Companies are constantly innovating their manufacturing systems towards Industry 4.0 and beyond while facing more and more challenges in complex global value creation chains. In this environment, manufacturing companies, and specifically SMEs, are struggling to manage, design, and implement innovation projects for improving their level of digitalization and automation. Against this backdrop, the current results of work in progress towards a framework for managing, designing, and implementing innovation projects is discussed. The framework proposes nine phases based on combining approaches of practical relevance, which have proven their efficacy in industrial application. The core of the framework is coined by a DEV-OPS cycle for designing and implementing a more digital and automated manufacturing system. The DEV-OPS cycle is supplement by an initial maturity assessment, by the determination of objectives and key results (OKRs), as well by training the employees for acquiring the necessary competencies in a more digital and automated working environment.