Erlend Alfnes

Erlend Alfnes is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, based in Narvik. His work focuses on industrial technology and production management within engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing environments.

• Research Themes: Industry 4.0 integration, Lean manufacturing, sustainable shipbuilding, supply chain uncertainty mitigation, hydrogen transition in maritime, and digitalized logistics frameworks.
• Methodologies: Multiple case studies, systematic literature reviews, framework development, and empirical investigations into ETO operations.
• Key Collaborations: Regularly co-authors with researchers like Marco Giovanni Semini, Fabio Sgarbossa, and Jonathan Gosling on projects such as Industry 5.0 enabled Smart Logistics.

Publication Trends: Recent works emphasize Industry 4.0's impact on Lean barriers (2025), circular economy practices in ETO shipbuilding (2025), operator 4.0 frameworks (2024), and hydrogen transition in maritime value chains (2024). Earlier contributions explore digitalized yard logistics (2023), spare parts inventory guidelines (2023), and tactical delivery date practices (2022).

Technical Expertise: Advanced knowledge in CONWIP systems, Kanban optimization, and spare parts classification. His work bridges theoretical models with practical applications in shipbuilding and engineer-to-order production.