<p>Detta Examensarbete är en undersökning av företag som organiserat sin verksamhet efter produkternas flöden genom produktionen. De anställda arbetar i lag från order till leverans med en och samma produkt. Genom kompetensutveckling och breddade arbetsuppgifter för de anställda, i kombination med befintlig eller ny produktionsteknik, skapas möjligheter för ökad effektivitet och produktivitet. De anställda utbildas för flera och nya arbetsuppgifter där de växlar mellan operativa arbetsuppgifter och administrativa arbetsuppgifter. Arbetsgrupperna ansvarar för de resurser som företaget disponerar, samt styr och följer upp verksamheten mot uppställda mål för till exempel leveranssäkerhet och produktivitet. Ansvaret för den löpande verksamheten ligger hos arbetsgrupperna i produktionsflödet.</p><p>För att lyckas med omorganisationen drar jag slutsatser som att ledningen måste skapa motivation, kunskap och praktiska möjligheter hos sina anställda. Att formulera gemensamma mål och diskutera gemensamma värderingar ses som en viktig del i arbetsprocessen. Det gäller att förankra idéer och att specificera krav och planer för utvecklingsarbetet. Tid och resurser måste satsas på kompetensutveckling längs hela produktionsflödet, för att de anställda ska få vidgat arbetsinnehåll och ökat ansvar.</p>

<p>Produktionsstyrningen på företagen runt om i världen är i ständig förändring. Ett begrepp som ofta används för japanska logistiska idéer är Just-In-Time (JIT). Vad som egentligen innefattas i JIT beror på vilken författare man läser. För det mesta belyses de produktionstekniska delarna av JIT.</p><p>En del av Just-In-Time som mer sällan tas upp i litteraturen är faktorer som ibland anses som grundläggande för att JIT ska fungera framgångsrikt på företagen. Många av dessa faktorer är något mjukare aspekter av Just-In-Time. Det är om dessa mjukare faktorer mitt arbete handlar.</p><p>Jag ska i mitt examensarbete undersöka om ett antal faktorer som tillämpas på japanska företag även tillämpas på företag i Sverige. De olika faktorer mitt arbete kretsar kring är i korthet följande:</p><p>- Jobbrotation</p><p>- Gemensamt beslutsfattande</p><p>- Självstyrande grupper</p><p>- Teamwork och grupptillhörighet</p><p>- Möjlighet till långsiktig personalpolitik</p><p>- Omfattande utbildning</p><p>- Gemensamt språk inom företaget</p><p>- Aktiv förslagsverksamhet</p><p>- Synbarhet för alla</p><p>- Lönesystem</p><p>Undersökningen går ut på att få reda på om dessa faktorer är något som tillämpas på företag i Sverige. Jag vill även undersöka i vilken utsträckning de olika faktorerna tillämpas.</p><p>Jag har valt att använda mig av en enkätundersökning för att få reda på om de olika faktorerna tillämpas i Sverige. De företag som var aktuella för att passa in på min problemställning var tillverkande företag i Skaraborg med mellan 100 och 500 anställda. Jag ringde och talade med den produktionsansvarige på företagen och berättade om mitt examensarbete innan jag skickade ut enkäterna.</p><p>Utifrån enkätsvaren kunde jag dra slutsatserna att samtliga faktorer tillämpas på företag i Sverige. Jag kunde även dra slutsatsen att det inte är ovanligt att faktorerna tillämpas. Det fanns ingen faktor som verkade helt främmande för företagen. Jag ansåg mig även kunna säga vilken faktor som tillämpas mest och vilken som tillämpas minst. Den faktor som verkar vara vanligast är ‘Möjlighet till långsiktig personalpolitik’ och den faktor som verkar vara ovanligast är ‘Gemensamt beslutsfattande’.</p><p>Förslag till fortsatt forskning anser jag kunna vara att undersöka ytterligare mjuka faktorer, eventuellt med inriktning på attityder, trender och vilken kunskap som finns på svenska företag om dessa eller andra faktorer.</p>

<p>Enligt vissa kontroversiella forskare, som kallar sig kognitiva etologer, så kan antropomorfism användas i forskningssyfte inom djurkognition. Syftet med den här rapporten är att analysera antropomorfism och dess grundläggande beståndsdelar, samt utföra en undersökning för att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar människors tolkningar av djurs beteende. Tre personer fick kommentera några videosekvenser, innehållande djur. De skulle låtas att de var ett av djuren och efter varje videosekvens blev de utfrågade om hur de hade resonerat under "agerandet". Den kvalitativa analysen av materialet visade att flera faktorer tillsammans inverkade på deltagarnas tolkningar och att överdriven antropomorfism kan undvikas till viss del, beroende på individuella faktorer.</p>

<p>This dissertation is concerned with exploring the behaviour and the internal properties of agent controllers which employ recurrent artificial neural networks, whose internal dynamics have been evolved by an evolutionary algorithm for coping with a visually-guided orientation task. Guided by a very simple fitness function, defined at behaviour level, the evolution allowed for emergence of different strategies, two of which are analysed in detail using traditional connectionist analysis methods. The examined strategies succeed in the orientation task by inherently handling a simple form of the object persistence problem in the limited environment, and by employing behaviours which include passive and active search, object tracking, obstacle avoidance, and a simple form of discrimination, each of which were observed to correspond to hidden unit activation subspaces.</p>

<p>In recent years organizations developing information systems have started to demand that there should be an explicit connection between the rationale of the system developed and the system itself. In the "From Fuzzy to Formal" project an attempt to develop a methodology supporting this was made. Within the project a method called Enterprise Modeling was developed, aiming at creating this connection. This method contains five different sub-models. The sub-models are connected to each other by inter-model links. The models developed using EM are of high complexity. Therefore tool and repository support should be provided. To be flexible and extendible, such a tool set should be based upon a standardized meta-model. CDIF is an example of such a standard.</p><p>In this dissertation we develop a meta-model capable of capturing the information that is created using the Enterprise Modeling technique. We use the extensibility mechanism that is provided with the CDIF standard to extend the existing CDIF Integrated meta-model to support the models used in this work. We also develop a procedure supporting the mapping between the representations. Finally we discuss the functionality of a tool capable of supporting the work with the models.</p>

<p> Critical infrastructure (CI) risk management frameworks require identification of single point of failure risks but existing reliability assessment methods are not practical for identifying single points of failure in CI systems. The purpose of this study was development and assessment of a system reliability assessment tool specific to the task of identifying single points of failure in CI systems. Using a series of action research nested cycles the author developed, applied, and improved a single point of failure analysis (SPFA) tool consisting of a six step method and novel single point of failure analysis algorithm which was utilized in analyzing several CI systems at a participating data center organization for single points of failure. The author explored which components of existing reliability analysis methods can be used for SPFA, how SPFA aligns with CI change and risk management, and the benefits and drawbacks of using the six step method to perform SPFA. System decomposition, network tree, stated assumptions, and visual aids were utilized in the six step method to perform SPFA. Utilizing the method the author was able to provide the participating organization with knowledge of single point of failure risks in 2N and N+X redundant systems for use in risk and change management. The author and two other individuals independently performed SPFA on a system and consistently identified two components as single points of failure. The method was beneficial in that analysts were able to analyze different types of systems of varying familiarity and consider common cause failure and system interdependencies as single points of failure. Drawbacks of the method are reliance on the ability of the analyst and assumptions stated by the analyst. The author recommends CI organizations utilize the method for identification of single points of failure in risk management and calls future researchers to further investigate the method quantitatively.</p><p>

<p> Team collaboration and decision making have a significant role in the overall performance of complex System of Systems (SoS). Inefficient decisions can result in significant extra cost and reduction in the overall team performance within the organizations. Therefore, the early and effective evaluation of the individual and collaborative team decisions are essential. The degree of utility of alternative strategy designs may vary given the condition, but these conditions are not always considered when the decisions are being made. Improved Systems Engineering (SE) processes and tools are needed during the systems&rsquo; development lifecycle to make decisions, and rapidly evaluate and assess multiple design alternatives to effectively select architectural design strategies that yield the highest mission performance. This research applies the SE principles of design for change and flexibility in an agent-based model to simulate design alternatives for systems analysis and decision making. The model evaluates and selects the decision(s) for SoS comprised of collaborative teams resulting in higher mission performance. The proposed agent-based model was applied to test the team decision-making improvements within the SoS structure of the air transportation domain. The experimental results indicated significant improvements in decision coordination, decision workload, and overall system performance in air transportation domain. This research contributes to the agent-based modeling of the SoS teams and can assist with evaluating team decisions and improving decision making as an essential element in the field of Systems Engineering.</p><p>

<p> Agile Software Development methods such as Scrum, SAFe, Kanban, and Large Scale Agile (LeSS) promise substantial benefits in terms of productivity, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, quality project management overhead, and time to market. As Agile methods have become widespread in the software development industry and begin to take root in the overall business community, there is an increasing need to understand the firm level impact of the implementation of these methods. To build the most effective business case for organizations in and out of the software development industry, it is imperative that a case be made to show that the implementation of Agile frameworks has constituted a competitive advantage. This study investigated the organization level performance impact of switching from traditional methods to the use of Agile frameworks. The results showed that changing from a traditional methodology to an Agile framework resulted in higher return on assets and lower operating expense ratios. The interaction between time and methodology for OER, ROA, or revenues in Table 6 did not show a significant difference, indicating that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. Thus, we cannot say whether performance differs as a function of type of agile methodology. That said, the non-parametric sign test shows that the median improvement in Operating Expense Ratios were highest for Scrum while SAFe seemed to show a slightly higher improvement in Return on Assets. On the whole, Scrum seems to outperform SAFe in terms of operating efficiency (as measured by OER) but lags in terms of ROA.</p><p>

abstract: In accelerated life tests (ALTs), complete randomization is hardly achievable because of economic and engineering constraints. Typical experimental protocols such as subsampling or random blocks in ALTs result in a grouped structure, which leads to correlated lifetime observations. In this dissertation, generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) approach is proposed to analyze ALT data and find the optimal ALT design with the consideration of heterogeneous group effects. Two types of ALTs are demonstrated for data analysis. First, constant-stress ALT (CSALT) data with Weibull failure time distribution is modeled by GLMM. The marginal likelihood of observations is approximated by the quadrature rule; and the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation method is applied in iterative fashion to estimate unknown parameters including the variance component of random effect. Secondly, step-stress ALT (SSALT) data with random group effects is analyzed in similar manner but with an assumption of exponentially distributed failure time in each stress step. Two parameter estimation methods, from the frequentist’s and Bayesian points of view, are applied; and they are compared with other traditional models through simulation study and real example of the heterogeneous SSALT data. The proposed random effect model shows superiority in terms of reducing bias and variance in the estimation of life-stress relationship. The GLMM approach is particularly useful for the optimal experimental design of ALT while taking the random group effects into account. In specific, planning ALTs under nested design structure with random test chamber effects are studied. A greedy two-phased approach shows that different test chamber assignments to stress conditions substantially impact on the estimation of unknown parameters. Then, the D-optimal test plan with two test chambers is constructed by applying the quasi-likelihood approach. Lastly, the optimal ALT planning is expanded for the case of multiple sources of random effects so that the crossed design structure is also considered, along with the nested structure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Industrial Engineering 2017

<p> Executives and directors are seeking to transform their enterprises into more efficient operations to achieve a competitive advantage and increase shareholder value. In addition, modern enterprises are deploying new technologies to attain the desired efficiencies inherently promised by technology advancements. However, the transformation and technology adoption results vary considerably between failure and success. Therefore, to identify an efficient and consistent method for guiding transformation efforts, we conducted a literature review of the technology adoption models, enterprise transformations, systems of systems, and human factors to identify efforts directed at integrating these research areas. This holistic approach guided the research method in which we subsequently conducted a qualitative action research case study to identify the influencers of technology adoption factors. The results of the case study identified the factors of human perception (salience, effort, expectancy, and value) are key influencers that accelerate technology adoption during the deployment phase similar to the application of human factors during the development phase of the technology lifecycle. These influencers generate perceived value for the technology and tools employed during enterprise transformations. Furthermore, we propose a model for using technological capabilities to enhance enterprise transformations based on context, process-based work instructions, work-instruction-based training, and subject-matter-expert desk-side support. Consequently, we determined that this perceived value technology adoption model should be a preferred tool for new technology deployments in addition to updating existing deployed technology for increased value that can be leveraged for lasting enterprise transformations. </p><p>