The aim of this report was to investigate if the number and distribution of sea holly (Eryngium maritimum) on the island of Gotska Sandön in the Baltic sea north of Gotland have, and to explore if there is a link between change in plant habitat and change in number of sea holly individuals on the island. To do so a plant inventory was made in 2021 and compared to a previous inventory that was done in 2009. The number of individuals was counted and the habitat which they grey in was noted. Moreover, the presence of japanese rose (Rosa rugosa), and the expansion of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) was also noted in each locality where sea holly was found. The number of individuals of sea holly on Gotska Sandön went from 9353 in 2009 to 8310 in 2021, mainly becuase of fewer individuals in the largest locality of sea holly on the island. This is probably due to an increase in the proportion of individuals growing on the wooded dunes compared to 2009 and an expansion of japanese rose in the locality. The localities where no scots pine or japanese rose grew in the grey- and white dunes the individuals of sea holly stayed the same or increased in numbers. Despite this, no link could be found between the change in sea holly individual numbers and what plan habitat they grew on Gotska Sandön 2021.

The diploma thesis „The Benefits of Optimizing Inventory Management in Relation to the Installation“ streamlining the production process by optimizing the supply of production. The basis of this work is the analysis of the company with respect to supply the selected installation type. The work conatins a proposed solution, based on analysis of business results and theoretical knowledge.

This master´s thesis provides information about company which scope of business is particularly the manufacturing of telecommunications equipments. The theme of the thesis is the proposal of changes for the manufacturing process of selected product portfolio. The proposals for change of the manufacturing process are based on the data floating from theoretical and analytical part of the thesis.

This master’s thesis is focused on optimizing logistics processes of a business in order to reduce overall costs. Thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part includes logistics trends, cost, technology, logistics and logistics information technology. The practical part is performed analysis of business processes. Finally, as the point is to assess the situation and suggestions for improvement.

Titel: Från periodisk inventering utan Pick By Voice till rullande inventering med Pick By Voice - En fallstudie på Företag X Bakgrund och problem: Företag X har valt att implementera plocktekniken Pick By Voice, samtidigt som företaget ser över möjligheten att implementera en rullande inventering i samband med detta. Frågor som uppstår är vad lagar och praxis säger för området samt hur en möjlig implementering av rullande inventering bör se ut. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom en kvalitativ studie undersöka behovet av en ny inventeringsmetod genom en förstudie och därefter utveckla en inventeringsprocess passande efter Företag X förutsättningar. Denna inventeringsprocess ska kunna användas i samspel med Pick By Voice. Vidare är också att uppmuntra andra företag inom likartad bransch att se över sin nuvarande inventeringsmetod och om de kan implementera en liknande förändring av rullande inventering med Pick By Voice. Metod: Denna studie är en kvalitativ fallstudie. Insamlingen av empiri har skett genom utförandet av semistrukturerade och ostrukturerade intervjuer med företag och revisionsbyråer. Slutsats: En nu 65 år gammal skattelag säger att företag måste inventera sina lager minst en gång om året. Som en otillräcklig beskrivning av hur detta ska göras, samtidigt som lagerhanteringssystemet får ny utveckling, har detta lagt större vikt vid nuvarande praxis. Detta är särskilt så när ett företag implementerar en rullande inventeringsmetod. Viktiga steg i implementeringsprocessen bekräftas vara avgörande för företag att uppfylla. Dels för att lyckas med implementeringen, men också för att säkerställa en tillfredsställande inventeringsprocess och undvika att både misstag i implementerings- och inventeringssprocessen uppstår. Att kombinera den rullande inventeringen med röstplocktekniken Pick By Voice anses även det vara betydande för att reducera ytterligare misstag som förekommer eller kan förekomma i inventeringsprocessen. Hur frekvent företag bör inventera grundar sig i; vilken typ av marknad företaget är verksamt på, andelen misstag som uppstår i inventeringsprocessen och om fler antal inventeringar kan bidra till fler besparingar för företaget. / Title: From periodic inventory without Pick By Voice to continuous inventory with Pick By Voice - A case study at Company X Background and problem: Company X has chosen to implement the Pick By Voice picking technology, while at the same time considering the possibility of implementing a continuous inventory in connection with this. Questions that arise are what the laws and practices say for this area and what a possible implementation of continuous inventory should look like. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the need for a new inventory method through a pilot study and then develop an inventory process suitable for Company X conditions. This inventory process should be used in interaction with Pick By Voice. Furthermore, other companies in similar industries are also encouraged to review their current inventory method and whether they can implement a similar change of continuous inventory with Pick By Voice. Method: This study is a qualitative case study. The collection of empirical data has been carried out through the conduct of semi structured and unstructured interviews with companies and accounting firms. Conclusion: A now 65 years old tax law says that companies need to count their inventory at least once a year. As there is an insufficient description of how this should be done, while also warehouse management system get new development, this has placed greater emphasis on current practice. This so, especially when a company is implementing a continuous inventory method with Pick By Voice. Important steps in the implementation process have been confirmed to be crucial to fulfil by the company. Especially in order to achieve a successful implementation of the process, ensure that the process fulfil its required satisfaction level and to avoid occurrence of mistakes in the implementation process as well as in the inventory process. The combination of continuous inventory and Pick By Voice is considered to be significant in the reduction of further mistakes that occur or can occur in the inventory process. The determination of the inventory frequency is dependent on; type of market that the company operates in, number of occurring mistakes in the inventory process and if an increase in number of inventory occasions can contribute to an increase in the savings.

Natural and man-made disasters are becoming more frequent in many countries throughout the world. Countries with inadequate infrastructure and poorly planned emergency logistics are subject to such events which may lead to the destruction of a community and/or may prevent e cient and successful recovery. Despite the progress that disaster planning, mitigation and new management systems have made, the need for disaster relief continues everlasting. Extensive research is on-going to improve the various phases in the disaster operations life cycle. However, the impact of disaster will not diminish and improved disaster relief planning and management should be addressed intensely. This dissertation addresses various possible mathematical models comprising stochastic and deterministic models, to provide generic means to address the damage and consequences associated with disaster events. The models are applied to countries such as Somalia and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which have been prone to catastrophic events and poverty consequences. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Industrial and Systems Engineering / unrestricted

Autism is one of the fastest growing childhood disorders in the world, and the families that have children with autism experience frustration and stress due to many practical problems. with the increase in the prevalence of autism, it is urgent to raise awareness of autism and to provide services and support for children with autism and their parents to improve the parent-child relationship and moderate the parental stress. with regard to families with children diagnosed as autistic, the purposes of this study are to: (a) examine the group differences in parental stress and parent-child relationship between Taiwan and the United States based on racial and cultural differences; (b) identify factors, if any, that influence the parental stress and parent-children relationship; (c) investigate if there are differences in the results of child development when children are diagnosed with autism in these two countries; (d) establish the Battelle Development Inventory-II in Mandarin Chinese version for use of evaluation with development delays in Taiwan. Findings revealed that: (a) the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), is highly reliable with a great value of internal consistency in the use with parents and children with autism in Taiwan; (b) there is no significant difference in child development and parent-child relationship based on geographic region (Taiwan and the United States); (c) parents of children with autism in the United States overall have a more positive parent-child relationship and parenting attitude than parents of children with autism in Taiwan; (d) Children with autism who have a positive relationship with their parents have a higher pass rate on the evaluation of child development; (e) fathers reported higher pass rate on BDI-II than mothers in one of the standard deviations of over BDI-II performance; (f) parent-child relationships are positively correlated with parental stress; (g) parents who received services and support from a government agency or school in Taiwan have significantly lower scores on the parent-child relationship inventory; (h) fathers of children with autism have higher stress level than mothers; (i) parents who received services and support from parent groups (such as PTA or parent association) and from a government agency or school feel less stress than parents that did not receive those supports in Taiwan.

Current literature reflects escalating concerns regarding the potential organisational damage that can result from overloaded and under loaded workforces. Overloaded and under loaded workforces have been linked to poor employee well-being, reduced productivity, dissatisfaction and higher turnover rates. This study aimed to develop a scale for the measurement of workload within South African organisations. The initial scale contained six dimensions and a total of 71 items. These items were then sent to subject matter experts in order to determine their content validity. The survey was then completed by 224 employed individuals. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed and six factors were indicated. The overall reliability of the scale was highly satisfactory with inter-correlations between scale items. The results suggest that the South African Workload Scale (SAWS) is a promising instrument for the measurement of workload within South African organisations. Copyright 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Myburgh, T 2010, A workload inventory for South African Organisations, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02212012-115206 / > C12/4/64/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Reducing waste and increasing efficiency in food supply chains is important for a sustainable food production. Modified Atmosphered Packaging (MAP) is a method of increasing food durability that requires gas quality and potential gas leakage inspection. This inspection is often done by destructive methods such as puncturing the package with a needle. In addition, primarily only the first and last package in each batch are tested, with the packages in between assumed to be correctly packaged. As a result, production must halt to check that the batch's last tested product meets the quality requirements; if not, the entire batch must be reworked or discarded. This study examines the impact of utilizing non-destructive food inspection as a solution to the problem of discarding or reworking large amounts of finished products, as well as the inefficiencies that this entails. This study has identified the need to be able to measure each package as crucial. The limitations in capacity and flexibility due to the fact that food production needs to stop in order to carry out destructive tests have severe negative impacts on the food supply chain. This makes increasing production capacity and flexibility difficult without without increasing inventory levels or overproducing which in turn leads to inefficiency. The purpose of this study is to generate more knowledge about how waste and efficiency in food production is affected by non-destructive inspection and how production facilities can benefit from the technology in the best possible way. The study is delimited to examining MAP-packed food products and how the quality inspection of these products affects the food supply chain. A literature review, an examination of historical data from the case study company, and interviews with managers in various positions at two different production facilities were conducted to fulfill the purpose. This study confirms that the use of non-destructive inspection in food production increases flexibility, stability and capacity in food production. Consequently, this leads to a reduced food waste by minimizing overproduction, accumulating orders and the ability to produce several batch sizes without increasing lead times due to quality inspection. As a result, efficiency is significantly improved with non-destructive quality inspection. Furthermore, this provides opportunities to mitigate the bullwhip effects that can occur as a result of overproduction and waste by increased production planning. This led to recommendations for how food production can benefit from the technology, thus enhancing efficiency. The study provides a framework for how production facilities can benefit from the non-destructive quality inspection by batch size optimization, automating processes and reviewing service level's. / Att minska svinnet och öka effektiviteten i livsmedelskedjorna är viktigt för en hållbar livsmedelsproduktion. Modified Atmosphered Packaging (MAP) är en metod för att öka livsmedlens hållbarhet som kräver regelbunden inspektion av gaskvalitet och eventuellt gasläckage. Denna inspektion görs ofta med destruktiva metoder som att punktera förpackningen med en nål. Dessutom testas i första hand endast den första och sista förpackningen i varje batch, varvid förpackningarna däremellan antas vara korrekt förpackade. Till följd av detta måste produktionen avbrytas för att kontrollera att batchens senast testade produkt uppfyller kvalitetskraven; Om inte, måste hela batchen omarbetas eller kasseras. Denna studie undersöker effekten av att använda oförstörande livsmedelskontroll som en lösning på problemet med att kassera eller omarbeta stora mängder färdiga produkter, samt den ineffektivitet som detta medför. Denna studie har identifierat behovet av att kunna mäta varje paket som avgörande. Begränsningarna i kapacitet och flexibilitet på grund av att livsmedelsproduktionen måste stoppas för att kunna utföra destruktiva tester har allvarliga negativa effekter på livsmedelsförsörjningskedjan. Detta gör det svårt att öka produktionskapaciteten och flexibiliteten utan att öka lagernivåerna eller överproducera vilket i sin tur leder till ineffektivitet. Syftet med denna studie är att generera mer kunskap om hur slöseri och effektivitet i livsmedelsproduktionen påverkas av oförstörande inspektion och hur produktionsanläggningar kan dra nytta av tekniken på bästa möjliga sätt. Studien avgränsas till att undersöka MAP-förpackade livsmedelsprodukter och hur kvalitetsinspektionen av dessa produkter påverkar livsmedelsförsörjningskedjan. En litteraturgenomgång, en granskning av historiska data från fallstudieföretaget och intervjuer med chefer i olika positioner vid två olika produktionsanläggningar genomfördes för upfylla syftet. Denna studie bekräftar att användningen av oförstörande inspektion i livsmedelsproduktionen ökar flexibiliteten, stabiliteten och kapaciteten i livsmedelsproduktionen. Följaktligen leder detta till ett minskat matsvinn genom att minimera överproduktion, ackumulera beställningar och möjlighet att producera flera batchstorlekar utan att öka ledtiderna på grund av kvalitetskontroll. Som ett resultat förbättras effektiviteten avsevärt med oförstörande kvalitetsinspektion. Dessutom ger detta möjligheter att mildra bullwhip-effekterna som kan uppstå som ett resultat av överproduktion och avfall genom ökad produktionsplanering. Detta ledde till rekommendationer för hur livsmedelsproduktionen kan dra nytta av tekniken och därmed öka effektiviteten. Studien ger ett ramverk för hur produktionsfaciliteter kan dra nytta av den oförstörande kvalitetsinspektionen genom batchstorleksoptimering, automatisering av processer och översyn av servicenivåer.

Background – inventory management theory has in the past been focused on traditional engineering industries. These theories are not completely applicable on industries such as FMCG where the main objective is to avoid obsolescence and not tied-up capital. A part of the FMCG industry that is especially pressured by short shelf lives is the food industry. The food industry has also the disadvantage that the customers demand instant deliveries, which makes production to order impossible. Arla Foods is a dairy company that is struggling with high and increasing wastage costs. The wastage cost is generated from products where last sales date is exceeded and Arla Foods CSE therefore has to trash the products even if the best-before date is still valid. These costs need to be reduced on both short and long term. Hence Arla Foods is perfect as a case company for this study. Purpose – the ulterior purpose of this study is to seek if the current theory is applicable on the food industry. This is investigated through a case study at Arla Foods with the following questions asked: Which factors drives wastage costs at a global dairy company such as Arla Foods? How do the factors relate to each other? Which actions could be taken to reduce the wastage costs at a global dairy company such as Arla Foods? To what extent could these findings be generalizable? Method – a thorough literature study is conducted to create an understanding of the existing theories. The case study is mainly based on interviews and observations with employees at Arla Foods. Data has been extracted from internal data bases and processed to complement the interviews and observations. Conclusion – the case company showed that the most significant wastage drivers on an article level were forecast deviations and batch size/delivery frequency. However, the main wastage drivers at Arla Foods were nothing that could be found in neither supply chain management nor inventory management theory – this was instead problems related to work process, organization, communication and strategy. Suggested solutions to these problems are among others: Going through the worst performing articles’ set-up in a structured way. Making sure that there exists a clear process and that all employees are educated in it. Having a back-up plan on what to do with excessive inventory. Using follow-up reports as tools to take action from. When these problems have been solved, Arla Foods can instead focus on planning principles such as taking steps towards a more integrated collaboration with their customers via Efficient Consumer Response. The findings are not proved to be general in any way, but the conclusion of the report still states that there is a high probability that these findings could be applied on other companies within the food industry in general and within the dairy industry in specific. If this is the case, then it is shown that the current theory lacks several aspects when it comes to food industry – aspects that maybe do not have the same importance within most of the traditional engineering industries. Originality – the literature review conducted before the case study did not show any other case study or research that has made an equally broad overview. Earlier studies have mainly been focused on that the food industry is in need of customized planning principles and systems. That research has in the end advocated implementation of Efficient Consumer Response or similar.