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There is an ongoing technological shift with electromobility, automation and connectivity, which affects the development of heavy vehicles such as excavators, wheel loaders and pavers. These vehicles can be referred to as cyber-physical systems (CPS). The development entails changes for companies' product development, which leads to higher complexity which is a challenge to manage. To develop heavy cyber-physical vehicles, the company uses an X-methodology in the product development process (referred to as X by confidentiality). The challenge for the company is to develop the X-methodology to combine systematic working methods where modularization and Virtual Reality (VR) are combined in early phases of product development. The purpose of this thesis was to develop the company's work processes in the early phases of product development utilizing modularization with the support of VR. This is to find improvement potential in their existing modularization methodology to achieve improved efficiency and complexity management in the product development process. To answer this, two research questions were formed: RQ1: What can modularization combined with VR be used for in early phases of product development? RQ2: How can the development of a modular cyber-physical subsystem be improved with the help of VR in the early phases of the product development process? Due to the lack of VR in the early phases of product development in the X-methodology, a literature study and a case study were conducted around a specific subsystem. The early phases of the company correspond to the literature’s Planning- and Concept Development phase. For this study, interviews, internal documents, and physical artifacts were used as empirical evidence and then compared with the found literature. In the analysis of data, it was noted that the literature's findings estimated a reduction of 50% of the product development time, a time reduction of 65% in sketch production and a 95% cost reduction for prototypes. The data found in the case study argued that lead times and costs for prototypes in scale 1:1 can be reduced with the help of virtual prototypes. The reduction in lead times was 95–97.5% of the current value, while the cost reduction was 100% for virtual prototypes in 1:1 scale compared to physical prototypes in 1:1 scale. Limited to the case study’s subsystem, it was estimated that it is possible to reduce physical location required for reviewing the subsystems, reach infinite workspace, increase visibility of the product architecture, allow more degrees of freedom for interaction with the subsystems, and infinite size scale. The study's data for research question 1 suggest that the combination between VR and modularization forms a synergic improvement of the early phases in the product development process. VR supports complexity reduction by evaluating the modularization. VR has the ability in early phases to reduce costs and time. This is achieved by working with VR early on with cross-functional feedback together with virtual models that reflects the final product. The study's data for research question 2 suggest that VR has the potential to improve the product development of modular cyber-physical systems by reducing time and costs, as well as providing access to reference architecture. With delimitation to a subsystem and its variants, it was demonstrated that VR can reduce the physical space required for prototypes and facilitate/ease visualization and interaction with the prototypes. / Det pågår ett teknikskifte med elektromobilitet, automation och uppkoppling vilket påverkar utvecklingen av tunga fordon så som grävmaskiner, hjullastare och asfaltläggare. Dessa fordon kan benämnas som cyberfysiska system (CPS). Utvecklingen medför förändringar för företagens produktutveckling vilket leder till högre komplexitet som är en utmaning att hantera. För att utveckla tunga cyberfysiska fordon använder företaget en X-metodik i produktutvecklingsprocessen (benämns X av sekretess). Utmaningen för företaget är att utveckla X-metodiken för att kombinera systematiska arbetssätt där modularisering och Virtuell Verklighet (VR) kombineras i tidiga faser av produktutveckling. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att utveckla företagets arbetsprocesser i tidiga faser av produktutveckling gällande modularisering med stöd av VR. Detta för att finna förbättringspotential i deras befintliga modulariseringsmetodik för att nå en förbättrad effektivitet och komplexitetshantering i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Specifikt kommer dessa forskningsfrågor att undersökas: FF1: Vad kan modularisering kombinerat med VR användas för i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingen? FF2: Hur kan utvecklingen av ett modulärt cyberfysiskt delsystem förbättras med hjälp av VR i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingsprocessen? På grund av avsaknaden av VR i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingen i X-metodiken genomfördes en litteraturstudie och en empirisk fallstudie kring ett avgränsat delsystem. Företagets tidiga faser motsvarar litteraturens Planering- och Konceptutveckling-faser. Till denna studie användes intervjuer, interna dokument och fysiska artefakter som empiri och jämfördes med den funna litteraturen. I analysen av all data framkom det att litteraturens fynd uppskattade en reduktion med 50% av produktutvecklingstiden, en tidreduktion med 65% i skissframtagning och 95% kostnadsreduktion för prototyper. Fallstudien menade att ledtider och kostnader för prototyper i skala 1:1 kan reduceras med hjälp av virtuella prototyper. Reduktionen av ledtider var 95–97,5% av det nuvarande värdet, medan kostnadsreduktionen var 100% för virtuella prototyper i skala 1:1 jämfört med fysiska prototyper i skala 1:1. Avgränsat till fallstudiens delsystem uppskattades en reducerad fysisk plats som krävs för granskning av delsystemen, oändlig arbetsyta, ökad synlighet för produktarkitekturen, fler frihetsgrader för interaktion med delsystemen och oändlig storleksskala. Slutsats till forskningsfråga 1 från studiens data var att kombinationen mellan VR och modularisering bildar en synergi för en förbättring av tidiga faser i produktutvecklingsprocessen. VR stödjer komplexitetreduktion vid utvärdering av modularisering. VR har möjlighet i tidiga faser att reducera kostnader och tid. Vilket grundar sig att jobba tidigt med VR för tvärfunktionell feedback tillsammans med virtuella modeller som återspeglar slutprodukten. Studiens data till forskningsfråga 2 föreslår att VR har möjligheten att förbättra produktutvecklingen av modulära cyberfysiska system genom att reducera tid och kostnader samt ge tillgång till referensarkitektur. Med avgränsning till ett delsystem och dess varianter påvisades det att VR kan reducera fysiskt utrymme som krävs för prototyper och underlätta visualisering samt interaktion med dem.

In the currently dominating linear economy, there is a strong focus on the forward supply of products, where products and materials are being replaced and wasted at an increasing pace. In addition to this, there are products not even reaching customers, being scrapped as a result of them being excess in inventories. As the increasingly noted circular economy aims to control the flows of materials so that these are circulated and the value of them is kept as high as possible while minimizing waste, it offers a set of tools useful to increase the material efficiency of excess inventories. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how improved inventory management can increase material efficiency from a circular economy perspective, to improve environmental and economic sustainability performance. A case study was completed at a global company in the ICT manufacturing sector where the current processes for handling excess inventory were studied along with the implications of product modularization. While exploring this topic, the thesis further aims to identify barriers and potentials to improving inventory management from the circular economy perspective. In enabling this, a qualitative study was performed, collecting empirical data through interviews with employees and researchers to use as the base for analysis and discussion. The findings present that although processes for managing products in excess inventory exist at the case company, there is great room for improvement regarding both a wider application of these along with the incentives and efficiency of them. The selection of products to be recirculated is today greatly dominated by economic factors, where typically only high-value products tend to be considered and the environmental aspect is somewhat lost in this consideration. Moreover, modularization is identified as an enabler for increased material efficiency in inventory management, reducing unique components and materials in inventories and thereby the risk of scrapping. However, these positive effects of modularization on the material efficiency are unfortunately not expected to be seen in the nearest time, but rather in the future. Furthermore, several barriers to improved inventory management are identified, also indicating the existing potentials for improvement and capabilities required for this. The most prominent barriers recognized are organizational, technological and economic barriers. The majority of them are internal barriers existing within the organization. / I den för närvarande dominerande linjära ekonomin finns ett starkt fokus på det framåtgående flödet av produkter, där produkter och material byts ut och slösas i en allt ökande takt. Utöver det här produktflödet finns dessutom produkter som aldrig når kund, utan som skrotas på grund av att de är i överskott eller har blivit föråldrade medan fortfarande i lager. Då den alltmer uppmärksammade cirkulära ekonomin syftar till att kontrollera flödena av material så att dessa cirkuleras och hålls vid ett så högt värde som möjligt samtidigt som avfall minimeras, erbjuder den en uppsättning användbara verktyg som kan användas för att öka materialeffektiviteten i överskottslager. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur förbättrad lagerhantering kan öka materialeffektiviteten ur perspektivet av den cirkulära ekonomin, med syftet att förbättra miljömässig och ekonomisk hållbarhetsprestanda. En fallstudie utfördes vid ett globalt företag inom den tillverkande ICT-sektorn där de nuvarande processerna för hantering av överskottslager studerades tillsammans med implikationerna av att modularisera delar av produktportföljen. I undersökningen av detta syftar studien vidare till att identifiera barriärer och potential för förbättrad lagerhantering utifrån den cirkulära ekonomins principer. Detta utfördes genom en kvalitativ studie där empirisk data samlades in genom intervjuer med anställda samt forskare, vilken låg till grund för den analys och diskussion som genomförts. Resultaten visar att även om det i dagsläget finns processer för att hantera produkter i överskottslager hos fallföretaget, finns det stort utrymme för förbättring gällande effektiviteten av dessa. Urvalet av produkter för återcirkulering domineras idag till hög grad av ekonomiska faktorer, där oftast enbart produkter av högt ekonomiskt värde prioriteras för återcirkulering, och hållbarhetsaspekten förloras på vägen. Vidare identifieras modularisering som en möjliggörande faktor till förbättrad lagerhantering där färre unika komponenter och reducerade materialnivåer i lager minskar risken för skrotning. De positiva effekterna av modularisering på materialeffektiviteten inom lagerhantering förväntas däremot bli synbara på lång sikt snarare än kort sikt. Avslutningsvis identifieras flertalet barriärer till förbättrad materialeffektivitet inom lagerhantering, vilka indikerar de befintliga möjligheterna till förbättring. De mest framstående typerna av barriärer inkluderar organisatoriska, tekniska och ekonomiska barrirärer, där det kan konstateras att merparten är interna barriärer som kan hanteras inom organisationen.

The innovation race, with ever-shortening product lifecycles and esca­lating innovation costs, has made alliances for innovation a central competitive strategy at many firms. Alliances provide access to a broader pool of knowledge that would be difficult to develop inside the firm, as well as a way of sharing risks. However, many innovation-based alliances fail. The literature argues that one important reason for this is the tension created by the contradictory recommendations of alliance management, whereby fixed contracts are stressed, and the recommendations for the innovation management of flexible and adaptable structures in order to support the innovation process. This thesis addresses the tension between the contractual logic of alliances and the dynamics of innovation by studying how different alliance structures, e.g. structures for coordination and communication, and innovation structures, e.g. modularity, can interact when shaping the innovation process. Based on in-depth studies of the innovation process in nine innovation-based alliances, the main contribution made by this thesis is a process model for managing innovation-based alliances. A central conclusion is that the structure of the alliance and the design of the innovation have to be adapted to each another in order to enable progress during the innovation process. The process model for innovation-based alliances consists of three phases; exploration, alignment, and commercialization. Important challenges during each phase are identified and different ways of managing these challenges are suggested. Although there is no shortcut to a successful innovation-based alliance, many difficulties can be avoided if management forms and subsequently adapts various alliance structures, in addition to the internal and external design of the innovation, so that the alliance and innovation become aligned. This alignment requires management to approach the alliance and innovation processes as one coalesced process whose character depends on the variety of the innovation. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005

This work focuses on the axiomatized relationships between different ontologies of varying levels of expressivity. Motivated by experiences in the decomposition of first-order logic ontologies, we partially decompose the Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE) into modules. By leveraging automated reasoning tools to semi-automatically verify the modules, we provide an account of the meta-theoretic relationships found between DOLCE and other existing ontologies. As well, we examine the composition process required to determine relationships between DOLCE modules and the Process Specification Language (PSL) ontology. Then, we propose an ontology based on the semantically-weak Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture (CIMOSA) framework by augmenting its constructs with terminology found in PSL. Finally, we attempt to map two semantically-weak product ontologies together to analyze the applications of ontology mappings in e-commerce.

This work focuses on the axiomatized relationships between different ontologies of varying levels of expressivity. Motivated by experiences in the decomposition of first-order logic ontologies, we partially decompose the Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE) into modules. By leveraging automated reasoning tools to semi-automatically verify the modules, we provide an account of the meta-theoretic relationships found between DOLCE and other existing ontologies. As well, we examine the composition process required to determine relationships between DOLCE modules and the Process Specification Language (PSL) ontology. Then, we propose an ontology based on the semantically-weak Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture (CIMOSA) framework by augmenting its constructs with terminology found in PSL. Finally, we attempt to map two semantically-weak product ontologies together to analyze the applications of ontology mappings in e-commerce.

This project examines how the quality of a code generator used in an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) framework can be improved in terms of maintainability, testability and reusability by changing the design from a top-down perspective to a bottom up. The resulting generator is tested in a case study to verify that the new design is more cohesive and less coupled than an existing code generator.

This thesis presents an application that performs positioning of modules automatically based on given data for every module, and the development of it. The basis of the application is from a previous thesis code. On top of that code, more features and error handling has been added, as well as fixes for various bugs. A stress test has been performed and further development possibilities are being presented. The thesis work was carried out at Toyota Material Handling Mjölby (TMH) and was made in parallel with another thesis by Fredrik Holden who was generating data for the application. For a complete understanding of the theory and background, please also read Holden’s thesis report “Development of method for automated positioning of 3D-representations of a modularized product”, as well as the former thesis  ”Analysis for Automated Positioning of 3D-representation of a Modularized product””. / Detta examensarbete presenterar en applikation som positionerar moduler automatiskt med hjälp av given data för varje modul, samt utvecklingen av applikationen. Applikationen bygger på kod från ett tidigare examensarbete. Ovanpå den koden har flera egenskaper och felhanteringar lagts till, samt har olika buggar fixats. Ett stresstest har också utförts och framtida utvecklingsmöjligheter presenteras. Examensarbetet genomfördes på Toyota Material Handling Mjölby (TMH) och gjordes parallellt med ett annat examensarbete av Fredrik Holden som genererade data för applikationen. För en fullständig förståelse angående teorin bakom samt bakgrunden till examensarbetet, vänligen läs också Holdens rapport ”Developmentof method  for automated positioning of 3D-representations of a modularized product”, samt rapporten från föregeånde examensarbetet ”Analysis for Automated Positioning of 3D-representation of a Modularized product”.

Organizations go through a variety of different change processes during their life time, and many of these are necessary for the organizations to maintain their competitiveness. However, a large part of change efforts never achieve their goals and about 70 percent of all change efforts are considered to be unsuccessful. A reason for the high percentage of failures is the inability to deal with the challenges that often arises in connection with the change process. In order for the change effort to be successful it is therefore crucial to be prepared and knowing how to identify and handle the challenges and resistance that may arise during the change process. The aim of the study has been to identify the challenges with extensive change efforts in software development organizations. Two extensive changes, (1) changing the software itself by making the software structure modular and (2) changing the software development process by adapting agile methods, at a software development department at Scania CV AB has been used as a case study. An overall fear and resistance towards extensive changes was identified. In addition, four main challenges were identified with the first change; difficulties with the software development process, lack of vision and communication from management, fear and uncertainty, and lack of resources and tools. Two challenges were identified with the second change; that it was time consuming and lack of resources and tools. The difficulties with the software development process showed that the major challenge with the modular software structure was maintaining it. However, the remaining challenges have previously been identified in several studies and could all be related to being causes of resistance. Also, a comparison between the two changes were made to identify similarities and differences between them. This was made to further understand if the difference between the changes could be related to the challenges. The comparison indicates that a change effort with a clear vision, good communication and management involvement is less likely to encounter challenges. / Organisationer genomgår en rad olika förändringsprocesser under sin livstid och många av dessa är nödvändiga för att organisationerna ska behålla sin konkurrenskraft på marknaden. En stor del av förändringsinsatser uppnår dock aldrig sina mål och cirka 70 procent av alla anses vara misslyckade. En orsak till den höga andelen misslyckanden är oförmågan att hantera de utmaningar som ofta uppstår i samband med förändringsprocesser. För att förändringsarbetet ska lyckas är det därför viktigt att vara förberedd och veta hur man identifierar och hanterar de utmaningar och den resistans som kan uppstå under förändringsprocesser. Syftet med studien har varit att identifiera utmaningar med omfattande förändringsinsatser i mjukvaruprocesser. Två omfattande förändringar, (1) modularisering av mjukvarustrukturen och (2) införandet av agil metodik vid en mjukvaruutvecklingsavdelning på Scania CV AB har använts som fallstudie. En övergripande rädsla och resistans mot omfattande förändringar identifierades. Dessutom identifierades fyra huvudutmaningar med den första förändringen; svårigheter med mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen, brist på vision och kommunikation från ledning, rädsla och osäkerhet samt brist på resurser och verktyg. Två utmaningar identifierades med den andra förändringen; att det var tidskrävande samt brist på resurser och verktyg. Svårigheterna med mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen visade att den stora utmaningen med den modulära mjukvarustrukturen var att underhålla den. De återstående utmaningarna har emellertid tidigare identifierats i flera studier och kan alla relateras till att vara orsaker till resistans. En jämförelse mellan de två förändringarna gjordes också för att identifiera likheter och skillnader mellan dem. Detta gjordes för att förstå om skillnaderna kunde relateras till utmaningarna. Jämförelsen indikerar att en förändringsinsats med tydlig vision, bra kommunikation och ledarskapsengagemang är mindre benägen att möta utmaningar.

Sales market in process industry, especially for chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry, is becoming more and more volatile. Furthermore, the global availability of alternative products shortens the product life cycle. At the same time, the requested volumes depend on strong regional and temporal fluctuations, which are increasingly difficult to predict. To be able to bring product innovations successfully to market, rapid series-production readiness of the prototype is needed. However, the competition after successful approval is increasingly getting tougher. As soon as the product has been accepted by the market, the time necessary to reach sufficient product quantities with required product quality is essential for its profitability. By the end of the product life cycle, the production should be close to the largest remaining sales markets, which means that the production can be shifted accordingly. Classical production processes in process industry do not fulfil these requirements jet. Conti-systems are optimized for a certain production quantity per unit of time, which should not be changed for years, if possible. The higher flexibility of conventional batch plants is associated with unproductive times, for example during conversion. However, modularization of process plants with flexible combinatory design would allow faster turnover times and higher productivity. Individual modules realize standardized production steps and can be combined according to the requested product. Changes to the product are achieved by the exchange of modules, the production quantity can be increased by adding more of the same modules. The integration of a module into an upper classic process control system is laborious using the information models and tools available today. Various aspects of automation, such as human machine interfaces, statuses of sequences or interlocks must be added manually for the visualization and guidance of the module in an upper process control system. However, today's control systems are not prepared to provide the required flexibility of a system based on different modules. This drawback requires a modular plug-and-production methodology. Therefore, an outright modeling of information, beginning with modular and function-oriented integrated engineering is needed. On the one hand, this work considers with a selection of integration aspects, a detailed modeling of this aspects in an information carrier and the integration into the process control level. On the other hand, the concrete selection of one or more descriptive formats is analyzed. For this purpose, a uniform integration architecture and an integration process is described, this allows integration into an upper process control system level. This analysis shows that, with the available descriptive formats, a mapping of the individual integration aspects into an information carrier is possible. It is important to distinguish whether a separate mapping is chosen for each aspect, as chosen by GrapML in the second practical implementation, or whether a uniform format is used for the entire information carrier. The evaluation of the description formats suggests for the use in the information carrier AutomationML. The practical implementation and investigation with AutomationML are already in the scope of the Namur MTP developments and couldn’t therefore investigated deeply in this work. For the most important aspects, the human machine interface as well as the process management, detailed information modeling is available and was checked during implementation. Two different possibilities were presented and discussed for the selection of description formats. To allow flexible extensibility, it is advantageous to choose a description means in which the integration aspects are described separately from each other, independently of the specifically chosen format. A uniform interface within automation systems is required for the needs of the so-called industry 4.0 for the networking and consistency of all components involved throughout the entire life cycle. This work provides the first building blocks of this approach and enables application in process industry but also manufacturing industry.