Published Article / This paper presents the work on the development of software for an industrial laser based measuring machine. The goal being not only for a working application, but also to optimise the development process and ease future maintenance of the software. LabVIEW with its graphical method of programming allows engineers to easily create large software applications to control industrial processes and machines. This software if not properly designed can lead to stability and maintenance problems. The experience gained from developing, maintaining and improving a LabVIEW application for a laser measuring machine, results in the integration of the Lua scripting language into LabVIEW. It is shown how the embedded Lua allows the LabVIEW software application for the machine to be structured for simpler development and maintenance.

Produtos pioneiros e inovadores são competitivos e levam os agentes que os desenvolveram a ocupar posições de liderança no mercado, onde as empresas inovadoras destacam-se frente as demais. Porém, as que não são as inovadoras, precisam também competir, e, nestes casos, muitas vezes a única alternativa é imitar estas inovações, tentando sustentar-se no mercado. Ao imitar, estas empresas imitadoras podem também gerar novidades, passando a ocupar posições efetivamente competitivas no mercado. Neste trabalho onde buscou-se caracterizar o processo de imitação criativa em empresas de software do Rio Grande do Sul, onde constatou-se a imitação criativa como forma de propulsionar o desenvolvimento tecnológico e consequentemente, a competitividade nas empresas de software estudadas. Com vistas à identificar as atividades de imitação criativa nas empresas foi necessário voltar-se para as fontes internas e externas que estas possuem em relação à tecnologia. A fonte interna pode foi medida através da capacidade tecnológica, e a externa através dos mecanismos de transferência de tecnologia. Estas empresas voltamse à imitação criativa seguindo suas estratégias tecnológicas, integrando fontes internas e externas de tecnologia, passando por processos de aprendizado tecnológico, obtendo assim, capacidade de desenvolver tecnologia e inovar.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Industrial Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Produtos pioneiros e inovadores são competitivos e levam os agentes que os desenvolveram a ocupar posições de liderança no mercado, onde as empresas inovadoras destacam-se frente as demais. Porém, as que não são as inovadoras, precisam também competir, e, nestes casos, muitas vezes a única alternativa é imitar estas inovações, tentando sustentar-se no mercado. Ao imitar, estas empresas imitadoras podem também gerar novidades, passando a ocupar posições efetivamente competitivas no mercado. Neste trabalho onde buscou-se caracterizar o processo de imitação criativa em empresas de software do Rio Grande do Sul, onde constatou-se a imitação criativa como forma de propulsionar o desenvolvimento tecnológico e consequentemente, a competitividade nas empresas de software estudadas. Com vistas à identificar as atividades de imitação criativa nas empresas foi necessário voltar-se para as fontes internas e externas que estas possuem em relação à tecnologia. A fonte interna pode foi medida através da capacidade tecnológica, e a externa através dos mecanismos de transferência de tecnologia. Estas empresas voltamse à imitação criativa seguindo suas estratégias tecnológicas, integrando fontes internas e externas de tecnologia, passando por processos de aprendizado tecnológico, obtendo assim, capacidade de desenvolver tecnologia e inovar.

Produtos pioneiros e inovadores são competitivos e levam os agentes que os desenvolveram a ocupar posições de liderança no mercado, onde as empresas inovadoras destacam-se frente as demais. Porém, as que não são as inovadoras, precisam também competir, e, nestes casos, muitas vezes a única alternativa é imitar estas inovações, tentando sustentar-se no mercado. Ao imitar, estas empresas imitadoras podem também gerar novidades, passando a ocupar posições efetivamente competitivas no mercado. Neste trabalho onde buscou-se caracterizar o processo de imitação criativa em empresas de software do Rio Grande do Sul, onde constatou-se a imitação criativa como forma de propulsionar o desenvolvimento tecnológico e consequentemente, a competitividade nas empresas de software estudadas. Com vistas à identificar as atividades de imitação criativa nas empresas foi necessário voltar-se para as fontes internas e externas que estas possuem em relação à tecnologia. A fonte interna pode foi medida através da capacidade tecnológica, e a externa através dos mecanismos de transferência de tecnologia. Estas empresas voltamse à imitação criativa seguindo suas estratégias tecnológicas, integrando fontes internas e externas de tecnologia, passando por processos de aprendizado tecnológico, obtendo assim, capacidade de desenvolver tecnologia e inovar.

Engaging in M&A is a common corporate strategy and deals are often motivated by synergies, the concept that the value of the combined entities is greater than the sum of their standalone values. However, it is often difficult to capture synergistic value in reality and increasing the probability of a successful acquisition requires a thorough assessment of potential synergistic effects pre-acquisition. In this thesis, we have analyzed the strategic rationale, synergies, and valuation methods used in acquisitions of industrial software companies. Through multiple case studies comprising empirical material from interviews, valuation models and other transaction-related documents, we have studied five bolt-on acquisitions, three of which were completed by subsidiaries of Marrow and the remaining two by an industrial software company under private equity ownership. Main conclusions from the study are: • The foremost strategic rationale and source of synergy is revenue enhancements through acquiring technology and leveraging established sales channels to cross-sell and accelerate market access for the target’s products • A prevalent cost synergy is consolidation and/or renegotiation of contracts with third party software providers whose products are used in industrial software development • Financial synergies are not explicitly estimated nor valued • Valuation is conducted using both the DCF and multiple method with a varying degree of sophistication in the underlying estimations, ranging from a granular bottom-up approach for each line item to a top-down approach based on experience and intuition Lastly, the results indicate that synergies may to a greater extent be a function of the strategic rationale rather than a function of industry. However, acquisitions of industrial software companies seem to be underpinned by the same strategic rationale, namely revenue enhancements through leveraging sales channels and cross-selling. Thus, the corresponding synergies may be comparatively more common in this industry. / Att genomföra förvärv är en vanligt förekommande företagsstrategi och affärer motiveras ofta av synergier, konceptet att värdet på det sammanslagna företaget är större än värdet på summan av de enskilda företagen. Dock är det ofta svårt att realisera värdet av synergierna i praktiken och det krävs därför en grundlig utvärdering av potentiella synergieffekter innan förvärvet för att öka sannolikheten för ett lyckat förvärv. I denna uppsats analyserar vi de strategiska motiven, synergier samt värderingsmetoder som används vid förvärv av företag inom industriell mjukvara. Genom flertal casestudier bestående av empiriskt material från intervjuer, värderingsmodeller och transaktionsrelaterade dokument har vi studerat fem till¨aggsförvärv, tre av vilka genomfördes av dotterbolag till Marrow och de resterande två av ett företag inom industriell mjukvara under ägarskap av private equity. De huvudsakliga slutsatserna från studien är: • Den främsta strategiska rationalen och källa till synergi är intäktsförbättringar genom förvärv av teknologi och utnyttjande av etablerade säljkanaler för att korsförsälja samt accelerera marknadstillgången för det förvärade företagets produkter • En framstående kostnadssynergi är konsolidering och/eller omförhandling av kontrakt med tredjepartsleverantörer vars produkter används för att utveckla industriell mjukvara • Finansiella synergier är varken explicit estimerade eller värderade • Värdering utförs med både DCF och multipelmetod där graden av sofistikering i de underliggande estimaten varierar, från att granulärt estimera varje post till överslagsestimat baserade på erfarenhet och intuition Slutligen, resultaten indikerar att synergier kan i större utsträckning vara en funktion av den strategiska rationalen snarare än en funktion av industri. Emellertid ter det sig att förvärv av företag inom industriell mjukvara motiveras av samma strategiska rational, nämligen intäktsförbättringar genom utnyttjande av säljkanaler och korsföräljning. Därmed kan de korresponderande synergierna vara komparativt mer frekvent förekommande i denna industri.

During the last decade the gap between software modeling and performancemodeling has been closing. For example, UML annotations have been developed to enable the transformation of UML software models to performance models, thereby making performance modeling more accessible. However, as of yet few of these tools are ready for industrial application. In this thesis we explorer the current state of performance modeling tooling, the selection of a performance modeling tool for industrial application is described and a performance modeling case study on one of ABB's remote diagnostics systems (RDS) is presented. The case study shows the search for the best architectural alternative during a multi-million dollar redesign project of the ASP.Net web services based RDS back-end. The performance model is integrated with a cost model to provide valuable decision support for the construction of an architectural roadmap. Despite our success we suggest that the stability of software performance modeling tooling and the semantic gap between performance modeling and software architecture concepts are major hurdles to widespread industrial adaptation. Future work may use the experiences recorded in this thesis to continue improvement of performance modeling processes and tools for industrial use.

Usability is one of the most important aspects of software. A multitude of methods and techniques intended to support the development of usable systems has been provided, but the impact on industrial software development has been limited. One of the reasons for this limited success is the gap between traditional academic theory generation and commercial practice. Another reason is the gap between usability engineering and established requirements engineering practice. This thesis is based on empirical research and puts a usability focus on three important aspects of requirements engineering: elicitation, specification and release planning. There are two main themes of investigation. The first is concerned with the development and introduction of a usability-oriented method for elicitation and specification of requirements, with an explicit focus on utilizing the skills of technical communicators. This longitudinal, qualitative study, performed in an industrial setting in the first half of the nineties, provides ample evidence in favor of a closer collaboration between technical communicators and system developers. It also provides support for the benefits of a task-oriented approach to requirements elicitation. The results are also reflected upon in a retrospective paper, and the experiences point in the direction of an increased focus on the specification part, in order to bridge the gap between usability engineering and established requirements management practice. The second represents a usability-oriented approach to understanding and supporting release planning in software product development. Release planning is an increasingly important part of requirements engineering, and it is complicated by intricate dependencies between requirements. A survey performed at five different companies gave an understanding of the nature and frequency of these interdependencies. This knowledge was then turned into the design and implementation of a support tool, with the purpose of provoking a deeper understanding of the release planning task. This was done through a series of cooperative evaluation sessions with release planning experts. The results indicate that, although the tool was considered useful by the experts, the initial understanding of the task was overly simplistic. As a result, a number of design implications are proposed. / On the day of the public defence the status of article VI was: Submitted.

La simulation numérique est devenue un outil omniprésent dans les milieux industriels. En particulier, dans le domaine de l’ingénierie mécanique où l’objectif est de prévoir la réponse d'une structure à des sollicitations. La simulation est dans ce cas une aide au dimensionnement qui permet de réduire le développement de prototypes coûteux. Les systèmes étudiés en bureau d’études étant de plus en plus complexes, il est courant de traiter des structures comportant plusieurs composants déformables en interaction. Le contexte d’étude repose donc sur les équations de la mécanique des milieux continus avec prise en compte du contact. Cependant, l’obtention des solutions exactes de ce système d’équation aux dérivées partielles n’est en général pas envisageable. L’obtention d’une solution passe par l'utilisation d’une discrétisation du modèle. Ainsi le résultat obtenu est une approximation de la solution exacte du problème traité. En situation industrielle il est nécessaire de pouvoir contrôler la qualité de ce résultat approché, c’est à dire mesurer l’écart entre la solution exacte (inconnue) et la solution approchée (disponible), ce sont des outils de vérification. Il existe de nombreux travaux sur l’estimation d’erreur permettant d’évaluer l’écart entre les solutions exactes et approchées. Malgré cela, l’utilisation des outils de vérification (estimateur de l’erreur commise) reste encore peu répandue dans l’industrie (disponibilité dans les codes de calculs, fiabilité, coûts de calcul, difficulté d’utilisation …) Dans ce travail, nous proposons une méthode d’estimation d’erreur, basée sur le concept d’erreur en relation de comportement, parallélisable et permettant s’adapter aux contraintes industrielles (pertes d’information, problèmes mal connus …). De plus, afin de la rendre l’outil rapidement disponible en bureau d’étude, le choix a été fait de développer la méthode directement dans le code de calcul industriel SAMCEF lors du projet ANR ROMMA. / In the field of mechanical engineering, numerical simulation has become an indispensable tool to predict the response of a structure to mechanical load.The simulation allows to reduce conception costs using numerical models instead of costly prototypes.Engineers use increasingly complex structures; it is now common to treat structures composed of several deformable components interacting. The studies carried out in this work are based on the equations of continuum mechanics with contact.However, these numerical simulations involve a discretized version of a continuous mathematical model (finite element analysis). Therefore, they lead only to an approximation of the exact solution of the reference problem.In an industrial context, the results of a finite element calculation must satisfy certain quality requirements. The purpose of an error estimation is to evaluate the distance between the exact solution and an approximate solution of the problem.Methods for evaluating the global error due to the problem's discretization have been studied for several years. However the use of error estimation tools is still not widespread in industry (availability in industrial softwares , reliability, calculation costs, difficulty of use ...)The objective of this work is to propose a parallelized estimation method based on the concept of constitutive relation error, adapted to industrial constraints. Furthermore, to make it quickly available for design office, the choice was made to develop the method directly in the industrial software SAMCEF during the ANR project ROMMA.