I denna rapport kommer du som läsare kunna ta del av en redogörelse över det arbete som den undertecknade gruppen har utfört i kursen KPP305, Examensarbete produktutveckling, 30hp. Detta arbete har sin grund från en tidigare läst kurs, på Mälardalens Högskola, som gick under namnet Industridesign 2. Under denna kurs utdelades en uppgift som bestod i att ”möjliggöra musicerande för funktionshindrade”, och gruppen tog därmed fram ett visuellt koncept över ett fotanpassat instrument för människor med rörelsehinder i överkroppen. Detta examensarbete kan ses som en fortsättning på den just nämnda uppgiften. Under hela projektet har gruppen haft en nära dialog tillsammans med människor som befinner sig inom berörande branscher såsom instrumentbyggare, reumatiker, funktionshindrade med flera. En annan person som även varit till stor hjälp under projektet är gruppens handledare, Jan Frohm, som funnits där med tips och fungerat som ett bollplank vad gäller idéer och tankar gruppen haft angående projektet. Målet med examensarbetet var att fortsätta det arbete gruppen åstadkommit i tidigare kurs och på så vis komma fram till en slutgiltig lösning till detta. Anledningen till att gruppen valde att fortsätta arbeta med detta projekt var att de fann det viktigt att alla människor, oavsett funktions‐ eller rörelsehinder skall ha möjligheten att musicera. Gruppen har med en omfattande research, kontakter, ett antal avgörande intervjuer och ett flertal olika produktutvecklingsverktyg kommit fram till en lösning som svarar upp till det problem gruppen från början ställt upp. Projektet resulterade i en framtagen prototyp över ett instrument, som gruppen valt att kalla för Funkinstrument (instrument för funktionshindrade), som är ämnat för människor som lider av någon form av rörelsehinder i armar/händer, eller lider av reumatism. Gruppen själva är väldigt nöjda över hur resultatet utmynnade, samt över sin insats i detta examensarbete. / In this report, you as a reader will be able to take note of a statement of the work the group has performed in the course KPP305, Examensarbete i Produktutveckling (Master Thesis Work in Product development), 30hp. This work is based on an assignment from an earlier course, at Mälardalen University, known as Industridesign 2 (Industrial design 2nd). During this course the group was awarded a task which was to "give disabled people the opportunity to make music”, and the group thus developed a visual concept over an instrument which was custom made for people with disabilities in their upper body. This thesis can be seen as a continuation of the justmentioned task. The group has through the whole project had close dialogue to people in different industries, such as people from disability associations, instrument makers, rheumatics and disabled people with several. Someone else who also been very helpful during the project is the group's supervisor, Jan Frohm, ho been there with advice and acted as a sounding board to the ideas and thoughts the group had about the project.  The objective of the project was to continue the work which the group achieved in previous course, and thus arrive at a definitive solution to it. The reason why the group chose to continue working on this project was that they found it important that all people, regardless of functional or physical disabilities must have the ability to make music. The group has through an extensive research, contacts, a number of key interviews and a variety of tools for product development been able to come up with a solution that meets up to the problems which was set in the beginning of the project. The project resulted in a prototype of an instrument, which the group decided to call for Funkinstrument, which is intended for people who suffer from some form of disability in the arms and/or hands, or suffer from rheumatism. The group itself is very pleased with the outcome of the project, and of its efforts in this thesis.

Globalization creates for companies’ new opportunities for business development, as well as new challenges. One of the most prevailing challenges is the ability to create new products and services in accordance to diverse customer needs and requirements, as well as implementation of new technologies in future lines of products. Therefore, companies realize the importance of the Marketing and Sales (M&S) and Product Development (PD) departments. The interface between those two departments plays a decisive role in realization of customer needs and requirements, and application of the right technologies in new products. The speed and accuracy with which the information between the M&S and PD department is exchanged directly influences success of one’s products on the market. Consequently, companies strive to achieve greater level of cross-functional integration within the interface, by overcoming barriers to integration, and improving the quality of internal services by utilizing computer based Information Systems (IS). The role of IS in supporting cross-functional work environment is growing, thus companies of all size make investment in IS. Nonetheless, these investments very often fail or not bear expect results, due to lack of alignment of the investment with the business. This thesis documents a diagnosis undertaken for the Case Company. In recent years the Case Company experienced rapid international expansions and fast growth, which in turn exposed a whole new range of problems. The existing work routines turned out to be inadequate to maintain international expansion and growth. A great deal of these problems was enrooted directly in the interface between the M&S and PD departments. Therefore, the company realized a need to isolate and eliminate them, and further foster the cross-functional integration and information flows within the interface by implementation of a computer based Information System. The purpose of this thesis is to enhance the understanding of the integration and communication process within the M&S and PD departments at the Case Company. In order to fulfil the purpose the Enterprise Knowledge Development modelling technique was employed. This allowed tracing the problems to their roots, by mapping business processes, goals, rules, actors, as well as clarification of concepts. As a result an objective snapshot of the current cross-functional integration between the M&S and PD departments was created. Further, this snapshot was compared against a great body of literature in the field of Product Development and Management and Process Management. The comparison made it possible to indicate areas for potential future improvements. The proposed change needs aimed at enhancing the internal customer satisfaction. Last but not the least in deep analysis of the current cross-functional relations within the interface made it feasible to suggest (with literature assistance) initial vital functions of a computer based Information System to enhance the integration and information flows within the studied interface at the Case Company. The proposed functionality corresponds to the current, as well as anticipated needs of the interface that has been derived based on requirements of the actors to fulfil goals and satisfy organizational processes.

The business environment is changing rapidly, becoming very competitive and challenging for all firms, and particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). As innovation and new product development represent valuable sources for SMEs’ future sustainability and development, making these processes more effective is essential. Previous literature, with the focus on large firms, underlined the importance of efficiently managing the early period of new product development (NPD), as this can reduce the product’s time to market and increase its performance. For this reason, contributing to a developed understanding of the challenges of medium-sized firms in managing this phase, the fuzzy front-end (FFE) of NPD, is the aim of this study. The theoretical framework of this study combines prior theories that relate to the difficulties, shortcomings, challenges that SMEs meet during the whole NPD process, including FFE, and theories that resulted from research on FFE in large firms. The structure is based on four elements referring to managing the idea generation process, new product development team, evaluation of product concept feasibility, and the organization of FFE. A qualitative strategy and a research design with two case studies on high-tech, medium-sized manufacturing firms were used in reaching the purpose of this study. This methodology choice reflects the explorative purpose of this research. The empirical data are mainly primary data, collected during three interviews with development managers and a product developer, completed as well with secondary data like general company information, collected from companies’ websites. The analysis of empirical findings revealed some relevant conclusions, which can bring value to the research area, and also to the practice. Our findings show that lack of communication with customers during the whole FFE phase, collecting limited or inaccurate information to be processed during this phase, finding the right formalization degree of FFE activities, determining the complexity of the product concept, and assessing external technology and expertise, represent the main challenges faced by medium-sized firms in the FFE of NPD. The study’s practical relevance consists in the advices and solutions suggested to managers for overcoming the challenges of the FFE phase and improving their results in the development projects. The theoretical implications reflect the importance of organizational size variable in association with the challenges of FFE. The sample of only two cases and the quality of the empirical data collected from two high-tech Swedish manufacturing firms which have a large focus on innovation are the main limitations of this study, as these medium-sized firms have gained some experience to face the specific challenges of FFE of NPD and the data they provide may be influenced by this aspect.

For a company to be competitive today, one way is to create a natural feedback loop from the production department to the design department with information regarding the production systems ability to deliver a finished component. The purpose with this feedback loop is to create respect for tolerances and to more design for manufacturing and assembly. The studied company in this thesis work developed a quality program to reach a spiral of continuous improvements to reduce cost of poor quality (CoPQ) and to reach an improved quality level (PPM). The object of this work was to test and improve the quality program called The Zero Tolerance Program. Delimitations were made when the work was started and ongoing which led to that the impact on PPM could not be studied. The connection to CoPQ was difficult to obtain and could only be proved theoretically, not practically, due to the short timetable. During the short amount of time the right root cause could not be found. The thesis work findings came to a number of identified Measurable Success Criteria and requirements which must be in place for the further progress of The Zero Tolerance Program. / PREPARE

In this project a washing station has been constructed for Albany International AB. At present, there is no existing system to clean the dirty pipes that are coming back to the company. The work followed the product development process, and it started with the requirements list. This was followed by brainstorming, evaluation and completion. The result was a concept for de present time and one concept for the future. The present concept is intended to be built immediately. This is an adjustable bench with sliding bearings to facilitate the work. The actual cleaning is done with a high pressure washer that uses hot water. When the future concept will be brought into use, you don’t need to modify or rebuild anything, just add to the constructions that already exist. The future is to increase efficiency and become even more environmentally friendly. The concept also includes two types of warehouses, one for the dirty pipes, and one for the clean pipes. On these you are supposed to place several pipes, so it’s possible to streamline processing, and wash more pipes in a flow. The washing station will lead to improvement of the working environment, and the new technology will make improvements on the result. / I detta arbete har en tvättstation konstruerats åt företaget Albany international AB. I dagsläget finns inget befintligt system för att tvätta smutsiga returrör. Arbetet följde produktutvecklingsprocessen, och började med en kravspecifikation. Därefter följde brainstorming, utvärdering och färdigställande. Resultatet blev ett nutidskoncept och ett framtidskoncept. Nutidskonceptet är tänkt att det skall byggas omgående. Detta är en ställbar tvättbänk med kulhus för att underlätta arbetet. Själva rengöringen sker med en högtryckstvätt som använder varmvatten. När framtidskonceptet skall tas i bruk behöver företaget inte ändra eller bygga om någonting, utan bara göra tillägg i den konstruktion som redan finns. Framtidsvisionen handlar om att öka effektiviteten och samtidigt bli ännu mer miljövänlig. I konceptet ingår det även två typer av magasin, ett för de smutsiga rören, och ett för de rena rören. På dessa ska man kunna lägga flera rör, så att man ska kunna effektivisera bearbetningen och tvätta fler rör i ett flöde. Tvättstationen ska leda till att arbetsmiljön blir bättre, och den nya tekniken gör att resultatet förbättras.

Utvecklingen av motorstyrsystem på Scania CV AB är en komplicerad process där hård- och mjukvara kombineras i en färdig enhet för användning i de lastbilar som företaget producerar. Styrsystemet består bland annat av en datasats med en mängd parametrar som styr olika typer av funktionalitet. Parametrarna måste vid utvecklingen av en ny motor först kalibreras med korrekta värden och därefter måste dessa värden granskas för att kvaliteten på produkten ska kunna säkerställas. I dagsläget saknas ett standardiserat arbetssätt för hur kalibrering och granskning ska gå till på de grupper som är inblandade. Studien syftade till att kartlägga hur arbetet med kalibrering och granskning går till samt att om möjligt utveckla denna arbetsprocess för att uppnå en högre grad av kvalitetssäkring. Vad gäller processkartläggningen förekommer både skillnader och likheter mellan de, i processen, inblandade grupperna. Ett antal positiva rutiner och arbetsmetoder kunde urskiljas och dessa föreslås i den mån det är möjligt spridas i hela processflödet. Bland dessa finns exempelvis användandet av en sektionsövergripande roll med ansvar för granskningsarbetet, återkommande gruppgranskningar och noggrann dokumentation. Ett antal, i kalibrerings- och granskningsprocessen, inneboende problem har också identifierats. Med utgångspunkt i teori kring lean produktutveckling har förslag på förändringar i verksamheten som kan hantera dessa problem tagits fram. Sammanfattningsvis kan det konstateras att kalibrerings- och granskningsprocessen i många avseenden redan bedrivs utifrån LPS principerna. Det finns emellertid en del ändringar som ytterligare skulle kunna förbättra processerna och göra dessa mer lean, vilket också skulle bidra till kvalitetssäkring av slutprodukten. / Engine management system development at Scania CV AB is a complicated process where hardware and software components are combined to create a complete unit to be used in the vehicles produced by the company. The management system contains, among other things, a dataset with a number of parameters which controls different types of vehicle functionality. These parameters must first be calibrated and then reviewed during the development of a new engine to guarantee the quality of the product. Today there is no standardized process for how the calibration and validation of the parameters is supposed to be performed at the concerned groups. The purpose of the study was to map the process of calibration and validation and if possible improve it to achieve a higher degree of quality within the process. Both differences and similarities between the studied groups were identified along with a number of useful routines and methods that can be spread within the process. Among others this included the utilization of a calibration and validation supervisor within each of the group sections, reoccurring group validations and meticulous documentation. A number of problems within the calibration and validation process were also identified. Lean product development theory was used to develop suggestions of how to change the process in order to cope with these problems. It was concluded that many of the principles presented by the LPDS theory already were in use within the process. Nonetheless a number of improvements could be implemented to improve the process and make it more lean. This would also lead to increased quality of the finished product.

Due to the globalization trend, the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become a common practice in the last decades. The New Product Development (NPD) is recognized as innovative value creating effort that has become important in the high-risk, globally competitive environment, and small firms seem to be more effective in utilizing product design and manufacturing involvement, while large firms standardize and formalize the product development practices. Thus, the main focus of this research study is the NPD capabilities and the internationalization process. The main research question focuses on whether and how the NPD capabilities influence the internationalization process of the companies in the health industry. A qualitative study is carried out to answer the research question by interviewing three Swedish companies in the health industry. The empirical findings and analysis conclude that the NPD capabilities and the internationalization process go along with each other and they are both dependant. There is a positive relationship between the NPD capabilities and the internationalization process, but it is not yet defined which one has a greater influence.

The management of information is one of the key aspects within a successful andefficient product development process, particularly regarding complex products.Scania CV AB is at the moment developing a new IT-system, OAS, which aims tomanage the company’s product data. With this as a background, the purpose of thismaster thesis is to identify the cross-functional user needs within Scania’s organizationconcerning product data and the management around it. To fulfill the purpose, an empirical study consisting of 40 personal interviews with 50representatives from different functions within Scania’s organization was carriedthrough. The empirical data was then analyzed focusing on identifying thecross-functional needs and issues. The study points out that there is a big potential regarding improvement among themanagement of product data. For example, a lot of time is spent by the users to findthe requested information and to copy data manually from one IT-system to another.The most important findings, in terms of cross-functional user needs within Scania’sorganization, are the integration of Scania’s many IT-system and to make informationmore accessible. Further needs are regarding the ability to follow a product’s entirelifecycle, better support for the user’s understanding of the complex product, anenhanced management of Engineering Change Orders and a better supportconcerning the product structure.

Att leva med diabetes kan vara krångligt då det hela tiden krävs planering av aktiviteter, måltider och medicinering. Sjukdomen behandlas framförallt med insulin som kan förekomma i pump, sprutor och injektionspennor. Det vanligaste sättet att injicera insulin är med pennor, och antalet pennanvändare ökar årligen. Insulin har stränga förvaringskrav och är känsligt mot hög värme, starkt ljus, skakningar och frysning. De personer som lever i länder där temperaturen över- eller understiger säkert förvarings-intervall har ett behov av att skydda sin medicin, men också resande till utsatta platser drabbas. Andra mediciner och hormon har förvaringskrav inom samma ramar som insulinet och intresse och behov finns för en förvaringslösning som kan säkerställa trygg förvaring av läkemedel som används dagligen. För att säkerställa en korrekt temperatur i en framtida produkt undersöks teorier inom värmeöverföring och kunskaper om isolerande material i kombination med Climators ClimSel™-kylelement. Det finns ett flertal konkurrerande lösningar på marknaden, dock har de vissa negativa egenskaper som medför att det skulle kunna finnas utrymme för ytterligare produkter om de får tillräckligt bra prestanda. Enligt förstudien finns behov av att skydda hormonerna mot både kyla och värme. Produkten utvecklas för att tillgodose behovet hos vardagsanvändare av hormoner för att maximera marknadspotentialen. En stor del av arbetet koncentreras på temperaturtester där olika kylelement, isoleringsmaterial och geometrier testas och utvärderas för att utveckla den optimala systemdesignen. Förvaringslösningens detaljdesign utvecklas med olika kreativitetsmetoder med fokus på användbarhet, target cost och optimal prestanda. Resultatet påvisar att förvaringslösningens prestanda blir för låg vid en geometri och volym som anses acceptabel hos användarna, vilket medför att det finns svårigheter i att uppnå en relevant marknadspotential. / Living with diabetes can be difficult due to the required extra planning of activities, meals and medica-tion. The disease is treated primarily with insulin, which can be delivered by pump, syringes or pens. The most common way to inject insulin is by pen, and the number of pen users is increasing annually. Insulin has strict storage requirements and is sensitive to heat, strong light, vibrations and freezing. Users in countries where the temperature goes above or below the safe storage interval have a need to protect their medicine, as well as users travelling to affected places. Other drugs and hormones have storage requirements within the same framework as insulin, which means that there is an additional interest and need for a storage solution that can ensure safe storage of medicine that is used daily. To ensure the correct temperature in a future product, this project will examine theories of heat transfer and knowledge of insulating materials in combination with a range of ClimSel™-cooling elements produced by Climator Sweden AB. There are several competing solutions currently on the market; however, they have some negative char-acteristics which mean that there could be room for additional products if they have good enough per-formance. According to the preliminary study there is a demand of a product that protects the hormones against both excessive cold as well as heat. The product is developed to meet the needs of everyday users of hormones to maximize market potential. Most of the work focused on temperature tests involving different cooling elements, insulation materials as well as geometries. All which are tested and evaluated to develop the optimal system design. Addition-ally detailed design is conducted with different creativity methods with focus on usability, target cost and performance. The results show that the finalized concepts performance is not high enough at an accepted geometry and volume, which means that there are great difficulties in achieving a relevant market pene-tration.

Varje dag stöter vi på förpackningar av olika slag. För många personer är öppnandet av dessa förpackningar ett svårt moment, då det krävs en viss grad av handstyrka för att klara av det. Nedsatt handstyrka kan bero på skador eller sjukdomar, som exempelvis Parkinsons sjukdom, fingerledsartros och ledgångsreumatism. Åldrandet har också en negativ påverkan på handens styrka och funktion. Ett exempel på svåröppnade förpackningar är de med skruvkork av plast. Många förpackningar för juice- och mjölkprodukter, samt PET-flaskor, har denna design. Det finns idag många hjälpmedel med syftet att öppna dessa förpackningar, men tester av befintliga hjälpmedel visar att de inte uppfyller användarnas krav på funktionalitet och användarvänlighet. Därför var målet med projektet att utveckla en funktionell produkt som passar så många korkstorlekar som möjligt, och även vara utformad så att den kommer åt korken på alla förpackningar. Som en del av produktutvecklingsprocessen intervjuades en grupp kvinnor, 67-85 år gamla, som alla upplever svårigheter med att öppna förpackningar med skruvkork. Deras åsikter och synpunkter var av stor betydelse för projektets resultat. Vidare var brainstorming, skisser, prototyptillverkning och CAD-modellering metoder som användes i projektet. CAD-modellen användes som underlag vid tillverkning av produkten. Projektet resulterade i en fungerande produkt tillverkad i aluminium, och passar alla korkstorlekar med diametern 25-41 mm, vilket omfattar alla korkar som finns på dagens förpackningar för juice- och mjölkprodukter, samt PET-flaskor. Produkten använder sig av en hävarm, som reducerar kraftåtgången med upp till 92 %, och kommer att underlätta öppnandet av förpackningar med skruvkorkar för personer med nedsatt handstyrka. / Every day we encounter various types of packaging. For many people, the opening of these packages is a difficult task, since it requires a certain degree of hand strength to succeed. Reduced hand strength can be a result of injuries or diseases such as Parkinson's disease, finger-joint osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Aging also has a negative effect on hand strength and function. An example of packaging that is difficult to open, is the ones with a plastic screw cap. Many packages, containing juice and milk products, as well as PET bottles, have this design. Today there are many tools in order to open these packages, but tests of existing facilities indicate that they do not meet user demands for functionality and usability. Therefore, the aim of the project was to develop a functional product that fits so many cap sizes as possible, and also be designed so that it can access the cap on all packaging. As part of the product development process, a group of women, 67-85 years old, who all experience difficulties in opening packaging with screw caps, was interviewed. Their views and opinions were of great importance for the project. Furthermore, brainstorming, sketching, prototyping and CAD modeling were methods used in the project. The CAD model was used to manufacture the product. The project resulted in a functioning product made of aluminum, and fits all cap sizes with a diameter of 25-41 mm, which includes all caps in today's packaging for juice and milk products, as well as PET bottles. The product is using a lever, which reduces the power consumption by up to 92%, and will facilitate the opening of packaging with screw caps for people with reduced hand strength.