Estágio realizado na Matceramica-Fabrico de louça, S.A., e orientado por Armando Constantino / Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012

Trabalho realizado na Amorim & Irmãos - UI Champcork, orient. pelo Eg.º Luís Moreira / Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Industrial e Gestão. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2013

Organizational communication research indicates group member participation increases as the legitimate power differences among group members decreases. Lean principles and practices indicate Kaizen Event members will contribute regardless of legitimate power levels, due to member training, education, and the Lean team-oriented culture. Further study is needed to determine if Lean culture and training maximize group member contribution, or if legitimate power levels in Lean environments manipulate participation. The focus of this case study is a central Kentucky Lean manufacturing organization that practiced Lean principles for at least three years and completed a Kaizen Event within twelve months previous to the beginning of the study. The participating organization indicated the legitimate power levels of Kaizen Event members. Kaizen Event members received a voluntary survey consisting of Likert scalescored questions regarding his or her perceptions of level of participation, encouragement and opportunity to participate, comfort in participating, and the degree the group listened to the member. The results of the survey indicated participation in the Kaizen Event groups did not significantly differ among different legitimate power levels.

Kostnaden för nyproduktion av hus i Sverige har ökat markant under de senaste åren. Byggföretag har svårt att hålla både projektens löptid och kostnader nere, vilket resulterat i ett ökat marknadspris och ett växande missnöje bland slutkunder. De ökade kostnaderna beror enligt forskning på vanligt förekommande slöseri i form av såväl material som arbetskraft. I försöken att eliminera slöseri har många företag anpassat sin verksamhet efter Lean Thinking, ett system som härstammar från den japanska bilindustrin, bestående av verktyg och metoder med huvudsyfte att identifiera och eliminera slöseri. Ur detta har även nya former av byggnation fångat marknadens intresse. Industrialiserat byggande är en metod som förflyttat stora delar av verksamheten från byggarbetsplats till prefabricering i fabrik och på så sätt eliminerat många av de slöseri och riskmoment som förknippas med det traditionella synsättet på byggnation. Studien lägger fokus på hur arbete med Lean Thinking och prefabricerat byggande kan avhjälpa de kostnadsproblem som branschen ställs inför på dagens marknad. Genom en fallstudie har vi beretts möjlighet att på nära håll studera för- respektive nackdelar med ett prefabricerat byggande, samt fått möjlighet att studera en organisation där verksamheten utgår från Lean Thinking. Studien visar att det genom Lean Thinking och prefabricerat byggande går att minimera vanligt förekommande slöseri inom byggbranschen. Utförandetiden för prefabricerat byggande är också mycket kortare än vid traditionellt byggande och på så vis hålls kostnaderna nere. Genom att ytterliga utveckla prefabricerat byggande enligt Lean Thinking skulle det vara möjligt att i större utsträckning minimera slöseri och möjliggöra ett ännu smartare byggande. / The costs of house construction in Sweden have increased conspicuously over the last years. Construction companies have a hard time maintaining low project lead-times as well as keeping costs within the financial plan, which in turn has affected market price and created a growing discontent amongst buyers. Research indicates that the increased production costs are in many ways caused by the large amount of waste, in form of materials and labor, which is common within today’s construction projects. Efforts to eliminate waste has led many companies to adapt Lean Thinking, a system with roots in Japanese car manufacturing industry, containing tools and methods designed to identify and eliminate all kinds of waste. From all this, new ways of construction has been introduced on to todays market. Industrialized housing is a relatively new concept, which has eliminated a lot of waste and risks by moving construction away from an on-site project into prefabrication within factories. This study focuses on how Lean Thinking adaptation and industrialized construction can help lowering construction costs. A case study has given us the opportunity to follow an industrialized construction project up close, as well as the opportunity to study an organization that has implemented Lean Thinking. The study shows that it is possible to reduce common waste within construction industry through Lean Thinking and industrialized housing. The project lead-time for industrialized housing is also much shorter compared to traditional construction methods and therefore the costs are kept low. By continuing to evolve industrialized housing through Lean Thinking it would be possible to further reduce waste and consequently enabling an even smarter way of construction.

Sammanfattning Kandidatuppsats, Civilekonomprogrammet Författare: Erika Fristedt och Malin Gustavsson Handledare: Anders Jerreling Examinator: Elin Funck Titel: En kostnad kommer sällan ensam - En tolkande utvärderingsstudie   Nyckelord: skrot, skrotkostnad, bilindustrin, kartläggning, processer, utvärdering, utvärderingsstudie, kvalitetsbristkostnader, jurans trilogi, strategiska avväganden, kaizen, lean production, projekt, leveransprecision, styrning, kommunikation, ansvar, företagskultur   Bakgrund: Bilindustrin har under en längre tid genomsyrats av en kostnadspress som uppkommit med anledning av förändrade krav från kund. Detta tvingar aktörerna på marknaden att skapa en produktion som är flexibel och anpassad efter snabba förändringar. Företags överlevnad grundas i hur väl de lyckas upprätthålla relationen till kund. Fallföretag X har under senare år upplevt en radikal ökning av skrotkostnader. Att detaljer skrotas som följd av kvalitetsproblem kan anses riskabelt i den bransch som företaget verkar i. Om produkter inte kan levereras till kund i tid eller i efterfrågad kvalitet kan det anses att existensen är hotad. Hur kommer det sig att trots denna ökade kostnad, att företaget överlever på marknaden.   Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga processerna på Företag X, identifiera var i processerna skrot uppkommer samt varför. För att på detta sätt synliggöra åtgärder som kan vidtas på fallföretaget i syfte att minska skrotkostnaden. Vidare skapas förståelse kring huruvida ett företag med höga kostnader för skrot kan existera i en värld som kräver kostnadskontroll.   Metod: Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ utvärderingsstudie av Företag X. En abduktiv forskningsansats nyttjades för att pendla mellan teori och empiri och därigenom skapa ny teori samt förståelse för det skrotproblem som fallföretaget har.   Resultat: Skrot uppstår inom flera processer på Företag X och slutsatsen är att företaget har en bristande kommunikation, informationsspridning, ansvarsfördelning, planering samt styrning. Det kommer att krävas ett stort engagemang från samtliga inom företaget för att komma tillrätta med skrotproblemet och åtgärder som Lean, Kaizen och just-in-time förespråkas.

This diploma thesis deals with problems which often occur during implementation of kaizen philosophy into economic practice in Czech environment. Many Czech companies that adopted this philosophy do not reach such good results, compared to companies in Japan. Czech employee's do not accept it in good way. Thus the target of this thesis is to find out possible causes of this unfavourable situation. In theoetical parts, kaizen phiosophy and other related factors such as organizational culture are described. Furthermore, most frequent kaizen practice and its most important effects are described well as a brief history of it in Japan, USA, and Czech. Real implementations of kaizen in three companies in Czech Republic are analyzed in empirical part of this thesis. Most important points of this part are qualitative research (interviews with employees of these three companies) and quantitative research (questionares were filled by employees in one of these firms). The outputs of the thesis are general as well as specific suggestions for these three companies.

This diploma thesis deals with the optimization of production process at ADC Czech Republic s.r.o. Primarily, the method of Lean Six Sigma is used. The first part has a form of the literary study where individual methods used within the company are described. These are further applied in the practical part. The second part presents a brief introduction of the company including the production portfolio. The last part focuses on the practical solution of particular problems of two packaging lines aiming to increase the utilization. In the thesis, the DMAIC improvement cycle is employed.

The diploma thesis deals with the assessment of the reliability of processes at the packaging center in the company CommScope Czech Republic s.r.o. The first part of the work is research about options for quality management using ISO 9000 standards, but also TQM approaches. At the same time, methods and analytical techniques are discussed, which will be further used in the practical part of this thesis. The following section introduces CommScope Inc. and its main product - optical fiber. The practical part contains an introduction to the packaging center and its processes, it also describes the analysis of the reliability of the original state and proposals for corrective measures that were designed within the Kaizen event. The rest of the work is then devoted to the implementation of the proposed changes and their economic assessment. Finally, an evaluation of the methods used, the results achieved and other recommendations are given.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of two significant concepts withinthe manufacturing industry. Namely, the widely popular Lean production and the arising Industry 4.0. The lack of a common framework concerning their relationship requires further exploration, as stated by several researchers. For companies to stay competitive within a changing market it is of importance to adapt to new technologies, indicating that the understanding of this relationship is essential, as Lean production is extensively used in industries today. To increase the understanding of the concepts and their relationship three research questions were formulated, as followed: RQ 1: How can Industry 4.0 support Lean production? RQ 2: How can Lean production support the implementation of industry 4.0? RQ 3: What are the challenges of implementing Industry 4.0 in Lean production? The study was conducted using qualitative research methods such as the narrative literature review and thematic analysis, allowing for the identification of themes and structuring of the study in a narrative approach. Second-hand data was collected through academic databases using search terms highly relevant to the research questions. The theoretical framework of the study provides a foundation for the understanding of the concepts. Whereas the results are centered around the relationship of Industry 4.0 and Lean production with themes relevant to the research questions and subthemes to follow. The analysis highlights important aspects of the results in relation to the theoretical framework, while also discovering insights connecting the research questions together. The conclusion presents aspects of how Industry 4.0 technologies can support Lean production through factors such as increased continuous improvement, support of people, improved JIT, Kanban, maintenance and communications. Where the general benefits will be productivity, quality and speed of introducing new products, adapting to high variability of market demand. Furthermore, describing how Lean production can support the implementation of Industry 4.0, as the degree of Lean maturity directly influences the efficiency of Industry 4.0 implementation. The employment of Lean principles such as continuous improvement, focus on people and standardization can result in a more effective implementation and utilization of Industry 4.0. Challenges of implementing Industry 4.0 in Lean production such as the risk of counterproductive implementation because of the lack of common framework, limitations of certain Lean practices, Lean professionals and ICT professionals limited knowledge of eachother's fields and the understanding of how to apply Industry 4.0 based on lean principles. Lastly, recommendations are offered for companies aspiring to implement Industry 4.0, as they should evaluate their current level of Lean maturity in order to understand when it is most efficient to incorporate the new technologies. Companies seeking to aid their Lean objectives should concentrate on technologies such as IoT and CPS as they seem to have the most positive impact on Lean. In addition, recommending further research regarding the relationship of Industry 4.0 readiness and Lean maturity, exploring which degree of Lean maturity to efficiently integrate and utilize certain Industry 4.0 technologies and when to implement certain Industry 4.0 technologies to aid the advancement of Lean maturity.

La manufactura peruana ha evidenciado una demanda creciente, especialmente para el rubro metalmecánico, debido a los proyectos de inversión anunciados en los próximos años. Cabe resaltar que, el sector metalmecánico es uno de los sectores productivos más importantes ya que impulsa y dinamiza la economía del país. Por esa razón, se hizo un análisis de la situación actual del sector y se identificó que las empresas metalmecánicas presentan problemas de eficiencia en sus procesos productivos y una baja disponibilidad de sus máquinas. Bajo ese contexto, se hizo una búsqueda en la literatura para identificar diferentes herramientas que puedan eliminar el problema en casos de estudio similares. Luego, se seleccionó un caso de estudio que refleje el problema que aqueja el sector para garantizar un impacto en el mercado. Se analizaron las causas raíz del problema y las pérdidas monetarias que le generaban a la empresa para luego proponer un modelo que permita mejorar la eficiencia de la compañía. Se implementó el modelo propuesto y se verificaron las mejoras respectivas. Finalmente, se realizó una evaluación económica para verificar la vialidad del proyecto, así como sus impactos tanto internos como externos de la empresa. En ese sentido, el propósito de la investigación es proporcionar un modelo de producción basado en herramientas Lean Manufacturing para eliminar el problema identificado en el sector aplicado en un caso de estudio. En la revisión de la literatura, se ha encontrado pocos artículos de investigación sobre empresas de este sector que se hayan desarrollado en Latinoamérica, especialmente en Perú. Por esa razón, el presente estudio contribuirá a la comunidad científica latina con un nuevo sistema de producción para las empresas metalmecánicas peruanas. / The current context of peruvian manufacturing has evidenced an increasing demand, especially for the metal-mechanical sector, due to the investment projects announced for this year and next. It should be noted that the metalworking sector is one of the most important productive sectors since it drives and energizes the country's economy. For this reason, an analysis was made of the current situation in the sector and it was identified that companies in this area have efficiency problems in their production processes and a low availability of their equipment on production lines. This would bring as a consequence an unsatisfied and unsatisfactory demand which leads to a lesser amount of monetary income for Peru. In this context, an exhaustive search was made in the literature to identify different tools that can eliminate the problem in similar study cases. Then, a case study was selected that reflects the problem faced by the sector to guarantee a relevant impact on the market. The root causes of the problem and the impact it had on the company were analyzed to then propose a model that would improve the company's efficiency. The proposed model was implemented, and the respective improvements were verified. Finally, an economic evaluation was carried out to verify the viability of the project, as well as its internal and external impacts on the company. In this sense, the purpose of the research is to provide a production model based on Lean Manufacturing tools to eliminate the problem identified in the sector applied in a case study. In the literature review, few research articles have been found on companies in this sector that have developed in Latin America, especially in Peru. For this reason, our research will contribute to the Latin scientific community with a new production system for peruvian metalworking companies. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional