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This thesis investigates production optimisation systems such as lean production and their consequences for the health and safety of workers. In particular it examines potential positive effects and adverse effects on stress and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The thesis com-prises an extended literature survey and a field study in the manufacturing and the services sector applying lean production. It provides an extensive review of studies carried out in lean production environments in the last 20 years that aims to identify the effects of lean production (negative or positive) on occupational health and related risk factors. Thirty-six studies of lean effects were accepted from the literature search and sorted by sector and type of outcome. Lean production was found to have a negative effect on health and risk factors; the most negative outcomes being found in the earliest studies in the automotive industry. However, examples of mixed and positive effects were also found in the literature. The strongest correlations of lean production with stress were found for characteristics found in Just-In-Time production that related to reduced cycle time and reduction of resources. In-creased musculoskeletal risk symptoms were related to increases of work pace and lack of recovery time also found in Just-In-Time systems. An interaction model is developed to pro-pose a pathway from lean production characteristics to musculoskeletal and psychosocial risk factors and also positive outcomes. An examination is also made of the changing focus of studies investigating the consequences of lean production over a 20-year period. Theories about the effects of lean production have evolved from a conceptualization that it is an inherently harmful management system, to a view that it can have mixed effects depending on the management style of the organization and the specific way it is implemented. The field study was carried out in lean environments in the manufacturing and services sec-tors, namely in the electronics, beverage, and metal industry and call centres in Greece and UK. For the psychosocial factors and recording of MSD symptoms; self reported questionnaires were administrated to the workers. In total 353 workers responded to the questionnaires. Additionally qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with managers and lean officials, safety officers and workers in the sample. Finally, observation visits in the companies completed the data collection process. The lean implementation level of the companies was estimated on a five-point scale, according to a validated model (Conti et al, 2006). A follow up study to collect qualitative data was possible in one company in the sample. The research hypotheses of the field study tested the relationship between job stress and MSDs with quantitative job demands, job control, performance monitoring, and the level of lean implementation. The hypotheses were partly supported in both sectors: In the service sector findings confirm that quantitative job demands are predictors of job stress, consistent with similar studies in call centres. Stress is strongly asso-ciated with MSD development. In the manufacturing sector, quantitative job demands were not predictors of job stress, neither of MSDs. Positive challenges were a mediator of job stress. Stress was not a predictor for MSDs symptoms. Mechanical exposure increased after lean implementation in manufacturing although the opposite was aimed at. Consultation of workers on lean characteristics was another mediator to MSD development. A comparison was made between manufacturing and the services sectors. Differences be-tween sectors in job demands -with the exception of learning demands that are higher in manufacturing- were not significant. Predictability on the other hand was higher in call centres. Employees in the call centres reported statistically significant more frequent MSD symptoms compared to workers in manufacturing. Stress differences were not significant among sectors whereas job satisfaction was significantly higher in manufacturing. This can partly be explained by the positive social context, job security and management commitment to have no lay offs due to lean application; that workers enjoyed in the manufacturing companies of the sample. This was not the case in the call centres. In conclusion it was not the stressors that were higher in the call centres sample but a significant number of job support and control characteristics that were reported as being higher in the manufacturing sample of the study. Analysis of the relationship between job characteristics, stress and leanness revealed a high degree of non-linearity. The best fit was achieved with quadratic curves. At low levels of lean implementation stress was increasing. At a middle level of implementation stress reached a peak after which, with advanced implementation, it decreased. This is consistent with earlier study findings. The study demonstrates that it is not so much the level of lean implementation that is important for the health & safety effects but the lean characteristics that are employed. Characteristics linked to JIT can be critical and can be associated with increased job demands and for some cases increased stress and MSD symptoms. Moreover it is the social context (management mentality and actual workers participation) in lean application that is crucial for the implications of lean work to health. Further research is needed to compare lean effects between sectors including also other services. Finally, more research is needed on alternatives to intensive systems that would have better consequences for the health & safety of workers. Ergonomics has an obligation to pro-pose work redesign that aims at sustainability for all parties.

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<p>På Volvo Pentas Varafabrik planerades det för att bygga om sitt måleri. I ombyggnadsskedet behövdes mera yta för att kunna hålla produktionen igång. Därför skulle avdelningen Påspacken flyttas till en annan plats i fabriken. Syftet med studien var att planera denna flytt och försöka effektivisera arbetet. Då den nya ytan var mindre krävdes det att arbetsplatserna och den totala layouten komprimerades. Den nya layouten skulle eventuellt påverka den intilliggande avdelningen Förmonteringen varför även den studerades. Efter ett antal veckor beslutades det att Påspacken inte behövde flyttas, ytan för måleriprojektet skulle ordnas på annat sätt.Efter detta besked fick arbetet fokuseras på Påspacken och att hitta effektivare arbetssätt och arbetsplatser. För att hitta verktyg att arbeta efter studerades Lean Production och dess teorier om olika slöserier i produktionen. Sedan studerades framför allt den truckkörning som utfördes då denna var en stor del av det icke värdeskapande arbetet.Arbetet visade att genom att flytta lagringen av material till fasta platser närmare avdelningen och att låta material till ofta förekommande satser stå framme på en arbetsplats kunde användandet av truck minska. Som ett exempel skulle truckkörningen vid plockning av satser till Målning-pack kunna minskas med 6,5 timmar/vecka. Det är ca 6 % av den totala tiden för dessa satser som är 103 timmar/vecka. Att investera i en hissautomat och lagra in material till de mest frekventa satserna i den skulle också minska truckanvändandet. För att frigöra yta på avdelningen men även minska på pallhanteringen skulle beställningar från Målning-pack kunna göras med hjälp av Kanbankort istället för att skicka hela tompallar.Några förslag på utformning av arbetsplatser har också lämnats i rapporten.</p>

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<p>In 2005, Outokumpu began to implement its system of continuous improvement, OK> 1, at Avesta Jernverk. OK> 1 has not generated sufficient results on plant KPI:s. The purpose of this study is to identify the understanding,  participation and commitment regarding to OK> 1, and to suggest some actions to make OK> 1 more successful with emphasis on these three aspects. The thesis shall also determine whether there are any differences in the attitude towards OK>1 between Blue Collars and White Collars.</p><p>The study consisted of a survey, and interviews. The output from these methods were processed and analyzed and finally resulted in a SWOT – analysis and suggested actions for improving the understanding, participation and commitment towards OK>1. The thesis work also covered a literature study concerning Lean Production, to get a deeper understanding of how to implement Lean Production successfully.</p><p>The results of the survey pointed out that Blue Collars do not understand OK>1 as well as White Collars, and that they do not participate as actively as White Collars in improvement activities. To improve the results on plant KPI:s the thesis suggests following actions: <em>education, simplification of methods </em>and <em>increased feedback from the management.</em></p>

<p>The after market is of great importance of a company’s competitiveness and an increasing part of its revenues can be derived from it. Remanufacturing, in focus of this thesis, is a great business opportunity and the European market has an enormous growth potential. In the USA it is a major business and the automotive industry, targeted in this thesis, sells approximately 60 million remanufactured automotive products compared to 15 million products in Europe for an equivalent stock of vehicles</p><p>Compared to manufacturing, the remanufacturing environment is a more complex business due to the high degree of uncertainty in the production process, mainly caused by two factors: the quantity and quality of returned cores. Overall, seven characteristics that make the remanufacturing material flow harder to control have been identified. Emerging in the 1990’s the concept of Lean production is a well-known method for improving the manufacturing capabilities of a company. Lean production, which is said to increase productivity, decrease lead-time and costs and enhance quality, is widely adopted.</p><p>In this thesis, the purpose is to explore what characteristics of the remanufacturing environment that can hinder the implementation of Lean production principles of material flows and how Lean principles can be employed in a remanufacturing environment.</p><p>In accordance, the theories of Lean production and Remanufacturing are used and the research methodology chosen that of a case study. To assess material flow, the production flows of five major product groups in a car engine are assessed. For the collection of data, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) methodology has been used.</p><p>The main result about material flows and how Lean principles can be employed in a remanufacturing environment have resulted in eight generic proposals. The main conclusion from these proposals is that the inherent characteristics of variable processing times and uncertainty in materials recovered have major negative impact for implementing a lean production process. Vice versa, given an accurate supply of parts for reassembly, all the principles of Lean production can be fully implemented in the phases of reassembly and testing.</p>

The after market is of great importance of a company’s competitiveness and an increasing part of its revenues can be derived from it. Remanufacturing, in focus of this thesis, is a great business opportunity and the European market has an enormous growth potential. In the USA it is a major business and the automotive industry, targeted in this thesis, sells approximately 60 million remanufactured automotive products compared to 15 million products in Europe for an equivalent stock of vehicles Compared to manufacturing, the remanufacturing environment is a more complex business due to the high degree of uncertainty in the production process, mainly caused by two factors: the quantity and quality of returned cores. Overall, seven characteristics that make the remanufacturing material flow harder to control have been identified. Emerging in the 1990’s the concept of Lean production is a well-known method for improving the manufacturing capabilities of a company. Lean production, which is said to increase productivity, decrease lead-time and costs and enhance quality, is widely adopted. In this thesis, the purpose is to explore what characteristics of the remanufacturing environment that can hinder the implementation of Lean production principles of material flows and how Lean principles can be employed in a remanufacturing environment. In accordance, the theories of Lean production and Remanufacturing are used and the research methodology chosen that of a case study. To assess material flow, the production flows of five major product groups in a car engine are assessed. For the collection of data, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) methodology has been used. The main result about material flows and how Lean principles can be employed in a remanufacturing environment have resulted in eight generic proposals. The main conclusion from these proposals is that the inherent characteristics of variable processing times and uncertainty in materials recovered have major negative impact for implementing a lean production process. Vice versa, given an accurate supply of parts for reassembly, all the principles of Lean production can be fully implemented in the phases of reassembly and testing.

The current project addresses the productivity improvement of a manual assembly line by making use of operations analysis in the framework of Lean production. A methodology is proposed that helps to improve the productivity of any production process. The methodology consists of selecting a product or product family to be studied followed by current process study. Once the existing process is documented, all the assembly tasks involved must be timed using time study techniques. Operations analysis enables the reduction of non-productive tasks and results in a set of standardized work elements along with the set of standard procedures for performing the operations. Assembly line balancing along with the associated operations analysis assists in constructing or re-configuring an assembly system, which is the key step in improving the overall performance of an assembly line. Following this approach, two manual assembly line configurations (single stage parallel line and five-stage serial line) are constructed for a case study. The results show that by changing over to the single stage assembly line configuration the operator productivity is doubled when compared to the existing assembly method.

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