The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a “promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to “deliver” what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB. The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel. Another hope is to get an understanding on how companies work with strategic communication on a practical level for use as media and communications students. Our problem is conducted as following: How does Swedish companies strategically communicate with their costumers and consumers? To achieve our purposes we did a qualitative investigation based on interviews with communicators on five Swedish companies. Our conclusion from the study is that combination of a strategically well performed “promise” and a well designed and developed “delivery” is to prefer for future success. Just being seen is not enough any more your products also has to communicate your company values in order to reach your visions.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze relevant dimensions of cooperation between design and production related to product development. The study also focuses on suggesting improvements of the co-operation dimensions between production departments and the product development departments in the Product Development Process (PDP) at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB produces gas and steam turbines. Their increasing production pace and increasing number of product development projects have highlighted the importance of improved co-operations between departments within the company. We have developed an analysis model including the dimensions of co-operation we found relevant for the study. These are Timing of Upstream – Downstream Activities; Richness & Quality of Information; Frequency of Information Transmission; Direction of Communication; Formalization of Communication; Organizational Support; Goal Optimization; Attitudes in Cross-functional Teams; and Understanding of Tasks. For product development SIT AB follows an extensive process; the PDP. This is a sequential process where all activities are performed in sequence and therefore it obstructs the implementation of Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering aims to shorten development time and to consider the total job as a whole by performing independent activities in parallel. Hence, we argue that SIT AB should work toward a more integrated process with more parallel activities. The performance in all the dimensions of co-operation differ between large and small projects since the co-operation in large projects work much better than in small projects due to better followed process description; more face-to-face discussions; a better balance between informal and formal communication; and more focus on project goals and team building. The improvement proposals are presented in a separate chapter as actions classified according to the potential impact on the organization and the estimated difficulty to implement them. The proposals include for example: training more project managers; initiate work shop practice for design engineers; and give more and better explanations of decisions and actions. / Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att identifiera och analysera relevanta dimensioner av samarbete mellan produktion och konstruktion i samband med produktutveckling. Syftet är också att föreslå förbättringar i samarbetet mellan produktions- och konstruktionsavdelningarna i produktutvecklingsprocessen (PDP) på Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB producerar ång- och gasturbiner. Betydelsen av ett gott samarbete mellan avdelningar i organisationen har belysts i samband med att produktionstaken de senaste åren har ökat och fler produktutvecklingsprojekt har initierat. Vi har utvecklat en analysmodell som innehåller de dimensioner av samarbete som vi anser är relevanta för området. Dessa är: timing av uppströms – nedströms aktiviteter, rikhet & kvalitet på information, frekvens av informationsöverföring, riktning på kommunikation, formalisering av kommunikation, organisatoriskt support, måloptimering, attityder i tvärfunktionella team samt förståelse för uppgifter. Vid produktutveckling följer SIT AB den omfattande processen PDP. PDP är en sekventiell process där alla aktiviteter utförs i en sekvens vilket motverkar implementeringen av Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering syftar till att korta utvecklingstiden för produkter och beakta arbetet ur ett helhetsperspektiv bland annat genom utförande av oberoende aktiviteter parallellt. Därför anser vi att SIT AB ska arbeta mot en mer integrerad process med fler parallella aktiviteter. Det är stor skillnad på prestationen i samarbetsdimensionerna mellan stora och små projekt. Stora projekt fungerar mycket bättre än små vilket kan relateras till att stora projekt följer processbeskrivningarna bättre, har en bättre balans mellan informell och formell kommunikation, och fokuserar mer på projektmål och sammansvetsade projektgrupper. Förbättringsförslagen är presenterade som konkreta åtgärder i ett separat kapitel och är klassificerade med hänsyn till varje förslags potentiella effekt på organisationen och dess uppskattade svårighetsgrad att implementera. Förslagen är bland annat att utbilda fler projektledare, inrätta verkstadspraktik för konstruktörer och ge fler och bättre förklaringar till beslut och handlingar.

The purpose with this master’s thesis, with Scania CV AB in Södertälje as job initiator, has been to develop three different passenger seat concepts with focus on modularisation, functionality and production. The different concepts are: a foldable passenger seat, which is possible to fold away completely, a bench for two passengers, and a resting seat for resting during breaks when the vehicle is parked. The main tools used during the search for concept solutions have been brainstorming, morphological analyses, and evaluation matrixes. Prototypes have been made in order to visualise the ideas but also for the possibility to test them in a real truck cabin and by that find advantages but also flaws. Final product specifications has been made and with that guidelines for a continued development work. Experiences gained during this thesis work has been that by using ergonomic data and theories, well thought through designs, and standardised interfaces a good result can be achieved, which fulfils the demands and wishes placed on the future product.

Problem Knowledge is becoming ever more vital in today’s economy and organisations are realising the need to act on the advantages it provides. Knowledge is complex and contradictory, making it difficult to be created and managed by organisations. Purpose The purpose of this research is to see how knowledge is created and subsequently managed within an environment characterised by progress and innovation, and to identify the most problematic areas in knowledge creation processes as well as suggest improvements. Method Overall, qualitative methods were used in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted with management level within three product development units, two of these were only used for support to the third and main case, Robotic Mowers. Issues of trustworthiness and ethical implications were confronted in order to provide the most advantageous method to conduct the study. Result Knowledge creation at Robotic Mowers originates from both external and internal sources. The most important external source and activity to create knowledge are suppliers/consultants and the most important internal sources is the use of tests. Further, the unit has a highly informal approach to the creation of knowledge and the management of it. Support to knowledge creation is mainly found in cultural aspects. Conclusion The unit’s knowledge creation is dependent on informal and unstructured interaction among group members and to external parties. Overall, low managerial control is exercised and the group has developed a strong culture that enhances informal ways of knowledge creation and its management. The main problem of knowledge creation is that the group fails to realise a long-term need, which is revealed through inadequate efforts in trying to turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.

This thesis examines the state of reporting Lessons Learned in a Swedish company that operates globally and explores the areas of potential improvements through better classification and reporting of Lessons Learned from previous projects. Particularly, it explores which the most effective ways to capture and document Lessons Learned are as well as how a System that supports efficient storage, sharing and retrieval of Lessons Learned can be specified. The research is a case study in a Swedish company and is a mixed-model research as it uses both quantitative and qualitative data from primary sources. Indeed, the data collection was done via interviews, questionnaires, a focus group and the study of the company’s documents. The findings revealed some issues in the Lessons Learned methods used in the company, especially in documentation. Additionally, the need for a Lessons Learned System to manage the knowledge and experience from projects was also identified. The thesis concludes with explicit answers to the research questions and more specific with the suggestion of certain guidelines for the employees, a new template for reporting Lessons Learned and the specifications of a Lessons Learned System that can support efficient storage, sharing and retrieval of Lessons Learned.

This thesis deals with two aspects of knowledge needed for new product development; theaccess to external knowledge through outsourcing of NPD and the integration of knowledgedeveloped when outsourcing activities in the NPD process. As modern products competing onincreasingly international markets call for both complex and specialized knowledge, it isbecoming more important to take an outward perspective of knowledge, searching for externalknowledge sources, in order to be competitive. But it is also important for the firm to take aninward perspective on integration of the knowledge achieved from external sources in order tosecure the knowledge gained. Outsourcing of New Product Development (NPD) refers to the outsourcing of activities fordeveloping new products (goods and/or service), where all or the innovative part of the NPDprocess is purchased externally according to a contract from organizational units separatefrom the outsourcing firm. This means that the service to develop a whole or a part of a newproduct is outsourced. This definition implies that (A) the outsourced activity shall be aninnovative (strongly contributing to the newness) part of the NPD process, (B) the outsourcedactivity was previously conducted internally, and (C) the activity shall be purchased andregulated in a contractual agreement between the organizations. Knowledge integration refers to the process of acquiring, sharing, and making use ofknowledge by combining it with previous knowledge in order to create new value. Becauseknowledge possessed in collaborating firms is often complementary, it is important tocombine it with previous knowledge in the firm. Therefore knowledge integration is chosenthroughout the thesis as the term for the overall process. Based on transaction costs theory, resource based and knowledge based perspectives twomajor issues are investigated. First, the identification of which factors are the most importantfor firms when making the decision to outsource activities in the NPD process. Second, theestablishment of the importance for knowledge integration of external knowledge in the firm,and to find what role level of involvement among staff plays for efficiently achievingknowledge integration. The thesis is a compilation thesis (with six appended papers) based on findings from threequantitative studies and a longitudinal case study (presented in two of the appended papers).Using cases from and samples of medium-sized manufacturing firms with in-house NPD itwas found that, while cost has been traditionally considered the most important factor foroutsourcing in general, search for external knowledge is found to have a greater importancewhen intangible processes as NPD is object for outsourcing. It is also found that thematicknowledge is the most important type of knowledge to efficiently integrate to achieve highinnovation performance and that a higher degree of processes and culture supportinginvolvement, increase knowledge integration when outsourcing activities in the NPD process.

Denna rapport är ett examensarbete inom maskinteknik på c-nivå (15hp). Då författaren ansåg att dagens hammockar inte utvecklats speciellt mycket sedan de blev populära i Sverige på 60-talet, valde han att ägna detta arbete åt att försöka ta fram en mer modern sådan. Projektet har huvudsakligen handlat om produktutveckling och design där mycket tid spenderats på att lösa alla de olika problem som de satta kraven på nya funktioner bidragit till. Arbetet startade med en omfattande förstudie. Därefter vidareutvecklades de olika idéer som framkom under förstudien ytterligare. Detta skedde först med hjälp av papper och penna, men överfördes senare till digital form. Det var oftast först då som en idé var möjlig att testa fullt ut. Resultatet är en hammock med en nutida design och flertalet nya funktioner, vilka i rapporten presenteras i form av bilder på den cad-modell som framställdes. / This work is a thesis in mechanical engineering at c-level (15hp). The author decided that he wanted to dedicate this work to try to develop the canopy swings because he saw potential to do so. The reason for this was mainly the fact that they have hardly been developed at all since they became popular in the 1960s here in Sweden. The project has mainly been about product development and design, where a lot of time has been spent on trying to solve all the different problems that the set demands resulted in. The work started with an extensive feasibility study. Thereafter, the ideas that emerged during the preliminary study where developed further. This was first done by using paper and pencil, but was later transferred to digital form. It was most often only possible to fully test an idea when that was made. The result is a hammock with a modern design and several new features, which in the report are presented as images of the CAD model that was made.

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This research addresses the concept of performance in the development of complex products. More specifically, its aim is to study how performance is perceived and measured within large global companies, and how performance measurement systems can be designed in a systematic way. The exploratory results regard how performance is currently perceived and measured. It is argued that performance measurements are focused on the later stages of the development of complex products, thus making it difficult to perform changes during the development. The focus is on lagging rather than leading indicators of performance, hence it is concluded that focus is on reporting the result rather than the causes of the result. In line with these findings is the weak link between what managers perceive as success factors and what is measured, the perception of performance being influenced by what is measured, rather than the reverse. The prescriptive results focus on the development of models and frameworks to be used during the development of complex products. A general method for developing performance indicators is presented. The concept of Products in Development is proposed, this making it possible to monitor how value is created during the development of a product. Both these models aim at complementing the currently used performance measurement system in order to support effective and efficient development of complex products. The method used in this research is mainly focused around the collection of qualitative data through a focused group interview, multiple case studies,and industrial reference-group seminars. A survey has also been used to complement the qualitative with quantitative data. The use of various research methods has made it possible to triangulate the data, thus strengthening the validity of the findings.

This research thesis presents the development of a novel Lean Knowledge Life Cycle (LeanKLC) framework to support the transformation into a Lean Product Development (LeanPD) knowledge environment. The LeanKLC framework introduces a baseline model to understand the three dimensions of knowledge management in product development as well as its contextualisation with acclaimed LeanPD process models. The LeanKLC framework comprises 23 tasks, each accomplished in one of the seven key stages, these being: knowledge identification, previous knowledge capture, knowledge representation, knowledge sharing, knowledge integration, knowledge use and provision and dynamic knowledge capture. The rigorous research methodology employed to develop the LeanKLC framework entailed extensive data collection starting with a literature review to highlight the gap in the current body of knowledge. Additionally, industrial field research provides empirical evidence on the current industrial perspectives and challenges in managing product development knowledge. This research was part of a European FP7 project entitled Lean Product and Process Development (LeanPPD), which provided the opportunity to involve industrial collaborators in action research to support practical aspects during the LeanKLC framework development. The synthesis with the current LeanPD paradigm is accomplished by demonstrating the LeanKLC stages in two distinct streams related to the development of A3 thinking for problem solving and the development of trade-off curves to facilitate set based design at the conceptual stage. The novel LeanKLC is validated in two case studies providing the industry with detailed insights on real product development applications. In particular this research highlights that the LeanPD knowledge environment is a wide subject area that has not yet been thoroughly understood and that industry engagement in empirical research is vital in order to realise any form of LeanPD transformation.