In today’s dynamic business environment, a key challenge for all companies is to make adaptive adjustments to their manufacturing strategy. This study demonstrates the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy in hydro-power case company to evaluate the level of sustainable competitive advantage and also to further analyze how business strategies are aligned with manufacturing strategies. This research is based on new holistic analytical evaluation of manufacturing strategy index, sense and respond, and sustainable competitive advantage models. These models help to describe, evaluate, and optimize resource allocation to meet the performance requirements in dynamic decision making. Furthermore, these models evaluate operational competitiveness for manufacturing strategies according to the multi-criteria priority. The results show that the adjustments of competitive priorities in manufacturing strategies by implementing the proposed holistic analytical models are helpful in strategically managing business operations. The discussion derives the most critical attributes in business operations while alignment of resource allocation with competitive priorities help to strategically focus those attributes. In conclusion, we argue that resource allocation and manufacturing strategies have become the most important capabilities in a business environment where companies focus to get a sustainable competitive advantage.

This bachelor thesis has been done at Scania CV AB’s department for engine manufacturing in Södertälje. The manufacturing process at the department is currently under development, where two new lines are being added, one for cylinder head and one for cylinder blocks. These two new manufacturing lines are going to be controlled with the help of a Manufacturing Execution System.

The Manufacturing Execution Systems task is to collect data and information from the manufacturing process, which later can be presented in an interface. There is a specification at Scania that presents what information will be available in the system. That specification is in line with what the International Society of Automation has specified in ISA-95.

The specification for the system was set by the IT-department in consultation with department managers. There is currently an uncertainty if the specification meets the requirement that the workers has, to be able to work efficiently with the system. This thesis will identify the requirement that the workers has on the system, and compare it with the current specification.

What the workers deems is necessary information has been identified and mapped through interviews and a survey. The result of these interviews and the survey made it clear that the specification was well in line with the requirement from the workers. This information led to the decision to send out another survey that asked the workers to prioritize how important the information in the system is, in three different priority levels. This resulted in an overview of what the workers consider is the most important information in the system.

Taper making of boat masts is currently made with high work- and cassation costs. The main reasons are complex settings and varied demand, another is the craft like production method which makes the fixture use low.

Due to a higher demand when new masts are being produced the work cost will sink relative to the turnover given that the workforce is unchanged. This assumes a higher productivity in the fixtures.

To adapt the production to a higher demand and lower cassation costs measures will have to be made. A measure related to lower cassation costs is standardisation of the rail steering. To reduce the time for taper making the measure preloading is the single most affecting measure.

The production of boat masts varies highly over the year with a top rate in spring and bottom rate in the winter. Taper making is also very craft like which makes the volume flexibility low due to the skill of the operators. Currently there are three operators who fully possess the ability. The others, mainly at another function of the mast division, can only relieve the taper operator.

Among the suggested measures open fixture is mentioned in order to reduce the handling of masts. Currently, when handling longer masts, an AGV will have to be stopped by the operator in due to avoid collision. This problem occurs because of the fact that the fixture is being loaded in the length direction of the mast. With a new fixture, capable of cross loading, the time for handling will be reduced but the amount of time is difficult to estimate.

In order to successfully move "from products to solutions", companies need to redesign their business model. Nevertheless, service oriented BMs in product-centric firms are under-investigated in the literature: very few works develop a scheme of analysis of such BMs. To provide a first step into closing this gap, we propose a new framework to describe service-oriented BMs, pointing out the main BM components and related PSS characteristics. Thus, the proposed framework aims to help companies to take into account the relevant elements that need to be designed to successfully implement a service-oriented BM and thus guide strategic decisions. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The discussion about business models has gained considerable attention in the last decade. Business model frameworks have been developed in the literature as management methods helping companies to comprehend and analyse their current business logic and guide the deployment of new strategies. In response to calls for a deeper understanding of the application of a business model approach to product-service systems (PSS), this study develops a two-level hierarchical framework that (i) includes a set of components with pertinent, second-order variables to take into account when undergoing the shift from products to solutions; (ii) supports industrial companies, especially SMEs, in designing their future business model and in consistently planning the actions needed to implement it. The framework was applied and refined within real-life settings. The application to KINE - a robot solutions supplier - shows how key challenges faced by servitization firms may be thoroughly addressed through the adoption of a business model perspective.

Various over-the-air (OTA) testing environments are presented, focusing on their capability to produce single- or multi-directional channels, i.e., producing a single path or multipath components. The OTA systems are discussed in terms of the chambers used, either anechoic, reverberation, or hybrid, and the capabilities to produce different channels. It is suggested that future developments in OTA testing technology will require the development of smart testing environments that can accommodate the diverse increasing demands of emerging applications.

In current globalized and highly demanding markets, Quality does not constitute any more a competitive advantage for organizations. Instead, Quality represents a basic market entry requirement for organizations indistinguishable from the country or economic sector they belong to.

Being conscious of the importance of Quality for all type of organizations, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the identification and better understanding of current trends in academic research on Quality Management. By analyzing a sample of 612 academic papers collected from five international Quality journals and two QMOD international conferences over 2010 and 2011, the author will study and reflect on the current trends of global academic research related to Quality Management.

Literature review was used as research methodology for the thesis. Academic papers were categorized, classified and analyzed in order to identify current research trends on Quality Management.

This work provides a snapshot of the current research trends on Quality Management. It benefits the educational sector, researchers, industry and practitioners by presenting an overview of the current research needs as well as potential future research topics.

As a result of this study, five main trending research topics on Quality Management were identified: management systems standards, total quality management, service quality, customer related processes after delivering product/service and excellence models.

China, India, USA, Sweden and UK were identified as the countries that have published the highest number of academic papers in international Quality journals during the studied period. Additionally, it was found a marked predominance of academic research on Quality Management towards the service sector.

These results and the answers to five proposed research questions were discussed and solved in this report.

What’s up, Doc? Situational awareness (SA) is about being aware of what is going on. Already when a complex system is developed there is an opportunity to help a future user of the system to form a better SA. Let us make the best out of this opportunity! When assessing SA, differences in SA will sometimes appear. This dissertation is about SA, and how to manage differences in SA in development of complex systems. This topic is highly valid for development of a variety of complex systems, although most examples in this dissertation are from the aviation domain.

Framed by state of the art literature, suggestions are made on theoretical improvements of SA theory, with a focus on differences. The difference between what you are required to be aware of and what you are aware of is suggested as a SA-indicator. Also, the difference between what you are aware of and what you think you are aware of is suggested as another SA-indicator. Further, differences within a team such as variations in degree of agreement could be used for team SA assessment.

Also, the term situation management (SM) is suggested, with a proposed wider meaning than SA, including SA and every part of the perception action cycle, the management of mental resources, and external means of managing the situation. SM is a suitable term when developing complex systems due to the focus on the situation and how that could be managed, instead of only focusing on what is perceived by an individual or team.

Assessing differences in SA and to differentiate between various types of differences are recognised as important prerequisites to effectively manage differences in SA in development of complex systems. Several assessment techniques are reviewed and especially advantages and disadvantages of the use of eye movements for SA assessment are described. With reference to the literature as well as to the appended papers differences in SA due to a) design alternatives, b) roles in the design-use process, c) context, and d) level of analysis, are described. Differences in SA are suggested to be regarded as both quantitative (i.e. high or low SA) and qualitative (e.g. various aspects of a situation are regarded).

Approaches such as, SM, on-line evaluation of SA, simulator based design, as well as measuring and analysing SA on multiple levels simultaneously, are suggested as means to manage differences in SA in the development of complex systems.

Blomberg & Stensson is the sheet metal and tube processing company. This master thesis is done in tube processing facility. Tube processing facility consists of tube cutting, deburring, bending, end forming, bending and pressing machines. This facility produces bended tubes. Bended tubes are mainly used in automobiles (flow of liquids such as fuel and lubricants). Blomberg & Stensson bought a new orbital cutting machine from Transfluid (Germany). The new orbital cutting machine is going to be installed in tube processing section. This Master thesis focuses on tube cutting (both new, old and current), bending and deburring machines.

This thesis is aimed to develop a layout of tube processing section by including new orbital cutting machine. Suggestion on raw material storage and suggestions on material allocation to current and new cutting machines are also included in this master thesis. To design the layout a systematic layout planning technique is considered and google sketch up application is used to develop the 3d layout designs. After developing layouts, selection of a single suitable layout is done by a scoring matrix (concept from product development). Scoring matrix is to evaluate the available solutions. After selection risk analysis is made to predict the risks. An activity list is made facilitate a physical transformation of the facility.

Human-in-the-loop simulators have long been used in the research community as well as in industry. The aviation field has been the pioneers in the use of simulators for design purposes. In contrast, corresponding activities in the automotive area have been less widespread. Published reports on experimental activities based on human-in-the-loop simulations have focused on methods used in the study, but nobody seems to have taken a step back and looked at the wider methodological picture of Simulator-Based Design. The purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap by drawing, in part, upon the author’s long experience in this field.

In aircraft and lately also in ground vehicles there has been a technology shift from pure mechanics to computer-based systems. The physical interface has turned into screen-based solutions. This trend towards glass has just begun for ground vehicles. This development in vehicle technology has opened the door for new design approaches, not only for design itself, but also for the development process. Simulator-Based Design (SBD) is very compatible with this trend. The first part of this thesis proposes a structure for the process of SBD and links it to the corresponding methodology for software design.

In the second part of the thesis the focus changes from methodology to application and specifically to the design of three-dimensional situation displays. Such displays are supposed to support the human operator with a view of a situation beyond the more or less limited visual range. In the aircraft application interest focuses on the surrounding air traffic in the light of the evolving free-flight concept, where responsibility for separation between aircraft will be (partly) transferred from ground-based flight controllers to air crews. This new responsibility must be supported by new technology and the situational view must be displayed from the perspective of the aircraft. Some basic design questions for such 3D displays were investigated resulting in an adaptive interface approach, where the current situation and task govern the details of information presentation.

The thesis also discusses work on situation displays for ground vehicles. The most prominent example may be the Night Vision system, where the road situation ahead is depicted on a screen in the cab. The existing systems are based on continuous presentation, an approach that we have questioned, since there is strong evidence for negative behavioral adaptation. This means, for example, that the driver will drive faster, since vision has been enhanced, and thereby consume the safety margins that the system was supposed to deliver. Our investigation supports a situation-dependant approach and no continuous presentation.

In conclusion, the results from our simulator-based studies showed advantages for adaptive interface solutions. Such design concepts are much more complicated than traditional static interfaces. This finding emphasizes the need for more dynamic design resources in order to have a complete understanding of the situation-related interface changes. The use of human-in-the-loop simulators and deployment of Simulator-Based Design will satisfy this need.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze relevant dimensions of cooperation between design and production related to product development. The study also focuses on suggesting improvements of the co-operation dimensions between production departments and the product development departments in the Product Development Process (PDP) at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB produces gas and steam turbines. Their increasing production pace and increasing number of product development projects have highlighted the importance of improved co-operations between departments within the company.

We have developed an analysis model including the dimensions of co-operation we found relevant for the study. These are Timing of Upstream – Downstream Activities; Richness & Quality of Information; Frequency of Information Transmission; Direction of Communication; Formalization of Communication; Organizational Support; Goal Optimization; Attitudes in Cross-functional Teams; and Understanding of Tasks.

For product development SIT AB follows an extensive process; the PDP. This is a sequential process where all activities are performed in sequence and therefore it obstructs the implementation of Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering aims to shorten development time and to consider the total job as a whole by performing independent activities in parallel. Hence, we argue that SIT AB should work toward a more integrated process with more parallel activities.

The performance in all the dimensions of co-operation differ between large and small projects since the co-operation in large projects work much better than in small projects due to better followed process description; more face-to-face discussions; a better balance between informal and formal communication; and more focus on project goals and team building.

The improvement proposals are presented in a separate chapter as actions classified according to the potential impact on the organization and the estimated difficulty to implement them. The proposals include for example: training more project managers; initiate work shop practice for design engineers; and give more and better explanations of decisions and actions.

Insurance companies and banks are of great importance to the economy, which is why their stability must be ensured. In order to prevent bankruptcies in the financial sector, these companies are subject to strict regulations, which set standards for risk management and the amount of reserve capital required. Such capital reserves act as safety buffers to protect the customers from extraordinary events. In the insurance industry, the reserve capital is referred to as the solvency margin.

Solvency II is new set of insurance regulations that aims to set a common standard regarding solvency capital and risk management for insurance companies within the European Union. The potential costs and benefits of the regulations are of importance not only to insurance companies but also to those firms that offer services and products to the insurance industry in the field of risk management. Solvency II is often compared to the Basel II accord for banks, which had a strong business case in the way that banks could significantly lower their reserve capital and use it for other purposes. The question is, however, whether insurance companies can expect similar benefits from Solvency II.

The purpose of this study is therefore to explain how the Solvency II regulations will affect risk management in the Swedish non-life insurance industry, and whether these changes can result in opportunities for insurance companies. This is achieved by studying the new regulations and conducting a number of interviews with insurance company representatives as well as industry experts. Four potential effects of Solvency II have been investigated: capital levels, insurance pricing, credit ratings and reinsurance.

The findings of the study indicate that no obvious benefits related to the potential effects above can be realised by complying with Solvency II. The future capital requirements will come close to those already enforced by supervisors today, resulting in a minor change that can go both ways. Neither credit ratings nor reinsurance covers seem to become notably affected by Solvency II. As for insurance pricing, an increasingly sophisticated risk-based allocation of the cost of solvency capital provides the most notable opportunity of Solvency II, but at present, no conclusions can be drawn regarding the effects of such changes. On the other hand, Solvency II will put pressure on improving systems to ensure the quality and traceability of data.

Thus, the actual changes in risk management practices are not expected to be substantial among Swedish non-life insurance companies, and it therefore seems unlikely that insurance companies would be willing to invest as heavily in reaching Solvency II compliance as banks have done in Basel II.

Although the second half of the twentieth century saw the rise and fall of ‘multi-flag companies’ (MFCs) in the civil aviation industry, our understanding of how some managed to buck the trend and achieve longevity remains limited. This article advances business history and strategic management research by examining the strategic renewal activities of Scandinavian Airlines (formerly Scandinavian Airlines System [SAS]) during the period 1946–2012. The study sheds light on the key roles of private and state owners, rivals as well as banks, in critical financial phases are discussed in terms of longevity in the company. The longevity of the business stems from the leaders’ ability to develop as anticipated and respond to change in their competitive arena in close interaction with the owners. Thus, incumbent firms that strategically renew themselves prior to or during market reform, such as deregulation, enhance their chances of developing the size of their networks and revenue streams. Our main contribution to business history and strategic management literatures is the development of context-specific stages, which shed light on the evolution of strategic renewal activities and shifts from older processes and routines towards customer service and efficiency.

This master´s thesis is performed by a student from the Master of Science program in mechanical engineering at Linköpings tekniska högskola. The scope of this thesis should be 30 points in the European scale. The content of the thesis is performed with and on behalf of AB Wahlquists Verkstäder in Linköping.

Through collection from literature, verbal sources and visits to plants a short review of the technique behind induction hardening has been made. The review focuses on how it works, how it is developed, what limitations there are and the basics for the equipment. The scope of the review is based upon what the company desired to know initially about the subject.

The underlying facts that were introduced in the review were used as a base for the discussions and ideas that have been presented as the proposals, for how the company can install induction hardening equipment in practice. These proposals are in line with the company´s desires. To make the final proposal more clear, calculations for investment costs, times in production and the stocking degree for the proposal have been presented.

The important points of interest for the company to discuss in terms of synergy effects if they acquire the equipment have been introduced. These points are of greater or lesser importance depending on how this specific company chooses to set their value. However, the recommendation is that people with the correct knowledge reject or elucidates these points.

The accomplished work has then been summarized and the final recommendations is, that the company needs to make further studies to be sure that they have enough work to put in the equipment. Otherwise it will be difficult to get a good pay off for the investment.

The purpose with this master’s thesis, with Scania CV AB in Södertälje as job initiator, has been to develop three different passenger seat concepts with focus on modularisation, functionality and production. The different concepts are: a foldable passenger seat, which is possible to fold away completely, a bench for two passengers, and a resting seat for resting during breaks when the vehicle is parked.

The main tools used during the search for concept solutions have been brainstorming, morphological analyses, and evaluation matrixes. Prototypes have been made in order to visualise the ideas but also for the possibility to test them in a real truck cabin and by that find advantages but also flaws. Final product specifications has been made and with that guidelines for a continued development work.

Experiences gained during this thesis work has been that by using ergonomic data and theories, well thought through designs, and standardised interfaces a good result can be achieved, which fulfils the demands and wishes placed on the future product.

Detta examensarbete utförs i samarbete med företaget Järn AB, vilket är ett svenskt företag med gjuteri, pulvermetallurgi samt bearbetningsverksamhet. Produkterna är av varierande typ, storlek och volym, avsedd för ett brett kundsegment däribland fordonsindustrin samt maskintillverkare. Företaget har mer än 500 anställda och namnet Järn AB är fiktivt.

Syftet med arbetet är att föreslå ett angreppssätt för hur Järn AB kan gå vidare med statistisk processtyrning (SPS). Detta angreppssätt ska baseras på erfarenheter från fordonsindustrin samt litteraturstudier. Studien kommer grunda sig utifrån perspektiven människa, teknik och organisation. Resultatet kommer även utmynna i ett praktiskt förslag som ger företaget konkreta exempel kring införandet av SPS.

Förslagen i studien kommer grunda sig på fyra studiebesök som valts ut under arbetets gång. Tre av de valda företagen är framstående i kvalitetsfrågor inom svensk industri och det fjärde företaget jobbar med statistisk processtyrning i stor utsträckning. De besökta företagen har olika typer av processer, däribland gjuteri- och bearbetningsprocesser som också återfinns hos uppdragsgivaren. Det har också utförts en nulägesbeskrivning hos Järn AB för att se vilka möjligheter det finns med statistisk processtyrning och jämföra utgångsläget med studieobjekten. 

Resultatet av studiebesöken gav att inget av de svenska företagen använde SPS i dagsläget även om vissa hade erfarenheter från ett tidigare användande och flera såg framtida möjligheter med SPS.

Om personalen involveras i SPS-arbetet och får ansvaret för detta arbete så kommer det ge ökad motivation och större chans att skapa ett långsiktigt arbete. Det förutsätter att systemet är lättanvänt samt att användaren har fått rätt utbildning i området. Det är också viktigt att det går att justera en parameter i processen som är direkt kopplad till utfallet av SPS.

De processer som visat sig lämpliga för SPS hos Järn AB är de bearbetningsprocesserna som inte är självjusterande. Gjuteri- och pulverpressning är relativt komplexa processer som gör det svårt att knyta specifika parametrar till utfallet och behöver mer utredning innan SPS kan införas.

De styrdiagram som har visat sig lämpliga utifrån process- och hårdvarutekniska aspekter är R-diagram då dessa lämpar sig vid införandet av SPS på variabeldata och har stöd i föreslagen mjukvara. Vid ett senare skede är det också värt att titta på andra typer av styrdiagram som EWMA och CUSUM.

Human factors research popularly employs perception-based techniques to investigate team performance and its dependency to cognitive processes. Such studies frequently rely upon either observer-based or self-assessment techniques to collect data. In this study, we examined behavioral observer ratings and self-assessment ratings for measuring team performance in virtual teams, with team performance regarded as a combination of task outcome and team cognition. Juxtaposing self-assessments and observer ratings from a quasi-experiment comparing team performance rating techniques reveals that they indeed produce overall similar results, with both singling out teamwork effectiveness ratings as the strongest contributor to overall team performance. However, the comparisons show remarkably low correlation on individual questionnaire items. The most striking difference is that the team members self-assessments of workload are lower than the corresponding observer ratings. In particular, the self-assessments do not correlate at all with overall team performance, whereas the observers workload ratings are more consistent with contemporary research that suggests a strong correlation between workload and team performance, suggesting that observer-based techniques are more reliable than self-assessments for assessing workload. For other ratings, the results show that the two techniques are fairly equal, suggesting that the choice between methods to employ can be deferred to other considerations such as obtrusiveness, accessibility, and resource availability.

In this paper we present airport logistics, which is a framework of resource management in the air transportation system. Focus is on the processes supporting turn-around. A detailed simulation model of various processes involved in turn-around is developed, by which the interaction between these processes are analyzed. We show that integrating optimization and simulation is a powerful tool to demonstrate efficiency improvements in airport logistics, using scheduling de-icing trucks as an example. An optimization algorithm for scheduling de-icing trucks is developed and simulations are performed comparing different schedules. The schedule obtained when considering total airport performance in the optimization algorithm gives minimum flight delay and waiting times in the simulations.

In this study, a previously developed co-simulation approach has been adopted to simulate the responses of an existing hydraulic hammer product. This approach is based on a 1D system model representing the fluid components and a 3D finite element model representing the structural parts of the hydraulic hammer. The simulation model was validated against four experiments with different running conditions. The corresponding set-ups were analysed using the co-simulation method in order to evaluate the overall responses. A parameter study was also performed involving the working pressure and the restrictor diameter, with the objective to validate that a parameter change in the simulation model will affect the input and output power in the same direction as in the experiments. The experimental responses used in the validation were time history data of fluid pressure, component position and acceleration, and structural stresses. The experiments result in high frequency and high amplitude excitations of the hydraulic hammer and thus require a model with a high resolution of the model dynamics. The conclusion of the validation is that the simulation model is able to replicate the experimental responses with high accuracy including the high frequency dynamics. The favourable outcome of the validation makes the described co-simulation approach promising as an efficient tool for a wide range of other applications where short time duration mechanisms need to be studied.

The department for hydraulic hose manufacturing at BT Products has problems keeping up with today’s productionpase. The goal for this project is to identify and fix today’s problems and prepare the hosemanufacturing department for an increasment in productionpase from today’s 50 000 to 60 000 forklifts per year.

To begin with an analysis of the situation today was made, this by observing and participating in the daily work at the department, interviewing the personal, collecting data and performing a timestudy. The results of the timestudy combined with the collected data were used to calculate the time needed to cope with today’s productionpase. The calculation showed that a little more than half the available time should be enough to do this and that the capacity of the machines is by far more than needed. The problems identified causing the department falling behind is mainly bad layout, ineffective operation routines, unnecessary operations and planning problems due to delays in the production.

In order to fix these problems and prepare the hosemanufacturing department for the increased productionpase a series of suggestions for improvement has been developed. A suggestion for a new layout has been made in order to reach a better productionflow with less transports and unnecessary movements. An implementation of standardized operations should be made in order to be sure that the best operations routine always is used. Investments in new machines are not necessary to cope with the future productionpase unless they are bought in purpose to serve as safetycapacity. However investments in some smaller equipment are necessary to ease and improve the daily work at the department. Examples of equipment needed are a better hosereel, barcode reader and assemble equipment.

Studien har genomförts på ett stålföretag som startade friskvårdsprojektet 55+ för anställda som är 55 år eller äldre. Syftet med denna studie är att få en bild över vad äldre anställda har för föreställningar om att arbeta till 65 och diskutera hur friskvårdsprojektet 55+ kan påverka deras förutsättningar att vara kvar i arbete till pensionsålder. I studien användes kvalitativ intervju som metod och undersökningsgruppen bestod av tio anställda på företaget.

Förutsättningar som de intervjuade tog upp för att arbeta kvar rörde arbetet, hälsan, tajming med partner och ekonomin och många upplevde att de inte skulle kunna arbeta till 65 som de gör idag. Det fanns en besvikelse över att företaget inte längre erbjöd avtalspension i samma utsträckning som tidigare, eftersom de intervjuade mentalt hade förberett sig inför en pensionärstillvaro. Att de intervjuade från början inte var inställda på att arbeta till 65 kan ha påverkat deras upplevda förutsättningar i arbetet. De ställde dock om sina förväntningar och genom jämförelser med andra, såsom utländska kollegor, fann de sig i situationen. En osäkerhet över vad som gäller med pension fanns bland de intervjuade. Friskvårdprojektet kan ha fungerat hälsofrämjande, eftersom det för de intervjuade bidrog till ökad medvetenhet om hälsan. Det enligt oss största bidraget med friskvårdsprojektet var att deltagarna kände välbefinnande i att företaget satsade på just dem. Ett friskvårdprojekt kan därmed leda till ökad motivation hos äldre anställda att arbeta kvar till 65, men eftersom de intervjuade fortfarande upplevde hinder i arbetet skulle insatser även i arbetet kunna öka deras möjligheter och vilja att arbeta till 65.

Ericsson AB in Katrineholm is a part of the Section Business Unit Network in the Ericsson Group. The plant's main task is to produce printed circuit boards in small volumes with a high product mix and focus on delivery and cost effectiveness. At the factory they produce printed circuit boards in the Module department.

The Module department has for a long time had a high output of non-approved circuit boards in their production. This has led to a growing stock of non-approved circuit boards on the company’s repair department.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Ericsson in Katrineholm can increase the outflow of approved articles in their test process in the Module department. As a basis for drawing up proposals, a study of the production in the form of value flow maps was conducted. Information was collected from the various databases QSP, Testnet and C:M. Information was also gathered by informal interviews. The company's present situation has been studied using theories like flow time and utilization rates and from the collected information, proposals have been developed using the program Excel and C #.

Analysis of the present situation revealed that the test strategy that they now are using is not working well enough, because printed circuit board that does not have any defects is sent to the repair department. The fact that the test stations are very unstable and that the test operators do not possess enough knowledge of each article is also factors causing non-defect products to be sent to the repair department.

The report presents a new test strategy based on 5 different criteria on data gathered from the database SID 40 days back. Complementary information is also presented to the test operators to facilitate their work when it comes to making decisions if a card / unit will be tested again. By introducing the new test strategy a value of 1.6 for cards and 3.25 for units of million Swedish crowns would be sent directly to customer instead of being sent to the repair department. However, this would increase the utilization of the resources, by 9.2 % for cards and by 19.2 % for units, but the utilization is very low, which implies that it should not affect the system in largely. However, this requires that the test process is performing in the same way as it did the last 40 days.

Finally the results are presented in a graphical interface to facilitate the operators in the Module department. The recommendations given to Ericsson regarding the new test strategy is that it should be used as a tool at first and if the latter is used it should be integrated into the regular test environment.

This master thesis report contains information about a project carried out at Haldex Brake Products that is situated in Redditch England. The Redditch site is part of the “Commercial Vehicle Systems” division within the Haldex group. Haldex Brake Products is designing and producing electronic anti lock brake systems. The latest product is called GEN2 and the project goal was to increase productivity and achieve more stability within the production processes of this product. The goal was achieved trough implementation suggestions affecting the three categories in overall equipment efficiency (OEE). Nine of the biggest implementations are presented in this report. Some of the suggestions are already implemented and some are under progress to be implemented. These implementations will result in an increase in productivity with additionally 953 products per week. The expected results are based on calculations on an average product. The report also contains suggestions for future actions to even more increase the efficiency of the production processes at Haldex Brake Products in Redditch.

To achieve progression in a product portfolio, companies employ industrial designers to aid in the development and creation of new products. Researchers have shown that industrial designers play a consolidating role at both strategic and operational management levels due to the need to incorporate requirements from several company functions, such as brand, research and development, production, economics and senior management. This article investigates how to expand the ways in which a product portfolio may be extended and updated, from an industrial design perspective. Seven product portfolio development strategies were identified. Inspired by studies of competitor's influence on an existing portfolio, a theoretical descriptive model was developed: the Industrial Design Product Portfolio Management model, which positions the suggested product portfolio development strategies in relation to existing and competing products. The findings may advance our current understanding of existing product portfolio management strategies and the connection between management and product design. Thus, it could be a useful framework for academics, teachers and professionals. 

This paper will investigate the strategic design decision-making of an in-house designer in a company with a large product portfolio, with respect to how designers plan for future visual alterations of the product. In-house designers have to think strategically about the creation of recognition and differentiation through design because they influence the company’s overall strategies. Therefore, while balancing aesthetic and semiotic qualities of the product, designers have to consider current as well as future needs for recognition and product differentiation. The ability to do so is affected by cost and brand positioning strategy. An exploratory study was setup to investigate what design strategies could be found in an industrial design team employed by a company. The study exposed how in-house designers could strategically incorporate aesthetic flexibility in product parts in order to create opportunities for faster facelifts or redesigns. The importance of managing carry-over details in larger product portfolios was also discovered. To carry over parts from different products is an important way for a company to save money, development time and at the same time increase brand recognition through repetition. Carry-over can be an aid to enhance visual recognition, but it can also be a hindrance when the designer needs to create differencing design values. Most products have a lifespan before they need to be updated or redesigned, which depends on the competition in a product segment. This makes it extra important for designers to have an understanding of when to incorporate carry-over details and when not to. A model was created to describe how carry-over details, design cues and aesthetic flexibility could be managed in a product portfolio. The model is based on Rune Monö’s works and brand management literature, with an emphasis on the brand positioning framework of Point of Difference, Point of Parity and brand extension by Keller et al.

Examensarbetet har genomförts på SKF Mekan AB i Katrineholm som tillverkar lagertillbehör, bland annat lagerhus, hylsor och muttrar. I ett av de produktionsflöden som tillverkar hylsor har SKF Mekan AB problem med långa genomloppstider och överproduktion. Produktionsprocessen som tillverkar dessa hylsor är helt kundorderstyrd vilket betyder att alla artiklar som tillverkas där inte finns på lager utan tillverkas när kunden lägger en beställning.

SKF Mekan AB ser den långa genomloppstiden som ett problem då det påverkar kunden och bidrar till högre kostnader, vilket har lett fram till arbetets syfte. Genom att undersöka flödet och ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar den långa genomloppstiden, har förbättringsförslag tagits fram för att ge SKF Mekan AB verktyg för att sänka genomloppstiden.

Genom intervjuer och observationer har en undersökning av flödet kunnat genomföras. För att kunna utesluta var i flödet de bidragande faktorerna till den långa genomloppstiden befinner sig, har en värdeflödesanalys genomförts med hjälp av insamlade data. En litteraturstudie har legat till grund för vilka teorier och verktyg som kan användas för att lösa problem som SKF Mekan AB har.

Resultatet från värdeflödesanalysen visade att bearbetningsmaskinen BBM101agerar flaskhals i flödet. De största bidragande faktorerna till skapandet av flaskhalsen är problem vid inkörning av nytt program och omställningar mellan olika produkter. Utöver dessa problem identifierades även oreda bland halvfärdigt och överproducerat material som stod utspritt i flödet. Genom att införa ett CAD/CAM system för beredningen, lägga mer fokus på 5Sarbetet och genomföra en SMED-analys skapas möjligheter till en sänkt genomloppstid.

The purpose of lifelogging is to help users collect data for self-monitoring and reflection. We have in this study explored how lifelogging technology (a camera and a heart rate monitor) can change user experience (UX) research, and we describe a novel approach. Data was collected for three days with four participants, and a 4-6-hours co-creation workshop with stimulated recall interview was held with each of them to create an experience timeline. The timeline includes selfreported key experiences, lifelog stimulated experiences, heart rate, decisions, and valence. The results show that the number of experiences in the timeline that come from data points stimulated by the lifelogging, are as many as the self-reported data points. Lessons learned include that the use of lifelogging produces highly detailed UX research, but it is very time consuming, due to the sheer amount of data.

I Volvo Personvagnars tillverkningsanläggning i Torslanda utanför Göteborg tillverkas personbilar av flera modeller och en mängd olika varianter av varje modell. I dagsläget är produktivitetskraven höga vilket medför risker för belastningsbesvär eller skador för

operatörerna som monterar ihop bilen. Således blir belastningsergonomi en viktig del i arbetsmiljöarbetet.

Man har på Volvo Personvagnars slutmonteringsanläggning i Torslanda utvecklat en beräkningsmodell för att beskriva belastningsergonomin i tillverkningen som man kallar BME (Beräknings Modell Ergonomi). Problemet består i att utvärdera validiteten hos BME utifrån ett

personalekonomiskt perspektiv, det vill säga huruvida kostnader relaterade till sjukfrånvaro,sjukskrivningar, rehabilitering, personalomsättning och omplaceringar kan knytas till belastningsergonomi med hjälp av BME. Genom litteraturstudier, undersökningar om hur den belastningsergonomiska situationen förändrats sedan BME infördes samt genom studier av hur sjukdomsbilden ser ut kunde samband ställas upp mellan belastningsergonomisk tyngd och

förekomst av skador.

The understanding and practice of ergonomics, built on the knowledge of human characteristics, abilities and needs, plays a fundamental role in satisfying people - whether they are labelled customers, users or workers. In this context ergonomics and quality can be regarded as overall approaches, as philosophies taking account of people in the way things are designed and organised. Given the conceptual similarities and that several indicators point to the fact that poor ergonomics may cause quality deficiencies, there has in resent years been an increased focus on the potential benefits of an integrative approach.

The research presented in this thesis aims to support this process by developing a broader understanding of relationships in-between ergonomics and quality issues and to generate knowledge on how to effectively integrate quality and ergonomics development. The research project covers data and experiences from twenty-four case studies. A clearly marked interdisciplinary and triangulated research strategy with empirical data, qualitative as well as quantitative, from observations, interviews, surveys, and descriptive statistics, forms the basis of new knowledge, theories and methodology.

The results show that there is a strong relationship between a number of ergonomics related issues and quality performance. Deficiencies in information handling, management, work task and workplace design and motivation are important causes of poor quality. It is shown that quality deficiency rates increases substantially for adverse work postures compared to good postures, and that ergonomics improvements can reduce quality deficiencies with 30-50%. Further studies show that a feasible and often necessary strategy in creating lasting improvements is to integrate the perspectives of employers, employees and customers - i.e. efficiency, work conditions and quality. To achieve this a number of participatory techniques and support systems have been developed, studied, empirical tested and evaluated.

It is shown that a kaizen based suggestion system focusing on participatory ergonomics promotes motivation, commitment and high performance - quality as well as productivity. Nearly six out of ten suggestions deal with ergonomics issues and one out of five involves both ergonomics and quality improvement proposals. Furthermore an integrated participatory problem-solving approach, using both quality as well as ergonomics methodology and tools has been developed and empirically evaluated. It is shown that ergonomic tools are well suited in the quality improvement process, and that participatory ergonomics not only can be used as an effective tool eliminating ergonomic problems but also to progressively improve learning, working conditions and performance, thus stimulating a positive development of quality.

The thesis also presents a balanced strategic management concept with the potential to integrate ergonomic issues at all levels. An integrated macro-ergonomic management concept is believed to have a great impact on improving people's job satisfaction, performance and quality of working life, thus helping to create the environment in which total quality management and quality improvement will flourish.

It can finally be concluded that quality work is not just concerned with developing products and processes but equally with giving the people involved in these processes a chance to develop and to perform a good job. Designing a work system in accordance with ergonomic principles can thus be seen as a quality issue in which the internal customers' (employees') requests of ergonomics are given a high priority.

For knowledge intense companies the knowledge and skills of its employees are much more valuable than any physical assets. To share knowledge between its employees, some companies launch knowledge sharing initiatives which aims to spread best practices and increase the expertise of the employees. These initiatives are often supported by technical systems, repositories, which store the information that is to be shared. This report discusses how the value of such a repository, a Wiki containing reference cases of SOA projects at IBM Nordic, can be increased by using processes that aims to better connect it to the organization.

To do this, seven employees at IBM Nordic were interviewed. Four of them were sales people, the main user group of the Wiki. Two were employees at the SOA Acceleration Team, the group responsible for the Wiki. The last interviewee works at Learning and Knowledge, IBM’s internal department for organization-wide knowledge management and education. The answers were analyzed using a framework created using academic theory. This framework consists of four different areas of requirements for the processes connecting the Wiki to the organization. The analysis showed that for IBM the most important area to manage is enablement followed by governance, motivation and finally content.

The report is concluded with recommendations for five processes to connect the Wiki to the organization. The process Internal selling aims to inform the sales people about the existence of the Wiki and how they are to use it. Ensure search engine compatibility makes sure that the sales people are able to find the contents of the Wiki via the intranet based search engines. The process for adding a new case description ensures that new case descriptions which are added to the Wiki is consistent and contains the right kind of information. By validating the case information that is added to the Wiki the acceleration team verifies that the information is correct, increasing its credibility. In the last process, ensure information congruence, the members of the acceleration team updates the guidelines on what information to collect and the information in the Wiki as the information need of the sales people changes. This is done on a regular basis and ensures that the information that is collected and stored is actually useful.

Increased demand for actionable knowledge in operations- and supply chain management has fuelled the interest in collaborative, action-oriented research design as well as modes of theorising that generate adaptable and actionable frameworks. Whilst action research (AR) design as well as middle-range theories (MRT) offer guiding principles herein, they are researcher centric in nature. It is taken for granted that practitioners that enter such an endeavour have a certain level of knowledge or experience prior to the initial stages of formalising the research problem. Practitioners in non-academic, operations management-intensive industries or craftsmanship-based industries, such as construction or carpeting (often in the SME range) are often neither prepared nor equipped with the principles necessary to convey their managerial challenges into collaborative research design. This risk limiting or even hindering altogether such participation. This paper elaborates on combining the logic of AR and MRT. By conceptualising a preparatory phase for initiating practitioner engagement, complementing the conventional AR cycle, a four-step approach is presented: (1) Identifying a joint interest; (2) Teaching - Awakening interest in the topic through MRT frameworks; (3) Accepting buy-in to the AR cycle and determining the problem; and (4) Proposing MRT frameworks for analysis and entering the traditional AR cycle.

Lean production has become a widespread production system to address the need of being more productive. Since three decades ago that some big automotive manufacturers started to adopt lean, many SME’s has adopt it and enjoy the outcomes. Literature have investigated the successful implementation of lean in these organizations, yet, very few papers have addressed the challenges toward adopting lean.

In this thesis research a plastic package manufacturer is chosen as the case of study to implement some initiatives of lean production and study the challenges and outcomes of lean adoption. The efforts during the making the changes were focused on adopting the SMED and Root-Cause Analysis techniques, and also to reduce defect rate in one of the products.

The findings indicate before any effort to implement lean production techniques, some social issues must be considered to reduce the risk of failure. The Rosti AB case indicated that promoting motivation among operators and resolving mistrust between managers and operators is essential to encourage them to participate in improvement changes.

In order to promote motivation and eliminate mistrust to encourage operators to participate in improvement changes it is necessary to empower them in decision makings in improvement implementations.

Currently there is an attention in research and practise on entrepreneurial ecosystems, and how these, often using incubators, could support sustainable development through new firm start-ups. Despite the popularity of incubators in the literature and practise, few studies have focused on sustainable incubators in general or, more specifically, on processes that ensure a steady flow of tenants. Thus, this paper investigates how sustainable incubators ensures their inflow of tenants, how they organize their activities and whether the incubator environment affect tenant recruitment. A case study approach analysing the sustainability oriented incubator Green Garage Berlin have been used to generate an understanding of selection and recruitment processes as well the influence of external environments. The results show that regional and inter-regional co-operation, together with a well-planned, structured pre-incubation process, are requirements for securing an inflow of tenants to sustainable incubators. Incubator reputation and sufficient long term funding is also a key to success. A good practice case as Green Garage cannot simply be replicated, but require openness to continue the learning process and adapting the knowledge to be transferred to local conditions.

Mass individualization is calling for a more sustainable manufacturing paradigm which can address the paradoxes of diversity, complexity, and affordability. Social Manufacturing (SM) represents a democratized servitization trend trying to reshape the traditional production relationship between consumers and manufacturers. To achieve the SM visions, new operational mechanisms for SM should be constructed to overcome the challenges of information sharing, accuracy, efficiency, security, sovereignty, etc. The survey found that task assignment (TA) is one of the foundational mechanisms for the implementation of regular autonomous manufacturing systems, as well as the role of TA is further amplified for distributed collaborative environments. Therefore, inspired by the relevant research of management science, Platform-based Task Assignment (PBTA) is proposed to distinguish and conceptualize this different research topic. In SM platforms, the diverse capacities and resources can be shared, so that knowing "who can do" and "select whom to do" is more important than knowing "how to do". Furthermore, the studies on TA for SM present a difference from the previous studies on TA in manufacturing. From a perspective of supply-demand mapping, PBTA illustrates the foundational operational mechanism for SM attracting many researchers' attention from different fields. Meanwhile, research on PBTA is also required for the platform practices in the era of digital, shared, and platform economy. Given the academic importance and practical value, this survey carefully selects 250 valuable research articles relevant to PBTA for SM. A novel workflow model and knowledge framework, namely PBTA4SM, is proposed to identify and organize the critical issues and challenges. This study shows the state-of-the-art research advancement of PBTA including task design considerations, modelling methods, typical engineering problems, algorithms, decision patterns, key activities, and governance mechanisms. Finally, we complete this holistic survey by highlighting eight potential directions for future research in the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) era.

ICA is the largest general dealer in the Swedish market as well as the largest supplier to the independent ICA-dealers. The principal and one of the biggest stakeholders of this thesis is the department Supply Chain Development who is responsible for the development of ICA’s Supply Chain.

The purpose of this study is to examine how ICA’s sales are affected by weather and to make recommendations on how ICA should proceed with its work regarding this issue. By leveraging their forecasts by including weather, ICA hopes that their logistical metrics amount of spoilage, service levels and number of inventory days will improve. This thesis describes how ICA is working with weather currently, and furthermore it discusses the existing literature within this area. Extensive statistical surveys have been conducted in order to identify the products that are affected by weather, and to examine how they are affected by different weather variables. Finally, the thesis gives recommendations to ICA on how they can improve their forecasting by taking this study’s results into account.

Presently ICA has no consistent approach when it comes to considering weather’s impact on sales. Each individual product planner uses his own experience and gut feeling and there is no central guidance or other quantitative information there to help them.

This thesis is organised around two major statistical studies. First, a correlation study examines the correlation between sales and deviation from mean temperature. The weather parameter was selected following recommendations from earlier studies and from SMHI - the national weather institute in Sweden. The study was conducted on ICA’s entire assortment and identified which items that were affected by weather. These turned out to be about a hundred in number and were affected mainly during the summer; however a few items were also affected in the winter. Most of the affected items were rather logical regarding weather’s effects on sales and have also been pointed out by planners as products that are likely to be affected by weather. Following that, several regression analyses were conducted on the selected weather affected assortment.

The regression analyses were conducted with various combinations of one or more weather parameters as explanatory variables. Surprisingly, in most cases the deviation from mean temperature alone was the parameter that best explained the variance in sales figures. The result or output of this thesis is a value for the expected change in sales for a selected assortment, given a change in deviation from mean temperature.

The recommendations given at the end of this thesis explains how ICA in a simple and cost effective way could implement the study's results in their daily work. The proposal is to divide the work by what should be done centrally by the forecasting department, and by what should be done individually by each planner. The forecasting department should regularly collect weather forecasts over different time periods, calculate the deviation from mean temperature and distribute it to the supply planner. After that, it is up to the supply planners on how to best take advantage of this information by taking into account other unique factors affecting each category, such as campaigns, holidays and daily indexes that in many cases have more effect on sales than the weather.

Efficient assembly systems are necessary to the success of industrial companies where assembly is a strategic core activity. Each assembly system is the result of a unique design process where the available resources and options are utilised in order to suit the specific preconditions of the company and the situation. Designing assembly systems in a systematic way based on a pre-defined structure is advantageous as it improves the chances of achieving the best possible assembly system in a shorter time.

In this thesis, a model for analysis of assembly system design is presented, based on the synthesis of empirical findings and a theoretical framework. The analysis model consists of contextual aspects (part 1 ). It further includes an analysis of aspects important to the design process planning activities related to how they should be managed and structured (part 2). The analysis model finally emphasises the design process (part 3) involving preparatory design aspects, and aspects relevant for the design specification activities, i.e. the creation, evaluation and selection of the assembly system proposal.

In order to improve the way an assembly system is designed in practice, a method supporting the planning of this design process is also developed. This method development strategy highlights the necessity of the system designers making relevant adaptations by selecting from the pre-defined method structure. The method is presented in a modular form based on a tree structure. In part, the method identifies activities concerning design process management. However, the main part of the method includes the presentation of preparatory design activities and design specification activities.In total, the method comprises eight phases that are further subdivided on two more levels of detail. Besides structuring these design activities, the method also includes parameters that are important when designing assembly systems.

Vietnam is a developing country in South-East Asia with borders toward China, Laos and Cambodia. As other countries in the same area are far more developed, Vietnam can gain a lot from international trade. It is an important factor for a country to build prosperity and gain economic growth and thereby reach a higher standard of living. But for a company to succeed in the international market is a demanding task. Both internal and external factors that influence a company’s competence need to be taken into consideration. The awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility is increasing every day and it is becoming a more and more important factor for the end-customer as well as the buyers and suppliers. This Master Thesis deals with the relationship between Vietnamese suppliers and their international buyers and how Corporate Social Responsibility affects that relation.

The result of the study shows that there are advantages for both the Vietnamese supplier and the international buyer. Companies that work together and care for each other will end up with a strong and long-term relation. Both the quality and the productivity increased and that the staff turn-over decreased when introducing CSR. One also has to understand that the international customers are in command and that the suppliers are merely following the customer’s demands. Furthermore, quality, price and delivery time are the most important factors when choosing a supplier but by working with CSR these factors will also be affected positively.

It was also, apart from the main focus of this thesis, interesting to discover how corruption and cultural differences affected the supplier-buyer relation and also the discussion about whose responsibility it actually is to work with these issues; the buying rich customer or the relatively poor supplier?

The objective of this master thesis is to develop a post-mountable whiplash protection device for the BMW 5 Series. The reason for this is that the model has, in comparison to other models in the same price range, performed porely in two independent whiplash tests.

The outcome of the project is a protection device that can be mounted in an easy and safe way on the headrests in the car. The protection device will reduce the risk of a whiplash injury by decreasing the critical distance between the head and the headrest. The protection device's design is simple, but engineered to prevent the device from moving out of position in case of a collision.

In order to reach the result, a design method suitable for this kind of work has been used. The design method involves different processes like brainstorming and the use of an evaluation matrix.

The result of the thesis is only conceptual, and further development is necessary to reach a final product.

Multidisciplinary frameworks are needed to develop products that fit the human. Ergonomics is a multifaceted field that encompasses physical, cognitive and organizational aspects, and it is therefore a suitable subject to be taught to design engineering students.

The objective of this paper was to describe and reflect upon how a systems perspective on Ergonomics is developed and conveyed in a course in Product Ergonomics to engineering students at the Design and Product Development (DPD) programme at Linköping University, Sweden. The paper is based on the authors’ experiences from teaching the course in Product Ergonomicsas well ason 52 students’ written reflections about their view on Ergonomics before and after taking the course.

Means and ideas for teaching Ergonomics with a systems perspective included organizing a theoretical introduction into weekly themes and thereafter integrating and applying these themes in a product concept project under supervision of a multidisciplinary teacher team.

The paper also reflects on how the systems perspective of Ergonomics is planned for and realized in the intended, implemented and attained curriculum.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on interactive research as a means to create relevant knowledge in the domain of operations management in general and specifically in the context of production start-up. Design/methodology/approach The reflection on the use of interactive research in production start-ups was based on a study of two completed interactive research projects. The lens for reflection was a framework including context, quality of relationship, quality of the research process itself and outcomes. Findings The context was industrial manufacturing companies in Sweden, with different kind of challenges related to production start-ups, such as collaboration between involved functions and suppliers, competence development and work routines. Indicators of the quality of relationship between researchers and practitioners were initiated development activities and new collaboration between functions, within the company, between companies and in supply chains. The reflection of the quality of the research process itself was based on an interactive research process including four iterative steps with regular follow-ups allowing joint practitioner and researcher reflection on the progress. Identified outcomes included increased awareness and competence on how to deal with production start-ups, improvements of communication, work procedures and structures, better use of competences, increased cross-functional dialogue and cultural understanding. Practical implications - Implications for practitioners are the possibilities for knowledge creation through interactive collaboration in research projects enabling exchange between researchers from complementary fields and other companies dealing with production start-ups. Originality/value The interactive research approach enables joint knowledge creation in a fast-changing context such as production start-ups as well as value-adding results both for practitioners in industry and for academia.

Att införa ett nytt produktionssystem är ett stort projekt som påverkar arbetssättet för en stor del av de anställda i ett företag. Detta gör att det finns många ytor där problem kan uppstå och viljor kollidera. Stora förändringar kan riva upp invanda mönster och bryta mot den nuvarande kulturen i organisationen och därigenom skapa osäkerhet och ovilja gentemot förändringen.

Denna rapport är tänkt att fungera som ett stöd för BT och Siemens i deras arbete med att införa nya, lean-baserade produktionssystem genom att försöka finna de kulturella hänsynstaganden som måste tas för att implementeringen av dessa ska bli framgångsrik. Specifikt syftar rapporten till att undersöka varför vissa människor är positiva till lean och varför vissa är kritiska. Vilka aspekter är det som folk finner attraktiva respektive mindre attraktiva?

Resultaten av undersökningen visar på att medarbetarna finner grundläggande drag inom lean, såsom ständiga förbättringar samt medarbetarnas möjlighet att själva vara med och påverka, som positiva. Dessutom erbjuder lean enkla och effektiva verktyg som snabbt kan visa positiva resultat och därmed påverka de anställdas inställning positivt, exempelvis 5S. Det finns dock ett par frågor som företagen måste arbeta med:

1) Information till de anställda:

a. Hur når man på bästa sätt ut med information om det nya produktionssystemet till de anställda så att de får en korrekt bild av vad det innebär.

b. Hur får man medarbetarna motiverade att disciplinerat arbeta efter de nya metoderna.

2) Hur ska arbetet vid monteringslinor utformas för att det inte ska upplevas som monotont och styrt? Finns det något sätt att skapa en engagerande lina?

The purpose of this thesis is to study how the use of RFID and EPC would affect the Swedish food retail supply chain. This was done by mapping the flow of five different products in the supply chain at activity level. During this work, five manufacturers, two distribution centres and two retail stores were visited and carefully studied. These visits resulted in a flowchart for each company describing the product flow, with particular attention to the use of barcodes. The flowcharts were then used to create scenarios for each company, describing how the flow would change when using RFID-technology. The current flow for each company was then compared with its RFID scenario and analysed to see how logistic efficiency would be affected by the use of RFID-technology.

The result of the study shows that all companies in the food retail supply chain would benefit from an implementation of RFID-technology. When comparing companies with a high usage of barcodes with companies where barcodes are little used, the conclusion can be drawn that both groups would experience improvements in different areas of logistic efficiency, but not necessarily to the same extent.

When considering the drawbacks of using RFID, the greatest disadvantages are the large investments and costs of implementing the technology. The largest costs arise in modification of business systems and for hardware investments needed to utilize the technology.

Apart from theses costs and investments, several positive changes in time consumption and traceability could be found. RFID/EPC makes it possible to replace manual checks with automatic ones, resulting in less time consumption and reduced staff throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, the possibility to trace every case and pallet results in more efficient and less expensive of product returns and recalls.

Executive Summary

This final thesis has examined the effects of an increased centralization and better coord­in­ation of the distribution logistics at ABB in Västerås. The company is today strongly decent­ralized and there is a minimum of collaboration between the 20 business units. This is why the questions were raised; how could the business units coordinate outbound logistic activities and what effects would that provide. The obj­ect­ive of this final thesis is to provide basic data for a future decision-making which desc­r­ibe these effects.

The report has mapped out the factors that are important to ABB in an evaluation of their logistic activities and how the outbound logistics work today. The four factors are cost efficiency, delivery service, environmental impact and logistics capability. It was noticed that the degree of collaboration was very low and the business units send their goods in three main directions: Gothenburg, Arlanda and Europe (except for deliveries within the Nordic countries). Today it is only the goods towards Arlanda which are joint­ly transported. In the other directions there are only a few business units who collaborate.

Beside the primal task to negotiate general transport­ation agreements, the central logistic function (GFSM) at ABB has only a supporting roll in the work concerning logistics. The reason is not just that the business units have the real mandate over the logistics but also that the logistic focus in general is low. Furthermore is it hard for the freight managers (FM) at each business unit to change and improve the logistics, because they have other tasks to manage but also since their logistics skills in many cases are poor. The demands on the freight man­agers are also not expressed clearly enough and therefore they don’t know what is expected of them in their rolls as freight managers.

Three development directions were identified and expressed as scenarios, see table 1. Scenario 1 represents an increased focus on the logistics and more distinct rolls for the GFSM and the FMs. Scenario 2 addresses an increased coordination of the physical flow of goods (exemplified as a consolidation of all truck transportations toward Gothenburg) where the freight managers are in charge of this coordination. Scen­ario 3 is a combi­nation of the first and second scenario and represents a centralization of the outbound logistics (exemplified as train with containers to Gothenburg).

The conclusion was that:

-   Scenario 1 entails an increased transparency, communication and central management with positive effects on costs, delivery service and on the environment in the long run. The scenario becomes a prerequisite for the execution of the two others. Therefore is it the first step for ABB if they wish to increase their coordination of physical goods or centralize their logistics operations.

-   Scenario 2 envolves cost savings by a good 50 % because the collecting of the goods takes place at each business unit (unchanged amount of handling). These changes are something to attain since it, in addition to the cost savings, can imply an improved delivery service and doesn’t increase the emissions of CO₂ compared with today!

-   Scenario 3 results in a cost impairment since the cost reductions are too small for the distance Västerås-Gothenburg and are eliminated by the increased costs for handling of goods, warehousing and internal transportation. Nevertheless is train transportation within Sw­eden preferable out of an environmental perspective. All aspects considered, this scen­ario must consolidate more flows of goods and secure already existing knowledge before it becomes interesting to realize.

Rimaster Kisa AB is a member of the Rimaster Group, the corporation was bought from Samhall AB in January 2007. The corporation is producing mechanichs needed by the Rimaster group as well for external costumers. Samhall AB is now functioning as a provider of labor for Rimaster Kisa, as the company is hiring personnel from Samhall AB. The company has earlier have had problems with their lead times being far too long. This has resulted in that the management decided to invest in a new edging press. Areas of work included in this thesis are, Investigating the investment of an edging machine, implementing of 5S and a new model of calculating prices of articles. The goal with the report is to reduce the corporations lead times.

To reduce lead times the company has started working with 5S. This reports presents protocols to aid the employee responsible for the 5S work of the factory. The model for calculating prices is based on a model used by Rimaster Polen. The model has been modified for the needs of the factory in Kisa. The model calculates with parameters for the potential production capability, using this leads to a margin of error with prices higher than needed to be. The company should always be aware of this margin of error so that they do not loose clients because of it. When using this model the company protects themselves for the future. They are not as dependent of the cheap labor gained by Samhall AB. The model calculates cost factors ready to be implemented in the MRP-system, prices are then calculated with the MRP-system.

Conclusion: The company should accept the offer made by Amada Implement the model for calculating prices fully, but be aware of its margin of error. Continue the work with 5S that has already been started. 

Flexibility is often cited as a desirable key characteristic of modern production systems. In ultra-flexible production, machinery and layouts are in a constant state of adaptation to accommodate changing orders, varying products, or evolving conditions. Cyber-physical integration has been proposed as a potential approach to increasing system flexibility with Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) and Digital Twins (DT) as central concepts. While numerous architectures, frameworks and approaches have been proposed for CPPS and DT development, further research is motivated regarding the development of a requirement-based framework that links together the high-level system property of flexibility and lower-level system components, enabling the analysis, prescription and comparison of systems. Such a framework could enable manufacturers to continuously evaluate and improve manufacturing systems' flexibility as well as make informed design decisions. Ultimately enhancing system flexibility and responsiveness to changing production conditions. This study aims to initiate the development and formulation of such a requirements-based framework linking flexibility and lower-level system components. Additionally, it seeks to introduce the concept of a "cyber-physical continuum," which the study aims to define as a potential quantifiable indicator reflecting flexibility within production systems. This is achieved by leveraging prior CPPS research based on high-level system requirements. These requirements were expanded by branching each requirement into lower-level components creating a more granular scope and providing a finer lens for analysis and assessment. The framework was then applied to assess a high-mix, low-volume manufacturing scenario. Application of the preliminary framework in the case study indicates its potential utility in providing a useful view of the cyber-physical content of a system. Moreover, it serves as a valuable guide for pinpointing areas for improvement and development. By developing a framework that seamlessly links high-level flexibility requirements with detailed implementation requirements, systems can be comprehensively evaluated, methodically prescribed, and effectively compared. As future work, further refinement and validation of this framework will be crucial to ensuring its validity and applicability across diverse manufacturing contexts. (C) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Social media has led to a difference in people’s daily communication patterns, recently also increasingly so for businesses. This means a change in how the marketing and communication among companies should be carried out, since a company always should be present where its customers are. This is probably especially important for an organization planning to exist on the Internet alone. In social media, the target group is particularly important in the development of communication messages. However, for the company, this also means decreased control over the communication with customers.

This thesis aims to find out how social media can be used from a marketing and communications perspective to enable the food blog Chefs' Table to reach and maintain a successful relation with the target group. Qualitative interviews have been used in order to find out how the target group perceives social media and how they want to be contacted through them. Further, their reactions to the blog Chefs' Table and how the communication of the blog should be designed to appeal to them were investigated.

The analysis of the qualitative interviews shows that social media primarily are used to receive feedback and acknowledgement from other people. This could include participation in discussions or exchange of inspiration, ideas and tips through linking. The recipes, the opportunity for interaction or to influence the content and that others spread the word of its existence are the features that attract the target audience to a food blog. The target group would like to receive feedback and be allowed to interact.

The content on the blog should have a personal appropriation, be professionally educational but easy going and entertaining. In addition it should be possible to decide when and how to view content, thus it is important that the target group is offered the possibility to choose among several different communication channels.

The recommendations for Chefs’ Table are that they should have a light-hearted, yet professional tone, offer recipes whatever the occasion and give instructions in an educational way wihout being too strict. Chefs’ Table should have a personal touch that does not try to fit everyone. In addition, users should be encouraged to participate in discussions and sometimes be allowed to influence the contents of the blog.

Keywords: Social media, blog, Internet, target group, communication, communication messages, interaction