In today’s world there are 2.6 billion people that lack basic sanitation (37% of world inhabitants). In August of 2012, Cranfield University was awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with $810,000 to produce a prototype of the Cranfield’s innovative Nano-membrane Toilet (NMT). Finally, the prototype is going to be exhibited at the “Reinvent the Toilet Fair” during 21st and 22nd of March 2014 in the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi (India). Cranfield’s NMT demands electricity for its daily performance. Nevertheless, it is targeted to off-grid communities. Consequently, a human-powered generator (HPG) was selected as a backup solution. The current MSc by Research aimed to design and test of a prototype of the aforesaid HPG. Moreover, to promote its usage, a portable power supply unit is designed to store energy and power small-loads like charging mobile phones and electric lighting. To select the most suitable design for our case study, a methodology using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution has been developed. As a result the plugged-in bike HPG alternative was selected. Next, prototypes of this generator and the portable power supply unit were developed, tested and shipped for display. While testing of the plugged-in generator and portable power supply unit, 26 Watt-hours (Wh) were harvested over 15 minutes, with its corresponding average charging power of 105 Watts. Nevertheless, the present study concludes 96 Wh as a more accurate energy level to be harvested during one hour of pedalling. Considering 96 Wh of energy, a round-trip battery efficiency of 70% (lead-acid), and a NMT’s demand of 283 Wh; a 10 people household needs to pedal the HPG over 4 hours and 20 minutes. Nevertheless, if considering an 85% inverter efficiency, 57.12 Wh are available to fully charge one mobile phone (5.6 Wh) and provide 4.5 hours of room and desk lighting (11 Watts bulb).

De nombreuses industries ont mené des recherches en vue de choisir la méthode appropriée afin d'améliorer les résultats, notamment Lean manufacturing et Six Sigma. Ce travail de thèse s’intéresse principalement à l’influence de l’implémentation de ces méthodes au sein des entreprises françaises, selon trois critères : financier, opérationnel et innovation. Les résultats de nos recherches montrent que les entreprises, appliquant Lean manufacturing et Six Sigma, sont plus efficacies pour l'amélioration des performances en matières financière et opérationnelle. Par ailleurs, les entreprises qui utilisent juste une partie des pratiques de Lean manufacturing et/ou de Six Sigma ont montré des améliorations limitées. En ce qui concerne le volet innovation, nous avons montré que l’implémentation de Lean manufacturing est suffisante pour avoir une amélioration des performances. En outre, nous avons constaté que les pratiques de Lean manufacturing et Six Sigma, telles que One Piece Flow, Kanban, 5S, etc. contribuent fortement à l’amélioration des performances. Les résultats statistiques montrent également que les facteurs clés, de la réussite de la mise en place de Lean et Six Sigma, peuvent être significativement différents selon la méthode. / Many industries conduct research in order to decide on the appropriate methodology for delivering optimal performance outcomes such as Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma. Therefore, this research shows the influence of different categories based on the implementation method against three criteria: financial performance, operational performance and innovation performance. Research results indicate that companies implementing Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma were more effective in improving company performance across financial and operational dynamics. Additionally, it shows companies who implemented Lean Manufacturing only saw improvements in innovation performance. Moreover, we found that Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma practices such as One Piece Flow, Kanban, 5S, etc, supported increases in companies’ performance. The statistical results also show that the key factors for the success of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma implementation could differ depending on the method employed.

There are many possible tools to develop mobile applications with. Choosing a development tool is done by considering many different factors, and the choice is currently done, in many cases, arbitrarily. For this project, a decision model is designed to ease the process of choosing a development tool. A survey was conducted to examine how people using different smartphone platforms discover and download applications. 94 responses were collected, showing that approximately 50% of Android-users found mobile applications by using search engines or browsers. The corresponding number was approximately 30% for iOS-users. A usability test was conducted to discover the differences in user experience between Progressive Web Applications and native applications. 18 usability tests were conducted comparing the same product developed as a Progressive Web Application and a native application. A majority of the participants had a technical background. Both Android and iOS devices were included in the tests. The results indicated that end-users notice when an application is not natively developed. The effect on the user experience is combined with other technical differences and applied to the decision model. This model was designed to predict if a native application, a Progressive Web Application or a React Native application is the most favourable to develop for a specific scenario. The final model could, according to consultants at the stakeholder Slagkryssaren AB, with good accuracy predict when the different development tools should be used. The model could be used as a discussion tool in the first stages of the development process of an application. / Det finns många möjliga verktyg för att utveckla mobila applikationer. Valet av utvecklingsverktyg görs genom att överväga många olika faktorer, och görs idag i många fall högst godtyckligt. För det här projektet designades en beslutsmodell som förenklar processen av att välja ett utecklingsverktyg. En undersökning gjordes för att undersöka hur användare av olika smartphone- plattformar upptäcker och laddar ner applikationer. 94 svar samlades, svaren visade att ungefär 50% av Android-användare hittade mobila applikationer genom internetsökningar eller webbläsare. Denna siffran var ungefär 30% för iOS-användare. Ett användarbarhetstest utfördes för att finna skillnader i användarupplevelse mellan progressiva webbapplikationer och native-applikationer. En majoritet av deltagarna hade en teknisk bakgrund. Både Android- och iOS-enheter testades. Resultatet tydde på att slutanvändare la märke till när en applikation inte utvecklades som en native-applikation. Effekten på användarvänligheten, kombinerat med tekniska skillnader mellan verktygen, tillämpades på beslutsmodellen. Modellen designades för att förutse om en native-applikation, en progressiva webbapplikation eller en React Native- applikation är mest fördelaktig att utveckla i ett specifikt scenario. Den slutgiltiga modellen kunde, enligt konsulter på uppdragsgivaren Slagkryssaren AB, med god precision avgöra när de olika utvecklingsverktygen bör nyttjas. Modellens användning blev som ett diskussionsverktyg i de första stadierna av processen med att välja utvecklingsvektyg.