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This Bachelor’s Thesis documents the process and result of an examining product development project for the Innovation and design programme at Karlstad’s University. A concept for a maintenance tool designed for a manual chainsaw has been developed. By applying the phases applied for the product design process described by Johannsson (2013), and by utilizing the knowledge from a comprehensive pre-study, a first concept was established. With a reiterative design process this concept has been developed and made into a first prototype that have been tested, evaluated and adjusted accordingly. The construction as described in chapter 2.6- Detail construction is a handheld tool with file gauges specially designed for the manual chainsaw. By using a groove for the chain at the top of the tool, it can be fixed and sharpened without any additional equipment.  A prototype was made by virtual prototyping and constructed by 3D-printing. Project should proceed by implementing the changes in the prototype that was observed during testing and then evaluate that result before a manufacturing adoption.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka fortsättningsvisanvändarinvolvering inför kommunens webbutvecklingsprocessen, kan hjälpa att få idéer och förbättringsmöjligheter. Detta för att kunna hjälpa kommunen att utveckla sina webbplattformar och nå sina mål. För att begränsa studien, har författaren valt att enbart studera och förstå unga vuxna i åldern18–25 år. Metod: Kvalitativ forskning med deduktivt synsätt. Design thinking används för att empatisera med också generera nya idéer och förbättringsmöjligheter. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer och workshopsanvändes för att samla in data. Slutsats: Resultat från empiri har belysttydligthur unga vuxna upplevde kommunen webbplattformar. Unga vuxna har gett varierande och ibland samma synpunkter kring hur de upplevde kommunens digitala kanaler vid användningen av kommunens digitala kanaleroch hur de skulle vilja utveckla plattformar. Några hade lite problem med texterna som kommunen publicerar. Några andra upplevde inte detta, utan de hade annat problem. Alltså det var några som sa att det upplevde problem när de sökte jobb, och information på kommunens hemsida. Några andra lärde sig först vid praktiskanvändningav kommunens digitala plattform.Unga vuxnas svar och förslag på utvecklingsmöjligheter varieradeberoende på hur problem uppfattades. Då samtliga deltagarna under den här studien har påvisat sina behov och förbättringsmöjligheter, rekommenderas användarinvolverade metoder att användas i en kommunal kontext som utvecklar kommunala webbplattformar.

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The rising awareness of the pollutions from transports is leading to innovations withinthe transport sector. Electric vehicles (EVs) are leading technologies riding this wave.With many countries like Germany and Sweden joining the so-called EV30@30campaign, aiming for 30% of new electric vehicles sales by 2030. These ambitionsalongside an ever increasing capacity of variable renewable energy sources (RES) inour power systems, pose a concerning challenge for TSOs to maintain proper powersystem operation. Imbalances between supply and demand are undesirable in anyelectrical power system and with the rising popularity of EVs and RES such events areonly expected to continue or even increase.Fortunately, with the recent development of V2G concepts as well as extensivestudies into the load-shifting potential of EVs, EVs presents an interesting solution forpower system balancing distributed energy storage system. With the establishment ofenergy storage systems as possible balancing reserves on the grid, this study attemptsto simulate real-time grid balancing operation of EVs to analyse their ability toimprove operation of the grid. In this study the characteristics of EVs as an energystorage system are analysed, based on present traffic behaviour, and their balancingcapacity estimated. Furthermore a brief analysis of the impacts of such an operationstrategy on the electric vehicles themselves is also carried out.The study showed that EV are capable of balancing the grid for approximately 60% ofthe time providing 55-60% of the total balancing energy required. The EVs alsoexhibited a high balancing power even at low penetration levels. However, they didshow a tendency to reach its limits and signify their inadequacy to be the solebalancing reserve. The operation also took heavy toll on the EV's batteryperformance as it could potentially reduce its life to a 1/7th of its original lifetime. Thestudy also emphasizes the need for further studies and analysis to reach a morecomprehensive conclusion.

I takt med striktare mål för energianvändning och krav på energieffektivitet skärps energikrav för småhus successivt. Moderna småhus isoleras kraftigare och görs mer lufttäta i syfte att minska transmissionsförlusterna vintertid och därmed också energiåtgången för uppvärmning. Ett ökat fokus på att minska småhusens energianvändning vintertid slår tillbaka sommartid då moderna småhus kan konstateras ha en förhöjd överhettningsrisk med sämre termisk komfort och med negativa hälsoeffekter som följd. I arbetet används Simulink för att simulera prestandan hos fyra systemlösningar för produktion av komfortkyla och tappvarmvatten. Systemlösningarna som modelleras är ett resultat av ett samarbete med Swegon AB som vill undersöka potential i frikyla samt ny, icke etablerad teknik. Systemlösningarna består av en referenssystem med luft-luftvärmepump, därefter: (1) absorptionskylmaskin driven av solfångare: (2) frikyla från borrhål med bergvärmepump: (3) frikyla med uteluft via FTX-aggregat, lagringstank för kyla och stöd av luft-vattenvärmepump. Resultatet visade att frikyla och tappvarmvatten med bergvärmepump hade den bästa energi- och miljöprestandan. Systemet med en absorptionskylmaskin driven av solfångare var, trots användningen av solfångare, klimatmässigt sämst. Systemet blir troligtvis för dyrt då huset blir beroende av ytterligare system för uppvärmning vintertid vilket driver upp kostnaderna. Frikyla via utomhusluft blev det näst bästa alternativet ur ett energi- och miljöperspektiv men lider av höga investeringskostnader på grund av många komponenter för att systemet ska fungera. Simuleringarna visade att potentialen för lagring av frikyla från utomhusluft via FTX-aggregat är relativt god men att det fanns få tillfällen under året då kylan kunde användas. Att kunna bereda tappvarmvatten med annat än enbart el kommer bli viktigare för att inte riskera att överskrida BBR:s energikrav. Att komplettera klimatskalet med åtgärder som hindrar solinstrålning från att ta sig in i byggnaden kan vara en åtgärd som kan förändra resultatet i utredningen. Det gör att det är nödvändigt med vidare studier där hänsyn tas till fler parametrar, exempelvis husets värmetröghet. Vidare studier bör även kompletteras med en analys av husets värmebehov vintertid innan en slutgiltig slutsats kan dras om vilken systemlösning som kan bli ett kommersiellt gångbart alternativ på marknaden.

When several parties are involved in a construction project are conflicts inevitable, and when one party feel that another party are not following their work according to the agreed contract, can they issue a claim. Claim management and causes of claims has been addressed by previous research, but there is lack of attention to study claim management specifically in EPC-projects. The purpose of this thesis is to shed some light on claim management and identify cause of change claims, specifically in the context of EPC-projects. A case study was conducted within an organisation that executes complex plant EPC-projects, where several parties are involved. This thesis has applied tools of root cause analysis in order to identify the causes of change claims, and conducted focus groups and semi-structured interviews to better understand problems associated with claim management and how the relationship between two parties affects claims. The thesis concludes that the most common root causes to sub-contractor change claims are related to design where not enough information for design input has been provided, or related to installation where sub-contractors issue change claims in order to fix conflicts caused by themselves. Other major root causes are related to insufficient instructions provided by the principal organisation or requests of changes by one party. The thesis also concludes that claims during plant installation are avoided since more time is required for settling an official claim. Poor documentation is a major reason why the settlement of official claims requires more time. Further does this thesis conclude that the relationship between two parties does not affect claims, and in contrast might the relationship benefit from claims if causes are treated properly.

This research uses a comparison among seven different case studies to study how different innovation enablers leading to Industry 4.0 have different effect on different sized companies. To do so, the seven companies taking part in the study are divided between SMEs and large companies. In order to develop the framework which is then deployed to the companies in the form of a self-assessing questionnaire along with open questions, relevant literature from both the study of innovation adoption and Industry 4.0 is used. The findings of the study, which due to respondents’ availability is limited to Italy, suggest that two main groups of enablers are very important for SMEs and three group of enablers are relevant for large companies. While both groups value the decrease in the cost of operations and the government incentives currently available in Italy as important enablers, the large companies also consider the prior organisational readiness to adopt industry 4.0 as crucial. The study also finds that another dimension which would be interesting to investigate in order to better understand the adoption of innovation by industrial manufacturing companies regards the type of production performed by the company, identifying customised production as more open and ready to adopt Industry 4.0 on a large scale. The thesis has been developed in collaboration with Rohrbeck Heger GmbH along with a consulting project having a very similar objective.

This is a master thesis written by undersigned students at Mälardalens University. This report consists of a project where the goal is to develop products for the mounting fixtures for windows and exterior doors to the company Husmuttern AB.    The company Husmuttern AB is working to develop modular housing for constructions with the help of fixtures. The idea behind the usage of fixtures is that anyone even those with no previous experience should be able to build the parts for the finished house. This will be achieved by using an interactive screen with instructions that are easy to understand, even if you do not know the language.   This project has dealt with everything regarding the development of walls with windows and exterior doors. Namely, the choice of both windows and exterior door models and the development of frameworks for the walls and finally the development of support for the beams to make it possible to build these walls in the fixtures.

This thesis investigates the progress of corporate implementations of Artificial Intelligence and discusses the effects that this might have on the corporate sector as well as some implications on a societal level. The analysis is based on data from surveys conducted by Accenture, Bain & Company, Capgemini Digital Transformation Institute, Deloitte, Gartner Inc., McKinsey Global Institute and MIT Sloan Management Review & Boston Consulting Group. Over the last 3 years the adoptions of Artificial Intelligence have increased 2-3 times and the trend is expected to continue in the coming years as well, since 40-55 % of the surveyed companies are in the initial stages of AI adoption. Further, the growth rate in AI investments has been even more radical and increased 15-20 times over the last 7 years. Companies who have implemented AI report significant benefits and companies with a proactive strategy for Artificial Intelligence report higher profit margins than their industry competitors. Further the data indicates that companies that are successful in implementing AI have better general organizational capabilities, higher data & skills readiness and more AI focus in leadership and strategic planning. Another result in the study is that most managers in companies implementing AI expect that the technology will enable them to enter new markets and also that new competitors will enter their market. This will probably lead to increased competition and the results from other technology transitions indicate that this might force more companies to adopt AI to stay competitive. Regarding competence strategy some theorists have argued that companies without AI experience should compensate by acquiring a high tech start-up with the needed technology and competence. However, the data indicates that the most limiting factors for companies without AI experience are related to leadership and technical capabilities, not access to competence. It is only in later stages of the adoption process that access to competence becomes the primary limiting factor. The data gives mixed indications on AI consequences on employment. Half of the companies implementing AI expect job losses in the organization in the coming 3 years, while almost a third expects AI to lead to new jobs. However, the data also suggests that existing employees will need to change their skill sets. Therefor both the public and private sector will need to adapt and find ways to support employees that need to re-educate themselves.