<p>De stora läkemedelsbolagen har sedan mitten på 1990-talet fått en ökad press på att optimera sina försörjningskedjor på grund av att patent på olika mediciner gått ut. När patentet gått ut kan generiska konkurrenter börja sälja liknande mediciner, de kan sälja dem till lägre pris eftersom de inte har forsknings och utvecklingskostnader att täcka. AstraZeneca tog i slutet av 1990-talet beslutet att implementera en ny strategi för deras försörjningskedja i deras produktion. Detta gjordes för att sänka deras produktionskostnader för att kunna konkurrera mot generiska konkurrenter. En konsultfirma togs in och Demand Driven Supply (DDS) implementerades. Syftet med denna uppsats är att definiera Demand Driven Supply och att utvärdera om denna implementering gett de resultat som eftersträvades. Vi presenterar en teoretisk referensram som behövs för att få en förståelse över de metoder och verktyg som behövs för att optimera varuförsörjningskedjan och därigenom kunna sänka kostnaderna. Dessa teorier står till grund för den implementering som skedde hos AstraZeneca. Den huvudsakliga anledningen till att DDS implementerades var att AstraZeneca ville gå mot sugande produktionsstyrning för att därmed korta ledtiden, sänka kostnader och sänka kapitalbindningen och höja marginalerna på sin försäljning för att få kapital till att återinvestera i företaget.</p>

<p>Parker Hannifin AB i Trollhättan ingår i en koncern som består av 263 fabriker med över 50 000 anställda. Med 300 anställda produceras, utvecklas och säljs huvudkomponenterna i mobila hydraulsystem. Parker i Trollhättan har konstruerat och tillverkat fasta pumpar och motorer för lastvagnar sedan 1980-talet.</p><p>Genom att eliminera aktiviteter som inte är värdeskapande och införa nya system strävar Parker efter att uppnå kortare ledtider, minskat bundet kapitel och ständiga förbättringar. Orsaken till att Parker vill införa konsignation är att det innebär många fördelar. Fördelarna är bland annat minskad administration, minskat bundet kapital och ökad tillgänglighet av detaljer.</p><p>Examensarbetet visar att den största vinsten med konsignationslager för kunden är att det eliminerar flera delar av flödet mellan avtal till betalning. Delar som elimineras är avropsarbete, fysisk mottagning, mottagningsrapport, lagerbokföring, fakturaregistrering, fakturakontroll samt materialrekvisition. För leverantören är vinsten att fritt kunna planera försörjningen till kunden efter sin egen kapacitet. Samtidigt lagras materialet kostnadsfritt hos kunden, Parker i Trollhättan.</p><p>Detaljerna ägs av leverantören då de ligger på lager hos Parker. Resultatet av examensarbetet visar att ägandet av material bör övergå till Parker då arbetsordern avrapporteras. Detaljernas lastbärare består av hel-pallar, där pallarna märks upp av en pallflagga. I examensarbetet har en pallflagga för konsignation skapats. Pallflaggan upplyser om att pallen innehåller konsignationsmaterial som ägs av leverantören. Informationsflödet är tydligt eftersom en fraktsedel skickas med det skickade materialet till Parker. Fraktsedeln kontrolleras med följesedel som fås av leverantören. Information måste också ges ut vid större förändringar i förbrukning så att båda parter känner sig trygga över vad som lagerhålls. Konsignation bygger på ett långsiktigt samarbete och bidrar till en tätare relation mellan företagen. Konsignation innebär en vinna/vinna-situation.</p>

<p>Metal wire deposition by means of robotized laser welding offers great saving potentials, i.e. reduced costs and reduced lead times, in many different applications, such as fabrication of complex components, repair or modification of high-value components, rapid prototyping and low volume production, especially if the process can be automated. Metal deposition is a layered manufacturing technique that builds metal structures by melting metal wire into beads which are deposited side by side and layer upon layer. This thesis presents a system for on-line monitoring and control of robotized laser metal wire deposition (RLMwD). The task is to ensure a stable deposition process with correct geometrical profile of the resulting geometry and sound metallurgical properties. Issues regarding sensor calibration, system identification and control design are discussed. The suggested controller maintains a constant bead height and width throughout the deposition process. It is evaluated through real experiments, however, limited to straight line deposition experiments. Solutions towards a more general controller, i.e. one that can handle different deposition paths, are suggested.</p><p>A method is also proposed on how an operator can use different sensor information for process understanding, process development and for manual on-line control. The strategies are evaluated through different deposition tasks and considered materials are tool steel and Ti-6Al-4V. The developed monitoring system enables an operator to control the process at a safe distance from the hazardous laser beam.</p><p>The results obtained in this work indicate promising steps towards full automation of the RLMwD process, i.e. without human intervention and for arbitrary deposition paths.</p> / RMS

The focus of environmental work in manufacturing companies has increasingly shifted from end-of-pipe solutions to the environmental performance of products and services. The product development process is central to creating value for customers. This thesis argues that companies can simultaneously create value for consumers and be profitable while taking environmental considerations into account. Modernising ecodesign means taking advantage of environmental benefits and the innovation potential when developing solutions rather than using ecodesign simply to ensure that legal requirements or customer demands are met. Ecodesign is a strategic issue and should be included in early product development activities, such as for project selection and when setting product targets. There is also need to perform ecodesign according to the characteristics of specific development processes as for radical product development or when developing integrated solutions, using a combination of services and products. This thesis reports on the findings from five different research studies, all of which adopted a qualitative approach in which the emphasis falls on exploring and creating understanding and meaning. The studies focused on three areas of ecodesign: A) rethinking approaches for manufacturing companies, B) setting environmental project targets and project selection and C) redesign of products. Recommendations on how to modernise ecodesign have been developed and can be summarised in six points: • Perform ecodesign both vertically and horizontally in a company. • Increase interaction between organisational units. • Take advantage of innovation potential in products, services, user behaviour and the delivery and take-back systems. • Take environmental considerations into account in the project selection process. • Set environmental targets for ensuring that environmental considerations are taken when developing innovative solutions. • Develop ecodesign procedures that fit the characteristics of the development process

Metal wire deposition by means of robotized laser welding offers great saving potentials, i.e. reduced costs and reduced lead times, in many different applications, such as fabrication of complex components, repair or modification of high-value components, rapid prototyping and low volume production, especially if the process can be automated. Metal deposition is a layered manufacturing technique that builds metal structures by melting metal wire into beads which are deposited side by side and layer upon layer. This thesis presents a system for on-line monitoring and control of robotized laser metal wire deposition (RLMwD). The task is to ensure a stable deposition process with correct geometrical profile of the resulting geometry and sound metallurgical properties. Issues regarding sensor calibration, system identification and control design are discussed. The suggested controller maintains a constant bead height and width throughout the deposition process. It is evaluated through real experiments, however, limited to straight line deposition experiments. Solutions towards a more general controller, i.e. one that can handle different deposition paths, are suggested. A method is also proposed on how an operator can use different sensor information for process understanding, process development and for manual on-line control. The strategies are evaluated through different deposition tasks and considered materials are tool steel and Ti-6Al-4V. The developed monitoring system enables an operator to control the process at a safe distance from the hazardous laser beam. The results obtained in this work indicate promising steps towards full automation of the RLMwD process, i.e. without human intervention and for arbitrary deposition paths. / RMS

The aim of remanufacturing is to retrieve a product’s inherent value when the product no longer fulfils the user’s desired needs. By taking advantage of this inherent value through different product recovery alternatives, there is a potential for both economically and environmental advantageous recovery of products. Remanufacturing is a complex business due to the high degree of uncertainty in the production process, mainly caused by two factors: the quantity and the quality of returned products. These factors have implications both on the external processes, e.g. coordinating input of returned products with the demand for remanufactured products, as well as the internal processes that coordinates the operations within the factory walls. This additional complexity needs to be considered when organising the remanufacturing system. The objective of this dissertation is to explore how remanufacturing companies can become more competitive through analysing and managing material flows and remanufacturing processes. The first issue discussed in this dissertation is the drivers that make companies interested in remanufacturing products in the first place. The conclusion is that the general drivers are profit, company policy and the environmental drivers. In a general sense, the profit motivation is the most prevalent business driver, but still there are situations where this motivation is secondary to policy and environmental drivers. Secondly, the need to balance the supply of returned products with the demand for remanufactured products shows that the possible remanufacturing volumes for a product are dependent on the shape of the supply and demand distributions. By using a product life cycle perspective, the supply and demand situations can be foreseen and support is given on possible strategies in these different supply and demand situations. Thirdly, how used products are gathered from customers is categorised by seven different customer relationship types. These types all have different effects on the remanufacturing system, and the characteristics of these relationships are disused in detail. When considering the remanufacturing process within the factory walls, a generic remanufacturing process was developed that divides the remanufacturing process into five different phases; pre-disassembly, disassembly, reprocessing, reassembly and the post-assembly phase. These different phases are separated by three different key decision points in the process that also have a major impact on the material planning of the process. For the remanufacturing material planning and production planning, the possibility to apply lean principles can be difficult. One foundation for implementing lean principles in new production is the existence of standardised processes that are stable and predictable. In the remanufacturing system, the possibilities to realise a predictable process is limited by the “normal” variations in quantity and the quality of the returned cores. Even though lean principles can be problematic to implement in the remanufacturing environment, this dissertation proposes a number of solutions that can be used to make the remanufacturing process leaner.

Compaction of polymer powders and polymer-based nanocomposites by uniaxial high-velocity cold compaction (HVC), by high-energy ball milling (HEBM) and using a novel technique, relaxation assists, was investigated with a focus on the process parameters, the compactibility characteristics, surface morphology and friction. The basic phenomena associated with HVC are explained and the general energy principle is introduced to explain the pull-out phenomenon, springback gradient, delay time, relative time of the pressure wave, and stick-slip phenomenon during the compaction process. Experimental results for different compaction profiles, different particle size distributions and different milling system for polymer-based nanocomposite are presented, showing the effect of varying the process parameters on the compacted material; the compactibility in the compacted bed, the uniformity of the compacted surface, the pull-out phenomenon, the springback gradient, the stick-slip phenomenon and the homogeneity of the dispersions of nanoparticles in the polymer powders in the solid state. It was found that the high-velocity compaction process is an interruption process and that the opposite velocity and pressure loss during the compaction process have a major influence on the quality of the compacted material. The relaxation assist device is a novel technique that has been successfully developed to improve the compaction process. The relaxation assists are parts of the piston and they are regarded as projectile supports. They are constructed of the same material as the piston, and the diameters are the same but the lengths are different. The relaxation assist device leads to an improvement in the compaction of powders, polymer powders and polymer-based nanocomposites by giving a more homogeneous opposite velocity and a better locking of the powder bed in the compacted form during the compaction process with less change in dimensions in the case of both homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. If the movement of the particles is restricted the powder bed attains a higher density and the total elastic springback is minimized. In addition, there is a more homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles in the case of a heterogeneous material. A much better transfer of the pressure through the powder bed and a smaller loss of pressure lead to a more homogenous stick-slip of the particles and a higher sliding coefficient due to the overall friction during the compaction process. / QC 20100630

Rapid solidification experiment on Fe-Cr-Mo-Mn-Si-C alloy was performed to investigate metastable phases formed during the solidification. A wide range of cooling rate was used to analyse the sample from melt spinning technique (~107 K/s) to water quenching method (~102 K/s). A single phase featureless structure was obtaind initially in the melt spinning experiment for 77Fe-8Cr-6Mn-5Si-4C alloy. Reduction of C and addition of Mo led to form a complete featureless structure for 2.85 mm rod for 72.8Fe-8Cr-5Mo-6Mn-5Si-3.2C. Subsequent investigation of influence of Mo, Cr and Mn on the single phase featureless structure concludes that 7.5 mm thick complete featureless phase could be formed at 63.8Fe-15Cr-7Mo-6Mn-5Si-3.2C alloy composition. In a separate attempt, powder samples of 40 μm dia. size complete featureless powders were produced for three slightly different compostions for the same alloy system. Characterisation of the featureless phases reveals that it could be a single phase metastable structure of ε phase or austenitic solid solution with high amount of alloying element dissolved in it. Subsequent heat treatment of this featureless phase of the rod and the powder at different temperatures formed bainitic ferrite with fine carbides dispersed in the austenitic matrix. Hardness values measured on featureless phase found to have influenced by the alloying element specially Mo, Cr and Mn. In an attempet to improve clean melting condition to extend the featureless phase and to form amorphous, an elliptic short arc lamp vaccum furnace was designed with 10 kW lamp power. Around 30 g of iron based alloy system was melted and cast as a 7 mm rod sample in a copper mould. Design details of new mirror and the lamp furnace are presented. In a separate study, influence of the melt temperature on Al-Y and Al-Si alloys were investigated by levitaion casting in a silver mould at around 2000 K/s cooling rate. Plate like structure of Al8Y3 primary phase was observed at low melt temperature with small percentage of peritectic transformation of Al8Y3 and liquid melt into Al9Y2. A pre-dentritic star like crystal of Al3Y was observed in a fine eutectic matrix at very high melt temperature. Amount and number of primary Si crystals formed in a unit area during the solidification increases as the melt temperature increases. / QC 20100805

Steel producers that employ niche market strategies are continuously seeking to reduce production cost while maintaining adiverse product mix. The business model is typically based onmarketing of high–strength special or stainless steels. However,the desire to avoid direct cost competition is over time gradually leading towards increased product variety and smaller ordervolumes (tonnes per order) for each product. This thesis analyses how production cost is linked to productvariety in steel strip production. Results are based on new modelsfor assessment of opportunities for performance improvement inhigh product–variety steel production. The need for flexible production processes increases with increasing product variety. Operational capabilities linked to processflexibility determine the extent to which steel producers caneliminate in–process inventory and accomplish close coupling between process steps. Niche market producers that invest inprocess flexibility improvements can lower production costs bothdue to reduced work–in–process and lower energy consumption.An additional benefit is reduced environmental impact. The following problems are addressed: • Development of a method to assess the influence of productvariety on performance in steel production. • Development of models of continuous casting and hotrolling that account for product variety and cost effectswith consideration of varying degrees of process flexibility. • Development of a strategy process model that focus on thestrategic value of operational capabilities related to processflexibility. Investments in operational capabilities regarding process flexibility have a strategic impact. An appreciation for the effectsof process flexibility should permeate the organisation’s daily work since the accumulated contribution of many, seemingly unimportant, incremental changes significantly influences thestrategic opportunities of the company. / Stålproducenter med nischmarknadsstrategier försöker ständigt sänka sina produktionskostnader samtidigt som en varierad produktflora bibehålls. Affärsmodellen bygger i typfallet på försäljning av höghållfasta specialstål eller rostfria stål. Strävan att undvika direkt priskonkurrens leder dock med tiden gradvis till ökad produktvariation och mindre ordervolymer (ton per order)för varje produkt. Denna avhandling analyserar hur produktionskostnaden är kopplad till graden av produktvariation vid tillverkning av band.Resultaten bygger på nya modeller för utvärdering av förutsättningarnaför prestandaförbättring i stålindustri med stor produktvariation. Behovet av flexibla produktionsprocesser ökar med ökande produktvariation. Praktiska förmågor kopplade till processflexibilitet avgör till vilken grad ståltillverkare förmår att eliminera mellanlager och åstadkomma en tät koppling mellan processteg.Nischmarknadsproducenter som investerar i förbättrad flexibilitet kan sänka sina produktionskostnader både genom minskad mängd produkter i arbete och reducerad energiförbrukning. Detta medför också minskad miljöbelastning.Följande problemställningar adresseras: • Utveckling av en metod för att utvärdera inverkan av produktvariationpå prestanda vid ståltillverkning. • Utveckling av en modell för stränggjutning och varmvalsningsom tar hänsyn till produktvariation och kostnadseffekterför olika grad av processflexibilitet. • Utveckling av en strategimodell som fokuserar på det strategiskavärdet av operativa förmågor kopplade till processflexibilitet. Investeringar i operativa förmågor vad avser processflexibilitet är av strategisk betydelse. Förståelse för betydelsen av processflexibilitetbör genomsyra det dagliga arbetet eftersom det samladebidraget av många, till synes obetydliga, små förändringar haren avgörande inverkan på företagets strategiska förutsättningar / QC 20100810

The aim of the present thesis was to study the heat flows in the blast furnace hearth lining by experimental measurements and numerical modeling. Thermocouple data from an operating furnace have been used throughout the work, to verify results and to develop methodologies to use the results in further studies. The hearth lining were divided into two zones based on the thermocouple readings: a region with regular temperature variations due to the tapping of the furnace, and another region with slow temperature variations. In an experimental study, the temperatures of the outer surfaces of the wall and bottom were measured and compared with lining temperature measured by thermocouples. Expressions to describe the outer surface temperature profiles were derived and used as input in a two-dimensional steady state heat transfer model. The aim of the study was to predict the lining temperature profiles in the region subjected to slow temperature variations. The methodology to calculate a steady state lining temperature profile was used as input to a three-dimensional model. The aim of the three-dimensional model was primarily to study the region with dynamic lining temperature variations caused by regular tappings. The study revealed that the replacement of original lining with tap clay has an effect when simulating the quasi-stationary temperature variations in the lining. The study initiated a more detailed study of the taphole region and the size and shape of the tap clay layer profile. It was concluded, that in order to make a more accurate heat transfer model of the blast furnace hearth, the presence of a skull build-up below the taphole, erosion above the taphole and the bath level variations must to be taken into consideration. / QC 20100706