With its core competence on bus chassis, Scania determined in the mid-2000s to co-produce coach products with two external bus body manufacturers, Lahden Autokori and Higer. However, after a decade’s cooperation, well-functioning work processes were not established and problems still existed. With this study, problems within Scania’s operations system and Scania’s supply chain management strategies towards these two partners have been identified and illustrated, by applying an abductive research method. With this study it has been evidenced that Scania’s bus operations management is affiliated with truck and the truck operations system does not fit the request from the collaborations with Lahden Autokori and Higer. Moreover, it has also been shown that even though the relationship with these two partners is by nature long-term, Scania’s attitude has been characterized by short-term thinking. This ambiguous supply chain management strategy has been causing problems. Furthermore, aside from problems within operations system and supply chain management, the third studied area is organizational identity. Due to the fact that some organizational identity issues caused by reorganization have largely influenced both of the collaborations, the formation of these identity issues as well as the impacts on the cooperation has been studied. Finally, some recommendations for improvements have been made based on the findings of this study.

The proposed research objective is to develop, test, and evaluate a mixer and charger-supply CMOS IC that derives and mixes energy and power from mixed sources to accurately supply a miniaturized system. Since the energy-dense source stores more energy than the power-dense source while the latter supplies more power than the former, the proposed research aims to develop an IC that automatically selects how much and from which source to draw power to maximize lifetime per unit volume. Today, the state of the art lacks the intelligence and capability to select the most appropriate source from which to extract power to supply the time-varying needs of a small system. As such, the underlying objective and benefit of this research is to reduce the size of a complete electronic system so that wireless sensors and biomedical implants, for example, as a whole, perform well, operate for extended periods, and integrate into tiny spaces.

This thesis focuses on three topics relevant to humanitarian applications: (i) stable and complete assignment of staff members to field offices, (ii) bottleneck management for transportation networks, and (iii) performance measurement of the food assistance supply chain. The assignment and reassignment of personnel to jobs is a large-scale problem faced by many organizations including the military and multi-national organizations. Although successful algorithms have been developed that can ensure matchings that are stable (without incentive to deviate), not all practical concerns have been addressed by these algorithms. For example, the gap we study is that when staff members do not provide preference lists covering all jobs, a complete stable matching is not guaranteed. In the first part of the thesis, we model negotiations, which occur in practice, as part of the problem of matching all agents. We introduce algorithms and structural results for when the organization negotiates with specific agents to modify their preference lists and the centralized objective is to minimize the number or cost of negotiations required to achieve complete stable matchings. An uncertain environment with disruptions is a reality faced by many humanitarian operations but not fully addressed in the literature. Transportation delays are often driven by reliability issues (e.g., customs delays, strikes, and the availability of transport), and the length of wait time can be influenced by congestion. In the second part of the thesis, we describe a queuing model with breakdowns to model delays in port and transportation corridors (the overland travel from discharge ports to delivery points). Using the model, we gain insights into where delays are most detrimental to system performance (i.e., the network's "bottleneck") in port and transportation corridors. We then include our delay modeling in a convex cost network flow model that determines optimal routing when several port and corridor options are available. Finally, we examine a resource allocation model for where to invest in improvements to minimize delay. Throughout, we compare solutions using the optimal approach to rules of thumb and identify important factors that might be missing in practical decision making currently. Third, we present a case study on the implementation of supply chain key performance indicators (KPIs) at a large humanitarian organization. We describe (i) the phases necessary for a full implementation of supply chain KPIs at a humanitarian or non-profit organization, (ii) how to address strategy, mindset, and organizational barriers, and (iii) how to adapt commercial supply chain KPI frameworks to the humanitarian sector, factoring in implementation constraints present in the humanitarian sector that may impact KPI development. Last, a conclusion chapter discusses areas where this research may or may not generalize for each of the three topics studied.

Supply chain management (SCM) has become one of the most popular and fastest growing areas in management. One major issue of SCM is the proper design of supply chains to serve customers effectively (high customer service) and efficiently (at low costs). This is particularly difficult as companies nowadays face a series of challenges like shrinking product life cycles, the proliferation of product variants (mass customization), and increasing uncertainty on both the demand and the supply side. Dealing efficiently with uncertainty is one of the most crucial points in supply chain design. According to Lovejoy (1998) a company has three generic possibilities to address uncertainty: it can either hold safety inventory, hold safety capacity, or reduce variability by using enhanced information. These three strategies constitute the so-called Operations management (OM) triangle. This study will analyze whether and how variability can be reduced in supply chains and thereby improve process performance of supply chains. This means that the concept of OM triangle is extended and linked to concepts from SCM, with a special focus on the analysis of the role of information and its capability for reducing variability. As one result of this study a new variability framework is presented, organizing the different types of variability in supply chains. Second, the extended OM triangle is eveloped, linking concepts from SCM to the OM triangle. Finally, it can be stated that handling variability within the supply chain is major challenge for every supply chain manager, as there is always some kind of uncertainty or variability. This study may help to organize this broad field of action within supply chains. (author's abstract)

In times of demand shocks, when quantitative forecasting based on historical time series becomes obsolete, the only information about future demand is "advance demand information", i.e. interpreting early customer bookings as an indicator of not yet known demand. This paper deals with a forecasting method which selects the optimal forecasting model type and the level of integration of advance demand information, depending on the patterns of the particular time series. This constitutes the applicability of the procedure within an industrial application where a large number of time series is automatically forecasted in a flexible and data-driven way. The architecture of such a planning system is explained and using real-world data from a make-to-order industry it is shown that the system is flexible enough to cover different demand patterns and is well-suited to forecast demand shocks. (authors' abstract)

This study has examined the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of pre-service teachers prior to and after a Project WET workshop within their science education and science methods courses at Ball State University. The attitudes and opinions of the pre-service teacher study group were compared to a pre-service teacher control group before and after the workshop. There is evidence to support that those who are exposed to Project WET will have increased knowledge and changed attitudes about water resources. This study found that teaching styles of instructors as well as the activities they choose can affect what is learned in a workshop by the participants. It was also found that pre-service teachers who participate in an environmental education workshop, such as Project WET, are more likely than those who do not participate in such a workshop to report that they felt more confident in their ability to teach science and that they plan to use the materials they received in the future. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

The ushering in of the new democratic order in South Africa in 1994 brought with it far-reaching changes that impacted on the lives of every citizen. South Africa was faced with the task of translating the dreams of its citizens into reality. To do so, the state, through its various departments had to revisit it approach to service delivery. this led to the extensive restructuring processes that characterised the first decade of democratic rule in this country. The changes that occurred and are still occurring in education are remarkable and commendable. Post 1994, the Ministry of Education had to dismantle the apartheid structure and create a unified education system. During apartheid there were 19 Education Departments, which had to be amalgamated into one National Department, which is further divided into nine Provincial Education Departments (Hofmeyer, 2000:2). this was to create a more equitable system of financing in a context of the huge demand on the limited financial resources and to create a policy framework, which gave concrete expression to the values, which underpinned the post apartheid state. The first five years of reconstruction were dedicated towards the dismantling of apartheid, and the creation of structures and procedures. This included transfers of staff, offices, records, assets and more than ten million learners and educators into the new system without compromising service delivery. Educators are central to educational change, the policy on norms and standard for educators were introduced in 2000 (Robinson, 2003:19). This policy created the framework and procedures for the approval of teacher education programmes and outlined the kinds of qualifications that the Department of Education would consider for funding and for employment. The policy provides an outline of the knowledge, skills and values that are seen as the hallmarks of a professional and competent educator (Robinson, 2003:21 ). / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

The production of oil requires tremendous amounts of energy consumption through a distributed combustion network of processes along the oil supply chain spectrum. The consequences of fossil-based fuel combustion processes are the generation of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and hazardous wastewater, which have adverse environmental effects. Potential mitigation options of GHG emissions are the application of renewable and alternative energy sources. This research deals with integrating the upstream oil supply chain with renewable power generation systems in order to assess the impact of energy demand, and CO2 emissions on the efficiency of oil operations and environment . The main focus in this thesis is to evaluate the solar energy alternative for producing part of the energy requirements in the upstream oil supply chain. The output from the research will provide an optimal mix of energy generation in the upstream oil industry in order to comply with CO2 constraints, while sustaining target production plans. An analysis of GHG emission sources and their associated flow rates in the upstream oil supply chain mainly CO2 is discussed in this study. An investigation of replacement of energy supply for some non-critical operations from fossil fuels or other conventional sources to green renewable energy sources mainly from solar energy is also carried out with special focus on enhanced oil recovery operations. An analysis of different types of solar energy and identification of the best type of solar energy technologies that best matches the oil and gas industry is investigated in this study. The thesis will also identify the challenges for solar energy integration including irradiation levels and weather conditions in addition to policy regulations

In today’s competitive market, survival and response to customer needs and expectations are enabled through high-quality products for low costs – quality products provided by suppliers fulfilling today’s quality-requirements for a low price. Companies have until recent years selected suppliers only according to a pricing structure, leaving other criteria’s, such as quality, behind. The purpose of this master thesis is therefore to investigate quality aspects that must be considered from a supplier evaluation perspective and design a simple evaluation tool for first-time supplier selections. Both new and existing suppliers will be tested with the tool according to information given during a case study made at Flexit AS, a Norwegian ventilation-systems company looking to introduce a structured approach for selecting suppliers. Through an extensive literature- and empirical study, where a survey, of which evaluation criteria’s to be included in the evaluation tool, was conducted together with several both semi-structured and unstructured interviews, a foundation for the design of the tool was presented. Quality management systems and quality performance measurements, such as rejection rate and delivery precision, are considered as fundamental aspects to consider when assessing a supplier. Acceptance levels of approval are set according to in-house objectives. If any evaluation tool including quality should be usable, an in-house quality system must therefore first be implemented by the in-house company – a notable improvement recommended to the case company. The design of the tool given from the thesis provides the evaluator with an opportunity to visualize and compare existing suppliers according to five criteria’s including cost, together with an additional spreadsheet for evaluation of new suppliers put forward as a foundation and an indicator if new suppliers are considering quality on a basic level.

Tendering process is central to national government in South Africa. The goods and services bought by national government in South Africa represent a large amount of public money, and it is very important that national government put in place measure to manage how these goods and services are acquired. In the main government acquire goods and services through tender system and the focus of the study was tendering process in national government in South Africa. The amount of public resources that national government uses in the tendering process is huge and is approximately over 20% of GDP, which has direct implication for service delivery and job creation as well as redressing past discrimination by empowering designated groups of peoples to receive preference in tendering. South Africa is one of the countries with the highest level of corruption rate in the world, of which tender fraud and corruption play a major part. Considering that, the reform of tendering process in national government is therefore inevitable and has to take place. The primary objective of this study is to analyse national government tender system, and identify the tendering problems facing South African national departments. The study further made practical recommendations to National Government, National Treasury, and all the relevant stakeholders relating to the management of tendering process. Data from 355 questionnaires completed by participants, represented 45 national department was collected and analysed. This study found that national government is facing major challenges in managing of tendering process, and these challenges relates to implementation and adoption of the code of best practice. The most important conclusions drawn from the study are: * The department complies with all the above legislation and keep the rules as stipulated in the legislation; * There is a need to issue a single national legislative framework in terms of section 76(4)(c) of the PFMA to guide uniformity in tendering process; * The tendering legislations and its associated regulations are complex and may make it difficult to implement correctly; * The department follow all tendering process generic steps at all times; * The current evaluation system is not a good system and is biased towards the lowest price bidders; * The current tendering practices in government are outdated and inefficient; * Tender practitioners are not adequately trained in the application of the tender process and its associated regulations; * The departments did not keep a detailed and consistent documentation of all events of the whole tendering procedure at all times; * The current tendering practices do not conform to internationally accepted best practices; * The department’s tendering function is not carried out in a cost–effective way; and * The current tendering system is fair, encourages competition, and has integrity. Practical recommendations are suggested to ensure the effective management of tendering process in national government. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.