When companies in process industries take radical leaps in product innovation, these new products often fall outside the “process window” of existing production processes and hence require extensive production line modifications and radical process change. Consequently, firms need to deal with high degrees of uncertainty, complexity, equivocality and ambiguity in the front-end. These four knowledge problems constitute important challenges to managers and engineers when a new process definition is created. Prior research into the front end of process innovation is limited, and for radical projects close to non-existent. We analyse six radical process innovation projects situated in the food processing industry in the United Kingdom and provide three key contributions. First, we uncover the underlying sources of knowledge problems, and the specific coping mechanisms used to address them. Second, we offer a framework that delineates the relationships between the sources of knowledge problems, the knowledge problems per se, and the coping mechanisms which enable more effective decision-making regarding the creation of process concepts and definitions. Finally, we extend prior studies of the front end by revealing the challenges faced with respect to ambiguity, thus providing a more granular understanding of fuzziness. Altogether, these findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.

当流程行业的公司在产品创新方面取得重大突破时，这些新产品通常不在现有生产流程的“流程窗口”之内，因此需要对生产线进行大量修改和重大流程更改。因此，企业需要在前端应对高度的不确定性，复杂性，模棱两可和模棱两可的情况。创建新的流程定义时，这四个知识问题对管理人员和工程师构成了重要挑战。以前对过程创新前端的研究是有限的，并且对于根本不存在的激进项目而言。我们分析了英国食品加工行业中的六个根本性过程创新项目，并提供了三个关键性贡献。首先，我们发现知识问题的根本原因，以及用于解决这些问题的具体应对机制。其次，我们提供了一个框架，该框架描述了知识问题的源，知识问题本身以及应对机制之间的关系，这些应对机制可以使有关过程概念和定义的创建更有效地进行决策。最后，我们通过揭示歧义方面面临的挑战，扩展了对前端的先前研究，从而提供了对模糊性的更细致的理解。总之，这些发现提供了重要的理论和实践意义。以及应对机制，可以更有效地制定有关流程概念和定义的决策。最后，我们通过揭示歧义方面面临的挑战，扩展了对前端的先前研究，从而提供了对模糊性的更细致的理解。总之，这些发现提供了重要的理论和实践意义。以及应对机制，可以更有效地制定有关流程概念和定义的决策。最后，我们通过揭示歧义方面面临的挑战，扩展了对前端的先前研究，从而提供了对模糊性的更细致的理解。总之，这些发现提供了重要的理论和实践意义。