This thesis provides an introduction to the subject of Delivery Performance and its measurement. The review shows that non-price factors, especially delivery performance, have become recognised as of major importance in manufacturing business success. Attention is given to the reasons why UK manufacturing companies have such a poor delivery record and the adverse effects which result.

Master Thesis studies integrated Supply Chains and their particularities in the automotive industry and searches for ways how to rationalize them. It aims to find means how to make the lead times shorter, with the focus on an automobile producer in an effort to increase its competitiveness. It is geared to identify points in its Supply Chain, where flaws and errors or delays in the process of customer order fulfillment might occur. It also concentrates on the possibility of managing customer demand. The Thesis then investigates circumstances that especially in the automotive do play a role and influence the lead time. Based on the established information and facts it proposes measures that resolve this problem with regard to current trends in the industry and also consider the requirements and expectations of customers buying a new car.

We present and study the current research trends and advances for optimizing assemble-to-order systems with stochastic lead times. Assemble-to-order systems are widely used in several industries, where end products consist of multiple components and are customizable. Manufacturers can offer greater flexibility to their customers by delaying the assembly of the components until after the order is placed. This means they do not keep an inventory of end-products. Only components can be kept in the inventory and assembled upon demand. We compare and contrast different formulations and the features of assemble-to-order systems studied in the literature including system configuration, replenishment policy, lead time type, and demand distribution. Single-period systems, periodic-review systems, and continuous-review systems are considered. Current assumptions, formulations, solutions, and challenges are discussed. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Over many years the housing industry has been criticised concerning its performance related to factors such as quality and cost. Together with the challenge of improving its capability in meeting individual customers’ needs, by means of effective production, this has resulted in a situation where companies look at other industries, such as manufacturing, in order to<i> industrialise</i> their products and processes. Swedish housing producers are today working towards finding more commonality in products and processes at the same time as the ability to deliver customized product and services is maintained or improved. In some cases this means an increase in central control of the design work carried out in project groups.</p><p>This thesis presents a study of the design process for housing at a Swedish property developer, JM AB. Interviews have been conducted with three main groups of actors (project leaders, architects and sellers) connected to ten housing developments. A survey has also been sent out to these individuals as well as to other important actors. The main objectives of these investigations were to find out major actors’ attitudes towards the increase in central control of the design work, in general terms as well as in relation to specific design objects (windows, floor plans, bathrooms and basic structure) for the housing projects.</p><p>The results show that the trend towards more industrialised processes by more structuring and standardising concerning design has had an effect on the design work carried out in project groups. There are positive as well as negative aspects, as well as similarities and differences in attitudes. These differences can be related to different roles as well as to geographical differences. Within this work a <i>triangle</i> has been developed for measuring and comparing different actors’ attitudes. The work further shows that adapting a more holistic view of the design process, by considering it as part of a firm’s product realisation process, could be a base for further developments</p>

Background Waiting times of the fast-track of bladder cancer in Sweden are prolonged compared with set lead times.Aim To investigate if stage and grade of tumor affects waiting times.Method Retrospective single center observational study, Örebro University Hospital, Sweden. All patients who underwent resection of tumor or cystoscopy with biopsy via the fast-track between July 1st 2017 and December 31st 2018 were included, n=119.Result The waiting times of muscle invasive tumors were in general longer than for non-invasive tumors. Referral to TURBT - twelve days (p=0.047), referral to information of diagnosis to patient - seven days (p=0.04) and cystoscopy to TURBT - eleven days (p=0.041.Conclusion MIBC had longer waiting times to most steps of the fast-track. There are conflicting results in previous studies regarding whether extended waiting times result in worse outcomes in those with higher stage and grade of tumors or not. It is known that long waiting times results in higher mortality and psychological stress among the patients why reorganizations at the department should take place.

Over many years the housing industry has been criticised concerning its performance related to factors such as quality and cost. Together with the challenge of improving its capability in meeting individual customers’ needs, by means of effective production, this has resulted in a situation where companies look at other industries, such as manufacturing, in order to industrialise their products and processes. Swedish housing producers are today working towards finding more commonality in products and processes at the same time as the ability to deliver customized product and services is maintained or improved. In some cases this means an increase in central control of the design work carried out in project groups. This thesis presents a study of the design process for housing at a Swedish property developer, JM AB. Interviews have been conducted with three main groups of actors (project leaders, architects and sellers) connected to ten housing developments. A survey has also been sent out to these individuals as well as to other important actors. The main objectives of these investigations were to find out major actors’ attitudes towards the increase in central control of the design work, in general terms as well as in relation to specific design objects (windows, floor plans, bathrooms and basic structure) for the housing projects. The results show that the trend towards more industrialised processes by more structuring and standardising concerning design has had an effect on the design work carried out in project groups. There are positive as well as negative aspects, as well as similarities and differences in attitudes. These differences can be related to different roles as well as to geographical differences. Within this work a triangle has been developed for measuring and comparing different actors’ attitudes. The work further shows that adapting a more holistic view of the design process, by considering it as part of a firm’s product realisation process, could be a base for further developments / QC 20101129

In this thesis, two-echelon systems with exogenous and endogenous lead times are studied for the orders placed by the retailer(s) from the supplier. The retailer(s) employ periodic-review base-stock policy, namely (R,S) policy. For the case the demand during review period is i.i.d. and the probability distribution is Normal for each review period, a new method is proposed for exogenous lead time case under stationary policy. The results of the proposed method is then compared with the results of the existing methods in the literature and it is concluded that the proposed method provides service levels sufficiently close to target levels whereas the existing methods do not necessarily provide target levels. We use the simulation to study the endogenous replenishment lead time case. The proposed method is modified when the retailer employs stationary policy and it is seen that the proposed method gives no-stockout probabilities close to target levels. Moreover, the impacts of using adaptive policy on the performance of the retailer are studied for endogenous replenishment lead time case. It is concluded that updating of the order-up-to-level deteriorates the performance of the retailer. Finally, it is questioned whether it is beneficial for a retailer to use adaptive policy in a supply chain with two retailers. Simulation results show that the deterioration in the performance of the retailer handling stationary policy is larger compared to the other retailer handling adaptive policy and the deteriorations get larger in the case of an increase in update frequency or in utilization of the supplier.

Abstract Introduction: The case study has been conducted at AB GotlandsHem, the largest housing agency on the island of Gotland, Sweden. The study has two purposes. The first purpose is to map and examine the workload distribution in the inspection department by developing a generalizable template. The second purpose is to investigate how AB GotlandsHem can proceed with updating the workload distribution across all departments.   Problem description: Interviews have shown that several departments at AB GotlandsHem are experiencing unclarity about workload distribution. The workload distribution is uneven, unclear and unstructured, which leads to high workload. This can be seen in the long lead times at the inspection department.    Theory: Several theories have been used to analyze the study’s results. The theories being used are the cornerstone model, Kotter’s eight-step-model, workload distribution and Lean.    Method: The project was performed as a case study where an interview, observations, a diary and reviewing of existing documents was used. The collected data was analyzed by transcription, histogram and bar chart.   Results: The study’s results demonstrate that the developed template is effective. It further shows that the inspection department has significantly more actual hours then available hours, and several work activities within the department are irrelevant for them to perform. AB GotlandsHem consists of multiple sub-processes, each with a process leader responsible for the processes in the company.    Conclusion: The study reveals that most irrelevant activities can be moved to another process. If this relocation is implemented, the inspection department would reduce its actual hours and therefore decrease lead time since their available hours would be sufficient. Therefore, process leaders are responsible for reviewing work activities within their processes, allowing the company to map the departments irrelevant activities and the place more relevant for them.    Key words: cornerstone model, customer focus, inspection, lead times, process improvement, workload distribution    Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla., Uppsala universitet. Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla.. Handledare: Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla., Ämnesgranskare: Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla., Examinator: Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla. / Sammanfattning Inledning: Fallstudien har genomförts på Gotlands största bostadsförmedling, AB GotlandsHem. Studien har två syften. Det första syftet är att kartlägga och undersöka arbetsfördelningen på besiktningsavdelningen genom att ta fram en generaliserbar mall. Det andra syftet är att undersöka hur AB GotlandsHem kan gå tillväga för att uppdatera arbetsfördelningen inom samtliga av organisationens avdelningar.   Problembeskrivning: Flera avdelningar inom AB GotlandsHem har vid intervjuer beskrivit oklarhet inom arbetsfördelningen. Arbetsfördelningen är ojämn, otydlig och ostrukturerad vilket kräver mer arbetstid än nödvändigt. Inom besiktningsavdelningen syns den otydliga arbetsfördelningen på de långa ledtiderna.   Teori: Flera teorier har använts för att analysera studiens resultat. De teorier som använts är hörnstensmodellen, Kotters åttastegsmodell, arbetsfördelning och Lean.   Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie har genomförts och datainsamlingsmetoderna som använts är en intervju, observationer, en dagbok och dokumentgranskning. Data har analyserats med hjälp av transkribering, histogram och stolpdiagram.   Resultat: Studiens resultat visar på att mallen som tagits fram fungerar. Mallen har i sin tur visat att besiktningsavdelningen har många fler timmar faktiskt tid än disponibel tid, samt att flera arbetsaktiviteter inom avdelningen anses irrelevanta för dem att genomföra. Vidare har det kartlagts att AB GotlandsHem består av flera delprocesser som har varsin processledare som ansvarar för de processer som finns inom företaget.   Slutsatser: Studien visar att majoriteten av de irrelevanta aktiviteterna kan förflyttas till en annan process där aktiviteterna anses mer passande att utföra. Skulle förflyttningen genomföras skulle besiktningsavdelningen minska sina faktiska timmar och på det viset minska ledtiderna då deras disponibla timmar räcker till. Processledarna bör ansvara för att se över arbetsaktiviteterna inom sin process för att kartlägga avdelningarnas aktiviteter och avgöra om samtliga är relevanta för avdelningen.

Bakgrund: Kostnadsökningen inom hälso- och sjukvården har varit ett stort problem sedan 1980-talet och kommer att fortsätta vara ett problem i framtiden. Det har lett till en mer ansträngd ekonomisk situation som hälso- och sjukvården fått förhålla sig till. Därför är det av stor vikt att de disponibla medel som finns inom hälso- och sjukvården allokeras till de områden där de skapar som mest nytta. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att göra en hälsoekonomisk utvärdering av ett nytt arbetssätt för behandling av knäskador på ortopedkliniken på Länssjukhuset i Kalmar. Metodval: Studien är utformad som en utvärderingsstudie med en abduktiv utgångspunkt. Datainsamlingen har skett utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer på LSK med personal som är involverad i projektet. Utöver de semistrukturerade intervjuerna har även numeriska data utgjort en del av studiens empiri. Slutsats: Efter genomförd studie kan vi konstatera att fler hälsoekonomiska utvärderingar behövs på icke-nationella nivåer för att stödja verksamheter inom hälso- och sjukvården. Det är viktigt att det aktivt arbetas med effektiviseringsarbeten inom offentliga verksamheter som främst finansieras av skattemedel. Vi kan även konstatera att det nya arbetssättet är mer lönsamt än det gamla både monetärt och icke-monetärt där förändringen bidragit med flera vinningar som exempelvis kortare ledtider, bättre samarbete och utökad kompetens. / Background: The cost increase in healthcare has been a major problem since the 1980s and will continue to be a problem in the future. This has led to a more strained economic situation for the healthcare sector. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the available funds in the healthcare sector are allocated to the areas where they are most beneficial.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to make a health-economic evaluation of a new work procedure for the treatment of knee injuries at the orthopedic clinic at Kalmar’s County Hospital. Method: The study is designed as an evaluation study with an abductive outset. The data collection has been based on semi-structured interviews at LSK with the staff that was involved in the project. In addition to the semi-structured interviews, numerical data has also been part of the study for the empirical data collection. Conclusion: After completion of the study, we can state that more health-economic evaluations are needed at non-national levels to support healthcare organisations. It is important to actively work with efficiency initiatives in public organisations that are primarily funded by tax assets. We can also state that the new work procedure is more profitable than the old one, both monetary and non-monetary, where the change of work procedure has resulted in several non-monetary gains, such as shorter lead times, better cooperation and increased competence.

Dans le contexte actuel marqué par l’instabilité des marchés, les clients sont de plus en plus exigeants. un client qui n’est pas approvisionné à une date souhaitée peut soit remettre son achat à plus tard, soit aller chercher le produit chez un concurrent. de plus, l’entreprise doit faire face à de multiples imprévisibilités internes, de la concurrence ou d’événements extérieurs. ces aléas induisent de l'incertitude dans la planification de la production et génèrent des sources nombreuses de retard, de désynchronisation et de pertes de productivité. ce travail de thèse s’intègre dans la problématique de la planification de la production dans un environnement incertain. nous étudions des problèmes de la planification des réapprovisionnements pour un système d’assemblage à plusieurs niveaux, quand les délais d’approvisionnement sont incertains. nous avons choisi comme indicateur de performance l’espérance du coût total moyen qui est égal à la somme du coût de stockage des composants, le coût de rupture du produit fini et le coût de stockage du produit fini. des propriétés théoriques, des modèles analytiques ainsi que des méthodes d’optimisation ont été proposés. nous avons montré que la résolution du problème ne dépend pas seulement de la méthode de résolution et du nombre de niveaux, mais aussi du coût de rupture en produit fini et de la structure du système d’assemblage. / In the current industrial context, the offer is largely higher than the demand. Therefore, the customers are more and more exigent. To distance themselves, companies need to offer to their customers the best quality products, the best costs, and with controlled lead times as short as possible. Last years, the struggle for reducing costs was accentuated within companies. However, stocks represent an important financial asset, and therefore, it is essential to control them. In addition, a bad management of stocks led either to delays in delivery, which generate additional production costs, either to the unnecessary inventory. The latter one can occur at different levels (from components at the last level to finished product), it costs money and immobilize funds. That is why, planners have to look for efficient methods of production and supply planning, to know exactly for each component, and when to order and in which quantity.The aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the supply planning in an uncertain environment. We are interested in a replenishment planning for multi-level assembly systems under a fixed demand and uncertainty of components lead times.We consider that each component has a fixed unit inventory cost; the finished product has an inventory cost and a backlogging cost per unit of time. Then, a general mathematical model for replenishment planning of multi-level assembly systems, genetic algorithm and branch and bound method are presented to calculate and to optimize the expected value of the total cost which equals to the sum of the inventory holding costs for the components, the backlogging and the inventory holding costs for the finished product. We can state by the different results that the convergence of the GA doesn't depend only on the number of components in the last level but also on the number of levels, the type of the BOM and the backlogging cost for the finished product.