Purpose – The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge about the material handling of a module house manufacturing company. In order to achieve the study's purpose, three research questions were formulated. ▪ Which factors affect material handling? ▪ Which factors are considered important for material handling? ▪ How can standardization improve material handling? Method – The study has been characterized by an inductive approach to conducting the case study. To achieve the purpose, empirical data has been collected via a pilot study, interviews, observations, and document studies from reality. Subsequently, previous theories were examined via a literature collection. Furthermore, the processing and analysis of collected empirics and theory have helped to answer the purpose and demonstrate the generalizability of the study. Findings – The study has focused on the entirety of the various processes and an understanding of the various factors that influence material handling has been obtained. The case study company has challenges to look at the entirety of the modular house production and separates the production and construction sites. The wastes transport, movement, waiting and unused skills are considered to be the most important wastes to reduce or eliminate. It is clear that the case study company’s new employees must constantly reinvent the wheel and learn from their own mistakes. Moreover, it is difficult to determine if the mistake is a deviation, error or insufficient knowledge. By implementing a standard for what should be on drawings and how materials are to be delivered from production to the construction sites, deviations and wastes can be reduced and costs reduced. Implications – The study is based on a problem area that already exists in separate theories and comparisons. However, operations that have a material handling that both concerns manufacturing and construction work have not previously been investigated to the same extent, which is the theoretical contribution of the study. The empirical contribution to the study is to identify which factors affect material handling in businesses that have common flows between manufacturing and construction work. Limitations – The study only addresses two of the material handling flows; the material flow and the information flow. The study also does not take into account the processes of suppliers, subcontractors, or customers. Finally, the study will not include financial calculations to demonstrate potential cost efficiencies. Keywords – Material handling, Lean, Construction logistics, Wastes, Current flow, Value stream mapping, Lean tools.

Lean production and Lean philosophy have been developed, studied and implemented over the world since it was know from Toyota Production System. International manufacturers/OEMs have more or less developed their own Lean production systems. Over the years, arising challenges from new technology and internationalization have force the OEMs to understand and evaluate the design of supply chain to support their lean production system, and to manage the SC and compete as a whole against other supply chains. When apply Lean principles to the level of Supply Chain, coordination is an essential element to success. Today, researches have been done on joint efforts on decision making among supply chain actors, and applying Lean tools such as VSM on an extended level, namely a supply chain. Whereas the methods to improve SC coordination when implementing Lean through SC remain undeveloped. By interviewing Lean supply chain experts, experienced personnel in Supply Chain Management, and Lean experts from various organizations, a methodology to identify and visualize the improvement areas in supply chain coordination was designed. The methodology was then tested in a European OEM’s supply chain. Value Stream Mapping, as the base, was adapted to support identification and visualization of improvement areas in supply chain coordination. Several misalignments in the SC coordination were found in the current state, then visualized in current state map and approved by various SC actors. The methodology was then improved according to the process of testing. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a methodology to identify and visualize the improvement areas in (manufacturing) supply chain coordination within a Lean perspective.

El presente proyecto de tesis tiene como finalidad dotar a los e-commerce de moda textil de un modelo de gestión basado en herramientas de mejora de procesos a fin de reducir el porcentaje de devoluciones de prendas. El modelo contiene: SIPOC, Logística Inversa, Value Stream Mapping, Poka Yoke y una herramienta digital llamada Virtual Try On (o Virtual Room). El desarrollo empieza con el análisis del problema de las devoluciones y su impacto en las utilidades del e-commerce, luego se definen las áreas de impacto donde se evidencian las causas raíces, después de analizan los procesos y se ven los posibles puntos de mejora y al final se implementan las herramientas para mejorar los procesos de cada área de acuerdo a las necesidades de la empresa. El modelo se valida mediante una simulación con información recolectada de un año de un e-commerce de moda textil. Luego de ver las posibles mejoras a los procesos, se plantea la opción de implementar modificaciones a las áreas de Ventas y Logística. / The purpose of this thesis is to provide textile fashion e-commerce with a management model based on process improvement tools to reduce the percentage of garment returns. The model contains: SIPOC, Reverse Logistics, Value Stream Mapping, Poka Yoke and a digital tool called Virtual Try On (or Virtual Room). The development begins with the analysis of the problem of returns and its impact on the profits of e-commerce, then the areas of impact are defined where the root causes are evidenced, after the processes are analyzed and the possible points of improvement are seen and at the end the tools are implemented to improve the processes of each area according to the needs of the company. The model is validated through a simulation with information collected from a year of a textile fashion e-commerce. After seeing the possible improvements to the processes, the option of implementing modifications to the Sales and Logistics areas is proposed. / Tesis

El presente trabajo de investigación consta en analizar la cadena de abastecimiento que incluye la logística de entrada y la operación de los revestimientos de paneles de Fachada en la empresa P&C PERU dentro del sector Retail, en toda su dimensión, identificando los factores de mejora que afectan los resultados de la organización y a su nivel de competencia dentro del mercado local, de tal manera, se tiene como objetivo general: reducir los retrasos y pérdidas económicas en el suministro e instalación de paneles de fachada (cobertura) para futuros proyectos dentro de la organización, para ello, se toma como base el estudio de un proyecto ubicado en Punta Negra, en el cual se hará el diagnóstico de la situación actual a través de diagrama de flujo de procesos y el Value Stream Mapping (VSM) donde podemos plasmar las causas críticas que merecen estrategias a implementar dentro de un proyecto de mejoras tomando como referencia la Guía del PMBOK®, Gestión por Procesos, Lean Management, Supply Chain Management, uso de KPI’s. Finalmente, indicaremos las conclusiones y recomendaciones detectadas después del desarrollo del presente trabajo de investigación. / This research work allows us to analyze the supply chain that includes the inbound logistics and the operation of the panel coatings of the P&C PERU company within the Retail sector in all its dimensions and also identifying the critical causes and proposing improvements to see the results of the organization and its level competition within the local market , in such a way, the general objective is: to reduce delays and economic losses in the supply and installation of facade panels (coverage) for future projects within the organization, for this, it is taken as a basis the study of a project located in Punta Negra in which the diagnosis of the current situation will be made through a Process flow diagram and a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) where we can show the critical causes that deserve strategies to implement such as the use of PMBOK®, Process Management, Lean Management, Supply Chain Management, KPI's. Finally, we will indicate the conclusions and the recommendations detected after the development of this research work. / Trabajo de investigación

Saab is a global company that primarily operates in the defense industry. The study is conducted at the Project office within the Development Department at Saab Dynamics. In a GAP analysis carried out by Saab Dynamics, one of the company's processes has proved to be unclear. The process that has been noted as problematic concerns how Saab Dynamics receives, reviews and approves and stores technical documentation that accompanies incoming deliveries. The study aims to clarify how the Development Department and the Purchasing Department collaborate on the work step and clarify how quality assurance of required documentation takes place in the current situation and how it can be improved. In the study, theory of total quality management, organizational theory as well as processes and Lean have been used. The case study has a qualitative approach as the focus aims to get a holistic view of the working methods on a specific process at Saab Dynamics that has been studied. The method used to collect data is documentation review and interviews of employees at the company. The result describes an unclear division of responsibilities regarding the work step between the Purchasing and Development Department and there is no clear process for quality assurance of required documentation. In order to have an efficient process, Saab Dynamics needs to eliminate the variation and waste that currently exists. Finally, an implementation proposal is presented for a standardized process for the work step.

Under senare år har Stora Enso sett en stadig och ökande efterfrågan. För att möjliggöra en ökad produktion framöver, ska en investering göras vid ena kartongmaskinen på Skoghalls bruk. En ökad produktion ställer krav på att det efterföljande flödet fungerar väl och idag, upplever företaget att dagens interna logistikflöde inte alltid fungerar problemfritt. För att öka förutsättningarna för att hantera produktionsökningen, finns det därför ett intresse av att undersöka aktiviteterna i det studerade flödet och se var slöseri uppstår för att kunna reducera eller eliminera dem. Syftet med studien är därmed; Ta fram rekommenderade åtgärdsförslag för hur aktiviteterna i Skoghalls bruks internlogistik kan effektiviseras. Studien utgick ifrån tre huvudfrågor: Vilka slöserier finns det kopplat till brukslagret och Vänerterminalen och var förekommer dem?, Vilka åtgärdsförslag finns för de identifierade slöserierna? och Vilka av de identifierade åtgärdsförslagen rekommenderas för Skoghalls bruk?. Den första huvudfrågan besvarades genom att en kartläggning av nuläget gjordes med inspiration från de två första stegen av en värdeflödesanlys och ett spagettidiagram. Kartläggningen baserades på intervjuer, observationer och datainsamling som genomfördes på såväl brukslagret som Vänerterminalen. Intervjuerna genomfördes med anställda som antingen arbetade operativt eller administrativt i brukslagret och Vänerterminalen, för att få en heltäckande bild över hur aktiviteterna genomfördes och var slöserier uppstår i aktiviteterna. Utifrån informationsinsamlningen togs sju födeskartor fram som innehöll tidsmätningar för de olika aktiviteterna. Baserat på kartläggningen och sammanställningen av informationsinsamlingen identifierades slöserier kopplat till aktiviteterna. Totalt identifierades fem olika typer av slöserier vilka var: onödig transport, defekta produkter, onödig rörelse, väntan och lager. För att besvara den andra huvudfrågan genomfördes först en rotorsaksanalys, med hjälp av metoderna 5 varför och fiskbensdiagram, där rotorsakerna till slöserierna identifierades. Baserat på rotorsakerna, togs nio åtgärdsförslag fram som ämnade reducera slöserierna och därmed effektivisera aktiviteterna i det studerade systemet. Slutligen besvarades den sista huvudfrågan med hjälp av ett insats-verkan diagram där åtgärdsförslag rekommenderades utifrån förväntad effekt och insats. Baserat på förväntad effekt respektive insats definierades åtgärdsförslagen som genomförbar, möjlig, överväga och avfärda. Sammanfattningsvis beslutades fyra åtgärdsförslag som genomförbara vilka rekommenderades i första hand. Vidare beslutades tre åtgärdsförslag som möjliga vilket innebär en lägre effekt än de genomförbara och de rekommenderas därför i andra hand. Två åtgärdsförslag beslutades för att övervägas, vilka kännetecknas av både en hög insats och effekt och rekommenderas därför till att undersökas vidare för att se om insatsen kan reduceras innan åtgärdsförslaget blir aktuellt. Inget åtgärdsförslag bedömdes ha så pass låg effekt i kombination med hög insats att det bör avfärdas. I figur 1 nedan ses en sammanställning av de framtagna åtgärdsförslagen. / In recent years, Stora Enso has seen steady and increasing demand. To enable increased production in the future, an investment will be made in one of the board machines at Skoghall Mill. Increased production requires that the subsequent flow works well, and today the company has expressed that the current internal logistics flow does not always work smoothly. In order to increase the conditions for managing the increase in production, there is an interest in investigating the activities in the studied flow. This is to see where waste occur in order to reduce or eliminate them. The purpose of the study is thus; To provide recommended suggestions for how the activities in Skoghall Mill’s internal logistics can be made more efficient. The study was based on three different main questions: What wastes are there linked to the mill warehouse and V¨anerterminalen and where do they occur?, What suggestions are proposed for the identified wastes? and Which of the identified suggestions are recommended for Skoghall mill?. The first main question was answered by mapping the current situation with inspiration from the first two steps of a value stream mapping and a spaghetti diagram. The mapping was based on the interviews, observations, and data collection conducted at both the mill warehouse and V¨anerterminalen during the implementation phase. The interviews were conducted with employees who worked either operationally or administratively in the mill warehouse and V¨anerterminalen, to get a comprehensive picture of how the activities were carried out and where waste occurs in the activities. Based on the collected information, seven flow maps were produced that contained time measurements for the different activities. Based on the mapping and the collected information, wastes linked to different activities were identified. A total of five different wastes were identified which were:transportation, defects, motion, waiting and inventory. To answer the second main question, a root cause analysis was first carried out, using the 5 why and fishbone diagram methods, where the root causes of the wastes were identified. Based on the root causes, nine proposed suggestions were developed that aimed to reduce waste and thus make the activities in the studied system more efficient. Finally, the last main question was answered using an impact-effort diagram where recommended suggestions were presented based on expected impact and effort. Based on expected impact and effort the proposed suggestions were defined as feasible, possible, consider and reject. To summarise, four proposed suggestions were decided to be feasible and recommended in the first instance. In addition, three proposed suggestions were identified as possible, which means a lower impact than the feasible ones, and are therefore recommended in the second place. Two proposed suggestions were decided to be considered, and these proposed suggestions are characterised by both a high effort and impact and are therefore recommended to be investigated further to see if the effort can be reduced before the proposed suggestion becomes relevant. No proposed suggestion was judged to have such a low impact in combination with high effort that it should be dismissed. Figure 2 below shows a summary of the proposed suggestions.

In line with today's emergence of new technology, there is high competition within the manufacturing industry, which places higher demands on today's industries to develop new strategies to withstand the fierce competition. For this reason, today's industry needs to be more efficient and is becoming increasingly digitized, which is the core of the new industrial revolution called "industry 4.0".  The aim of this study is to investigate, with the help of value flow analysis, new innovative tools, and principles within lean production, whether the manufacturing process can be more efficient. The study was carried out at a manufacturing company that produces dehumidifiers and has ambitions to streamline it’s manufacturing process.  Through the literature review, site observations, interviews and data analysis, a comparison was made with the theory to find solutions to the problems that emerged. The results of this study show that it is theoretically possible to make a manufacturing process more efficient using these methods. It can be pointed out that one important study will be to test these solutions to see what results can be achieved. / I linje med dagens framväxt av ny teknik råder det hög konkurrens inom tillverkningsindustrin, vilket ställer högre krav på dagens industrier att utveckla nya strategier för att stå emot den hårda konkurrensen. Av den anledningen måste dagens industri bli mer effektiv och digitaliseras alltmer, vilket är kärnan i den nya industriella revolutionen som kallas "industri 4.0".  Syftet med denna studie är att med hjälp av värdeflödesanalys, nya innovativa verktyg och principer inom lean production undersöka om tillverkningsprocessen kan bli mer effektiv. Studien genomfördes på ett tillverkningsföretag som producerar avfuktare och som har ambitioner att effektivisera sin tillverkningsprocess.  Genom litteraturgenomgång, platsobservationer, intervjuer och dataanalys gjordes en jämförelse med teorin för att hitta lösningar på de problem som uppstod. Resultaten av denna studie visar att det är teoretiskt möjligt att effektivisera en tillverkningsprocess med hjälp av dessa metoder. Det kan påpekas att en viktig studie kommer att vara att testa dessa lösningar för att se vilka resultat som kan uppnås.

Purpose: The purpose of the research is to explore how to use and implement acombination of the tools value stream mapping and discrete event simulation, to supportthe decision-making in the improvement process in an organization. The researchfurther takes the sustainability aspect into consideration. Method: A deductive approach is applied in order to explore and elaborate on existingtheories to fill the identified gap in the research field. To identify already existingtheories a literature review along with a systematic literature review were conducted.Further, to enable the exploration of the purpose, a case study was performed toelaborate on the industrial implementation of the combinational tool use. Findings: The studied research field is well researched but has an identified gapregarding the combinational tool use and its industrial application. Even though, theadvantages and challenges of the integration of the tools are well elaborated on inexisting research, the methodology on how to use and implement them in anorganization was identified as inadequate and therefore this research proposes such acontribution. One of the main conclusions of the study is that integrating DES withVSM early in the process is greatly advantageous in order to utilize theircomplementary capabilities and thus achieve more decisive facts right from the start,from the so-called current state. Implications: The conclusions of the conducted research showed that there are severaladvantages with the combinational tool use but also some challenges that need to betaken into account. In order to bridge these challenges and to take them intoconsideration when implementing the tool combination, an approach was developed tosupport the decision-making within the improvement process. In this study, to enabletool integration on complex production systems, aggregation modeling was applied togenerate a reliable replica of the system. Limitations: This study contains some limitations, whereas the most influentiallimitation is related to the data collection, both in regard to time constraints and validity.Due to the limited time that the researchers had at the factory site, the data collectionperiod was limited to less than 3 months. This in turn resulted in the use of smallersample sizes. The data collected from the case company have been generalized whencreating the models, this was due to the data being too complex to fully compile andunderstand, and a “good enough” perspective was then applied. This perspective is notconsidered to affect the validity or reliability of the study in the wider sense.

Introduction: In today's competitive environment, manufacturing companies need to find new strategies and tools to improve manufacturing efficiency and minimize waste. This study is about production efficiency in a window manufacturing company. Purpose: The purpose was to identify challenges and efficiencies in window assembly using time study and value stream mapping (VSM) methods. Another aim was to develop efficiency suggestions to eliminate or minimize non-value adding activities. Methods: Using time studies and VSM, the flow of the case company was mapped and analysed. To answer the research questions of this study, a qualitative case study was conducted at the case company. The data collection for this study was carried out through structured and semi-structured interviews and observations made at the three stations of the case company's arm flow to identify non-value adding activities. In addition, literature was collected in relevant areas.  Results: Observations and interviews conducted in the selected flow show that the case company works lean tools such as 5S and Just-In-Time (JIT). The result also demonstrates which activities are value adding for the whole process, it also shows necessary but nonvalue adding activities.  Conclusion: The findings of the study showed that value stream mapping and time studies in combination can improve the efficiency of production.  The conclusion has also showed that the following lessons can be learnt when working with time studies and VSM:   Combining time studies and VSM, planning time studies and communication when working with time studies / Introduktion: Idag råder hård konkurrens och företag inom tillverkningsindustrin måste därför utveckla nya strategier och verktyg för att effektivisera sin tillverkning och minimera slöserier. Denna studie handlar om effektivisering av produktion hos ett tillverkande företag inom fönstertillverkning.  Syfte: Syftet med studien var att med hjälp av metoderna tidsstudier och värdeflödesanalys (VFA) identifiera utmaningar och effektiviseringar vid montering av fönster. Ett annat syfte var att ta fram effektiviseringsförslag för att eliminera eller minst icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter.  Metod: Med hjälp av tidsstudier och VFA har fallföretagets karmflöde kartlagts och analyserats. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har en kvalitativ fallstudie utförts hos fallföretaget. Datainsamlingen utfördes genom dels strukturerade, och-dels semistrukturerade intervjuer, samt egna observationer av tre stationer i fallföretagets karmflöde för att identifiera icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter. Dessutom har litteratur samlats in inom relevanta områden.  Resultat: Observationer och intervjuer som genomfördes i det valda flödet visar att fallföretaget arbetar med lean-verktyg som 5S och JIT. Resultatet visar också vilka aktiviteter som är värdeskapande för hela processen, samt också nödvändiga men icke värdeskapande aktiviteter.  Slutsatsen: Studiens slutsatser visade att tidsstudier och värdeflödesanalys i kombination kan effektivisera produktionen. Studiens slutsats har också visat att följande lärdomar kan dras vid arbetet med tidsstudier och VFA:  Kombination av tidsstudier och VFA planering av tidsstudier och kommunikation vid arbete med tidsstudier

The purpose of this study is to investigate how material flows can be more efficient through the conversion from a functional-layout to a cellular-layout. The study wants to clarify how the production layout conversion can be used by organizations who are currently utilizing the functional production layout to become more efficient. For organizations to invest time and money, they must comprehend how the investment decreases waste, and the important aspects for their decision. To fulfill the purpose two research questions (RQ) are formed, these are: RQ1: What factors impact the decision between functional and cellular layout? RQ2: How can the material flows become more efficient through the conversion from a functional-layout to a cellular-layout? To answer the research questions, a case study was conducted at an organization within the automotive industry. Moreover, the method first used was a preliminary investigation to get a broader understanding of the research area. When the field of study was established, the data collection was accomplished by interviews, observations, and document studies. Moreover, a literature review was done to build a theoretical foundation and to answer one of the research questions. The case company is an organization producing in a high-cost country currently using the functional production layout. The findings of the study suggest what is impacting the decision when converting from a functional production layout to a cellular production layout, it is especially four dimensions that must be taken into consideration, these are: type of production system, production flow, product variation and volume. Further on, the case study suggests that the conversion from a functional to a cellular production layout can reduce the travel distance for the product family by 38.8 %, reduce the lead time by 24.2 % and reduce the amount of forklift lifts needed for the product family by 66.7 % at the case company. Moreover, the implications highlight and elaborate on the benefits of a production layout conversion for increasing the efficiency of material flows within a producing organization which utilizes the functional production layout. It sheds further light on how advantageous it may be to an organization when it comes to align with lean manufacturing concepts. The study offers organizations with a functional production layout an understanding of what they need to consider when and if they intend to move from a functional to a cellular production layout, thus the study gives evidence confirming the difference between the two different layouts regarding efficiency. The limitation of the study is results of the material flows improvements, since the results might be greater at the case company in comparison to other organizations using functional production layout. The study only conducts one case study, which means that the results are not necessarily generalizable. Therefore, it could be necessary to replicate the study in other organizations and contexts to see if the same results can be reached. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur materialflöden kan bli mer effektivt genom konvertering från en funktionell layout till en cellulär layout. Studien vill förtydliga hur produktionslayoutkonvertering kan användas av organisationer som idag använder den funktionella produktionslayouten för att bli mer effektiva. För att organisationer ska kunna investera tid och pengar måste de förstå hur investeringen minskar slöseri, samt vilka aspekter som är viktiga för deras beslut. För att uppfylla syftet bildas två forskningsfrågor, dessa är: Forskningsfråga 1: Vilka faktorer påverkar beslutet mellan funktionell och cellulär layout? Forskningsfråga 2: Hur kan materialflödena bli effektivare genom konvertering från en funktionell layout till en cellulär layout? För att besvara forskningsfrågorna genomfördes en fallstudie på en organisation inom fordonsindustrin. Den första metoden som användes var dessutom en förundersökning för att få en bredare förståelse av forskningsområdet. När studieområdet inrättats skedde datainsamlingen genom intervjuer, observationer och dokumentstudier. Dessutom gjordes en litteraturgenomgång för att bygga en teoretisk grund och för att svara på en av forskningsfrågorna. Fallföretaget är en producerande organisation som producerar i ett högkostnadsland och som för närvarande använder den funktionella produktionslayouten. Resultaten av studien tyder på vad som påverkar beslutet vid konvertering från funktionellt produktionsupplägg till en cellulär produktionslayout. Det är i synnerhet fyra dimensioner som måste beaktas, dessa är: typ av produktionssystem, produktionsflöde, produktvariation och volym. Vidare tyder fallstudien på att omvandlingen från en funktionell till en cellulär produktionslayout minska transportsträckan för produktfamiljen med 38,8 %, minskar ledtiden med 24,2 % och minskar antalet gaffeltruckslyft som behövs för produktfamiljen med 66,7 % hos fallföretaget.  Dessutom framhäver och förklarar fördelarna med en produktionslayoutkonvertering för att öka effektiviteten av materialflöden inom en producerande organisation som använder den funktionella produktionslayouten. Det belyser ytterligare hur fördelaktigt det kan vara för en organisation att anpassa sig efter lean manufacturing ideologin. Studien ger organisationer med en funktionell produktionslayout en förståelse för vad de behöver tänka på när och om de har för avsikt att gå från en funktionell till en cellulär produktionslayout, därför ger studien bevis som bekräftar skillnaden mellan de två olika layouten gällande effektivitet. Studiens begränsningar gäller resultat av materialflödesförbättringarna, då resultaten kan vara bättre hos fallföretaget jämfört med andra organisationer som använder funktionell produktionslayout. Studien innehåller endast en fallstudie, vilket gör att resultaten inte nödvändigtvis är generaliserbara. Därför kan det vara nödvändigt att återskapa studien i andra organisationer och sammanhang för att se om samma resultat kan uppnås.