Remanufacturing is an industrial process where used products are restored to useful life. This dissertation describes how products can be designed to facilitate the remanufacturing process. It also describes how the remanufacturing processes can be improved to be more efficient. When comparing remanufacturing with other end-of-life scenarios, it is hard from an environmental perspective to determine which scenario is preferable. This research has shown that remanufacturing is preferable to new manufacturing from a natural resource perspective. With remanufacturing the efforts that initially was used to shape the product part is salvaged. Furthermore, it has been found that it is environmentally and economically beneficial to have products designed for remanufacturing. To avoid obsolescence, the products must be easy to upgrade with new technology in the remanufacturing process. In this dissertation, a generic remanufacturing process is described with all included steps that are needed to restore the products to useful life. In order to make the remanufacturing process more efficient, the products need to be adapted for the process. Therefore, the preferable products properties facilitating each step in the generic remanufacturing process have been identified. A matrix (RemPro) was created to illustrate the relation between each and every generic remanufacturing step and the preferable product properties. Remanufacturing case studies have shown that the companies performing remanufacturing often have problems with material flows, use of space and high inventory levels. This is often due to the uncertainties in the quality and the number of cores (used products) that will arrive at the remanufacturing plants. To overcome these problems, the remanufacturers need to achieve a better control over the product’s design and use phase, i.e. the life cycle phases that precede the remanufacturing process. This control is best performed by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Furthermore, it has been found that Swedish manufacturers often have a weak relation between its environmental management systems and product issues, such as design for environment/remanufacturing. Design for environmental/remanufacturing aspects should be a crucial part of the manufacturers environmental management systems (EMSs) as the products stand for much of the material flows at the manufacturing companies. If the external auditors address the manufacturers to have a life cycle perspective on their business the manufacturer would be more likely to adapt the remanufacturing aspects in their environmental management systems.

The diploma thesis focuses on the implementation of lean production into the selected production section of EKOM company. In the analytical part, the production company will be characterized and the current state of production in the selected section will be described. The practical part of the thesis will be based on the theoretical part and there will be proposals for implementation of lean production elements.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how potentials of Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) in relation to Just In Time (JIT) management could be utilized within logistics management. For this, a framework, based on previous research of the interrelations of RTLS and JIT management, is proposed, to assess the effects of RTLS on logistics management, both on a managerial - as well as on an operational level. To answer the proposed research questions, the study followed a deductive and exploratory case study design, which was conducted at a company within the automotive industry. To understand the challenges within logistics management at the case company, interviews, observations, analysis of internal documents and a focus group were used, which allowed for a triangulation of the captured information. The findings and analysis of the data show that on an operational level the challenges within logistics management are related to complex logistic structures, pull strategies with partial push material flows, lack of information and – reliable data, as well as processes reliant on individuals. On the managerial level the findings suggest challenges related to high complexity and space constraints, time constraints, lack of transparency and – data connections, the company's improvement focus, employee attitude and a lack of reliable data. When the challenges were evaluated in relation to the proposed framework, it shows that these challenges would be resolved or counteracted by the benefits RTLS could provide in relation to JIT management. This study thereby supports the positive correlation between RTLS’s potential and JIT in logistics management.

La presente tesis se compone de tres artículos publicados y uno enviado para publicación. Son cuatro casos de estudio que comparten el mismo eje teórico: el metabolismo social. Usando la metodología Contabilidad de Flujos de Materiales se han medido las entradas de materiales de varias economías. Los indicadores que se obtienen aplicando esta metodología permiten caracterizar los perfiles metabólicos de las economías estudiadas, identificando los factores más importantes que los determinan. Asimismo, estos indicadores pueden considerarse como una medida indirecta de la presión que una economía ejerce en el medio ambiente. Por otra parte, esta tesis tiene como objetivo dar evidencia empírica sobre la ausencia de desmaterialización de las economías. La principal conclusión es que en este mundo globalizado, los países son cada vez más dependientes del comercio internacional y el papel que un país juega en el concierto internacional determina en gran medida la manera como utiliza sus recursos materiales. Sin embargo, esta dependencia sigue diversas trayectorias. Por una parte, identificamos un conjunto de países como España que se ha beneficiado de este proceso. En las últimas dos décadas, este país ha logrado aumentar su bienestar económico usando intensivamente recursos provenientes de otros sistemas socioeconómicos, como el petróleo. Sin embargo, el principal factor determinante de su perfil biofísico ha sido el sector de la construcción. Por otra parte, identificamos aquellos países que históricamente han basado sus economías en la extracción de recursos naturales como Chile, Ecuador, México y Perú y que actualmente no presentan un patrón uniforme de uso de recursos naturales. En Ecuador, Chile y Perú, el comercio internacional ha sido el principal determinante del patrón e intensidad del uso de los recursos naturales. Sin embargo, Ecuador sigue siendo el ejemplo típico de economía extractiva mientras que Chile ha logrado una diversificación de sus exportaciones con mayor valor agregado. Este proceso se observa pero de manera muy incipiente en Perú. Chile puede considerarse como el ejemplo más exitoso en la región del modelo basado en exportaciones de materias primas al lograr un fuerte crecimiento económico. México es un caso especial y contradictorio, porque a pesar de ser un importante exportador de petróleo, ha logrado una diversificación de su producción hacía sectores con un mayor componente tecnológico debido a la creciente presencia de la industria maquiladora. Sin embargo, no son sus flujos de exportaciones ni el crecimiento económico los principales determinantes del uso que hace de sus recursos materiales sino el crecimiento de la población. Por otra parte, se observa un incremento considerable en el uso de materiales de construcción y energéticos fósiles en toda la economía mientras que al mismo tiempo, la población rural sigue dependiendo de fuentes tradicionales de energía como la leña para satisfacer sus necesidades energéticas. Otra conclusión general es que no se observa un proceso de desmaterialización ni absoluta ni relativa en ninguno de los países analizados. / This thesis is composed of three published articles and a submitted one. All share the same theoretical approach: social metabolism. By tracing all material flows into several economic systems by means of the Material Flows Accounting methodology (MFA), this thesis aims on the one hand at characterizing current metabolic profiles of different economies, identifying their main driving forces; on the other hand, it aims at providing empirical evidence on dematerialisation of the economies. The main conclusion is that in our globalised world, countries are becoming more dependent on international trade and that the role a country plays in the international markets strongly determines its pattern of material use. This dependency followed different trajectories. On the one hand, we identify countries such as Spain that benefited from this process as it increased welfare based in an intensive use of strategic natural resources coming from other economic systems such as fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the main driving force shaping the biophysical profile of this economy was the construction sector, an internal factor. On the other hand, we identify those countries that historically have relied on the extraction of natural resources such as Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru although we can no longer talk about a uniform pattern of natural resource use in the region. In Ecuador, Chile and Peru, international trade was the main driving force for material use. Ecuador remains the typical example of an extractive economy whereas a diversification of exports away from bulk commodities towards products with more added value could be observed to a greater extent in Chile and incipiently in Peru. Chile can be regarded as a successful example of the staple theory of growth as its GDP increased considerably. Mexico is a special and contradictory case. Firstly, despite being an important oil exporter, it has achieved a diversification of production, moving towards technology-intensive products due to the assembly industries. Secondly, despite it has a great potential of biomass extraction, it is undergoing a substitution process of imported biomass for national biomass, in particular, basic crops for human consumption. Instead of international trade, population growth was the main driving force for biophysical growth in this economy. Thirdly, it was observed an increasing emphasis on the use of construction materials and fossil fuels in the whole economy whereas in the countryside, rural households still rely heavily on traditional biomass flows such as fuelwood to satisfy their energetic needs. A general conclusion is that neither absolute dematerialisation nor relative dematerialisation occurred in any of the analysed countries.

In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning.

In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning.

The aim of the thesis is to analyse the material and economic flows in the selected region and to suggest possible measures to improve the current situation. The paper focuses on the South Bohemian Region. Per Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical reporting, undertakings must communicate the transport data to the relevant organizations. Unfortunately, the economic data from the field of material flows is nowhere accurately reported, so only selected indicators that characterize the relevant economic flows were used. Thanks to the data obtained, an existing picture of material and economic flows in the selected area was obtained. Then, a specific flow analysis of one selected material was conducted through production, distribution and sales. Subsequently, it was evaluated whether the results of this selected product correspond to the results of the statistical reports. The last part was the SDA analysis to determine the impact of material flow on population development, social wealth and technological progress. Based on the results of individual analyses, measures have been proposed to improve the current situation.

The basis of lean manufacturing is to minimize the inventories to reveal the disfunctions of the production system and to optimize process to avoid every kind of wastes. Lean systems are characteristic with smooth pull production system with one piece flow and just in time supplements of inventories. The layout of the line is transformed to the U work cell and the material is ordered by using kanban tickets. To receive the potential of implementation of the lean manufacturing principles we can use indicators IE - industrial efficiency and PLT - pruduction lead time.

In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The main aim of the thesis is to optimize the management of the production process with the focus on the material flows in the manufacturing company Jung in Brno. The thesis takes into consideration the analysis of the current state of the company. In addition, the thesis describes the production programs and processes with the focus on the material flow and material stocks. The work also aims to identify and minimize bottlenecks in the production process. Apart from the main directions along which the material goes, the process of supply, removal from storage and efficiency of working with material during production is analyzed. The findings of the thesis of the work are suggestions that would make the operational business management effective, reduce production costs and increase the dynamics of the transformation process of production.