The purpose of this bachelor’s degree work was to analyse a packaging station in a global manufacturing company in Sweden, and to provide an answer on why it is important with standardised work in preventing wrong deliveries. The purpose of the analysis was to come up with various improvement proposals in order to reduce and prevent wrong deliveries. The analysis of the packaging station was conducted by observing the station and understanding how the workers work and what kind of work procedure do they follow. The observations made it possible to conduct several conclusions on why the problems occurred, one of these conclusions was that the work procedure is not standardised which in turn increased the errors in the station. Through a clear problem description, it was possible to come up with improvement proposals by answering the following research questions:  Main RQ: Why is a standardised workplace important in a manufacturing company? To be able to answer the main research question, the question has been divided into two smaller sub-questions: 1.     How can a packaging area be standardised by using lean process improvement tools? 2.     How can operating standards improve the efficiency in a packaging station? The approach applied in this study and project has been qualitative research with an inductive approach, by reviewing scientific articles and observing the work in the packaging station it was possible to analyse and compare the collected data in order to come with a conclusion to the problem. The data that was collected in form of interviews has been continuously analysed in order to have as relevant data as possible for the improvements work.  By comparing the collected data from the literature and the case findings it was possible to lay a foundation for the analysis where the proposed improvements came from and to conclude a final proposed improvements that reduces the wrong deliveries in the packaging station. In conclusion, standardised work is important in order to prevent wrong deliveries because it contributes to a more clear and sustainable structure that the workers follow. By having standardised instructions and methods that is being followed, the amount of errors is reduced in the packaging station.  Wrong deliveries are reduced and prevented when there is a standardised work procedure that is based on the lean ideology in a packaging station

During the past decades, there have been an acceleration of customers’ needs of customized products. This have pressured many companies in offering customized products in order to reach customer satisfaction and keep growing and expanding their market share. Nowadays the competitive pressure between companies with the same product segment is increasing and the market requirements are changing rapidly. To handle this competition, many manufacturing companies are focusing on mass customized production. However, mass customization has been a topic of interest for many researchers. The focus has been in studying and understanding the complexity and the constrains that a company encounter when dealing with mass customized production in mostly the automotive industry. One of the constrains that have been less highlighted by researchers were the effects that mass customized production has on the output variation of production lines. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how to minimize output variations in mass customized production within assembly lines. To do that the researchers focused on studying the output variation in whitegoods industry instead of the automotive industry that captures most of the existing research. The study includes two main research questions. The first question was to identify the factors that affect the output variation in mass customized production. While the second question was to identify applicable solutions that can be used to stabilize the output. To ensure the reliability and validity of the research findings, the researchers used multiple case study combined with literature reviews. To answer the research questions several data collection techniques were used in the multiple case study conducted on two lines. Those data collection techniques were participating observations, document reviews, a semi-structured interview and many conversations with the affected persons. The findings from the case study for research question one showed consistency with the theories described in the theoretical background. This was evident because similar problems when it comes to output variations were defined in the theories. One problem was about the simplification of assembly line balancing problem that was evident in both case studies. This was an effect of the missing product family classification which created a high output variation because of the use of only one line balancing for all product variants. Another problem identified included functionality problems of machines because of performing wrong assembly or the use of the wrong component. There was as well the problem of missing or delayed components which was an effect of the lack of structure in the material picking and the deliveries performed for both lines. A combination of those factors created the experienced output variation on both lines. To deal with those problems and minimize the output variation, a solution approach was defined in the second research question. This approach was created together with the case company with the help of the theoretical background and it presents several steps to follow when attacking and resolving similar problems as presented above. The most important conclusion of this thesis is that, when dealing with output variation in mass customized production where people are performing the assembly, it is essential to provide the right conditions for them to ensure that they have the right knowledge base to perform the requested assembly.

Syfte: Branschen tampas fortfarande med kvalitetsbrister och har därför börjat uppmärksamma de fördelar som följer med industriellt byggande och standardiserade arbetsprocesser. Med industriella arbetsprocesser kan företagen ge frihet till arbetare att få ansvara för de arbetsprocesser som de medverkar i, och således bidra till att de förbättrar lösningar och standardiseringar. Ett koncept som lämpar sig väldigt väl för detta är The Toyota Production system (TPS), också kallat Lean production. År 2016 utfördes en samling fallstudier bland Lean-arbetande byggföretag där de visade att kvalitet och strävan efter standardiserade arbetsprocesser var högt prioriterat. Lean production och dess processer i företag omfattar informations – och kunskapsöverföringar och kan vara svårt att tillämpa. Därför motiveras vidare forskning på tillämpbarheten av principerna och dess verktyg i byggföretag. Studiens mål är att analysera hur företag inom prefabindustrin som arbetar med Lean kan utveckla sitt förbättringsarbete i produktionsprocessen. Metod: Rapporten är en kvalitativ fallstudie utförd på Ulricehamns Betong AB. Studiens datainsamlingsmetoder har varit litteraturstudier, deltagande observationer, semistrukturerade intervjuer och dokumentanalyser. Resultat: Utifrån studiens analys kunde vissa problem i förbättringsarbetet identifieras, samt leda till en analys över hur det förbättras och göras mer kunskapsdelande. Det framkom att inställningen till förbättringsarbete varierade stort bland medarbetarna. En gemensam syn på förbättringsarbetets betydelse krävs för fortsatt utveckling, något som kan uppmuntras från organisationens håll tydligare. Genom rollen som handledare kan företag säkra att det arbetas efter standardiserade arbetssätt. Konsekvenser: Avgörande för ett kunskapsdelande och utvecklande förbättringsarbete är att alla medarbetare är motiverade till att bidra till en förbättring. För att motivera medarbetarna bör statusen på individuell kunskap följt av inställning till kunskapsdelande att höjas. Medarbetare ska ha tillgång till kontinuerliga förbättringsmöten eller andra forum där de kan utbyta erfarenheter och idéer. Begränsningar: Fallstudien har genomförts på ett företag som använder sig av Lean-konceptet. Studien begränsas till att endast behandla förbättringsarbete i produktionen av prefabricerade betongelement.  Studien redogör alltså inte för hur andra prefab-företags förbättringsprocesser ser ut i produktionen. / Purpose: The industry is still struggling with reoccurring deficits regarding quality and has therefore began to pay attention what benefits that comes with an industrial building process. With industrial building processes the companies using it can let the workers be in charge of their work processes that they find themselves in and thus help to improve and standardise them. A concept that fits these conditions very well is The Toyota production system (TPS), also known as Lean production. In the year 2016 several studies were made that showed that among Lean working construction companies it was the reach for higher quality and standardised working processes that was prioritized. Lean production and its processes contains a lot of information- and knowledge transfers and may be hard to practice in a company. Therefore further studies on how to implement these principles and tools properly are recommended. The aim with this study is to analyse how companies in the precast industry who works with Lean can evolve their continuous improvement process in the production process.   Method: This report is a qualitative case study accomplished at Ulricehamns Betong AB. The chosen methods on how to collect data are literature studies, participating observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Findings: From the analysis of this study some problems in the improvement process could be identified, but also how they could be improved and how they could be more knowledge sharing. It was shown that the will to participate in the improvement process did varied a lot among the co-workers. A common attitude for the importance of the improvement process is needed for the continuous development, something that can be more encouraged by the organisation. Through the implementation of a mentor the company can ensure that the production process is more standardised. Implications: The number one thing that is most important for an evolving and knowledge sharing improvement process is that the co-workers stay motivated to participate. To motivate them, the status of individual knowledge should be raised and heard. Furthermore they should have access to continuous improvement meetings or other forums where they can exchange experiences and ideas. Limitations: The case study has been accomplished at a company that are using the Lean concept. The study limits to only study the improvement process in the production process of precast concrete elements. Furthermore the study is focused on how one specific company uses their improvement process and not how other companies uses theirs.

Detta examensarbete genomfördes hos ett tillverkande företag utanför Stockholm. Företagets produktion består delvis av egenbyggda maskiner. Lämpliga instruktioner för underhåll, riggning samt felsökning fanns inte tillgängliga för dessa maskiner. En av de mest kritiska avdelningarna hos företaget kallas för klipp- och rullavdelningen. För tillfället finns endast en operatör i avdelningen som känner till samtliga maskiners funktioner. Denna operatör innehar så kallad tyst kunskap. Målet med detta examensarbete har varit att dokumentera tyst kunskap genom digitalisering av instruktioner. Efter att mål, problemdefinition och tillvägagångssätt fastställts gjordes en faktainsamling som bestod av primär- och sekundärdata. Diskussioner med företagets VD och de operatörer som arbetar i den aktuella avdelningen genomfördes. Detta bidrog till en djupare förståelse av problemet som i sin tur skapade en grund för hur digitaliseringen skulle ske. Arbetet bestod även av en teoretisk referensram vars syfte var att bidra till förståelse av vetenskaplig karaktär. I den teoretiska referensramen studerades även det nya konceptet för digitalisering inom industrin och dess påverkan på små och medelstora företag (SMF). Digitaliseringen karaktäriseras av smart teknologi. I dagsläget anses inte vissa smarta teknologier, så som virtual reality (virtuell verklighet) och augmented reality (förstärkt verklighet) tillämpbara hos företaget. Augmented reality (AR) kan dock komma att underlätta reparation och liknande arbetsuppgifter i framtiden. Den metod som valdes för att ta fram instruktioner var videoinspelning. Tillämpning av detta ansågs vara ett adekvat val då projektet utfördes. För att kunna spela in, redigera och använda videoinstruktioner krävs dock kompatibel hård- och mjukvara. De rekommendationer som gavs till företaget var att lagra filerna på ett intranät eller någon molntjänst som skapar lättillgänglighet. Förutom videoinstruktioner rekommenderas även praktisk handledning av en erfaren operatör. Detta skapar en kombination av praktisk och teoretisk inlärning. Instruktioner för hur företaget ska redigera och lagra videoinspelningarna togs fram för att skapa ett standardiserat arbete. / This project was conducted at a manufacturing company outside of Stockholm. Production is partially operated by machines that are manufactured by the company; however, appropriate maintenance instructions, machine settings and error search are currently unavailable for these machines. The most critical department within the workshop is called “cut and roll”, the department only has one operator who has full knowledge of the machines and their functions. This type of knowledge possessed by the operator is called tacit knowledge. The aim of this project is to document and transfer the tacit knowledge through digitalisation of instructions. After defining the problem, methods and aims of the project, primary and secondary data was collected. Furthermore, discussions were held with the chief executive of the company and the operators working in the cut and roll department. This led to a deeper understanding of the main problem and created a foundation for the methods used to digitalise instructions. The project also contains a literature review to conduce the scientific aspects of the problem. Moreover, the upcoming concept regarding digitalisation within manufacturing companies and its effect on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) was also taken into consideration. The concept is characterised by smart technology. These types of technologies, e.g. virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), are not adequate to implement in the company today. Even so, AR could be a complementary tool regarding maintenance and similar tasks in the future. The method used to digitalise instructions was video recording, serving as the most adequate digital tool whilst executing the project. However, compatible hardware and software is necessary to create video instructions. Recommendations proposed to the company are that instructions should be stored in an intranet or cloud; and, in addition to video instructions, practical supervision given by an experienced operator is recommended. Thereby giving a combination of both practical and theoretical learning. Instructions on how to edit and store the videos was created to maintain standardized working methods.