<p>The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate what motivates assembly line workers performing low-skill jobs in a small industrial laundry business. We wanted to see what fac-tors determine and influence their motivation to work and if and how this motivation can be improved with respect to assembly line systems in general. The method of our investiga-tion was qualitative in nature, where we studied one firm that leases clean bed clothes and textiles to hotels and restaurants around Sweden. We constructed a survey on motivation and handed it out to the assembly line workers who deal with the laundry. Furthermore, we interviewed the shift manager in order to get the company’s view on employee motivation. Our findings indicate that there are several overlapping factors that determine and influ-ence motivation in the long run. From this particular case we saw that a unified working culture and collective efforts both boost the willingness to work and help the process run smoothly. Furthermore, proper communication is motivating, where everyone should be committed to company goals, but the workers should be able to take part in profits, and not just generate them. Also, employees have to be considered as important as customers are. Another factor is to have the right resources to execute company plans, such as proper working techniques that minimise stress, injuries and frustration, and more responsibility that allows employees to see the whole system by learning about the technical aspects, or engaging in customer contacts. When trust builds up between the workers and the man-agement, there will be less need for a controlling boss, and people will be more motivated to work when they are not constantly monitored by their leader. In addition, more CEO visits are encouraged at plant level, because they send the signal that the company cares about all its employees. Finally, a crucial factor is feedback, where the firm should not only criticise, but praise everyone for a job well done. This way, the workers will feel worthy. When long term factors are weak or missing in the company, the only motivation for the people is money. However, money can work as a short term and a long term motivator be-cause it serves as a tool to satisfy needs of both security and self esteem outside work. Con-sidering motivation and assembly lines in general, when the assembly line is at its core, where efficiency is the goal and workers serve as means to get there, the only motivation is money, and possibly working colleagues. Intrinsic motivation can be reached by moving away from the actual system and performing other tasks. Still, the long term factors can improve the situation to a certain extent, but sooner or later everyone will turn into a well oiled machine with no further ways to improve motivation, since boredom and routines will remain. One goes from being a cog in the machinery to an integral part of a successful engine. It is still the same content, but in a different package.</p>

El Perú cuenta con resultados económicos positivos en los últimos años, inclusive mayores al promedio de la región. Una de las consecuencias del crecimiento económico del país es el incremento del consumo. Además, resalta el hecho de que los niveles socioeconómicos medios se encuentran muy dedicados al hogar, realizando más compras de artículos de primera necesidad, de cuidado personal y de limpieza, asegurándose de obtener la mejor calidad. Debido a este ambiente favorable, se decidió realizar un plan de introducción de detergente líquido al mercado peruano. El producto se ofrecerá a un mercado en constante desarrollo y con alto potencial de crecimiento: al NSE C y D. La rivalidad entre los competidores es considerable y el mercado se limita a pocas empresas con mucha participación. Sin embargo, la categoría es tan grande que se espera encontrar un espacio dentro de un mercado que está todavía en crecimiento sobre el cual desarrollar el producto, esto con una oferta volumen/precio satisfactoria y debidamente difundida mediante actividades promocionales. Esta introducción del producto será por medio de la importación, contando con una operación pequeña que sea eficiente y que sus actividades se apoyen con el uso de la tecnología. Este plan de introducción tendrá como orientación preliminar la penetración del producto en el mercado. Esto permite tener cierta rapidez en las decisiones, que serán necesarias si es que se quiere lograr un impacto y captar a los potenciales compradores con la estrategia de introducción. / Peru has had positive results in recent years, even over the regional average. One of the consequences of economic growth is the consumption increasing. Also, it´s important to emphasize that middle class socioeconomic levels are very dedicated to home; so, they are shopping more staple, personal care products as well as for cleaning. Middle class wants to be sure about getting best quality. Due to this favorable environment, it was decided to make a plan for introducing the liquid detergent to the Peruvian market. The product will be offered for a market in constant development and with high potential: to C and D socioeconomic level. Rivalry between the competitors is hard, so, the market is limited to a few companies with a large market share for each one. However, the product category is so large that it´s expected to find inside this a place for developing the product; all of these, taking advantage about a market that is still growing. This will be done with a satisfactory volume / price offer and it'll be disseminated through promotional activities. The product introduction will be done by imports, making a small operation which is efficient and whose activities are supported with use of technology. This introduction plan will have, as a preliminary orientation, the penetration of the product in the market. This allows to have the require speed in the taking of decisions, the ones will be used to make an impact and to get potential buyers with strategy of introduction. / Trabajo de investigación

This document describes the work for the master’s thesis in Electrical Engineering carried out at Electrolux Laundry Systems. In this project the computers that control the laundry system have been compared in order to verify the performance of the whole system. Three real environment systems are analysed and two of these systems have been set up in the laboratory in order to solve the problem considered. The results show that the tested devices perform better than the device PC1, which is not fulfilling the expectations in the real environment system. Some conclusions and future work are presented.

Breathable water-repellent garments are common products on the outdoor market. There are many recommendations on how to wash and waterproof your garment in order to make sure that its water-repellence is cared for, but the advice given by different sources is inconsistent. Are expensive products really necessarily or are regular laundry products just as good? What waterproofing agents should one use in order to insure that the water-repellent layer is restored? Four different water-repellent wash-in products were tested on polyester and polyamide fabrics. Seven laundry products and two water-repellent wash-in products were tested on jackets with dendrimer based finishes and untreated polyamide fabrics. The results were evaluated by spray testing according to ISO EN 24920 and sessile drop tests. Not all wash-in products offer good water-repellence on polyamide and polyester fabrics. Two laundry detergents decreased the water-repellence of the jackets. The laundry detergents did not affect the function of wash-in waterproofing agents on the jackets. The water-repellence of one wash-in product was affected by the use of two different detergents on untreated fabric / Program: Textilingenjörsutbildningen

This study presents findings on the effect of domestic laundry detergents on the fastness to light of selected fibre reactive dyes applied to cotton. The study was carried out to elucidate the reasons for the accelerated colour loss of cotton garments washed under Australian domestic laundering conditions. Cotton fabric dyed with commonly used reactive dyes were laundered with water only, several domestic detergents and a laboratory formulated neutral detergent, and then exposed to light for two hours in the wet state. Quantities of detergent used were in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations. Exposures were repeated fifteen times equivalent to 30 hours exposure. Colour loss and colour difference were measured after 5, 10 and 15 wash cycles and 10, 20 and 30 hours exposure. When the fabric was exposed wet the colour faded more rapidly than when exposed dry to light. Detergents increased the colour loss even when the fabric was not exposed to light. The presence of an oxidizing bleach (sodium perborate) in the detergent increased colour loss during washing and wet exposure to light. Ultraviolet radiation from the light source, heat, moisture, alkali and oxidising bleach during exposure resulted in hydrolysis of the dye-fibre bond causing dye desorption during washing and rinsing. Water alone increased the fading of the dyes most likely due to presence of dissolved oxygen held within the fibre. The combination of ultraviolet radiation and oxidizing bleaches altered the chemistry of the dye and hence its shade. This was particularly evident on the black dye and one of the navy blue dyes.

<p>The international environment today has been undergoing unprecedented change and many companies are seeking new ways to stand out from the competition by sustaining their competitive advantage. Internationalization and firms’ consolidation increase competition in the dynamic marketplace .Companies are no longer staying competitive simply through focusing on product quality and pricing as customers are becoming more high-demanding related to customer service offer. This issue directs the companies’ main focus today to address the customer needs in the ever-changing environment.In order to be the winners in the marketplace, timing and superior customer service are becoming the keys to attain competitive advantage for a company. Time-based competition is an important issue that many companies are facing currently as customers are becoming more time-sensitive and time-oriented in terms of better services, reliability and delivery. To keep up with the changes in demand from customers, it is important to satisfy customers’ objectives and needs in order to provide superior customer service, thus, establish good relationship with them. In the ever-changing and dynamic business environment company needs to adapt and exploit the changes in order to meet the new challenges in the marketplace. It is crucial for the company to respond to changing needs of existing customers and seeking to serve new customers externally. The ways to renew the customers’ services and how they are delivered are critical capabilities for many companies to acquire nowadays. This leads to increasing interaction between marketing and logistics where logistics is considered a platform for supporting new strategic moves on the market.This master thesis originates from a need to research the links between customer service improvement and Just-in-time distribution in order to sustain competitive advantage. We propose to extend the Just-In-Time concept to incorporate a customer perspective, which results in changes the warehousing, ordering and delivering routines. Subsequently, this creates timing ability as well as coordination of information and material flows through timely decisions, which are difficult for competitors to emulate. Based on our analysis and conclusion, companies are recommended to shift from the traditional production-oriented to market-oriented focuses through incorporation of customers' perspective into the value chain. To deploy this, companies should start from the customer end and understand customers' needs and establish mutual beneficial relationships with customers. Long-lasting business relationships ultimately determine the success of the company. Furthermore, we conclude that successful learning to change the routines requires time for the transformation of traditional delivery practice to perform direct deliveries activities. They are based on the common understanding of the tasks and rules as well as common codes of internal coordination processes.</p>

The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate what motivates assembly line workers performing low-skill jobs in a small industrial laundry business. We wanted to see what fac-tors determine and influence their motivation to work and if and how this motivation can be improved with respect to assembly line systems in general. The method of our investiga-tion was qualitative in nature, where we studied one firm that leases clean bed clothes and textiles to hotels and restaurants around Sweden. We constructed a survey on motivation and handed it out to the assembly line workers who deal with the laundry. Furthermore, we interviewed the shift manager in order to get the company’s view on employee motivation. Our findings indicate that there are several overlapping factors that determine and influ-ence motivation in the long run. From this particular case we saw that a unified working culture and collective efforts both boost the willingness to work and help the process run smoothly. Furthermore, proper communication is motivating, where everyone should be committed to company goals, but the workers should be able to take part in profits, and not just generate them. Also, employees have to be considered as important as customers are. Another factor is to have the right resources to execute company plans, such as proper working techniques that minimise stress, injuries and frustration, and more responsibility that allows employees to see the whole system by learning about the technical aspects, or engaging in customer contacts. When trust builds up between the workers and the man-agement, there will be less need for a controlling boss, and people will be more motivated to work when they are not constantly monitored by their leader. In addition, more CEO visits are encouraged at plant level, because they send the signal that the company cares about all its employees. Finally, a crucial factor is feedback, where the firm should not only criticise, but praise everyone for a job well done. This way, the workers will feel worthy. When long term factors are weak or missing in the company, the only motivation for the people is money. However, money can work as a short term and a long term motivator be-cause it serves as a tool to satisfy needs of both security and self esteem outside work. Con-sidering motivation and assembly lines in general, when the assembly line is at its core, where efficiency is the goal and workers serve as means to get there, the only motivation is money, and possibly working colleagues. Intrinsic motivation can be reached by moving away from the actual system and performing other tasks. Still, the long term factors can improve the situation to a certain extent, but sooner or later everyone will turn into a well oiled machine with no further ways to improve motivation, since boredom and routines will remain. One goes from being a cog in the machinery to an integral part of a successful engine. It is still the same content, but in a different package.

The international environment today has been undergoing unprecedented change and many companies are seeking new ways to stand out from the competition by sustaining their competitive advantage. Internationalization and firms’ consolidation increase competition in the dynamic marketplace .Companies are no longer staying competitive simply through focusing on product quality and pricing as customers are becoming more high-demanding related to customer service offer. This issue directs the companies’ main focus today to address the customer needs in the ever-changing environment.In order to be the winners in the marketplace, timing and superior customer service are becoming the keys to attain competitive advantage for a company. Time-based competition is an important issue that many companies are facing currently as customers are becoming more time-sensitive and time-oriented in terms of better services, reliability and delivery. To keep up with the changes in demand from customers, it is important to satisfy customers’ objectives and needs in order to provide superior customer service, thus, establish good relationship with them. In the ever-changing and dynamic business environment company needs to adapt and exploit the changes in order to meet the new challenges in the marketplace. It is crucial for the company to respond to changing needs of existing customers and seeking to serve new customers externally. The ways to renew the customers’ services and how they are delivered are critical capabilities for many companies to acquire nowadays. This leads to increasing interaction between marketing and logistics where logistics is considered a platform for supporting new strategic moves on the market.This master thesis originates from a need to research the links between customer service improvement and Just-in-time distribution in order to sustain competitive advantage. We propose to extend the Just-In-Time concept to incorporate a customer perspective, which results in changes the warehousing, ordering and delivering routines. Subsequently, this creates timing ability as well as coordination of information and material flows through timely decisions, which are difficult for competitors to emulate. Based on our analysis and conclusion, companies are recommended to shift from the traditional production-oriented to market-oriented focuses through incorporation of customers' perspective into the value chain. To deploy this, companies should start from the customer end and understand customers' needs and establish mutual beneficial relationships with customers. Long-lasting business relationships ultimately determine the success of the company. Furthermore, we conclude that successful learning to change the routines requires time for the transformation of traditional delivery practice to perform direct deliveries activities. They are based on the common understanding of the tasks and rules as well as common codes of internal coordination processes.

In this thesis we examine the issue of growth in emerging markets and in specific how MNCs can achieve growth by understanding the customer and building a solid distributor network on the example of EPLSG in the Russian market. In this context we investigate the correlation of the growth potential with institutional environment, customer behaviour, distributorship and brand equity. But let us briefly examine the structure of the thesis chapter by chapter. Chapter one explains the five main themes that structure our thesis from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. Chapter two is an account of the methodology used for the conducting of the empirical research as well as of the whole thesis. Chapter three outlines the theoretical background of the thesis while chapter four is a description of the empirical data found on the field. Chapter five is the analysis of the empirical findings and in chapter six the reader can see the conclusions and recommendations for the case company. Finally, chapter seven gives directions for further research. Overall, the authors of this thesis purport that in emerging markets an MNC can grow if it can effectively gather and analyze customer and market data as well as build appropriately a distributor network that can deliver the product to the customer and fully capture the market potential. What differentiates this thesis from other studies is the holistic appreciation of the problems that an MNC faces in an emerging market. The building of theory was based on this perspective as well as the recommendations for the case company. That is why, in chapter seven the recommendations for the case company should be read not as individual ones but as set of interconnected tactics that can allow an MNC to grow.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1959.