The slow rate of corporate improvement is not due to lack of knowledge of six sigma or lean. Rather, the fault lies in making the transition from theory to implementation. Managers need a step-by-step, unambiguous roadmap of improvement that leads to predictable results. This roadmap provides the self-confidence, punch, and power necessary for action and is the principal subject of this research. Unique to this research is the way the integration of lean and six sigma is achieved; by way of an integration matrix formed by lean implementation protocols and six sigma project phases. This integration matrix is made more prescriptive by an integrated leanness assessment tool, which will guide the user given their existing level of implementation and integration. Further guidance in each of the cells formed by the integration matrix is provided by way of phase methodologies and statistical/non-statistical tools. The output of this research is a software tool that could be used in facilities at any stage of lean implementation, including facilities with no existing lean implementation. The developed software tool has the capability to communicate among current and former project teams within any group, division, or facility in the organization. The developed software tool has also the capability to do data analysis (Example: Design of Experiments, Value Stream Mapping, Multi-Vari Analysis etc.). By way of the integration matrix, leanness assessment and the data analysis capability, the developed software tool will give managers a powerful tool that will help in their quest to achieve lean six sigma. / Master of Science

Yes / This article responds to a recent contribution to this journal. Procter and Radnor (2014) provide an account of teamworking in the UK Civil Service, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which focuses on the relationship between recently implemented lean work organisation and teams and teamworking. This intervention is prompted by criticism of the present authors’ published research into lean in the same locus (e.g. Carter et al, 2011a; 2011b; 2013a; 2013b). Procter and Radnor claim, without foundation we argue, that our work is ‘one-sided’ and that theirs delivers a ‘more nuanced’ analysis of lean in this government department - and it follows - of the lean phenomenon more generally. Our riposte critiques their article on several grounds. Firstly, it suffers from problems of logic and construction, conceptual confusion and definitional imprecision. Methodological difficulties and inconsistent evidence contribute additionally to analytical weakness. Included in our response are empirical findings on teamworking at HMRC, which challenge Procter and Radnor’s evidential basis and further reveal the shortcomings of their interpretation.

Autentiskt ledarskap representerar ett nytt område inom ledarskapsforskning och fokuserar på ett äkta och genuint ledarskap som återspeglar ledarens sanna jag. Samtidigt finns tvetydigheter om det går att vara sann mot sig själv eller om organisatoriska komplexiteter försvårar ens möjligheter. Efter Migrationsverkets implementation av lean har autentiskt ledarskap lyfts fram som ett framgångsrikt ledarskap för ett lyckat arbete med lean. Syftet med studien var därför att studera upplevelser av det autentiska ledarskapet i en organisation som säger sig tillämpa lean. Studien hade en kvalitativ forskningsdesign vilket innefattade sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med ledare på Migrationsverket. Resultatet visade på att autentiskt ledarskap förklaras som äkta genom självreflektion och relationer. Studien visar också att organisationen har en betydande roll för ledarnas möjlighet att vara autentiska eller inte. Med denna studie vill vi uppmärksamma det autentiska ledarskapet och vad det kan bidra med, men också lyfta organisationens innebörd för det. / Authentic leadership represents one of the newest areas of leadership research and focuses on a true and genuine leadership that reflects the true self. There are ambiguities whether it is possible to be true towards oneself or if organizational complexities affect its possibilities. Authentic leadership has been pointed out as the successful leadership approach within lean at Sweden Migrant Board. The aim was therefore to capture experiences of the authentic leadership within an organization that claims to apply lean. The study had a qualitative research design which included six semi-structured interviews with leaders at the Swedish Migration Board. The result showed that authentic leadership was declared genuine through self- reflection and relationships. The study also shows that the organization has a significant role for leaders' ability to be authentic or not. With this study, we want to pay attention to authentic leadership and what it can contribute. We also want to lift the organization's meaning for authentic leadership.

Produktionskostnaderna i byggbranschen ökar ständigt och i en rapport utgiven av Sveriges byggindustrier kartläggs att uppemot 30-35 % av den totala produktionskostnaden i ett byggprojekt kan betraktas som slöseri. Slöseri kan beskrivas som de förbrukade resurser som inte skapar något värde för kunden, såsom förflyttning av material, väntan, avbrott, lagerhållning och överproduktion. Studien är genomförd på köksprojekt där Peab byggservice agerar tjänsteleverantör och bistår Ikea med monteringstjänster. Studien baseras på ett rikstäckande avtal som rör all typ av montering av Ikeas sortiment, dock har i denna studie endast monteringen av kök studerats. De förbättringsområden som har identifierats i rapporten har sedan analyserats och diskuterats med hjälp av verktyg från Lean. I rapporten benämns Peab byggservice som tjänsteleverantör och Ikea som leverantör. Syfte: Syftet med arbetet är att effektivisera en byggtjänsteleverantörs processer för att uppnå en ökad lönsamhet. Metod: För att uppnå målet och besvara frågeställningarna har arbetet utförts som en fallstudie av köksprojekt. Kvalitativa intervjuer och dokumentinsamling har använts som metoder och har varit en del av fallstudien. För att inhämta stöd i teorin och metoder som lämpar sig i det aktuella fallet har en litteraturstudie gjorts. För att identifiera slöseri i den befintliga processen har en värdeflödesanalys uppförts, det är ett verktyg från Lean med syfte att synliggöra köer, och andra icke värdeskapande aktiviteter. Resultat: I rapporten har: ● Processen gällande ett köksprojekt kartlagts. ● Olika former av slöseri identifierats. ● Verktyg från Lean analyserats för att minimera slöseri. Detta har lett till förslag på: ● Reducerade ledtider genom kombinerade aktiviteter. ● Kortare processtider genom effektivisering. ● Metoder för långsiktiga lösningar för att på sikt uppnå en effektivare process. Konsekvenser: Utifrån rapportens resultat konstateras möjlighet till förbättring. Slöseri har identifierats och förbättringsåtgärder med hjälp av framtagna teorier bedöms vara möjligt. Begränsningar: Resultatet är kopplat till generella problem och ger förslag på förbättringsarbete i de fall där en entreprenör agerar tjänsteleverantör åt en leverantör. Nyckelord: Processeffektivisering, Lean Production, Slöseri, Värdeflödesanalys.

The intent of this Project was to identify areas of improvement in Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS) Well, Reservoir and Facility Management (WRFM) practices, in order to meet full compliance with Shell global WRFM Standards by their next annual review in Q4 2014. A gap analysis was carried out to identify where improvement efforts must be focussed and measures to support optimisation, streamlining and alignment of processes have been recommended. The Shell Blade 27 – Well, Reservoir and Facility Management Guideline was used to obtain insight and understanding of the WRFM process and requirements. The STOS WRM Management Manual, WRFM Plans and Health-check outputs were used as supplementary documentation for the gap analysis. The Shell WRFM minimum requirements were used as the established benchmark against which STOS practices were measured using the asset assessment tool. Interviews were carried out to further highlight complexities and constraints at STOS to meet Shell criteria. The findings in this report provide evidence of issues that should be addressed for the continuous improvement of WRFM at STOS. These have been provided for the consideration of Shell Todd Oil Services Limited WRFM Steering Committee Chair.

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Context. Network Function Virtualization was recently proposed by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to improve the network service flexibility by virtualization of network services and applications that run on hardware. To virtualize network functions, the software is decoupled from underlying physical hardware. NFV aims to transform industries by reducing capital investments on hardware by using commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. NFV makes rapid innovative growth in telecom services through software based service deployment. Objectives. This thesis work aims to investigate how business organizations function and the roles in defining a service relationship model. The work also aims to define a service relationship model and to validate it via proof of concept using network function virtualization as a service. For this thesis, we finally apply lean principles for the defined service relationship model to reduce waste and investigate how lean benefits the model to be proven as performance service oriented. Methods. The essence of this work is to make a business organization lean by investigating its actions and applying lean principles. To elaborate, this thesis work involves in a research of papers from IEEE, TMF, IETF and Ericsson. It results in modelling of a PoC by following requirement analysis methodology and by applying lean principles to eliminate unnecessary processes which doesn’t add any value. Results. The results of the work include a full-fledged service relationship model that include three service levels with roles that can fit in to requirement specifications of NFV infrastructure. The results also show the service levels functionalities and their relationships between the roles. It has also been observed that the services that are needed to be standardized are defined with syntax for ways to describe network functions. It is observed that lean principles benefit the service relationship model from reducing waste factors and hereby providing a PoC which is performance service oriented. Conclusions. We conclude that roles defined are fit for the service relationship model designed. Moreover, we conclude that the model can hence contain the flow of service by standardizing the subservices and reducing waste interpreted with lean principles and there is a need for further use case proof of the model in full scale industry trials. It also concludes the ways to describe network functions syntax which follows lean principles that are essential to have them for the sub-services standardization. However, PoC defined can be an assurance to the NFV infrastructure.

Context. Network Function Virtualization was recently proposed by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to improve the network service flexibility by virtualization of network services and applications that run on hardware. To virtualize network functions, the software is decoupled from underlying physical hardware. NFV aims to transform industries by reducing capital investments on hardware by using commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. NFV makes rapid innovative growth in telecom services through software based service deployment. Objectives. This thesis work aims to investigate how business organizations function and the roles in defining a service relationship model. The work also aims to define a service relationship model and to validate it via proof of concept using network function virtualization as a service. For this thesis, we finally apply lean principles for the defined service relationship model to reduce waste and investigate how lean benefits the model to be proven as performance service oriented. Methods. The essence of this work is to make a business organization lean by investigating its actions and applying lean principles. To elaborate, this thesis work involves in a research of papers from IEEE, TMF, IETF and Ericsson. It results in modelling of a PoC by following requirement analysis methodology and by applying lean principles to eliminate unnecessary processes which doesn’t add any value. Results. The results of the work include a full-fledged service relationship model that include three service levels with roles that can fit in to requirement specifications of NFV infrastructure. The results also show the service levels functionalities and their relationships between the roles. It has also been observed that the services that are needed to be standardized are defined with syntax for ways to describe network functions. It is observed that lean principles benefit the service relationship model from reducing waste factors and hereby providing a PoC which is performance service oriented. Conclusions. We conclude that roles defined are fit for the service relationship model designed. Moreover, we conclude that the model can hence contain the flow of service by standardizing the subservices and reducing waste interpreted with lean principles and there is a need for further use case proof of the model in full scale industry trials. It also concludes the ways to describe network functions syntax which follows lean principles that are essential to have them for the sub-services standardization. However, PoC defined can be an assurance to the NFV infrastructure.

Purpose: Waste and negligence in the construction industry is a way too big factor of the high costs occurring. To reduce those wastes, some companies in the manufacturing industry has started to apply Lean to get a more effectively work. Lean Construction is the construction industries counterpart and this investigation investigates what Lean Construction methods for waste management can do for small and medium-sized enterprises.The goal of this work is to analyze how small and medium-sized enterprises can work to get Lean in to the companies processes to reduce perceived wastageMethod: The methods that is used to achieve the goal and to answer the chosen questions is literature studies, interviews and participant observation.Findings: Based on the methods that is used has different factors to reduce waste been acquired. Better communication, awareness among employees, management commitment and keep the work to the time schedules is important factors for improvement.Implications: Better planning is basis for a more efficient construction process.The most important thing for small and medium-sized enterprises can think about is that expensive solutions do not need to be better than simple methods. The developed factors in this investigation can help companies that want to achieve a more efficient construction process. The reason that this investigation is theoretically based, the derived factors should be applied in real projects to see what impact they have.Limitations: The investigation is limited to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is a case study at Brantås Bygg. The study include rework, waiting, movements and transports. The interviews are made with working managers, foremans and carpenters at Brantås Bygg. The participate observation is made at a project in the central parts of Vetlanda, Sweden.Keywords: Lean Construction, Wastes, SME, Implementation issues.

Matsvinn är ett aktuellt ämne och mycket arbete utförs för att på olika sätt hantera följder av detta. Syftet med denna studie är att studera problemen angående matsvinn utifrån ett lean management perspektiv. Studien är avgränsad till ”ICA nära Bredaryds” kött- och charkavdelning. Genom att identifiera de bakomliggande orsakerna till matsvinn samt undersöka hur grundläggande principer inom lean kan hantera dessa, försöker studien forma långsiktiga strategier i syfte att minska matsvinnet i livsmedelsbutiker.De två huvudorsakerna till matsvinnet som identifierats i studien är variation i kundernas efterfrågan samt variation i personalens arbetsmoment. För att hantera variationen i kundernas efterfrågan bör tankesättet “lean thinking” implementeras. Genom att arbeta med “lean thinking”-cykeln och kontinuerligt eliminera slöseri samt utveckla systemet så att det blir av dragande karaktär kommer kundernas variation att delvis kunna hanteras vilket i sin tur minskar matsvinnet. För att hantera variationen i arbetsmomenten bör standardiserade arbetssätt implementeras. Då all personal arbetar på samma sätt kommer variationen i utförandet av olika arbetsmoment att minska vilket i sin tur genererar ett minskat matsvinn.Nyckelord: Lean, / Food waste is today a subject of large interest and a lot of work is currently being done to handle this issue. The aim of this study is therefore to give a contribution to the problem solving in this area from a lean management perspective. The study is limited to “ICA nära Bredaryds” department for cured meat and provisions. By identifying the underlying issues of food waste in connection with investigating how lean principles can handle these, the study aims to form long-term and strategic solutions on how to minimize waste in food shops.The two main causes of food waste that have been identified in the study are the variation in customer demand and the variation in how the staff perform their work. In order for the food shop to handle these two problems, two solutions have been suggested. In order to handle the variation in demand, the mindset of lean thinking should be implemented. By working with the lean thinking cycle and continuously eliminating waste and at the same time develop a pull system the variation in demand can be handled, which in turn will reduce the food waste. To handle the variation in workflow, standardized work methods should be implemented. Directing the staff to work the same way will reduce the variation in how the work is performed, which in turn will generate reduced food waste.