Vid ledning av samverkan mellan kommuner är det centralt att vara överens om målsättningarna för samarbetet och att ha en gemensam förståelse för hur målen skall uppnås. Detta är av vikt inte minst för att man skall kunna fatta rationella gemensamma beslut. Kommundirektörer från sex samverkande kommuner har deltagit i studien som undersöker hur två metoder, hämtade från värdefokuserat tänkande och från förändringsteori, kan användas för att ta fram olika samarbetsparters individuella målsättningar för samverkan, sammanfoga dessa till en gemensam målstruktur och sedan använda den gemensamma målstrukturen för att skapa förändringsteorier som beskriver hur samverkansmål kan antas uppnås. Ett syfte med studien är att genomföra processen och producera detta material, till nytta för kommundirektörerna och kommunernas samverkan framåt. Det vetenskapliga syftet är att se om metoderna under dessa förutsättningar är användbara tillsammans, framför allt genom att analysera själva arbetsprocessen och de producerade resultaten i form av förändringsteorier. Studien är en fallstudie som genomförts genom aktionsforskning, där kommundirektörernas naturliga roller och mötesformer utgör arenan där den gemensamma verksamheten och den akademiska studien utvecklas tillsammans. I studien beskrivs hur sex individuella målstrukturer förenas i en gemensam målstruktur för samverkan. Två förändringsteorier skapas sedan gällande avgränsade delar av den gemensamma målstrukturen. Analysen av genomförandet och det framtagna materialet tyder på att det finns potential i att kombinera de två metoderna som har använts. I värdefokuserat tänkande läggs stort fokus på att formulera och strukturera mål, i förändringsteori läggs fokus på att identifiera gruppers gemensamma uppfattningar och antaganden gällande vilka mekanismer och processer som behöver ske för att förändring skall uppstå och mål skall förverkligas. Även om detta endast är en enskild och begränsad studie, så är det tydligt att värdefokuserat tänkande och förändringsteori har element som kompletterar och stärker varandra. / When managing cooperation between municipalities, it is crucial to agree on the objectives of the cooperation and to have a common understanding of how the goals are to be achieved. This is important not least in order to be able to take rational joint decisions. Municipal executive directors from six collaborating municipalities have participated in the study, which examines how two methods, taken from value-focused thinking and from theory of change, can be used to develop different partners' individual goals for collaboration, merge these into a common goal structure and then use the common goal structure to create theories of change that describe how collaborative goals can be assumed to be achieved. One purpose of the study is to carry out the process and produce this material, for the benefit of the municipal executive directors and the municipalities' collaboration going forward. The scientific purpose is to see if the methods under these conditions are usable together, above all by analyzing the work process itself and the results produced in form of theories of change. The study is a case study conducted through action research, where the municipal executive directors' natural roles and forms of meeting are the arena where the joint activities and the academic study are developed together. The study describes how six individual goal structures are united in a common goal structure for collaboration. Two theories of change are then created regarding certain parts of the common goal structure. The analysis of the implementation and the material produced suggests that there is potential in combining the two methods that have been used. In value-focused thinking there is a big focus on formulating and structuring goals, in theory of change a focus is on identifying groups' common perceptions and assumptions regarding the mechanisms and processes that need to take place for change to occur and goals to be realized. Even though this is a single and limited study, it is still clear that value-focused thinking and theory of change have elements that complement and strengthen each other.

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Today, automobiles are becoming more and more technologically complex, with more and more built-in driver information systems. This increases the amount and range of information the driver needs to be aware of while driving. For a safe traffic environment, drivers must have their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel rather than on in-vehicle displays and controls. However, many of these in-vehicle systems are safety systems designed to prevent accidents why there is a constant trade-off between monitoring interior systems and exterior road view for possible upcoming hazards. Therefore, in-vehicle information displays must be designed to be conspicuous enough to be noticed and discrete enough not to distract the driver. In this thesis a user-centred approach is used with the aim to optimize driver information presentation by testing display design guidelines, evaluation methods, and display configurations in order to increase the drivers' performance regarding noticing, reading, and understanding in-vehicle information displays while driving safely. In Paper I a literature review of design guidelines regarding optimal presentation in in-vehicle information displays was undertaken. The reviewed guidelines appeared to be coherent and valid for today's automobiles and can, hence, lay the foundation for the design of an optimized display. In Paper II an experimental driving simulator study where 19 participants evaluated two display configuration designs regarding their effect on distraction, noticeability, driver stress, and driving performance during driving while an easy secondary detection task was conducted. The reviewed guidelines from Paper I ensured that results were only effected by the differences between the display configurations. One of the compared display configurations resemble a layout found in automobiles of today, and the other a layout, which according to the literature would improve noticeability, but perhaps be somewhat more distracting. The results showed that the latter display configuration improved driving performance without causing any unnecessary distraction. Papers I and II were mainly focusing on performance based usability, but since image and impression are also part of usability, the aim of Paper III was to study eyetracking based methods' appropriateness for evaluating vehicle information clusters, and to connect perceptions of vehicle information clusters with quantifiable measures. Twenty-three subjects participated in the study where a triangulation of eye-tracking, semantic environmental description, and interviews was made. The results indicated that gaze behaviour data adds no additional value compared to if the other assessment methods were used on their own. All together, this thesis brings up important aspects that have implications for the design of in-vehicle information and systems, and gives guidance on how to optimize instrument panels to achieve a safer traffic environment. / OPTIVe - Optimised system integration for safe interaction in vehicles

The industry trends related to Product-Service Systems (PSS)—namely, the integration of products and service aspects in early development to develop and sell a function—provide one way for companies to manage competition. A key component in providing total solutions and remaining competitive is to bring new technologies and products to the market as quickly as possible. One approach to achieve this is to make the best out of all facets of available knowledge, such as by taking advantage of experiences from previous projects to assist in existing development work.Experience is commonly categorized as tacit knowledge, which is understood without being openly expressed; as such, experience is not simply identified, captured, or formalized. Incorporating experience into the organizational knowledge base involves different approaches and methods than managing information. However, such instruments do not readily exist to aid in the transition of knowledge between projects. Despite this, experts recognise that many early decisions in product development rely on experience.Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to explore how experience-based knowledge is communicated within and between projects in a cross-functional organization in order to provide support for project teams when sharing experiences as well as sustain a broader knowledge base in start-up projects. In this way, the time to market can be decreased.Empirical data were collected primarily in a manufacturing company working with transport systems and active in a business-to-business environment. The industrial data provide a description of the current situation, thereby enabling challenges to be highlighted. In addition, engineering students were part of an experiment in which individuals’ orientation was investigated to gain insights into how it affects knowledge sharing.The results indicate the importance of supporting the approaches for reflection in routine activities and communicating experiences both inside and outside the project, such as addressing different kinds of physical meetings and activities which enhance the possibility to introduce a more dynamic way of knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the personal motivation for what knowledge is shared and how it is shared is discussed. Here, the result indicates that goal-orientation/problem-solving and insight-orientation/problem-setting may provide guidance on the knowledge transfer between different projects. / Fuel Efficient Transmission Technology Concepts: Design Methodology

Many manufacturing industries are undergoing a transition from manufacturing of products towards integrating more services into the traditional product concepts and provide product-service systems (PSS). Development of PSS changes the focus from the product to the functionality of the product; hence it can be referred to as functional product development. PSS also puts focus on the value of the knowledge-intensive solution. This change in focus challenges the way companies innovate. When developing PSS, the solutions are not limited to the product parameters; hence PSS broadens the solution space for innovations. Innovation capability can broadly be defined as the ability to routinely achieve innovative outcomes, which is crucial for industrial companies in order to grow and be competitive on the market over time. Therefore, there is an apparent need to increase the innovation capability in order to find strengths and weaknesses, especially in the change towards PSS. However there are many factors that affect a company’s capability to create innovative products and services. The research question that has guided the work presented in the thesis is: How can the innovation capability for product-service systems be increased in a systematic way? The research study has mainly been conducted at Volvo Aero, a company in the aerospace industry, which is characterized by high technical complexity, high development cost and long product lifecycles. The industrial position has allowed close studies in the organization; hence the research approach has been participatory action research. Mainly qualitative methods have been used for data collection, such as observations and interviews. Measuring the innovation capability is one way to find ways to systematically increase the innovation capability of a company or organization. Results from this research points to areas of importance when measuring a company’s innovation capability. These regards what kinds of projects the company selects, how the customer is involved with the development of innovations, how the different functions within the company interact, what kind of climate there is within the development projects, what methodology is used in the innovation process and how the innovative work is rewarded. The results also indicate that developing product-service systems involve close internal collaboration between individuals with different skills and competences and may also require external skills and competencies that may not reside within the product focused organization. Therefore, to increase the innovation capability of product service systems companies need to reassess how they collaborate both internally and externally, throughout the value-chain and throughout the product lifecycle. Finally, this thesis presents a model of networked competence innovation that combines the designerly approach with strategic, tactic and operational dimensions. The model builds on techniques to visualize strategic planning, facilitate shared understanding in focused workshops, and visualize innovations using prototyping in networked projects.

The ability to introduce new products and services, i.e. innovations, is regarded as a critical source of competitive advantage, and just as important as before. At the same time, development lead times have been reduced in order to allow a faster time to market. Companies’ strive for innovation, while at the same time reducing product development lead times, will in turn influence how designers and design teams work. Therefore, major challenge, especially for mature companies in established markets, is to have effective ways for the team to continuously accomplish innovations. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how teams work in R&D projects, and particularly how they conduct innovative tasks. The research outlined in this thesis has therefore been guided by two research questions: How do design teams overcome a lack of knowledge when working with new ideas? And, how is knowledge acquired and shared in innovation activities? This research is based on an action research approach. Data is mainly from Sandvik Coromant, a global company that manufactures tools and systems for the metal cutting industry. The company is part of a large engineering group (Sandvik Group) that also manufactures equipment for mining and construction as well as advanced materials. Empirical data was collected mainly through interviews and a survey. To understand the background of innovations, an initial descriptive study, including recipients from award-winning innovative projects from the engineering group, was conducted. The study was later expanded to include more projects and study what type of knowledge was lacking, as well as how the resulting uncertainty was mitigated. Additional studies concerns how engineers use engineering knowledge models for innovation, and organizational factors that can either support or inhibit the sharing of knowledge. Since, innovation is a collaborative effort that takes place in organizations; knowledge is of little use to innovation if it is not shared with others. Findings highlight that neither trust, i.e. handling conflicts and opposing views openly, nor the existence of power and territorial struggles or lack of time significantly affect knowledge sharing. However, important knowledge sharing predecessors are affected by lack of time and how long employees have been employed. Further, new ideas are surrounded by uncertainty, because knowledge concerning if the idea will actually make a difference or not is lacking. To overcome this uncertainty (perceived lack of knowledge) several areas were explored simultaneously, i.e. market, needs and requirements as well as possible solutions. This non-consecutive process is not easy to map into a sequential process model. Hence, a circular model, providing a mean to explain and map these activities, has been proposed.

The increasing need for mobility in society alongside an intensifying concern for sustainability challenges today’s aviation industry. For companies, a Product-Service Systems (PSS) perspective puts emphasis on proving value to customers by offering a combination of hardware and services over an extended life cycle. While opening up the room for innovation, development from an extended life cycle perspective can seem daunting for companies currently focusing on development and sale of physical goods.This thesis highlights aspects of innovation and working practices of methodand product development, from a PSS standpoint, where the main focus today is development of physical goods being sold as hardware to aircraft engine manufacturers. Further, the thesis addresses the need for engineering design tool support for PSS innovation, proposing a modular approach for representation of product and service elements. The goal has been to better understand how product developers can focus on the life-cycle perspective taking into account services in early product development phases.Seen from traditional perspective the introduction of new sets of requirements comes in conflict with traditional requirements and governing practices. However, if seen from a PSS perspective managing these new sets of requirements opens up the firm’s ability to innovate in order to provide added value to customers. By integration of the product and service design process and collaboration with heterogeneous knowledge sources the company is likely to able to create value for customers in different ways than before.

Providing added value to standalone products by adding services is at the core of product service systems (PSS) offered in manufacturing industries. Providing PSS requires a change not only in the way products are sold, but also in the way they are designed and developed. Engineers need to assess the value of a forthcoming PSS solution as soon as possible in the design process, addressing service-related issues that often fall outside their technical horizon and are challenging to seamlessly translate into the product technical requirements. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the early stages of aerospace product development, proposing methods and tools in order to improve the decision-making process, by enhancing the awareness of engineers and designers about the value contribution of different design alternatives. This academic work was performed through action research in close collaboration with major European aerospace manufacturers, research centers, and academic institutions conducting research in product development. The thesis first depicts the current practices and limitations of value assessment in early design stages, describing the increasing complexity of the aerospace development projects. Improvements for current practices are proposed in terms of developing value assessment capabilities coupled with requirements analysis and enhancing communication of the expected value contribution of a forthcoming solution.Second, this thesis proposes a conceptual approach aiming to enhance the communication between engineers and designers of the value-related aspects of a solution in early design stages. This approach allows for the visualization of the results of a value assessment activity using color-coded features on the product computer aided design (CAD) model. The characteristic of the approach is to allow for the simultaneous visualization of value scores and knowledge maturity in a unique representation. The approach is meant to increase the awareness about the multifaceted aspects of the value assessment of different designs, promoting tradeoff and impact analysis.In conclusion the thesis summarizes the findings of the empirical analysis, showing the need to complement requirements information with the assessment of value and knowledge maturity, and proposing color coded CAD models as technological enabler for the communication of the outcomes of the value assessment. Finally guidelines for future research are provided. / CRESCENDO - Collaborative and Robust Engineering using Simulation Capability Enabling Next Design Optimisation

Manufacturing firms’ attention to innovations and the innovation process has during the last decade gained in intensity of interest. One trigger for such an interest is that these companies have extended their business models towards an integrated product-service approach, where the introduction of a service perspective in early development challenges the traditionally temporary formative nature of processes. This new business model of Product-Service Systems (PSS) puts an emphasis on delivering added value to the customer: instead of providing goods the manufacturing firm should provide a service based solution. This does not mean that they stop producing physical goods, but rather that more service aspects should be considered by the engineering team in the planning and design of the goods. When the ownership of the physical goods stays within the firm it is through a challenge and an opportunity to provide “what the user wants” and, at the same time, what is beneficial for the firm. Hence, an innovative and dynamic organisation is desirable. Typically, in product development the team consists of engineers that are domain experts, but novices when it comes to understanding services and often in interpreting customer information. For a firm to create product-service solutions that meet customer needs, innovation and creativity within the early development processes are important (thus the aspects that have gained an increased interest among manufacturing firms). Product development is commonly viewed as an innovative process, though the degree of innovation is usually low (i.e. incremental improvements of the goods). The integration of services into early development could be perceived as radically challenging such an innovation process. The purpose in this thesis is to improve the understanding of development teams working with PSS innovation. This is done in order to facilitate discussion of the challenges for a firm to shift into a product-service process. The empirical data in this study comes from a business-to-business company in the aeronautical industry, but also from student innovation projects. The focus for the study is how teams collaborate in early phases of innovation projects. The qualitative data was generated by performing both observations and interviews. The results indicate not only the importance of heterogeneous teams in the innovation process but also the lack of a sufficient approach for innovative PSS development. Because of this, new tools and methods are vital, but this is not to ignore how traditional tools and methods can be reused and retro-fitted into such a process. Further, the results indicate that personal motivation has an impact on how teams perform innovation activities. This could have the implication that, for example, a goal-oriented engineer surrounded by similarly motivated teammates could more likely fail in interpreting customer information because none of them is likely to assign importance to that information. Therefore, to support engineers to provide product-service solutions not only methods and tools, but also training for how to perform and reflect on user needs could be necessary. KeywordsProduct-Service Systems, Team Based Innovation, Radical Innovation, User oriented design, Engineering design

A company’s ability to introduce new products and services is a key success factor for sustaining competitive advantage. In parallel, the manufacturing industry faces the challenge of delivering customer-perceived value, so-called service offerings, rather than merely goods. Consequently, innovation capabilities become more important than ever. In particular, companies acting in a business-to-consumer market environment have found that launching innovations is crucial to business success.A product development process generally starts from some kind of user need or the identification of a market opportunity. Such a process is commonly described as consisting of stages and decision gates, supporting a fairly sequential process where information about a known solution is managed. Some argue that innovation projects fit into this kind of process, and some argue that they do not since the requirements of innovations cannot be known beforehand. One cause of these conflicting arguments could be that perceptions of what constitutes an innovation differ. The literature describes two types of innovation: incremental (step wise) and radical (disruptive). This thesis builds on the assumption that these two types have to be managed differently. One key issue for the company studied is that there seem to be aspects that hinder the implementation of really creative and great innovations into products. The company has a history of technical innovations, but currently needs processes that assure innovations will be implemented into products, and thus will actually benefit users and strengthen the company’s competitiveness. Consequently, an overall purpose of the research project upon which this work is based, is to increase the possibilities for implementation of innovations of products. The work outlined in this thesis has been guided by two research questions: how is innovation perceived within the company? And, how are innovation projects managed today?The study is based on an action research approach that has generated qualitative empirical data. The methodology is explorative and descriptive in nature. Data have been generated by participation in projects, interviews and workshops.The initial studies focused on innovation as a concept, and a number of keywords describing the company view were identified, thus providing a point of view for continued research efforts. The literature review has shed light on the perspectives explore (related to radical innovation) and exploit (related to incremental innovation) as adding a dimension to the management of innovation projects. The perspectives have been tested in a workshop with innovation managers and resulted in insights about how to balance different types of projects. Moreover, the study of the gated processes for product development and interviews with decision makers indicate that further investigation of the gate criteria is important. In light of the explore and exploit perspectives, it seems that the applied gates might sort out innovation early on.