<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>Skanska Sweden has decided to split the organization that earlier handled both large and small projects into two different subsidiaries. A consequence of this is that all construction service handling will from now on be enforced under the name Skanska Direkt AB. The management of Skanska sees this as an opportunity to develop the organization and in the long term achieve higher earnings.   </p><p>The task which Skanska in connection with the reorganization wanted to be investigated was a proposal on how the organization of work with the insurance work in the future should look like.</p><p>The organization that is handled is from production manager to professional workers and includes damage handling that has been obtained from insurance companies in the southern and northern parts of Värmland. </p><p>The purpose with this work is to present a different kind of view to the problem with developing this branch of the company. The main target was to work out a proposal of an organizational plan for the damage handling in Skanska Direkt AB that is possible to apply, less sensitive for dismissals, results in higher earnings, obtains higher customer satisfaction and also a staff stab that develops their skills at their own.</p><p>The report and work progressed as following:</p><ol><li>Opening theory study of strategies to obtain the objectives set.</li><li>Restructuring of existing organization with theories as support.</li><li>Interviews with the actors involved to verify feasibility of the developed organization plan</li></ol><p> </p><p> Organization chart, the result of work means that some workers at each location shall be responsible for a small group of workers and work independently. They shall manage the process of invoicing and calculate costs at the same time as they work out on the workplace. In support of integration and development shall it be resource persons and development managers.</p><p>The conclusion of the work done was that the organization chart is feasible and that in the existing organization is gaps that this organizational structure may be a possible solution of.</p>

The present dissertation describes the efforts directed towards the development of computational tools to support process modeling. This work is also a further development of the Thermoslag® software developed in the Division of Materials Process Science, KTH. The essential parts of the thesis are a) development of a semi-empirical model for the estimation of the molar volumes/densities of multicomponent slags with a view to incorporate the same in the model for viscosities and b) further development of the viscosity model for application towards fluoride- and manganese containing slags, as for example, mould flux slags and manganese slags used in ferromanganese production. c) estimating fluoride emissions from industrial slags and mould fluxes. d) study the reaction between carbon particles, hematite containing slags and in oxygen containing atmosphere. The model for the estimation of molar volume is based on a correlation between the relative integral molar volume of a slag system and the relative integral molar enthalpies of mixing of the same system. The integral molar enthalpies of the relevant systems could be evaluated from the Gibbs energy data available in the Thermoslag® software. The binary parameters were evaluated from experimental measurements of the molar volumes. Satisfactory correlations were obtained in the case of the binary silicate and aluminate systems. The model was extended to ternary and multi component systems by computing the molar volumes using the binary parameters. The model predictions showed agreements with the molar volume data available in literature. The model was used to estimate the molar volumes of industrial slags as well as to trace the trends in molar volume due to enable prediction of molar volumes of slags that are compatible with the thermodynamic data available. With a view to extend the existing model for viscosities to F--containing slags, the viscosities of mould flux slags for continuous casting in steel production have been investigated in the present work. The measurements were carried out utilizing the rotating cylinder method. Seven mould fluxes used in the Swedish steel industry and the impact of Al2O3 pick up by mould flux slags on viscosities were included in the study. The results showed that even relatively small additions of Al2O3 are related with a significant increase in viscosity. A similar experimental technique was employed to estimate the viscosity of twelve synthetic slags corresponding to composition of the raw materials used in ferromanganese production. The flow rate of the liquid slag, which is determined by the slag viscosity, is an important parameter affecting the reduction rate of manganese oxide. The results show a clear correlation between manganese oxide content and viscosity. An increase of MnO in the slag lowers the viscosity. The measured viscosities have also been connected to the structure of the silicates. The fluoride loss from the binary slag systems Al2O3-SiO2, CaO-SiO2 and MgOSiO2 with additions of CaF2 was studied by thermogravimetric (TGA) studies. The Arrhenius activation energy for the evaporation reaction of fluorides was found to be dependent on temperature and slag chemistry for the slags studied. A correlation between the activation energy for fluoride evaporation and activity of SiO2 in the slag melt was established. This relationship obtained for the binary systems appears also to be suitable for the ternary systems Al2O3-CaO-SiO2 with CaF2 addition, which indicates a possibility to estimate the fluoride emissions from industrial slags and mould fluxes. A Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy was used to investigate the reaction between carbon particles in hematite containing slags and in oxygen containing atmosphere. Experiments with varying temperature and slags with varying FeOx content were carried out. The general trends were that the particle size decrease was more rapid with increase of FeOx amount and/or temperature was increased. / QC 20100812

Configuring and reconfiguring a manufacturing system is presented as an issue with increasing importance due to higher frequency of system configuration or major reconfigurations to accommodate new set of requirements and/or the need to configure the system to make it usable across generations of products or product families. This research has focused in the modeling, evaluation and selection decisions which involves multiple, incommensurate and conflicting objectives. Which renders configuration a multi criteria decision making or multi objective optimization problem. A manufacturing system configuration design is strategic, i.e., the effects are long term and determines the competitiveness of manufacturing. A case study in one of Swedish large discrete part manufacturing which produces variants of products for two different market segments is conducted to verify the fit between the manufacturing strategy and the existing system configuration. The relevance of aggregate modeling is discussed and it’s argued that system dynamics has the advantage over analytical methods in its capability to capture the complexity, its capability to evolve into more rigorous and detailed model, and the lesser time needed for the assessment especially when there are a number of alternatives. Circumstances are when a cost model may suffice for certain comparative analysis. The challenge with cost models is the difficulty in projecting intangible factors in terms of cost. However, approximation to some important factors can be made that may give insights in the comparative performances of alternatives. In line with this view a cost model that comprises the investment and operation costs, quality and reliability is proposed. Application of AHP and ANP for preference weight (subjective) elicitation and qualitative performance evaluation, entropy for objective weights calculation that may help to evaluate the discriminating ability of a criteria, Pareto frontier Analysis particularly Data Envelopment Analysis for selection and ranking of alternatives are shown to be relevant and applicable in configuration design. A comprehensive design decision matrix called House of Assessment is proposed that captures the dependency among the criteria and evaluation objectives weights of the criteria using entropy to determine the discriminating ability of the criteria whenever appropriate. / QC 20100826

This thesis has studied how ISO STEP application protocols can be used as a base for development of enterprise information systems that provides information sharing capabilities in a collaborative environment. In this thesis, five papers have been selected and are presented in the context of four themes that characterize the whole research body. The four themes are: - Standard models as a base for development of IT systems - Applications operating on integrated (standard) models - Sharing of information - Sharing of collaborative processes The research have been performed in both an academic and industrial context, where the researcher have taken an active role in how to shape the solutions that became the result of the research project. Initially the projects were limited to virtual manufacturing with a focus on the management of manufacturing information. However, gradually the scope grew to include management of product information across the lifecycle. Also the organizational context was widened to include management of information that is shared between companies across their company borders. The growing scope made the research to take on new aspects for each new area of issues that surfaced. One overall issue that surfaced was how to be able to exchange product data between companies over a long time and at the same time be able to impose configuration control of the shared information. One of the major conclusions is that sharing of information over time and across the lifecycle in a virtual enterprise is a task that involves more efforts than the task of exchanging product data of the same type (e.g. design data, CAD files) between two companies. The results of the research show that the ISO 10303 application protocols are qualified for use in an enterprise product data management environment. However, the result also shows that there are a number of issues to deal with when developing a product data sharing environment based on standards. For example, how to efficiently transform and use the data structures of ISO 10303 application protocols in the different layers of a software system, the data layer, the business object and services layer and the user interfaces. Other issues are on how to deal with the neutral representation such that companies can integrate their contextual information with the neutral product data representation. Future research is recommended to look more close into how the new evolving software architectures that becomes more mainstream today, such as Enterprise Service Bus technology (ESB) and Cloud Computing, amongst others, can utilize the ISO 10303 application protocols as their canonical format. Another important area is to further elaborate, and integrate ISO 10303 with existing technologies for Reference Data and unstructured data that today get more and more traction / QC 20100920

Lars Höglund AB is one of Scandinavia’s most qualified manufacturers of sheet metal products and provides custom designed products of very detailed precision. One of the main methods of manufacturing is laser cutting. When Lars Höglund AB signed up a new customer, with high demands in tolerances for the products, Lars Höglund AB thought it would be necessary to know the capability of the laser cutting machine. Also the process of how to retrieve this capability was interesting.   The capability will be researched for the following elements:   <ul type="disc">Cutting right angles in squares with a corner radius of 1 mm Cutting corners which are not right angle Cutting of circles with constant radius   Measurements were made on 150 pieces of sheet metal details, which had been cut out by the machine.  The data from the measurements where later used to study the capability. The capability study includes such things as calculations of capability indexes Cp and Cpk, the calculations are based on histograms and lean-mean-curves, constructed from the measurement data. The capability of the laser cutting machine was high except for some elements. Those elements with minor capability were the cutting of corner two and three for the rectangles which had a smaller radius than expected, side X for the triangles which were too long and also the diameter of the circles were too big. Advices on how to correct the faults have been given if Lars Höglund AB wants to further more improve the capability of the machine.

This master thesis was conducted at Motala Wire Works Ltd (MWW) in Motala during the autumn and winter of 2007-2008. The thesis named “Future layout of Motala Wire Works” focuses on making a better planed layout for the factory, which also take in to consideration future changes. Motala Wire Work produces wire mesh products of varying sorts for the white goods industry. The factory was started by Electrolux during the 1950’s. The factory was bought by Motalaverken and got it’s present form in 2004. The factories machine park has changed quite a bit during the course of time and so has the products produced which has made for a very unstructured layout. Because of this the management feels it has to update and re-plan the layout in order to get a better working factory layout for the future. The purpose of this master thesis was to construct a future layout for Motala Wire Works which shows how machines should be placed in order to get a better materials flow and free space for expansion of the present production or if they decide to take in other types of production. To solve the task at hand the theories and methods of Systematic plant layout was used and to a certain degree Lean Production. Interviews/conversations with employees, direct observations, and measurements was used to gauge the various parameters. During the course of work ideas and proposals have been analyzed thoroughly and discussed with management to insure that the ideas have support from the company. When analyzing the final layout proposals a SWOT- analyzes has been conducted and the layouts have been compared to the criteria list for a good layout presented in the theory section. The analyzes shows that product flow in the factory is very messy, with intersecting and against each other going flows. A majority of the production is not automated which makes for a lot of manual work. Several of the machines have been in service for a long time which means that the ergonomics and operational safety of the machines isn’t always the best. Throughout the analyzes there is a discussion about what should be done to improve the flow and how the problems could be solved . The analyzes has also shown that a common employee space is desirable in order to improve internal communications and strengthen the group feeling. The result of the thesis are two layouts, worked out together with the company, that have great potential of being implemented. The difference between the two layout lays in whether the wire is cut and straightened at the factory or by the supplier. The layouts result in more organized flows, shorter transports, planed spaces for expansion and new machines, and an overall improved working environment. The number of handling operations will not decrease but the transport distances will go down by 62% and in the production a cut down in the personnel can be made by at least one person. These savings put in to money comes to a grand total of 427054 kr. It’s recommended that Motala Wire Works implements the layout.

Detta examensarbete har handlar om att ta fram kvalitetssäkringsrutiner för induktiva värmebehandlingsmetoder mot det nya mätlabbet i samband att kvalitetssäkra produktionen av drivaxlar på Volvo Component Division. Uppgiften betyder att visa hur kvalitetssäkringen av både processen och tillverkningen ska ske genom att förebygga att fel uppstår. Huvudsaken är inte hur problemet blir löst, istället kommer koncentration lagts på metoden.   Det övergripande syftet med examensarbetet är att försöka hjälpa personalen i företaget komma fram till förslag och konkreta resultat i form av kvalitetssäkringsrutiner för att förbättra både produktionen och den befintliga produktutvecklingsprocessen. Främsta målet är att bygga upp en fungerande kvalitetssäkring av induktiv värmebehandling inom Component Division genom att ta fram kvalitetssäkringsrutiner som stödjer metoden. Dessa rutiner skall bygga på önskemål från kunden, detta framför allt i form av beställningsblanketter, instruktioner och checklistor.   Volvo Construction Equipment AB Component Division Eskilstuna arbetar idag med en kontinuerlig process- och produktförbättring med avseende på att förebygga eventuella kvalitetsbristerna. Meningen är att man i samband med den nya utbyggnaden av fabriken, nya maskiner och ny utrustning också ska bygga ett nytt materiallabb där materialprovbitar skall kunna skickas in av operatören/teknikern för olika kvalitetsundersökningar. I dagsläget har man börjat producera drivaxlar enligt den nya flödesgruppen vars förutsättning är att artiklarna skall tillverkas från råämne till monteringsklara detaljer. För att få ut ett smidigt produktionsflöde och optimera produktionen inom flödesgruppen måste alla parametrar och faktorer stämma på båda sidorna. Detta fås genom ständiga förbättringar samt statistiska styrningar av processen genom kontroller, underhåll och uppföljningar.   Examensarbetet har till följd därav resulterat i instruktioner som beskriver kontrolleringar och provtagningar av värmebehandlade artiklar i cell07 som en åtgärd för att bygga en fungerande kvalitetssäkring av induktionshärdade artiklar på CMP. För att detta kvalitetsarbete skall ge resultat bör operationsbeskrivningen mätinstruktioner följas av samtliga på avdelningen. Därför är det viktigt att när ett kvalitetsproblem väl har identifierats skall nästa steg vara att gå vidare med att försöka bena ut orsakerna till problemet och hitta lösningar till dessa för att undvika eller förebygga att samma sak händer nästa gång.

Rimaster Kisa AB is a member of the Rimaster Group, the corporation was bought from Samhall AB in January 2007. The corporation is producing mechanichs needed by the Rimaster group as well for external costumers. Samhall AB is now functioning as a provider of labor for Rimaster Kisa, as the company is hiring personnel from Samhall AB. The company has earlier have had problems with their lead times being far too long. This has resulted in that the management decided to invest in a new edging press. Areas of work included in this thesis are, Investigating the investment of an edging machine, implementing of 5S and a new model of calculating prices of articles. The goal with the report is to reduce the corporations lead times. To reduce lead times the company has started working with 5S. This reports presents protocols to aid the employee responsible for the 5S work of the factory. The model for calculating prices is based on a model used by Rimaster Polen. The model has been modified for the needs of the factory in Kisa. The model calculates with parameters for the potential production capability, using this leads to a margin of error with prices higher than needed to be. The company should always be aware of this margin of error so that they do not loose clients because of it. When using this model the company protects themselves for the future. They are not as dependent of the cheap labor gained by Samhall AB. The model calculates cost factors ready to be implemented in the MRP-system, prices are then calculated with the MRP-system. Conclusion: The company should accept the offer made by Amada Implement the model for calculating prices fully, but be aware of its margin of error. Continue the work with 5S that has already been started. / Rimaster Kisa AB ingår i Rimastergruppen, Företaget köptes ifrån Samhall AB i Januari 2007. Samhall AB agerar nu som ett bemanningsföretag och hyr ut sin personal till Rimaster Kisa AB. Anläggningen i Kisa tillverkar mekanik till övriga företag inom koncernen samt externa kunder. Företaget har tidigare haft problem med långa ledtider, detta har resulterat i att ledningen har beslutat i att investera i en ny kantpress. Företaget har även haft problem med att kalkylera sina priser till kund. I rapporten behandlas investeringen av kantpress, framtida investering av stans, ett inledande arbete med 5S samt ett sätt för företaget att visualisera infasningen av nya artiklar i produktionen detta för att sänka de långa ledtider som företaget hittills har haft. Även ett nytt kalkylsystem har införts för att säkerställa att kunder offereras rätt pris. Huvudsakligen har två offerter studerats och ställts mot varandra. Den ena offererades av din Maskin och den andra av Amada. Din Maskin har offererat en servostyrd kantpress vilket ses som en ännu ej färdigutvecklad teknik till skillnad mot den mer konventionella hydraulstyrda kantpressen som Amada har offererat. Skillnaden i pris är marginell även om kantpressen offererad av Amada var något billigare på grund av möjligheten att leasa den på sju år. Den stora skillnaden mellan maskinerna låg dock i mjukvaran. Amada offererar en helintegrerad databaslösning, som säkerställer att det hela tiden finns en unik ritning till varje artikel. En ändring för en maskin slår igenom för samtliga i produktionskedjan. Vilket minimerar risken för beredningsmisstag. Då underleverantör av stansning använder sig av en stans ifrån Amada så underlättar investeringen beredningen för såväl underleverantör som för Rimaster Kisa AB. Det 5S arbete som inletts består av formulär med frågor för de olika produktionsgrupperna. Formuläret är en vägledning för vad den 5S ansvariga på företaget bör uppmärksamma när den utför sitt uppdrag. Den kalkylmodell som tagits fram baseras på en kalkylmodell som Rimaster Polen använder sig av. Den är sedan anpassats så att den passar Rimaster Kisa AB. Den slutgiltiga kalkylmodellen baseras på den potentiella produktionen som Rimaster Kisa är förmögna att producera. Detta lämnar en felmarginal som kan leda till priser som är högre än vad de skulle behöva vara, å andra sidan så garderar sig Rimaster Kisa AB för framtiden. Då man inte kommer vara beroende av att behålla den billigare arbetskraft som företaget idag hyr in via Samhall AB. Kalkylen tar fram kostnadsfaktorer som senare implementeras i Företagets MRP-system. Artiklars pris tas sedan fram med hjälp av beredningstider och dessa kostnadsfaktorer i MRP systemet. Företaget råds: - att acceptera den offert på leasning som Amada har offererat. - Implementera kalkylmodellen som tagits fram, men även vara medvetna om den felmarginal som uppstår. - Fortsätta arbeta med 5S för att minska mängden inventarier och få kortare ledtider.

Denna rapport är en dokumentation av ett examensarbete vid Karlstads universitet våren 2006. Arbetets storlek är 20 poäng varav 5 poäng utgörs av en litteraturstudie. Examensarbetet har gjorts i samarbete med Pöyry. Uppdragsbeskrivningen var att klimatanpassa en mjukpappersfabrik i ökenlandskap. Både för att tillgodose befintliga energibehov och om möjligt minska dem. Fabriken har ett behov av produktionsånga. Solen kan användas för att producera ånga. Den metod som används då är att fånga upp solstrålningen i en stor area och leda den till en mottagare i en liten punkt. På detta sätt kan höga temperaturer uppnås och ånga kan framställas. Den typ av solfångare som är användbara för dessa behov kallas ”medium temperature solar trough”. Detta är en typ av kupade solfångare som kan röra sig i en riktning och fånga upp solens strålning. För att ge en behaglig arbetstemperatur är fabriken även i behov av komfortkyla. De kalla nätter som kan råda i ökenklimat kan användas för att kyla fabriken. Ett system med kylbafflar som monteras i fabrikens tak för att kyla fabriken dagtid används. I kylbafflarna cirkuleras kallt vatten som kylmedium. Detta vatten värms upp under dagen och måste då kylas nattetid. Vattnet kyls i vattenslingor på taket för att sedan under dagtid lagras i marken innan användning. I ökenlandskapen så är den passiva uppvärmningen ett problem då det är en stark solintensitet dagtid. Om fabriken delvis skulle grävas ner så kan en viss del av den passiva uppvärmningen undvikas. Problemet blir att bli av med den värme som alstras inne i fabriken. En väl utbyggd ventilation skulle krävas i fabriken för att inte stänga inne denna värme. / This report is the documentation of a final project at the Karlstad university during the spring of 2006. The project consists of 20 credits where 5 credits are a literature study. The project was accomplished in cooperation with Pöyry. The assignment was to adapt a tissue factory to desert climate and in doing that provide the energy needed to operate and if possible reduce the need of the same. The factory has a need for steam in the production. The sun can be used to produce steam. The method used would be gathering sunrays from a big area and concentrating them in a small spot, a receiver. Thus high temperatures could be reached and steam produced. The solar collector that would be used is called “medium temperature solar trough”. It’s at type of solar collector that can move in one axis to catch the sunrays. To obtain an agreeable working environment in the factory there is a need for comfort cooling. The cold nights that are prevalent in desert areas can be used to cool the factory. A system with chilled beams installed in the ceiling of the factory will be used. The chilled beams contain circulating cool water. The cool water is heated while circulating during the day and thus has to be chilled during nighttime. The water is chilled in pipes on the roof during the night and then stored underground until used during daytime. The passive warming of buildings is a problem in desert areas when there is high sun intensity during the days. If the factory were to be built partially underground parts of the passive warming could be avoided. There is still a problem with the heat being generated in the factory. A well built ventilation system would need to be constructed to not lock this heat in.

Abstract Skanska Sweden has decided to split the organization that earlier handled both large and small projects into two different subsidiaries. A consequence of this is that all construction service handling will from now on be enforced under the name Skanska Direkt AB. The management of Skanska sees this as an opportunity to develop the organization and in the long term achieve higher earnings.    The task which Skanska in connection with the reorganization wanted to be investigated was a proposal on how the organization of work with the insurance work in the future should look like. The organization that is handled is from production manager to professional workers and includes damage handling that has been obtained from insurance companies in the southern and northern parts of Värmland.  The purpose with this work is to present a different kind of view to the problem with developing this branch of the company. The main target was to work out a proposal of an organizational plan for the damage handling in Skanska Direkt AB that is possible to apply, less sensitive for dismissals, results in higher earnings, obtains higher customer satisfaction and also a staff stab that develops their skills at their own. The report and work progressed as following: Opening theory study of strategies to obtain the objectives set. Restructuring of existing organization with theories as support. Interviews with the actors involved to verify feasibility of the developed organization plan    Organization chart, the result of work means that some workers at each location shall be responsible for a small group of workers and work independently. They shall manage the process of invoicing and calculate costs at the same time as they work out on the workplace. In support of integration and development shall it be resource persons and development managers. The conclusion of the work done was that the organization chart is feasible and that in the existing organization is gaps that this organizational structure may be a possible solution of.