary defines it as ‘mentally alert, knowledgeable, witty
and clever’.13 Yet, when it comes to the consideration of
intelligence in a more particular sense, it is possible to
observe that an employee with a distinguished IQ differs
from an intelligent employee. The former has skills of
comprehending, analysing and reproducing information.
The latter may have such qualities but must have possessed
worldly wisdom and also have a common sense which is
mainly a reflection of his own personal experience.24 A
smart employee is likely to have an easier time developing
cross-cultural communication skills if he or she does not
already own them. Kwintessential, a trade organization
specializing in cultural ethics, emphasizes that intercultural
communication skills are key to gaining a competitive
advantage in today’s business world. The intelligent
employee sees the big picture and understands the political
and competitive advantage associated with an ability to
adapt to his or her surroundings.25
Thus, as the vision of the intelligent factory has become
a reality in today’s business environment, the abundance of
4 International Journal of Engineering Business Management
productive experience of the intelligent employees in the
industrial organizations that follow the smart manufactur-
ing approach will lead to much faster processes of product
design and manufacturing, greater flexibility and more effi-
cient exploitation of materials, with reduced complexity
and downtime.12 Moreover, the intelligent employees are
very important to the success and effectiveness of any orga-
nization and the management should motivate them.26 As
the continuous development of computer software and
machinery replaces labours in most industrial organiza-
tions, the intelligent employee is able to learn these systems
and adapt to these changes and find methods to take a
personal approach in an impersonal environment.27 Thus,
motivating the organization’s management and their ability
to communicate with intelligent people who may occupy
various jobs and are located in various geographical areas
and providing them with relevant information in real time
will enable them to provide the intelligent design for the
product and the optimal exploitation of the manufacturing
resources towards minimizing the production waste that
may result from designs that do not meet the satisfaction
of customers in terms of quality and safety of the product.28
Out of the aforementioned discussion, the following
hypothesis is considered:
H2: Intelligent employees influence the product design
towards reducing production waste in industrial
companies.
Intelligent processes. Intelligent processes are dynamic, flex-
ible processes that focus directly on the consumer that is
constantly improving and adapting. In an era where com-
pliance and governance are essential, organizations must
ensure these processes are transparent.29 Once a process is
transparent, it becomes possible to make it adaptive, driv-
ing continuous improvement by evaluating how the process
works, thus ensuring the process stays intelligent in the face
of change.30 Also, the intelligent processes are the technol-
ogies that combine fundamental processes design with
robotic process automation and machine learning (ML).
These are, indeed, the triggers of initiating progress as far
as business is concerned and can be considered to a large
extent the future endeavour aiming at increasing the com-
petence of employees. This can be represented by the form
of avoiding repetition and routines of various tasks. Such
improvements will ultimately lead to a better connection
with the customers by providing more efficient services at
different levels.31,32 Intelligent processes mimic the activ-
ities of human beings and learn over time to do them better.
The elements of intelligent rule-based operations are
enhanced by decision-making capabilities through
advances in deep learning and knowledge technology.33
While intelligent processes take over rote tasks, workers
are capable of concentrating on properly replying to the
needs and the demands of the customers. They ought to
consider new methods that are largely found in news,
events, social media, embedded sensors, and so on which
can be of great significance to accomplish business goals.32
The key aim of intelligent processes is to consolidate the
proficiency, increase worker performance, decrease the
possible occurrence of work potential risks, and to improve
responding to the demands of the customers as soon as
possible.34 In addition, the full value of intelligent pro-
cesses is demonstrated by the achievement of significant
productivity gains in terms of increasing product design
efficiency, minimizing manufacturing waste and improv-
ing both the safety of the working environment and the
quality of the products.12 All these, in turn, enhance the
confidence of the industrial organizations in achieving
the rapidly changing market’s requirements and thereby
enhancing the company’s economic value and competitive-
ness. In light of the discussion above, the following hypoth-
esis was formulated.
H3: Intelligent processes would have a strong impact on
product design towards reducing production waste in
industrial companies.
Intelligent connectivity. Intelligent connectivity in industrial
organizations is the culmination of the basic information and
communications technology that links everything that assists
to walk the processes of production line smoothly and effi-
ciently in terms of smart sensors down to equipment that
operates according to the principle of industrial intelligence
and rich infrastructure.5 Intelligent connectivity is often
referred to as ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’, where the invisible
system of interpersonal relationships, devices and equipment
that have built-in technology to communicate, sense or inter-
act with their external or internal environments provide
superior performance with guaranteed production levels.
Moreover, IoT shows a networked world in which multiple
objects are integrated with electronic sensors, motors or
other digital devices so that they can be networked and
connected for the purpose of collecting and exchanging
data.35 Generally, IoT can provide advanced communication
with physical objects, systems and services, allowing com-
munication between objects and data sharing. In various
industries, control and automation of lighting, heating, auto-
mation, automated vacuum and remote monitoring can be
achieved through the IoT. One of the key technologies in the
IoT is automatic identification (auto-ID) technology, which
can be used to perform smart operations.31,12
Thus, intelligent communication of this level allows
complete business integration, with some potential of prod-
ucts that can exist outside the actual device in the product
cloud. Data from these products can be evaluated to
improve operational efficiency and allow informed deci-
sion-making.3 In terms of simplification, the benefit of
harnessing intelligent connectivity for industrial organiza-
tions allows for an interconnected management solution
once products are connected. Organizations can then
evolve to offer more complex product designs and less
Hama Kareem
damage in terms of manufacturing waste, which ultimately
makes these products have a higher value. All these, in turn,
can significantly improve efficiency and business growth,
thereby enhancing the economic and competitive position
of these organizations. Thus, according to the facts above,
the following hypothesis was set up:
H4: Intelligent connectivity would have a strong impact
on product design towards reducing production waste in
industrial companies.
Intelligent infrastructure. Intelligent infrastructure takes care
of real-time information available among various plants,
equipment, processes, devices and people. It may include
information technology (IT) infrastructure such as Satellite
link, Ethernet connectivity, Wi-Fi routers, Remote PC ser-
vice, Data storage service, Fibre optic link, Civil structure,
Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic hardware.36,37 The
intelligent industrial infrastructure is also called the Con-
nected Enterprise, which is considered intelligent, opti-
mized and secure. The interrelated enterprise is the
convergence of IT and operations technology (OT) in a
single unified architecture to take advantage of operational,
business and transactional data to improve enterprise per-
formance, processes and supply chain. By using intelligent
infrastructure components which interact with mobile
devices, products and individuals, a conscious infrastruc-
ture will better support complexity and enable more effi-
cient manufacturing of goods.10,38
Intelligent infrastructure is also helping to improve the
utilization of intelligent devices and equipment towards
design of products and to manufacture them more effi-
ciently and with less damage in terms of production waste.
This is accomplished by the plant-floor OT and business-
level IT, which are characteristics of intelligent infrastruc-
ture. For example, an organization may incorporate
intelligent monitoring devices into its inhaler product lines
for real-time data collection and analysis to improve the
design efficiency of products and their manufacture, thereby
maintaining their high quality.39,40 Thus, the fifth hypothesis
was formulated according to the above discussion.
H5: Intelligent infrastructure would have a strong
impact on product design towards reducing production
waste in industrial companies.
Methodology of study
This section discusses the methodology used in the study in
terms of the study model, the data collection tools and
procedures. The current study is descriptive and focuses
mainly on obtaining better understanding of the true influ-
ence of the set of IMEs in the product design towards
reducing production waste. To achieve this end, the study
was performed by conducting a cross-sectional survey
along with semi-structured interview to obtain data and
5
Intelligent Manufacturing Elements (IME)
Intelligent Intelligent Intelligent Intelligent Intelligent
Devices Employees Processes Connectivity Infrastructure
Product Design Towards Reducing
Production Waste
Figure 1. Study model.
Source: Organized by the researcher, adapted from Wadhwa45
and Malavasi and Schenetti.46
information from the officials and employees who work
full-time in Kurdish mineral water factories. The model
of the study is established in accordance with the afore-
mentioned foregoing as in Figure 1.
Based on the sampling table provided by Krejcie and
Morgan,41 the sample size for a population of 891 is 269
respondents in three Kurdish mineral water plants. On the
basis of the strata and proportional representation condition
of stratified sampling that satisfy verifying the key aim of
the current study, the sample for each mineral water plant
was 87, 89 and 93, respectively. It is worth noting that the
trademarks of these plants are unrevealed as the human
resources (HR) department of these plants recommended.
All the relevant and prerequisite data are provided by the
administrative boards of the plants and, hence, are consid-
ered the population of the study. The participants (who
represent the sample) varied according to the level of edu-
cation. Research strategy aids to a large extent in system-
izing the operation variables, gathering reliable
information and analysing them and, by doing so, a solution
can be founded to the key problematic areas which the
research arises.42 As noted earlier, the current study aimed
to explore and understand the impact of the set of IMEs in
the product design towards reducing production waste in
three Kurdish mineral water factories. On the basis of that,
the approach of mixed method by using both quantitative
and qualitative methods (survey questionnaire and semi-
structured interviews concurrently) of data collection
within the framework of the case study was selected, which
in turn makes the findings more valid and reliable. The
following is a detailed discussion of the methods used to
collect data in the present study.
Data collection methods
The questionnaire used in the present study consisted of
three sections. The first section was related to IMEs which
consisted of intelligent devices, intelligent employees,
intelligent processes, intelligent connectivity and intelli-
gent infrastructure. These five dimensions were measured
6 International Journal of Engineering Business Management
using 20 items (4 items for each dimension, respectively).
The second section of the questionnaire was interested in
the items measuring the implementation of IMS in terms of
improving product design and optimal utilization of avail-
able resources by reducing the percentage of wastes,
decreasing of production costs and meeting customer
requirements in terms of quality, price and delivery date,
and other specifications which can explicitly demonstrate
the insights of the employees concerning how to carry out
the procedures of the IMS in their factories. These dimen-
sions have been measured through 15 items, which were
also classified on a five-point Likert-type scale on the basis
of measuring the percentages of agreement or disagree-
ment. The third section of this survey encompassed the
demographic information of those involved as the sample
of the study like gender, age, fieldwork experience and
education level. To guarantee that the questionnaire
achieves the aims of the study and to ensure obtaining
objective results as far as validity is concerned, the ques-
tionnaire was subjected to test by using a special checklist,
this is for verifying whether the questionnaire covered all
aspects considered necessary, such as organizational, edu-
cational, technical and environmental aspects.
One of the most important criteria for designing a ques-
tionnaire is that the questions are short, relevant and easy to
understand. Meanwhile, it is important to ensure that
respondents interpret the questionnaire questions correctly.
Hence, the questionnaire contained a number of questions
out of which the respondents have total freedom to choose
from a list of items. This is recommended in the post
(mail) surveys. In cases where it is significant, an open-
ended choice is given to confirm that the questions are
interpreted objectively and efficiently by the respondents
so as to arrive to a precise interpretation of the given
questions. This improves the reliability and validity of the
instrument. To ensure a high degree of content and to
build validity, the questionnaire was based on appropriate
theory and literature and was previously tested by aca-
demics and practitioners in the field of the IMS to ensure
that all terms used were relevant and clear. At the same
time, all data collection procedures have been written in
detail to ensure that the process is replicated and that good
reliability is enabled.
The procedures of the questionnaire survey were as fol-
lows. The designed questionnaire was passed through the
procedures of drafting, pretesting, finalizing and produc-
tion, which was followed by first mail, first reminder using
mail and the second reminder using the phone. Based on the
study, objective questions were formulated to cover all
relevant aspects. The content of the question and formula
had been carefully chosen. The questionnaire (written in
English) was then taken through a series of tests. The first
test was conducted by the designers and then it was pre-
sented in a seminar as part of an annual meeting with the
industrial competitiveness centre at the Chamber of Com-
merce in the Sulaymaniyah city/Kurdistan region of Iraq.
After that, other colleagues and PhD students at the Faculty
of Management and Faculty of Engineering at the Univer-
sity of Sulaymaniyah tested the draft of the questionnaire
translated into Arabic. The remarks were considered by the
researcher and were implied in the final version of the
questionnaire. On the other hand, the translation was exam-
ined carefully so as to ensure credibility and authenticity.
The Arabic version of the questionnaire was, then,
examined practically matching it to the actual fieldwork.
This was accomplished by sending it with a cover letter to
one of the plants participating in the research project so as
to confirm its reliability. The production manager at this
plant was asked to write his reflections on how clear the
questions were and how easy they were to answer. After
that, the questionnaire was revised and retested again with
the same manager. When the researcher was satisfied with
the questionnaire, the required number of survey question-
naires had been reproduced and were given to the respon-
dents through the senior managers of the chosen plants. The
data were then collected from each of the respective plants.
It is worth mentioning at this point that those in charge of
the administration in the three plants made the process of
data collection possible, easier and efficient. The number
of the respondents (which represent the sample of the
study) was 269. The method used was proportional sam-
pling method under stratified sampling technique which
can efficiently meet the requirements of the aims of the
study. The total number of the collected questionnaires was
213, out of which 11 were neglected due to their inappro-
priateness. Thus, the final sample for data analysis was 202;
this indicates that the response rate has reached 75.09%.
In addition to the survey questionnaire, the semi-
structured interviews were also conducted for an efficient
comprehension of how the set of IMEs in terms of improving
product design influences the reduction of the production
waste in the mineral water industry. These interviews
assisted the researcher to have more in-depth information
about the implementation of the IMS, as well as the effect
which the set of IMEs can have concerning improving prod-
uct design and reducing production waste in the factories
under study. The main focus of the sample of the study was
on the middle management represented in Production, Main-
tenance, and HR of each selected mineral water plant. As far
as the respondents who were supposed to be part of the semi-
structured interviews, the purposive sampling technique was
applied. Selecting the respondents for eliciting the replies
through the interviews were based on the following criteria:
 functional level being the head of the department in
the plant;
 staff members with efficient information and expe-
rience concerning the process of applying the IMS;
 staff members having authorities and are decision
makers at the departmental level; and
 mainly and directly involved in implementing the
IMS.
Hama Kareem
Table 1. Respondents’ background (N ¼ 202).
Respondents’ background
Gender Age
Items N % Items N %
Male 161 79.70 Under 25 years 59 29.21
Female 41 20.30 25–34 years 74 36.63
35–45 years 48 23.76
Over 45 years 21 10.40
Source: Organized by the researcher depending on the demographic details data of the questionnaire.
All the interviewees’ voices were recorded and then
written down for documenting the major ideas, views and
opinions. The written interviews were given to the respon-
dents for credibility and to give more chances to either add
or delete something from what they had already said. Such
procedure would definitely validate the replies and hence
would enhance the obtained results.
Data analysis
The following are the findings that were obtained as a
consequence of processing the collected data through the
survey questionnaire and the statistical techniques which
were used to test the hypotheses along with the semi-
structured interviews. This is to get more knowledge and
in-depth information about the influence that could be
played by the set of IMEs towards improving product
design and reducing production waste at the Kurdish
mineral water plants.
General information of respondents involved in survey
questionnaire
This section is devoted to expose general information about
the respondents. The information comprised a number of
demographic characteristics such as gender, age, fieldwork
experience and education level. This is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 shows that the percentage of males was 79.70%
and the females was 20.30%. Such percentages reflect a
general and actual representation of male/female employ-
ees in most industrial sectors in Kurdistan region of Iraq.
As for Age, the above table shows that the percentage of the
respondents who were less than 25 years was 29.21%, the
percentage of those between 25 and 34 years was 36.63%,
whereas the percentage of those between 35 and 45 years
was 23.76% and finally the percentage of those who were
more than 45 was 10.40%. Hence, the highest percentage
were from the young generation who usually have suffi-
cient capabilities and enjoy vitality and good response for
modern and updated systems of technology and their
implementation, such as the IMS. Fieldwork experience
shows that most of the respondents had more than 5 years’
experience and less than 10 years and with a percentage
7
Fieldwork experience Education level
Items N % Items N %
<5 years 51 25.25 High school graduate 37 18.32
5–10 years 70 34.65 Diploma degree 58 28.71
11–15 years 48 23.76 Bachelor’s degree 104 51.49
>15 years 33 16.34 Advanced degree 3 1.48
34.65%, 25.25% less than 5 years, 23.76% between 11 and
15 years, while the percentage of those who had more than
15 years’ experience was 16.34%. Thus, the percentages
clearly show that the majority had sufficient experience as
far as tackling new systems, such as the IMS is concerned;
this, in turn, implies that they are entirely capable of
achieving acceptable levels of the results when operating
with such systems, which represent in developing perfor-
mance, improving product quality and, most importantly,
decreasing, as much as possible, manufacturing waste. As
for the education level, the table shows that most of the
employees hold a bachelor’s degree (51.49%), diploma
degree (28.71%), and high school graduates (18.32%), in
addition to those who have a high educational degree with a
percentage of 1.48%. Such percentages clearly imply that
the majority of the employees have a good level of educa-
tion. This means that, in addition to being mostly young,
they are capable of coping with modern technology and
come up with good ideas and meaningful programmes that
make the implementation of IMS problem-free in their
plants.
Profile of interview respondents
This section is devoted to showing a brief illustration of
respondents’ general information who were subject to
interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted
with the directors of the three main departments such as
maintenance, production and HR. There were seven inter-
view questions that were asked of the interviewees. These
questions focused on the importance of the implementation
of the IMS in terms of improving the efficiency of the
factory towards improving the design of products and their
impact in reducing production waste along with the cap-
abilities enjoyed by employees in dealing with these intel-
ligent systems and the difficulties they encounter during
implementation. The interviews were transcribed for anal-
ysis purposes and to identify major themes. Before analysis
was conducted, themes identified in the interviews were
coded using predetermined coding. This predetermined
coding corresponded with the research questions of the
study. It is also worth mentioning that codes (A, B and
C) were given to each of the three factories and their names
8 International Journal of Engineering Business Management

Table 2. Brief profile of interview respondents.

Code Designation Department Factory Profile

AR1 Director Maintenance A Director of the maintenance department since 2011. He is an Egyptian national. He holds a
Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Cairo University of Egypt (1991). The
respondent has more than 15 years of experience in the field of maintenance and
operation of production equipment. He is currently a first supervisor on the
implementation of maintenance works and repair in factory A under study.
AR2 Director HR A Director of HR department, holds Iraqi nationality. He holds a Master of Business
Administration from the Baghdad University of Iraq (2007). The respondent has more
than 10 years of experience in the field of business management. He works as the
director of HR in the plant (A). Alongside his post, he is currently administratively
responsible for providing all the necessary requirements for proper working of the IMSs
in the plant.
AR3 Director Production A Director of the production department since 2010. He holds a Master of Mechanical
Engineering from the Baghdad University of Iraq (1997). The respondent has experience
exceeding 20 years in fieldwork, where he worked formerly as manager of production
northern region for the cement industry in Iraq as a whole. He is currently primarily
responsible for production lines in the factory (A) as a whole.
BR1 Director HR B Director of HR department since 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Business
Administration from the Baghdad University of Iraq (2000). The respondent has
more than 10 years of experience in the field of HR management. Alongside his
post, he is considered one of the supervisors on the employees’ train, including the
employees’ participants in implementing the intelligent manufacturing activities in
the factory (B).
BR2 Director Maintenance B Director of the maintenance department since 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical
Engineering from the Baghdad University of Iraq (1994). The respondent has more than
15 years of experience in his field. He is one of the supervisors on the maintenance of
the precision devices and equipment in the factory (B) as a whole.
BR3 Director Production B Director of the production department since 2010. He is an Egyptian national. He holds a
Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Ain-Shams University of Egypt (1993). The
respondent has experience exceeding 15 years in his specialized field. He is currently the
first supervisor on the operation of production lines in the plant (B).
CR1 Director Maintenance C Director of the maintenance department since 2013. He is an Egyptian national. He holds a
Master of Mechanical Engineering from the Cairo University of Egypt (1996). The
respondent has experience exceeding 10 years in the field of maintenance of precision
devices and equipment. He is currently one of the supervisors on the proper operation
of IMSs’ activities in the plant (C) as a whole.
CR2 Director Production C Director of the production department since 2010. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Technology in Iraq (2000). The respondent has more
than 10 years of experience in his work field. He is the first official responsible for
production lines in the factory (C) as a whole.
CR3 Director HR C Director of HR department since 2012. He holds a Master of Business Administration
from the Erbil University of Iraq (2005). The respondent has more than 10 years of
experience in the field of HR management. He participated in many international
conferences in the field of development of HR such as ‘Ways of developing the
organizational loyalty of employees’. Alongside his post, he is currently administratively
responsible for providing all the resources and services for employees in the plant (C).

Source: Organized by the researcher depending on interview respondents’ information.

HR: human resources; IMS: intelligent manufacturing system.

were not mentioned at the request of the HR department in
these factories. Once coding was completed, interviews
were analysed using content analysis approach. The con-
tent analysis was used to triangulate the results of a quali-
tative study with the results of quantitative analysis. The
content analysis of the interviews has been done according
to the questions that were asked from the interviewees. The
brief profile of the interview respondents is provided
in Table 2.
Pearson correlation analysis for variables
The main aim of using Pearson correlation was to establish
a connection between the IMEs and product design aiming
at reducing production waste. Pearson correlation checks
the significant connection between variables.42 The corre-
lation findings were pointed out in Table 3.
Pearson correlation findings were found to be significant
for all study variables. The findings referred that the intel-
ligent devices, intelligent processes, intelligent employees
Hama Kareem
Table 3. Correlation matrix for variables of study.
ID IE IP IC II PD
Intelligent devices 1 industrial organizations.2,12,20 All these are mainly due to
Intelligent employees 0.571* 1 the fact that intelligent devices are capable of changing
Intelligent processes 0.582* 0.439* 1 their behavior in response to changes in situations and
Intelligent connectivity 0.553* 0.484* 0.552* 1
Intelligent infrastructure 0.519* 0.464* 0.539* 0.537* 1
Product design 0.598* 0.571* 0.595* 0.544* 0.465* 1
Source: Organized by the researcher depending on the correlation matrix
data for variables of the study.
*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
and intelligent connectivity have significant positive and
strong relationship with the product design (r ¼ 0.598,
r ¼ 0.595, r ¼ 0.571, r ¼ 0.544), respectively. Intelligent
infrastructure was found to have a moderately strong and
positive association with the product design (r ¼ 0.465).
Intelligent devices were found to have a strong positive
association with the intelligent processes, intelligent
employees, intelligent connectivity and intelligent infra-
structure (r ¼ 0.582, r ¼ 0.571, r ¼ 0.553, r ¼ 0.519),
respectively. Intelligent employees were found to have a
moderately strong and positive association with intelligent
connectivity, intelligent infrastructure and intelligent pro-
cesses (r ¼ 0.484, r ¼ 0.464, r ¼ 0.439). Moreover, the
intelligent processes were found to have a strong positive
association with the intelligent connectivity and intelligent
infrastructure (r ¼ 0.552, r ¼ 0.539), respectively. As well,
it found that intelligent connectivity had a strong positive
association with intelligent infrastructure (r ¼ 0.537,
p < 0.01). Once association was established between vari-
ables, regression analysis using multiple regression tech-
nique was conducted and their findings integrated with the
results of the content analysis of the interviews, which were
used to triangulate the results of a qualitative study (inter-
views) with the results of the quantitative analysis (regres-
sion analysis). The results of the regression analysis are
shown in the following section of the current study.
Regression analysis for IMEs and product design
To check the impact of the IMEs on product design with the
aim to reduce production waste, the multiple regression
analysis was performed for the elements of intelligent man-
ufacturing and product design. The regression has been
performed to make sure which of the elements are most
influential on product design towards reducing production
waste in the three plants under study. Table 4 displays the
findings of the multiple regression analysis.
The regression results indicated that intelligent devices
(b ¼ 0.534, p < 0.05) have a strong influence on the product
design towards reducing production waste in industrial
organizations under study. It means that intelligent devices
would have an influence of 53.4% on improving the prod-
uct design, which will, in turn, lead to effective use of
9
product manufacturing resources in line with rapidly
changing situations and requirements in the manufacture
of products in order to reduce production waste in the
manufacturing requirements. Managing and changing the
behavior of the intelligent device is basically based on past
experience and learning capabilities possessed by those
managing smart devices.5,18,21
In addition, Chen33 said that the provision of cloud com-
puting technology which provides an Internet-based com-
puting service will make of the intelligent devices to collect
the data and information in real time and well provide them
from all areas in the product life cycle. Thus, the data will
then be processed through cloud computing, and accurate
decisions can be made continuously and autonomously
with little or no human intervention.
Moreover, the results of semi-structured interviews
revealed that most of the respondents stressed that intelli-
gent devices have an effective impact on product design
towards reducing production waste in their companies. For
example, AR2, BR1 and CR1 referred that
the intelligent devices and equipment have an effective role in
improving product design and thus walk the manufacturing
processes more safely and smoothly towards the production
of defect-free products, which in turn, lead to improving the
efficiency of manufacturing resources and significantly
reducing manufacturing waste. Respondent AR3 and CR2
noted that the intelligent devices not only improve the design
of the products in the factory but also assisted to reduce the
errors that can occur in the production process of products,
which in turn lead to reduce the percentage of defective prod-
ucts significantly and raise the level of customer satisfaction
on the products of the factory in terms of quality in particular.
Thus, the results of the regression analysis along with
the results of interviews for the IME model–product design
provide support for the first hypothesis; therefore, hypoth-
esis 1 was accepted.
The regression findings revealed that the intelligent
employees (b ¼ 0.379, p < 0.05) have an influence on
improving the product design towards reducing production
waste in industrial organizations. It means that the intelli-
gent employees who have abundant production experience
will have the ability to make product design processes and
manufacture faster and more flexible to cope with the fluc-
tuations in product production requirements that can occur
in the global markets, thus increasing the efficiency of
manufacturing resources and reducing production waste.12
Moreover, intelligent employees are very important to
the success and effectiveness of an organization. They are
often ambitious and want to make an extra effort to achieve
the organization’s goals. They also have creative ideas that
make the organization’s processes, whether productive or
10
Table 4. Multiple simultaneous regression analysis for dimensions of IME–PD model.a
Model R R2 Adjusted R2
0.617 0.394 0.380
Intelligent devices
Intelligent employees
Intelligent processes
Intelligent connectivity
Intelligent infrastructure
Source: Organized by the researcher depending on the data of multiple regression analysis for dimensions of IME–PD model.
a
Predictors: (constant) intelligent devices, intelligent employees, intelligent processes, intelligent connectivity, and intelligent infrastructure; dependent
variable: product design.
service, more capable and efficient to face any changes
that may occur in the markets in which these organiza-
tions operate. All these, in turn, will assist to improve the
competitiveness of these organizations. Accordingly, the
management of the organizations must motivate such
employees and provide them with the necessary
support.26
Further, Chen33 referred that one of the key character-
istics of human intelligence is the capability to learn. Thus,
it should follow the strategy of ML, which refers to the
capability to understand and learn the inside of a physical
system by the intelligent people for computing algorithms
based on data. For manufacturing systems, the implemen-
tation of an ML algorithm by intelligent employees makes
it feasible for a machine or other device to learn its baseline
and working conditions automatically. It is also feasible to
create and upgrade a knowledge base throughout the man-
ufacturing process.43
In addition, the results of the interviews revealed that
most respondents pointed out that there is a remarkable role
for intelligent employees in making the stages and pro-
cesses of PD and manufacture more efficient in terms of
the use of available resources to suit the requirements of
the volatile customers in the current markets. For example,
AR2, BR1, CR2 and CR3 said that
‘the intelligent employee is the employee who has the confi-
dence of himself. A confident employee is also more willing to
take risks or go for challenges that an uncertain counterpart
would shy away from. Great outcomes come from people who
have faith in their abilities and talents. Thus, such employees
will be more efficient in dealing with precision devices and
equipment as well as production processes, and thus produce
products with more economical designs in terms of price, more
efficient in terms of quality and less waste in terms of produc-
tion. This is what most business organizations are looking for
in the face of intense competition today’. [sic]
Based on the foregoing, it can be observed that the
results of regression analysis along with the results of inter-
views for the model of the IMEs–product design indicate
support for the second hypothesis; therefore, hypothesis 2
has been accepted.
International Journal of Engineering Business Management
F Significant b t p
25.310 0.000
0.534 7.825 0.000
0.379 5.161 0.028
0.521 7.719 0.000
0.497 6.806 0.016
0.182 4.301 0.039
Similarly, the regression findings pointed out that intel-
ligent processes also have a significant role in product
design. This means that intelligent processes would have
a significant influence (52.1%) on improving products
design efficiency, minimizing manufacturing waste, the
safety of the working environment and improving the quality
of the products in the industrial organizations.12 All these
will, in turn, lead to radically enhanced efficiency of those
organizations, increased worker performance, reduction of
operational risks,34 and then increasing their confidence in
the face of volatile market requirements and thereby enhan-
cing their economic value and competitiveness.
Grigori et al.44 mentioned that the intelligent manufac-
turing processes for any organization in order to be smarter,
this organization needs to follow the technology that can
offer ML and predictive analytics tailored to the unique
processes. Thus, with a foundation of operational insights,
real-time analytics and the ability to quickly generate
reports to support intelligent manufacturing processes, this
makes the organizations be more determined to own the
technology referred to above; this is in order to be more
prosperous in their insights and analysis and make their
intelligent manufacturing smarter.
Moreover, the findings of semi-structured interviews
showed that all respondents were positive about the effec-
tive role of intelligent processes in improving product
design, where the respondents AR3, BR2 and CR1 referred
that
the intelligent processes not only help to improve product
design and reducing the manufacturing waste but also help
to reduce downtime and speed up product production in gen-
eral, as well as speed to adapt these processes to any changes
that can occur in specification and characteristics of products
to keep pace with changes in market requirements. In addition,
intelligent processes assist in making the working environment
safer by removing repetitive, replicable and routine tasks in the
factory.
Thus, the results of the regression analysis along with
the results of interviews for the IME model–product design
indicate that their results support the third hypothesis;
therefore, hypothesis 3 was accepted.
Hama Kareem 11

In addition, the regression results showed that the intel- Table 5. Results of the study hypotheses.
ligent connectivity (b ¼ 0. 497, p < 0.05) has an effect on
Hypotheses Results
improving the product design towards reducing production
waste in industrial organizations under study. This means H1 Intelligent devices have an influential Hypothesis
that the intelligent connectivity (IoT) in the industrial orga- impact on product design towards supported
nizations can assist in allowing for the sharing of data and reducing production waste in
industrial companies.
information between these devices, systems and then the
H2 Intelligent employees influence the Hypothesis
business integration.12,31 This leads to the possibility of product design towards reducing supported
producing designs for higher quality and more economical production waste in industrial
products in terms of the manufacturing waste, which ulti- companies.
mately makes these products, in the end, have a higher H3 Intelligent processes would have a Hypothesis
value in the market.3 strong impact on product design supported
Furthermore, the results of interviews indicated that towards reducing production
waste in industrial companies.
intelligent connectivity has a positive effect on the produc-
H4 Intelligent connectivity would have a Hypothesis
tive process of the factory as a whole, where the respon- strong impact on product design supported
dents AR3 and CR2 mentioned that towards reducing production
waste in industrial companies.
the intelligent connectivity among the devices and equipment H5 Intelligent infrastructure would have Hypothesis
of the factory has a large role in the speed and accuracy of data a strong impact on product design supported
towards reducing production
transfer between these devices and equipment; this is what
waste in industrial companies.
helps to extract the designs for more useful products that are
less harmful in terms of production. Intelligent connectivity Source: Organized by the researcher depending on the results of data
allows for the rapid ability to make any change requiring prod- analysis.
uct specifications in line with the requirements of volatile
customers. All this, in turn, can significantly improve effi- whole to improve the use of smart devices and equipment to
ciency and business growth in the factory, thereby enhancing
design and manufacture products more efficiently and which
the factory’s economic and competitive position.
are less harmful in terms of production. This is accomplished
by the plant-floor OT and business-level IT, which are char-
Based on the foregoing, it can be observed that the acteristics of intelligent infrastructure.
results of regression analysis along with the results of inter- Moreover, the above result was confirmed by a number
views for the model of the IME–product design indicate of respondents such as AR1, AR2, BR3 and CR2 inter-
support for the fourth hypothesis; therefore, hypothesis 4 viewed in the current study. Based on the results of the
has been accepted. regression analysis and the results of the interviews,
However, the regression results displayed that the intel- hypothesis 5 was accepted.
ligent infrastructure (b ¼ 0. 182, p < 0.05) has an effect, but
is somewhat weak on the product design in industrial fac-
tories under study. This is mainly due to the fact that build- Summary of the findings
ing a complete intelligent infrastructure, especially in the This section provides the summary of findings. The present
third world countries, requires large capital. This is because study was conducted to investigate the impact of the set of
this element (intelligent infrastructure) is needed to build IMEs on the product design in reducing production waste.
advanced IT such as Satellite link, Ethernet connectivity, The data were collected using mixed methods represented
Fibre optic link and other technologies.36,37 Due to the in a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews.
inability of many business organizations, including the The study hypotheses were tested using parametric tests
organizations under study, to provide sufficient capital for such as Pearson correlation for establishing the association
the establishment of such technology, the result of the pres- between the major variables of the study. To investigate the
ent study indicates that the intelligent infrastructure has a influence of independent variables (IMEs) on product
slight impact on the product design. design with the aim to reduce production waste, the multi-
Nevertheless, intelligent infrastructure is essential to ple regression analysis was performed. Table 5 displays the
improve the efficiency of product design and manufacture results of the study hypotheses.
and thus maintain the high quality in many industrial organi-
zations.39,40 This means that smart infrastructure, whether in
The practical implications of the current
organizations under study or other business organizations that
seek to improve the design of the product towards reducing study
the manufacturing waste, should provide sufficient capital for The findings of the current study showed that implement-
its establishment (smart infrastructure) in a manner that helps ing IMS successfully by the industrial organizations toward
to create favourable circumstances in the organization as a improve the production lines effectiveness, the safety at the
12
work environment and attain the desired competitive advan-
tage in terms of the high ability to meet the needs of the
market volatile depends on providing and implementing
properly for the set of IMEs which were addressed in the
current study. Thus, the practical implications of the current
study which would help the three factories’ management
under study to improve the implementation of the IMS and
getting the desired results are represented in the following:
1. Diagnose the IMEs that are most influential on
product design towards reducing production waste
in the three plants under study.
2. Diagnose the obstacles that prevent the improving
of implementing the elements of intelligent manu-
facturing properly (such as intelligent infrastruc-
ture) in the factories under study. This would
assist the factories’ management to take the neces-
sary measures to address these obstacles and
thereby getting the desired results of implementing
the IMS as much as possible.
3. The results of the study were revealed that the fac-
tories managements need to take more attention
with the intelligent devices in terms of providing
these devices and using them effectively. This
mainly due to the high ability of these devices on
improving the design of the products and reducing
the errors that can occur in the production process,
which in turn, can lead to reduce the percentage of
defective products significantly and raise the level
of customer satisfaction on the factory products in
terms of quality in particular.
4. The study findings revealed that IEs have also an
influence on improving the product design towards
reducing the production waste in industrial organi-
zations. Therefore, the factories’ management
should give those employees the necessary empow-
erment and autonomy to implement their tasks well.
5. The study results revealed the need to pay attention
by the factories’ management with smart processes
and provide all that is necessary to make them
more efficient in improving products design, mini-
mizing manufacturing waste, safety of working
environment and improving the quality of the
products in plants.
6. The factories managements should give attention
with the intelligent connectivity, this because of its
big role in the speed and accuracy of data transfer
between the factory devices and equipment, which
in turn, will help to extract the designs for the more
useful products and the less harmful in terms of
production.
Conclusion and future research directions
In light of the globalization of the world economy and the
growth of competition, as well as rapidly changing
International Journal of Engineering Business Management
customer requirements in the market, business organiza-
tions are working closely to modernize the industrial base
by using the common intelligence of people, processes and
machines in one system called IMS. This is done with the
aim of influencing the macroeconomics of manufacturing
by improving product design towards improving manufac-
turing resources, improving business value, increasing
safety, reducing waste while meeting customer require-
ments for delivery and quality, and thereby improving the
market share of the organization and keeping it in the fore-
front of competition.
Thus, the results of the study showed that there are
several elements of intelligent manufacturing that have an
important effect on improving product design towards
improving manufacturing resources and reducing manufac-
turing waste. These results revealed that each intelligent
device and intelligent process of IMEs had had a strong
impact on improving product design, leading to the opti-
mum use of manufacturing resources and reducing manu-
facturing waste in the industrial organizations. All these are
mainly due to the fact that intelligent devices are capable of
changing their behaviour towards making any changes in
product design in response to changes in situations and
market requirements. Intelligent processes also have the
ability to reduce the downtime of factory devices and
equipment in general, thereby accelerating product produc-
tion. In addition, the speed of adaptation of these processes
in response to any changes that can occur in the specifica-
tions and characteristics of products enables companies to
keep pace with changes in market requirements.
The findings of the study revealed that both intelligent
connectivity and intelligent employees have played a sig-
nificant role in improving product design and improving
the efficiency of manufacturing resources to reduce man-
ufacturing waste. This is because intelligent connectivity
(IoT) in the industrial organizations can assist in allowing
for the sharing of data and information between these
devices, systems and then the business integration, and
thereby the ability to produce designs for more quality
and more economical products in terms of the manufac-
turing waste, which ultimately makes these products have
higher value in the market. Intelligent employees also
have the confidence in themselves and thus they are more
efficient in dealing with precision devices and equipment
as well as production processes, and thus produce prod-
ucts with more economical designs in terms of price, more
efficient in terms of quality and less waste in terms of
production. This is what most business organizations are
looking for in the face of intense competition today. How-
ever, the study results displayed that the intelligent infra-
structure had a somewhat weak product design towards
reducing manufacturing waste. This is mainly due to the
fact that providing intelligent infrastructure for all busi-
ness organizations, including the organizations under
study, requires large capital. This is because this element
(intelligent infrastructure) requires advanced IT such as
Hama Kareem
Satellite link, Ethernet connectivity, Fibre optic link and
other technologies, which require considerable financial
capacity.
Although this study yielded interesting results, the
study is not without limitations. The foremost being the
sample size. Only three organizations were selected and
respondents to the survey belonged to these three
selected organizations. Increasing sample size and the
number of organizations may affect the results of the
study. Further, doing a comparative study of organiza-
tions that have implemented and organizations that are
in the process of implementing IMS would definitely
reveal results that could provide more insights into the
successful implementation of this system. In addition,
the researcher faced many difficulties (limitations) dur-
ing the current study. These difficulties are as follows:
(1) The difficulty of determining the date for interviews
with department managers (especially production depart-
ment), due to their preoccupation most of the time.
(2) The difficulty of obtaining the approvals and the
many routine procedures, this is for the purpose of
allowing to conduct the practical part of the current
study in the three Kurdish mineral water plants. This
is mainly due to the critical security situation in Iraq
in general. (3) The time and the high cost to go to the
three mineral water plants. (4) The lack of enough aca-
demic publications in this area, particularly in Iraq and
in the Middle East generally.
As for the future research directions, there are many
organizational factors as well that affect the implementa-
tion of these elements such as top management, organiza-
tional culture and HR policies that are also needed to be
investigated in detail for successful and effective imple-
mentation of the IMS. Future researchers could take up any
of these factors and detail analysis could be conducted for
organizations that are implementing the elements of this
system to gain useful insights. Besides, studying the role
of organizational factors in the implementation of IMEs
would enhance the theoretical and practical sides of the
current study and also would provide an explanation more
comprehensive about the role of these factors in the imple-
mentation of those elements in details. As well as, it is
desirable if future research is focused on the role of the
elements that are addressed in the current study on the
overall effectiveness of production lines towards improv-
ing product efficiency in terms of quality and price. This
can enhance the theoretical model which has taken into
account this aspect in the current study. In addition, it
provides a suitable explanation of the cumulative impact
of the implementation of IMEs on the overall effective-
ness of production lines in the organization under study as
a whole. On the other hand, it is better for the future
researches that conducting the comparison among the fac-
tories that implement IMS in their productive processes in
different countries (cross-country), and not the compari-
son among the three factories in the same country, which
13
the current study conducted it in terms of the state of IMS
implementing.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
9971-5596
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