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In addition to transport within the business, stock management is one of the largest expenses in the supply chain. Within stock management the picking process takes place. It's important that this process works well because many other factors depends on the picking being efficient. Making the picking process more efficient is an extensive process and requires investment to be completed. However, investments are necessary to reduce management costs. This can be done by, among other things, redesigning the picking process, using new equipment, changing layouts or automating processes. This study will build upon earlier research and contribute with a new angle of incidencein order to fill the gap regarding streamlining the picking process in the laundry business. The purpose of the study is to investigate and contribute with layout ideas as well as working methods on how laundry companies can go from batch-picking to stock to picking directly towards customer orders. The aim of the study is to develop solutions that, in application, can lead to the efficiency of the picking process in the form of reduced transport distances, reduced labor demand and more utilization of storage space at the lowest possible investment cost. The study was carried out at Berendsen in Ockelbo and will be defined to study their flow for flat goods in the care industry, but will also take flat goods in the hotel industry into account when designing the layout proposals as they occupy a large part of the storage space. The study was initiated by creating an analysis of the current situation that was completed to further investigate the picking process. The analysis was done through observations and interviews with employees who had relevant knowledge in the area. Based on the current situation, some problems with the picking process were identified. The identified problems were random assorting, insufficient conveyor belts, double handling in the picking process, unused storage space and lack of storage marking. The solution proposals will be based on a requirement specification based on previous theory and a discussion with Berendsen's management. The proposals made on the basis of the identified problems are a new process flow diagram, conveyor belt proposals and a layout with suitable working methods. This study concludes that laundry, based on the proposed solutions can go from batch-picking to storage to instead pick directly to customer orders by streamlining their picking process. / Förutom transporter inom verksamheten står lagerhanteringen för en av de största utgifterna i försörjningskedjan. Inom lagerhantering sker bland annat plockningsprocessen. Det är viktigt att denna process fungerar bra eftersom att många andra faktorer är beroende av en effektiv plockning. Att effektivisera plockningen är en omfattande process och som kräver investeringar för att fullbordas. Investeringar är dock nödvändiga för att kunna reducera hanteringskostnader. Detta kan göras genom att bland annat designa om plockningsprocessen, använda ny utrustning, ändra layout eller automatisera processer. Denna studie kommer att bygga vidare på tidigare forskning och bidra med en ny infallsvinkel för att fylla kunskapsgapet för effektivisering plockningsprocessen inom tvätterier. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och bidra med layoutförslag samt arbetsmetoder kring hur tvätterier kan övergå från att bulkplocka till lager till att plocka direkt mot kundorder. Målet med studien är att ta fram lösningsförslag som vid tillämpning kan leda till effektivisering av plockningsprocessen i form av minskade transportsträckor, minskat behov av arbetsresurser och mer utnyttjande av lagerutrymme till en så låg investeringskostnad som möjligt. Studien utfördes hos Berendsen i Ockelbo och kommer att avgränsas mot att studera deras flöde för flatgods inom vård men kommer även ta hänsyn till flatgods inom hotell vid utformningen av layoutförslagen då de tar upp en stor del av lagerutrymmet. Studien inleddes med att skapa en övergripande beskrivning över nuläget som tillslut övergick till att närmare undersöka plockningsprocessen. Detta utfördes genom observationer och intervjuer med anställda som hade relevant kunskap inom området. Utifrån empirin så identifierades några problem med plockningsprocessen. Bland dessa identifierades slumpmässig insortering, otillräckliga transportband, dubbelhantering i plockningsprocessen, outnyttjat lagerutrymme och brist på uppmärkning av lagerplatser. Lösningsförslagen kommer att utgå från en kravspecifikation som är framtagen från befintlig teori och en diskussion med Berendsens ledning. De förslag som framtagits utifrån de identifierade problemen är ett nytt processflödesschema, transportbandsförslag samt en layout med lämpliga arbetsmetoder. Slutsatsen som kan dras är att tvätterier med tillämpning av de presenterade lösningsförslagen kan gå från bulkplockning till att plocka direkt mot kundorder genom att effektivisera sin plockningsprocess.

The need to be economically successful is the key driver for companies to be innovative and implement new technologies with increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Uncertainty about whether to use new technologies and missing knowledge about their advantages lead to staggering and withholding from fast diffusion of innovations. Focusing on the industry of logistics and the technology Mixed Reality, this research project developed a methodical approach for evaluating the fitness of an innovative technology and a specific process of application. A mixed methods approach was derived, based on interviews and experiments. The main methodologies used, were semi-structured interviews with decision makers in logistics companies to elaborate triggering criteria in the investment process and laboratory experiments for the evaluation of competing technologies. These methods were framed by an initial field experiment and feedback interviews after the analysis for the validation of the approach. The research proved the competitively viable applicability of Mixed Reality and its specific strengths and weaknesses in manual order picking. This set the foundation for possible further development and implementation of the technology. The developed methodological approach proved to be a valid and reliable assessment of the intersection between a technology and specified process of application. This can greatly enhance the speed of implementing new innovations and gaining competitive advantages for companies.

The area of order picking has been widely studied but still there is no general approach covering all the potential variables of a unique case. Optimizing the product placement is a useful way to improve order picking through reduced travel distances and goes hand in hand with an appropriate batching strategy and routing policy. The existing methods are of mathematical basis and can be costly to implement and it is therefore necessary to develop a non-mathematical approach that can be used for distribution centers and in this particular case, the warehouse of a mail order company. Literature is reviewed to investigate the current situation of a large Swedish mail order retailer for the development of a unique product assignment strategy, taking into consideration potential variables. It was found out that a lot of trade-offs are being done all the time between travel distances of the SKUs. Also, it was found out that “cart blocking” might be a potential problem when using a turnover-based storage assignment strategy.

O presente trabalho trata da determinação de um roteiro ótimo de separação manual de peças em armazéns, buscando a minimização da distância total percorrida. São considerados armazéns com dois corredores transversais localizados em suas extremidades, os quais conectam todos os corredores de separação, perpendiculares aos corredores transversais e paralelos entre si. O problema abordado é prático e comum a várias empresas, com impacto nos custos operacionais e relevância para a assertividade em relação aos itens coletados. Ainda assim, o tema é pouco explorado nos estudos de roteirização disponíveis em língua portuguesa e muitas empresas optam por confiar a criação das rotas aos próprios separadores. O método escolhido é baseado em programação dinâmica e foi aplicado na roteirização de listas de separação relacionadas a subconjuntos do produto final, na roteirização de grupos aleatórios de peças, e no estudo do impacto do número de corredores de separação no comprimento das rotas, totalizando 184 experimentos. A forma de avaliação do algoritmo foi comparar as rotas por ele criadas com aquelas criadas pelos separadores. Conclui-se que quanto mais complexa for a rota, maiores serão os ganhos da seqüência de coletas proposta pelo sistema em comparação com aquelas criadas por processos subjetivos. Concluiu-se também que o número de corredores a ser visitado é o fator que mais influencia no comprimento da rota a ser percorrida. Ainda, o algoritmo é flexível e genérico para ser utilizado em qualquer armazém com dois corredores transversais, independente da política de localização ou separação adotada e, por sua facilidade de implementação e utilização, representa uma alternativa de roteirização eficiente e de baixo custo para pequenas e médias empresas. Finalmente, tem-se um algoritmo que pode ser utilizado também como ferramenta gerencial e de simulação visto que pode ser configurado para diferentes leiautes e diferentes tamanhos listas de separação. / The present work deals with the shortest route creation for a low-level pickers-to-part warehouse, intending to minimize the total traveled distance. The considered warehouse has two traversing aisles, located in its extremities, connecting all of the picking aisles and perpendicularly set in relation to them. The proposed problem is practical and common to several companies, impacting their operational costs and important for mis picking reduction. Nevertheless, that theme is little explored among routing studies in Portuguese language and several companies still opt to trust the routes to be subjectively prepared by their own pickers. The proposed solution method is based on dynamic programming and it was applied in the routing of picking lists related to subsets of final products, random groups of items, and in the study of the impact that picking aisle quantity has on the total length of the routes, totaling 184 experiments. The proposed algorithm was evaluated comparing the routes prepared by it with those created by the pickers. Results show that the more complex the route is, the higher the earnings of the algorithm utilization in relation to the subjective processes will be. Besides it shows that the number of corridors to be visited is the main influence to the length of the route. Still, the algorithm is flexible and generic to be used at any warehouse with two traverse corridors, independent of the locating police or separation strategy adopted. Furthermore the algorithm implementation easiness and use support it to be an efficient low cost routing alternative for small and average size companies.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att effektivisera monteringsprocessen genom att hitta en lämplig produktionslayout i den gemensamma monteringsavdelningen. Rapporten bygger på följande frågeställningar: 1. Hur fungerar den befintliga produktionslayouten för de fyra olika teamen? 2. Vilken/Vilka kriterier kan påverka effektiviteten i den gemensamma monteringsavdelningen? 3. Hur ser ett förslag till en ny produktionslayout ut som tar hänsyn till dessa kriterier? Frågeställningarna besvaras med hjälp av en fallstudie som gjordes på företaget. Data samlades in genom intervjuer med berörd personal inom det undersökta området och observationer gjordes i produktionslokalen. Studier av grundläggande teorier inom produktionslogistik bygger ett teoretiskt ramverk för hela rapporten och ger stöd till genomförandet av projektet. I undersökningen studeras plockningsprocess och omställningsprocess extra noggrant för att kunna minska tidsåtgången för dessa arbeten. Resultatet visar att Garo har lagt upp sina produktionsresurser på ett sätt så att det blir smidigt för montörer att genomföra sitt arbete. Företaget producerar en stor mängd varianter för att tillfredsställa marknadens efterfrågan. Orderkvantiteterna är oftast små och monteringen sker antingen mot lagerorder eller mot kundorder. Ca 50% av produktionen sker mot kundanpassade ordrar. Enligt observationer är den befintliga produktionslayouten i de fyra monteringsteamen av den cellbaserade typen, där varje arbetsbänk motsvarar en produktionscell. Enligt teorin av de sju produktionssystemen skall denna layout passa utmärkt för företags verksamhet med hänsyn till sina omväxlande produktmodeller och rekommenderas därför att behållas. Anledningen till att den inte bidrar till den önskade effektiviteten i monteringsteamen är att det har funnit slöserier som genereras av icke värdeskapande aktiviteter i arbetsprocessen. De största slöserierna identifierats i monteringsprocessen är väntan, onödigt lager och onödig transport. För att öka effektiviteten i monteringsteamen måste företaget eliminera slöserierna genom att:  Effektivisera plockningen  Skapa bättre flexibilitet på arbetsbänkarna  Rationalisera efterarbete i omställningen

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy technique is becoming exceedingly significant due to its capability of studying protein structures in solution. However, NMR protein structure determination has remained a laborious and costly process until now, even with the help of currently available computer programs. After the NMR spectra are collected, the main road blocks to the fully automated NMR protein structure determination are peak picking from noisy spectra, resonance assignment from imperfect peak lists, and structure calculation from incomplete assignment and ambiguous nuclear Overhauser enhancements (NOE) constraints. The goal of this dissertation is to propose error-tolerant and highly-efficient methods that work well on real and noisy data sets of NMR protein structure determination and the closely related protein structure prediction problems. One major contribution of this dissertation is to propose a fully automated NMR protein structure determination system, AMR, with emphasis on the parts that I contributed. AMR only requires an input set with six NMR spectra. We develop a novel peak picking method, PICKY, to solve the crucial but tricky peak picking problem. PICKY consists of a noise level estimation step, a component forming step, a singular value decomposition-based initial peak picking step, and a peak refinement step. The first systematic study on peak picking problem is conducted to test the performance of PICKY. An integer linear programming (ILP)-based resonance assignment method, IPASS, is then developed to handle the imperfect peak lists generated by PICKY. IPASS contains an error-tolerant spin system forming method and an ILP-based assignment method. The assignment generated by IPASS is fed into the structure calculation step, FALCON-NMR. FALCON-NMR has a threading module, an ab initio module, an all-atom refinement module, and an NOE constraints-based decoy selection module. The entire system, AMR, is successfully tested on four out of five real proteins with practical NMR spectra, and generates 1.25A, 1.49A, 0.67A, and 0.88A to the native reference structures, respectively. Another contribution of this dissertation is to propose novel ideas and methods to solve three protein structure prediction problems which are closely related to NMR protein structure determination. We develop a novel consensus contact prediction method, which is able to eliminate server correlations, to solve the protein inter-residue contact prediction problem. We also propose an ultra-fast side chain packing method, which only uses local backbone information, to solve the protein side chain packing problem. Finally, two complementary local quality assessment methods are proposed to solve the local quality prediction problem for comparative modeling-based protein structure prediction methods.

Bobergs printing house in Falun has during some time had problems regarding deposits on blankets intheirs Müller Martini UV-printing presses. Deposits appear in both image areas and non-image areas.These areas have been analyzed and the deposits on non-image areas contain chalk, clay and talc. Thequestion remains how these material bond to the blanket surface. The chalk and clay comes from thepaper. The talc comes from the ink. Deposits from image areas contain pigment and talc from the printingink. The dampening water has also been analyzed. The result shows some sort of problem with thehardness regulator for the clean water. The pH-level should be increased a few steps.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy technique is becoming exceedingly significant due to its capability of studying protein structures in solution. However, NMR protein structure determination has remained a laborious and costly process until now, even with the help of currently available computer programs. After the NMR spectra are collected, the main road blocks to the fully automated NMR protein structure determination are peak picking from noisy spectra, resonance assignment from imperfect peak lists, and structure calculation from incomplete assignment and ambiguous nuclear Overhauser enhancements (NOE) constraints. The goal of this dissertation is to propose error-tolerant and highly-efficient methods that work well on real and noisy data sets of NMR protein structure determination and the closely related protein structure prediction problems. One major contribution of this dissertation is to propose a fully automated NMR protein structure determination system, AMR, with emphasis on the parts that I contributed. AMR only requires an input set with six NMR spectra. We develop a novel peak picking method, PICKY, to solve the crucial but tricky peak picking problem. PICKY consists of a noise level estimation step, a component forming step, a singular value decomposition-based initial peak picking step, and a peak refinement step. The first systematic study on peak picking problem is conducted to test the performance of PICKY. An integer linear programming (ILP)-based resonance assignment method, IPASS, is then developed to handle the imperfect peak lists generated by PICKY. IPASS contains an error-tolerant spin system forming method and an ILP-based assignment method. The assignment generated by IPASS is fed into the structure calculation step, FALCON-NMR. FALCON-NMR has a threading module, an ab initio module, an all-atom refinement module, and an NOE constraints-based decoy selection module. The entire system, AMR, is successfully tested on four out of five real proteins with practical NMR spectra, and generates 1.25A, 1.49A, 0.67A, and 0.88A to the native reference structures, respectively. Another contribution of this dissertation is to propose novel ideas and methods to solve three protein structure prediction problems which are closely related to NMR protein structure determination. We develop a novel consensus contact prediction method, which is able to eliminate server correlations, to solve the protein inter-residue contact prediction problem. We also propose an ultra-fast side chain packing method, which only uses local backbone information, to solve the protein side chain packing problem. Finally, two complementary local quality assessment methods are proposed to solve the local quality prediction problem for comparative modeling-based protein structure prediction methods.