Sandvik Coromant is a worldwide supplier of tools, tooling solutions and know-how to the metalworking industry. Sandvik Coromant in Gimo is manufacturing various models of carbide inserts for metal cutting. The majority of the inserts are coated to create a unique combination of toughness and wear resistance, even in complex shapes.   The inserts are transported through the coating process in a charge, the charge almost completely consists of graphite materials of various design e.g. load carriers. The graphite material will eventually wear out and must be replaced with new graphite. Sandvik puts through several charges per day which makes the consumption of graphite great. The graphite material is relatively expensive and Sandvik therefore spends large amounts of money each year on new graphite.   Unclear structure in the operation of the order and management of new graphite materials have led to e.g. unnecessary inventories, at times material shortages and uneven loading of the coating ovens. The aim of the thesis has been to investigate and analyze current way of working regarding ordering and handling of graphite materials and to come up with a concrete proposal for improvement of the working methods.   The project was divided into two phases, a situation analysis and a design phase. Phase one was to make an overall situation analysis to create a clear picture of how the work is done today (May 2016) and find out areas for improvement. Current situation analysis was based on interviews and practice with operators, technicians and the production manager for the concerned department. Phase two was the design of an improvement proposal for a new way to work. It was initiated by a literature study to find ideas, possible concepts and a firmer relevant foundation of knowledge. In order to define the project, a decision about the projects boundaries was made with the department manager, production manager and the supervisor. The design was then created through a workshop / meeting with operators in the department. The workshop was coordinated to go through the problem and get perspectives and views on how a new way of working could be created.   The result was a proposal for a new way of working for ordering graphite material. It is based on having a system that uses kanban card to visualizes when the order are to be made and initiates the order process. The proposed approach organizes the inventory better, thereby reducing inventory levels for new pin carriers by 40%. It also means a possible reduction of the inventory of graphite storage at the supplier, the storage at the supplier could be reduced by 43%.

Graphite materials are vital industrial products. The rapid development of the battery and electronic computer industries has incentivized a great demand for graphite materials. However, today, graphite materials are commercially produced via thermal treating fossil oil or coal derived coke at a temperature higher than 2500℃. Both of the fossil-based feedstock and the energy-intensive production process are contrary to the concept of sustainable development. This thesis proposes a sustainable low-temperature catalytic graphitization process to produce graphite materials with highly ordered crystallinity by using commercial biomass pyrolysis biochar as the feedstock. Iron nitrate was selected as the graphitization catalyst. The effect of the graphitization temperature and the iron loading amount on the properties of the produced carbon products was studied. Produced graphite materials were characterized by performing X-ray diffraction, Nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and elemental analysis. Results show that the average graphitic crystalline size and the degree of graphitization of the product increased with the increase of the graphitization temperature and the iron loading amount. However, the increase of the iron loading amount reduced the catalyst removal efficiency of the acid washing process. When the graphitization temperature is higher than 1100℃ and the iron loading amount is higher than 11.2 wt.%, the crystallinity of the produced graphite material is better than that of the commercial graphite. The graphite material with the best crystallinity, which was produced at a temperature of 1300℃ and an iron loading of 33.6 wt.%, has crystallinity very close tothe pure graphite. / Grafitmaterial är viktiga industriprodukter. Den snabba utvecklingen av batteri- och elektronikdatorindustrin har stimulerat en stor efterfrågan på grafitmaterial. Idag framställs emellertid grafitmaterial kommersiellt via termisk behandling av fossil olja eller kol härledd koks vid en temperatur högre än 2500℃. Både det fossilbaserade råvaran och den energikrävande produktionsprocessen strider mot begreppet hållbar utveckling. Denna avhandling föreslår en hållbar katalytisk grafitiseringsprocess vid låg temperatur för att producera grafitmaterial med högt ordnad kristallinitet genom att använda kommersiell biomassapyrolysbiokol som råmaterial. Järnnitrat valdes som grafitiseringskatalysator. Effekten av grafitiseringstemperaturen och järnbelastningsmängden på egenskaperna hos de producerade kolprodukterna studerades. Framställda grafitmaterial kännetecknades av utförande av röntgendiffraktion, kväve-adsorptionsdesorption och elementaranalys. Resultaten visar att den genomsnittliga grafitiska kristallina storleken och graden av grafitisering av produkten ökade med ökningen av grafitiseringstemperaturen och järnbelastningsmängden. Ökningen av järnbelastningsmängden minskade emellertid katalysatorns avlägsnande effektivitet för syratvättprocessen. När grafitiseringstemperaturen är högre än 1100℃ och järnbelastningsmängden är högre än 11,2 viktprocent, är kristalliniteten hos det producerade grafitmaterialet bättre än den för den kommersiella grafiten. Grafitmaterialet med den bästa kristalliniteten, som producerades vid en temperatur av 1300℃ och en järnbelastning på 33,6 viktprocent, har kristallinitet mycket nära den rena grafiten.