How important is the financial market for economic growth? It can be argued that from the supply perspective that a well-functioning stock market boosts economic growth by lowering the cost of the firm to access public funds for new investment opportunities to expand business and production. Another view suggests that from the demand perspective that stock markets create a wealth effect on consumption for economic growth. In turn, the growth induces more demand for financial services and so the growth of the stock market. Both the supply and the demand argument imply a positive relationship between the stock market and the economy. Exactly how the behaviour of investors in trading stocks on a stock market can affect the performance of the firm is unclear. The study of this question helps to understand how stock trading activities can affect manufacturing production and so the growth of an economy from the perspective of the micro structure of a market. China as the largest emerging economy in the world has experienced the fastest growth of the economy and rapid development of its stock market over the last 30 years. It provides us with an excellent case to study the question on how the momentum of paper trading of shares can be transmitted to the growth of industry and firms which is a determined part of a real economy. The thesis takes China to study the question in an attempt to discover the micro mechanism of transmission as its key contribution to the existing literature on the study of the stock market effect on economic growth. The thesis employs a fixed effects model to estimate longitudinal firm-level data comprising 2233 heterogeneous Chinese listed firms over the period 2005-2015. In our estimation, it finds how stronger stock-trading performance can induce an increase in external funding of the firm. It then shows how the improvement in a firm's financing ability will turn to improvements in inter-firm reallocations of resources towards the more productive firms. However, the presence of equity over-trading appears to hinder the growth of firm business, possibly because the negative externalities of the speculative trading outweigh the effect of the positive externalities, such as excessive volatility that creates high risk of stock investment. Overall, empirically, the thesis establishes a micro-economic structure of transmission from stock trading activities to the growth of the firm. The structure explains the importance of stock markets on economic growth from the supply perspective of an economy.

This Master thesis is within the area of innovative production. The authors are Master students at Mälardalen University in the field of production and process development. The purpose of the thesis is to design a production development process and to apply it in the case study performed at ABB Control Products in Västerås, Sweden. The new production concept developed is needed due to several changes in production of large size contactors that will take place during 2012; a new product size will be introduced, a new design of current products will be implemented, and production capacity for future increasing demands must be investigated. The approach to generate the production concept has been based on theoretical methods and models with focus on the lean philosophy. Through the theoretical framework a process for production development has been designed with the stages; Planning and Preparation, Current State Analyze, Concept Generation, Concept Analyze and Selection, and Visualization of Concept. The outcome of the thesis project is a mapping and disturbance analyze of current production, and a new production concept with an automation solution and a new balancing of the production line included. Finally the new production concept has been visualized in a 3D-simulation model. The main differences of the new production concept compared to current production is that conveyors are used as transportation system through the entire production process and two parallel flows is used in the production line in aim to shorten the lead time.

The dynamic changes in the manufacturing sector have increased the competition between the industries. To sustain these disruptive changes and maintain competitiveness in the global market, companies need to continually improve their production performance, successfully developing and implementing innovative production practices, and producing high-quality products in shorter lead times at optimum costs. The variations and fluctuations in customer demands can be satisfied by introducing new technologies into manufacturing systems, which brings in varying flexibility and agility character into production. Introduction of robots in manufacturing system have increased the productivity and quality of the processes. Effective and efficient programming helps achieve flexibility in the production process because the robot programming aids the robot to perform various tasks and motion. ABB RobotStudio is one type of offline programming and simulation software that helps in stimulating the robot using a Virtual Robot controller. The simulation tool lets users recreate the production environment and program a robot and calculate the cycle time without a real robot.   This case study's objective is used to evaluate the aspect of simulation to be integrated into the case company's production development process and the use of simulation in optimizing the robot cell. Therefore, a case study was conducted at LEAX Group AB, a manufacturing industry. ABB RobotStudio was a tool used in this case study to simulate the existing production system.    The empirical findings have shown the mapping of flow and process mapping of the robot cell in LEAX Group. The empirical part highlights the building of the existing simulation model of the robot cell. The challenges faced while simulating the model are also discussed. The analysis part highlights the optimization of the robot cell and the integration of the simulation model into the production development process. Finally, a conclusion has been drawn by answering two research questions, and a recommendation is given. The conclusion highlights the integration of simulation in the production development process and the process of optimizing the robot cell.

<p>In line with the company-wide CS09 project being carried out at Volvo CE Components, Cell 14 will have changes in terms of distribution of machines and parts routing to meet the lean manufacturing goals established.  These changes are of course dependant on future production volumes, as well as lot sizing and material handling considerations.</p><p>In this context, an important emphasis is given to the awareness of the performance measures that support decision making in these production development projects.  By using simulation as a confirmation tool, it is possible to re-assess these measures by testing the impact of changes in complex situations, in line with the lean manufacturing principles.</p><p>The aim of the project is to develop a discrete event simulation model following the methodology proposed by Banks et al (1999).  A model of Cell 14 will be built using the software Technomatix Plant Simulation ® which is used by the Company and the results from the simulation study will be analyzed.</p>

In line with the company-wide CS09 project being carried out at Volvo CE Components, Cell 14 will have changes in terms of distribution of machines and parts routing to meet the lean manufacturing goals established.  These changes are of course dependant on future production volumes, as well as lot sizing and material handling considerations. In this context, an important emphasis is given to the awareness of the performance measures that support decision making in these production development projects.  By using simulation as a confirmation tool, it is possible to re-assess these measures by testing the impact of changes in complex situations, in line with the lean manufacturing principles. The aim of the project is to develop a discrete event simulation model following the methodology proposed by Banks et al (1999).  A model of Cell 14 will be built using the software Technomatix Plant Simulation ® which is used by the Company and the results from the simulation study will be analyzed.

In today’s manufacturing industry there is an increased focus to produce the right product at right time and in the automotive sector the pressure on suppliers in order to deliver is high. In this matter the organization has to have clear and reachable goals together with a production system that can meet these goals.  The aim of this study was to observe and discover improvements in an assembly line called EUCD 1 at a company working in the automotive industry. The task was from a third party perspective to identify bottlenecks and put forth recommendations for the future as to how the improvement work should be carried out at the line. The production flow has been mapped out by the use observations, interviews with personnel working on the line, qualitative and quantitative data along with System Soft methodology. The interview questions were based on Porras’ and Robertson’s Organizational framework which is divided into four sections namely technology, social factors, physical settings and organizational arrangement. The line assembles three types of gearboxes consisting of different models which make this line very complex. This case study also includes literature studies in order to support the results found in this thesis. This report includes a rich picture of the current state at the line for understanding how the line operates. Along with this observation and interviews have been made. Observations are supported by quantitative data and analyses to justify the problematic situation in the production line. The current state has been analysed with the help of the theories used and it revealed a distinct gap between the actual production and desired goals for the organization. The company used a methodology of solving the everyday problematic issues by temporary solutions which led to the reappearance of problems again.   The analyses conducted have resulted in general recommendation as to how the organization should be working to eliminate the different bottlenecks permanently. A desired state has been put forward that includes how the company should operate in a long term future to make the EUCD 1 assembly line more stable with less variation in standstill situations. The report ends with a discussion of the methodology used along with the findings obtained. The three research questions are answered along with discussions regarding how we could have done this thesis in a different manner. The reports sums up with a section for reliability of the data collected and what future studies can be conducted in the area.

Krokoms Portfabrik ville se över sitt produktionsflöde i syfte att öka effektiviteten och förbättra arbetsmiljön för produktionspersonalen. Ett första steg i arbetet var att fram ett beslutsunderlag med lösningar på hur produktionen skulle kunna förbättras, detta gjordes genom ett systematiskt arbetssätt där ergonomi- och effektivitetsbrister identifierades och lösningar togs fram. Vidare undersöktes hur lokalen bäst kunde nyttjas för att effektivisera produktionen och slutligen identifierades moment som skulle kunna automatiseras.   Arbetet genomfördes i fyra faser där första steget var att skapa en förståelse för hur det befintliga produktionssystemet fungerade genom en observation i fabriken. Därefter genomfördes en utvärdering av produktionen med hjälp av checklistor för ergonomin, observationsscheman för effektivitetsbrister samt intervjuer och mätningar. Alla identifierade problem från datainsamlingarna sammanställdes i en lista som låg till grund för kravspecifikationen, den inkluderade krav och önskemål på det framtida produktionssystemet. För kriterierna i kravspecifikationen brainstormades dellösningar fram som kombinerades ihop till fem olika totalkoncept, dessa sattes ihop i CAD-programmet SolidWorks. Resultatet presenterades i form av renderade bilder och ritningar på de olika totalkoncepten. Slutligen utvärderades totalkoncepten med hjälp av olika beslutsmatriser.   Av de fem framtagna totalkoncepten ansågs totalkoncept fem vara det koncept som bäst uppfyllde kriterierna i kravspecifikationen. Dock bedömdes inte totalkoncept fem vara helt optimalt enligt genomförd kriterieviktsmatris utan vidare förbättringar kan vara möjliga. För att gå vidare med utvecklingen av produktionssystemet rekommenderas Krokoms Portfabrik att först sätta sig in i det framtagna materialet för att sedan kunna ta fram ytterligare koncept att jämföra med totalkoncept fem. Därefter kan ett detaljerat förslag tas fram innan det valda konceptet realiseras. / Krokoms Portfabrik wants to review its production flow to increase efficiency and improve the working environment for their employees. A first step is to produce a decision basis with solutions on how production could be improved. In this project, the decision basis is produced through a systematic approach where ergonomics and efficiency lacks are identified and solutions are developed. Furthermore, it is investigated how the building can best be used to streamline production and finally suboperations are identified that could be automated.   The work was carried out in four phases, where the first step was to create an understanding of how the existing production system worked through an observation in the factory. Subsequently, an evaluation of the production was carried out with the help of checklists for ergonomics, an observation schedule for efficiency deficiencies, interviews, and measurements of transport distances. All identified problems from the data collections were compiled in a list that formed the basis for the requirements specification that included requirements and wishes for the future production system. For the criteria in the requirements specification, solutions were brainstormed and combined into five different total concepts that were put together in the CAD program SolidWorks. The result consists of rendered images and drawings of the various total concepts. Finally, the overall concepts were evaluated using different decision matrices.   Of the five total concepts developed, concept number five were the concept that best met the criteria in the requirements specification. However, concept number five is not considered to be completely optimal according to the implemented evaluation, but further improvements should be possible. To proceed with the development of the production system, Krokoms Portfabrik is recommended to first familiarize itself with the material developed and then be able to develop additional concepts to compare with total concept number five. Thereafter, a detailed proposal can be made before the concept is implemented. / <p>Betyg 2021-07-05</p>

INNOFACTURE - innovative manufacturing development

Capital investments provide both the opportunity and responsibility to design for sustainability since most of the environmental impact of a production system is determined by the design phase. However, today’s capital investment process of production lacks adaptation to sustainability needs. This thesis identifies the main deficiencies in the capital investment process of production that currently limit the environmental performance of equipment by means of a pharmaceutical industry case. The results indicate that to foster a more sustainable capital investment process, further strategic guidance, responsibility allocation, facilitating organisational conditions, information transparency and sustainability expertise are required. Equipment suppliers consider that better communication and the integration of sustainability into their customers’ business cases can facilitate more environmentally sustainable equipment delivery. A concept is proposed for systematically integrating environmental sustainability into the capital investment process of production in the future. / Kapitalinvesteringar ger möjlighet och ansvar att designa för hållbarhet eftersom det mesta av ett produktionssystems miljöpåverkan bestäms i designfasen. Dagens kapitalinvesteringsprocess för produktion saknar dock anpassning till hållbarhetsbehov. Denna uppsats identifierar de viktigaste bristerna i kapitalinvesteringsprocessen för produktion som för närvarande begränsar utrustningens miljöprestanda med hjälp av ett fall från läkemedelsindustrin. Resultaten visar att för att främja en mer hållbar kapitalinvesteringsprocess krävs ytterligare strategisk vägledning, ansvarsfördelning, underlättande organisatoriska förhållanden, informationstransparens och hållbarhets-expertis. Utrustningsleverantörer tycker att bättre kommunikation och i synnerhet integreringen av hållbarhet i deras kunders affärsplaner kan underlätta mer miljömässigt hållbara utrustningsleveranser. Ett koncept föreslås för att systematiskt integrera miljömässig hållbarhet i kapitalinvesteringsprocessen för produktion i framtiden.

This thesis firstly presents the exploration of an engaging user interface and navigation design for local community mobile applications. Furthermore, it seeks for the best suitable tool for both rapid prototyping and production development. The research and content is structured based on design and creation research methodology which is a user-centric and iterative process. To evaluate the suggested interface design and the selected tool, an interactive prototype was developed in this thesis. The results argues that card-based user interface and navigation design has the potential to enhance user engagement. In addition, AngularJS as the selected tool is a suitable framework for rapid prototyping as well as production development.