MBA Professional Report / Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / The purpose of this MBA project was to complete a cost-benefit analysis of refueling via pipeline versus refueling via barge at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The alternatives are (1) refueling via a combination of pipeline and barge (status quo), (2) refueling via a single pipeline, and (3) refueling via barge only. The objective was to compare the three alternatives, choosing that alternative that provides the greater net benefit and most efficient use of resources. The analysis involved data collection of labor costs, pipeline operations (flow rates data, costs of repairs, and operational costs), barge operational costs, and environmental protection costs. This Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) will be valuable to personnel with approval authority who make decisions on the merits of future pipeline projects. This CBA can be used to evaluate other Navy bases' refueling operations worldwide. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

Program Comprehension is a key factor in providing effective software maintenance and enabling successful evolution of software systems. The objective of this research is to provide a framework and mechanism to facilitate the understanding of large software systems. There exist a number of theories and models of Program Comprehension where each favours a different approach to comprehension. It is evident that there is no real consensus on how maintainers understand software systems. The disparities in the comprehension strategies are largely dependent on the personal and circumstantial factors. Factors such as the level of technical competence of the maintainers, the size and complexity of the piece of software, and the types and goals of the maintenance activities can influence the process of comprehension. This research proposes an alternative approach to Program Comprehension. It acknowledges that the process of comprehension is opportunistic, and that the current comprehension theories are inadequate in addressing this. There is a need for a more flexible approach towards comprehension, and the Integrated Approach proposed in this thesis provides a way for the utilisation of the various comprehension theories under a single environment. It recognises that any one of the comprehension theories may become active during comprehension. Under the Integrated Approach, maintainers have the option of selecting and executing the various comprehension strategies as they see fit. The Integrated Approach to comprehension is based on a matrix of Program Relationships between Program Elements of a programming language. In this thesis, these Program Relationships are derived for the C programming language constructs. This work also involves the investigation of the roles of both textual and graphical representations during the comprehension process. Both representations are commonly used to alleviate the problem of information overloading when maintainers trying to understand and maintain a software system. The Integrated Approach is realised in a tool named PUI (program understanding implements) which provides an environment enabling the utilisation of various comprehension theories.

Förändringskrafter såsom klimatförändringar, ny teknik, globalisering, demografi och värderingar skapar utmaningar för den kommunala verksamheten i Sverige. Krav på förbättring och effektivisering av offentlig verksamhet ökar ständigt och kvalitetsfokus blir allt viktigare. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling med principer, arbetssätt och verktyg som hjälper organisationer att ge kundtillfredsställelse i en snabbt föränderlig värld behöver genomföras. Syftet med arbetet har varit att undersöka hur ett kvalitetsledningsarbete i en offentlig förvaltning kan utföras och Samhällsbyggnadsförvaltningen i Kinda kommun i södra Östergötland har varit föremål för fallstudien. I januari 2018 införde kommunen en ny organisation och Samhällsbyggnadsförvaltningen var den förvaltning som genomgick störst förändring då flera förvaltningar slogs samman till en gemensam. När verksamheten drog igång uppdagades brister och behov och det blev tydligt att rutiner som behövdes för den nya organisationen saknades. Det ansågs prioriterat att börja arbetet med att införa ett kvalitetsledningssystem som främjar utveckling inom områdena struktur, kultur och systematik och som dessutom integrerar hållbar utveckling. Uppsatsarbetet inleddes med en teoristudie och skapande av ett teoretiskt ramverk som bygger på en generell förbättringsprocess med input, förändringsprocess och output. Ramverket innehåller bland annat teorier om modellen PESTLE, Maslows behovstrappa, hållbar utveckling, Hörnstensmodellen, Total Quality Management/Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling, transaktionellt och situationsanpassat ledarskap, PAV-modellen, förändringsprocesser enligt Janssen, Lewin, Kotter, med flera samt organisationskultur och lärande organisation. Fallstudien genomfördes med hjälp av intervjuer, observationer, enkät och work-shops. Djupintervjuer genomfördes för att erhålla kunskap om hållbar förändringsledning och teleintervjuer och internetsökningar gav tips om arbetssätt, verktyg och införande. Analysen gjordes genom att resultatet applicerades och sorterades med utgångspunkt från indelningen i det teoretiska ramverket. Resultatet visar att vikten av ett engagerat ledarskap inte nog kan poängteras och behov av att skapa en känsla av angelägenhet, genom att säkerställa en tydlig bild över förbättringsbehov, är stor. Införandet av ett kvalitetsledningssystem är en förändringsprocess där nuläget och förbättringsbehov behöver kartläggas för att därefter ta fram en förändringsstrategi. Verksamheten behöver bestämma sig för vilka principer som ska ingå i deras ledningssystem och vilka arbetssätt och verktyg som ska stödja principerna. Hållbarhetsprinciperna bör integreras i kvalitetsledningssystemet för att säkerställa en hållbar kvalitetsutveckling. Det finns ett värde i att ha en n-stegsmodell att hålla sig till och få stöd av genom förändringsarbetet. En införandemodell föreslås där det inledningsvis handlar om att skapa strukturer och system. För att underlätta benchmarking och kunskapsuppbyggnad är det en fördel att bli medlem i SIQ (Swedish Institute for Quality) och delta i deras nätverk för att få stöd och hjälp. Att skapa en kvalitetskultur tar tid och det krävs uthållighet, ständigt lärande av misstag och ett kontinuerligt förbättringsarbete. / Drivers for change like climate change, new technology, globalisation, demographyand values create challenges for public sector and municipalities in Sweden. Demandsfor improvement and making the public sector more efficient increase. Focus onquality becomes more and more important. Total Quality Management (TQM) withvalues, techniques and tools need to be implemented to support organisations withcustomer satisfaction in a fast changing world. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explore how a quality management system inpublic sector can be designed. The Civil Services Department (Samhällsbyggnadsförvaltningen) in Kinda Municipality in Sweden has been in focus inthis case study. In January 2018 a new organisation was introduced, and the Civil Services Department was the department that was subject to the biggest changes when several departments were merged. When the work started in the new form several deficiencies and needs became apparent and it became clear that the new organisation lacked necessary routines. Introducing TQM became a priority in orderto promote development in structure, culture and systematics as well as integrating sustainable development. The research was initiated by conducting a theory study and creating a theoretical framework based on a general improvement process with input, change process andoutput. The framework contains theories of the PESTLE model, Maslows, sustainable development, The cornerstone model, TQM, transactional and situation based leadership, The PAV-model, change processes according to Janssen, Lewin, Kotter amongst others, as well as culture of organisations and learning organisations. The case study was carried out through interviews, observations, a survey and workshops. In depth interviews were conducted in order to obtain knowledge ofsustainable change management and telephone interviews as well as internet researchsuggested techniques, tools and implementation. The analysis was made by applying the result and sorted based on the theoretical framework. The result from the case study shows that the importance of management commitment cannot be stressed enough. It is necessary to create a sense of urgency by ensuring there is a clear picture of the need for change. The introduction of a quality management system is a change process where the present situation and the need for change need to be mapped out followed by the creation of a change strategy. It is necessary for the organisation to determine which principles to include in its management system and which techniques and tools to use to support the principles.The principles for sustainability should be integrated into the quality management system to ensure a sustainable quality development. There is a value to employ a n-step model for support and guidance throughout the change process. Anintroduction model is suggested in which the initial phase requires the creation ofstructure and systems. Membership in SIQ makes it easier to benchmark and shareknowledge and to participate in their network to receive support and aid. Creating aculture of quality takes time and requires perseverance, constant learning from mistakes and continuous improvement.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une problématique globale de recherche qui porte sur la modélisation et l’optimisation des chaînes logistiques. Il s’agit de développer, pour deux maillons successifs d’une chaîne logistique, des modèles pour résoudre le problème du lot économique commun en intégrant les aspects liés à la production, à la qualités des produits et à la maintenance.Le choix d’une politique de production continue, jusque là adoptée dans la littérature, est à l’origine d’accumulation de stock chez le fournisseur ou chez le client selon que les livraisons sont respectivement retardées ou immédiatement transférées.Dans notre travail nous proposons une nouvelle alternative de production basée sur le principe «ne produire que le besoin du client à livrer immédiatement». Globalement, l’idée se résume à produire la commande par lots séparés de taille optimale immédiatement transférés au client, cherchant à réduire le stock moyen dans le système. Dans un mauvais scénario, correspondant à une éventuelle amplification du nombre de setup, le gain sur le stockage couvrirait la perte au niveau du setup lorsque le coût unitaire de celui-ci est relativement réduit.Cherchant un meilleur compromis entre les coûts de stockage, de setup et de livraison, cette solution est généralisée par la suite au cas où la taille du lot produit est différente des tailles de la commande et des livraisons.L’étude est étendue au cas d’une production imparfaite caractérisée par un taux moyen fixe de non conformités. Les stratégies continue et lot-par-lot sont reformulées en intégrant des actions de maintenance dont le but est de réduire le coût de non-qualité et d’optimiser le coût total / In this work we deal with the single vendor single buyer integrated production inventory problem. In the beginning, two production strategies are compared. The first one, proposed by Ben-Daya and Hariga (2004), suggests that the buyer orders batches of size nQ every time his on hand inventory reaches the reorder point r after the reception of the ultimate lot of the last order. The vendor from his side produces continuously nQ and makes equal shipments of size Q. The second policy, which we develop, propose that to satisfy the same ordered quantity, the vendor produces separately smaller batches of size Q (lot-for-lot), n times. The total expected cost is adopted as the decision variable for the choice of the best strategy.Afterwards, the lot-for-lot strategy is generalised to the cases where the sizes of the produced lot and the shipment are different from the ordered quantity. Henceforth, the vendor manufactures separately smaller batches of size iQ and makes equal shipments of size jQ (1≤ j ≤ i ≤ n) limited or not to the transportation capacity. The optimal solution corresponds to the best combination (n, i, j, Q, r) yielding the minimal total average cost per time unit incurred by the vendor and the buyer.In the last contribution, we consider the case of an imperfect process where the production unit is assumed to randomly shift from an in-control to an out-of-control state characterized by a fixed production rate of non-conforming items. To resolve the problem, we propose and compare two different strategies integrating production, inventory and maintenance policies. The maintenance actions are performed to prevent or to reduce the losses related to imperfect items

"Operational costs are of central importance for the economic health and sustainability of any organization. There are many contributors to these costs; some are industry specific, some are not. Factors such as organizational makeup and structure or general management and/or leadership practices all play a part, albeit, challenging to measure in terms of direct dollar correlation. Others, such as payroll, capital purchases, and asset management costs, to name a few have a more direct operational cost clearly linked to dollars and become the most practical place to look when trying to minimize operational costs. One of the critical aforementioned contributors to operational costs is that of capital asset management; in particular the issue of maintenance and repair of a company’s capital assets. More specifically, one can try to determine the best maintenance practice and schedule to use on varying systems in hopes of lowering maintenance costs and ultimately operational costs. One approach is to formulate a maintenance cost equation given the specific data and constraints available to solve a probabilistic problem through simulation. This study proposes a methodology that could be used as a tool to determine what maintenance practices to use on varying systems, sub-systems, and components. The focal point of this methodology is to formulate viable simulation logic. The logic takes into account maintenance costs that must be identified and defined. Additionally, coupled with this is the need to create a Weibull Distribution, which helps predict the next failure based on historical data. By matching the maintenance cost with the Weibull Distribution of each system, sub-system or component the simulation logic or equation is created. With this model in hand, simulations are run using Monte Carlo Simulation. In the end, an optimal schedule is determined based on the input. This thesis has three main deliverables. First, a maintenance methodology which assists in determining optimal component change out schedule based on historical data is created. Secondly, from the information gathered from Industrial Support Command Alameda*, ideal systems to target are identified. Thirdly, an implementation strategy is offered. Lastly, though not a primary deliverable, this study also offers some other maintenance related miscellaneous findings and/or recommendations. "

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

The quality of a product is an important factorto establish and preserve a sustainable market- and business position in theglobal business environment. Measuring techniques and quality management has astrong correlation. To ensure the functionality of a product, there are needsto measure the product towards specific limitations. Mathematical modeling is away of visualizing a process capability, and its parameters. Sandvik Coromantin Gimo are producing different types of face milling cutters. The company hasa hypothesis about one of its carbide inserts, and its geometrical specificationlimits. The hypothesis is that different geometrical deviations affect themilling cuts edges in different ways, when it is applied and installed in themilling cutter body. The purpose is to develop a mathematical model, which canshow what changes affects the most, which will lead to less waste in theproduction process, by predicting the actual position of the cut in the millingcutter body. The method is based on relevant literature in the main areas ofmeasuring methods and its techniques and statistics. This theory, incombination with the method, is a profound base in the development of themathematical model, and analysis of the cuts. The geometrical deviations weremeasured by using three different measuring methods. This had to be done in orderto verify the mathematical model and its theoretical output, and then compareit to the actual measured data. The result of the study was the development ofa mathematical model, and the analysis of 4000 individual measurements. Theconclusion of the analysis is that certain geometrical deviations are affectingthe position of the milling cuts edges more than others. By using themathematical model, the simulation output will show a theoretical value of themilling cuts geometry, and make it possible to predict the milling cutsdimensional deviation. The mathematical model is validated, based on three mainfactors. These are Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility, statisticalevaluation, and the development of the mathematical model itself. There are manyparameters affecting the milling cuts geometry, and the mathematical modelshould not be used as the only source of verifying the cut, but rather as acomplementary tool that makes a qualified prediction.

Thesis. 1975. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / M.Arch.

Denna rapport behandlar hur ett införskaffande av en ny rullformningsmaskin skulle kunna påverka produktionen på ArcelorMittal Construction Sverige AB i Karlstad. Detta är ett examensarbete för högskoleingenjör i maskinteknik vid fakulteten för hälsa, natur- och teknikvetenskap på Karlstads universitet under våren år 2017. Planerna i dagsläget är att ersätta tre av de nuvarande maskinerna med en ny effektivare maskin som klarar av att tillverka de valda maskinernas olika profiler. Den nya maskinen kan mycket snabbt byta profil från en till en annan. Det tar ca en minut att genomföra ett verktygsbyte med den nya maskinen jämfört med ca 90 minuter i dagsläget för en av de gamla maskinerna. För att med större säkerhet få reda på nuvarande ställtider genomfördes SMED som är en metod för att reducera ställtider. Arbetet med att reducera ställtiderna visar att med en bättre planering innan stället så kan ställtiden reduceras från 90 minuter till 83 minuter. Det stora problemet som var gemensamt för alla maskinerna i dagsläget var allt kringarbete som måste utföras, speciellt var det den manuella emballeringen som var den riktiga flaskhalsen i produktionen. Emballeringen utförs av samma operatör som kör maskinen och måste därför med jämna mellanrum avbryta körningen för att få tid att emballera produkten så att de kan placeras i färdigvarulagret för utleverans. Med den nya maskinen är det planerat att ha en helautomatisk emballering för att öka den tid som maskinen är produktiv.  De nuvarande maskinerna har tillsammans under 2017 producerat plåt med en total verklig hastighet av 10,84 [m/min]. Den nya maskinen måste därför ha en minsta verkliga hastighet på 10,84 [m/min]. Beräkningar av nuvarande genomsnittliga orderstorlekar visar att den nya maskinen klarar minst av att producera med en verklig hastighet på 15,2 [m/min]. Detta medför att den nya maskinen klarar av att ersätta de nuvarande med en god marginal. Den verkliga beräknade hastigheten för den nya maskinen baserat på att coilbyte och profilbyte utförs mellan varje körning, vilket inte är fallet i dagsläget utan flera ordrar med samma form och råmaterial oftast körs efter varandra. Den nya maskinen medför en förbättring på minst 40 % i verklig hastighet. ArcelorMittal Construction Sverige AB har i dagsläget ett relativt stort råvarulager för att de snabbt ska kunna leverera den produkt som kunden beställer. Produkter går att få i nästan vilken färg som helst och i flera olika tjocklekar vilket medför att många olika produkter finns i råvarulagret. Fokuset i värdeflödesanalysen har därför varit på en av de mer frekventa råvarorna som passerar genom fabriken. För denna produkt fanns för nuvarande ett lager på 900 ton vilket är en buffert på ca 60 dagar. Då råvaruleveranser kommer dagligen så kan man minska råvarulagret till en buffert på istället 20 dagar och därmed minska det bundna kapitalet som är investerat i dessa råvaror.

In recent months, the Basic Income Grant proposal has generated an overwhelming response in Namibia, and the launch of the Basic Income Grant Coalition has added further public debate. This resource book is compiled in order to inform policy makers and civil society role players about the background and the details of the proposal for a Basic Income Grant in Namibia. In addition, it provides the results of research of the social, economic and financial implications of a BIG in Namibia. The first section of the book documents the launch of the Basic Income Grant Coalition. The Council of Churches, the National Union of Namibian Workers, the National NGO Forum, the Namibian Network of AIDS Service Organisations, the Legal Assistance Centre, and the Labour, Resource and Research Institute committed themselves to the common platform on April 27th 2005. The platform of the coalition as well as the speeches at the launch of Bishop Dr. Z. Kameeta (Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) and Vice President of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN)), Mr. P. Naholo, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), and Mr. S. Tjaronda, Chairperson of the Namibian NGO Forum (NANGOF), are published in this first section. This resource book is compiled in order to inform policy makers and civil society role players about the background and the details of the proposal for a Basic Income Grant in Namibia. The second section explains the underlying concept of the Basic Income Grant. Crucial questions of understanding and clarification are addressed in order to form the basis for an informed debate about the concept. The third section introduces the key passages of the findings and recommendations made by the Government appointed Namibia Tax Consortium (NAMTAX). In 2002 the tax consortium “found that by far the best method of addressing poverty and inequality would be a universal income grant [= Basic Income Grantf (NAMTAX, 2002:60). This research is crucial as it lays the foundation on the basis of which the churches, unions, NGOs and AIDS Service organisations have now formed the coalition to join hands with Government to see that this proposal can be implemented effectively. The fourth and fifth sections provide relevant results stemming from social and economic analysis. The fourth section by Dr. C. and Dr. D. Haarmann is based on a Microsimulation Model modelling the developmental impact of a Basic Income Grant on poverty and inequality. The fifth and final section by Prof. M. Samson and Ms. I. van Niekerk calculates the costs of the Basic Income Grant and its various financing options. Based on a comparative international Tax Effort Analysis, the affordability given Namibia’s current economic capacity is assessed. This section concludes by looking at likely second round effects on Namibia’s economy if a Basic Income Grant is to be introduced.