The purpose of this Bachelor's thesis is to design the utilizable and flexible layout for the logistic centre regarding to their future goals and strategies. In this thesis was developed a model, with regard to the principles of logistic system in the unloading process, which is the bottleneck of the case company, because it takes a lot of time, and the reducing the waste time is the significant goal of the case company. The aim of the models has been created, eliminate unnecessary processes and decrease to total process time in the unloading area, at the same time reduce to total cost and provide utilization in the unloading area. This will result in satisfactory.

Detta examensarbete syftar till att inom industriell förrådsverksamhet undersöka hur ett internt materialflöde kan bidra till en effektivare produktion. Studien avser även att redogöra för hur slöseri i ett internt materialflöde kan reduceras inom industriell förrådsverksamhet.Genom empiriskt data från fallföretaget parallellt med relevant litteraturstudie har teorier tagits fram för hur detta kan genomföras.Vid kartläggning av nuläget har en värdeflödesanalys tillämpats hos förrådsverksamheten som är ansvarig för att distribuera material. Därefter har MUDA tillämpats för att upplysa slöseri.På grund av omfattning och tidsbrist kunde endast ett av flertal områden analyserats. Med hjälp av intervjuer har forskaren kunnat fokusera på endast det som ansetts vara det mest kritiska problemet för att förse riggen med material i god tid. Detta då fallföretaget strävar efter att ha så korta ställtider som möjligt. För att uppnå detta är det viktigt att så mycket som möjligt förbereds innan omställning. Därför är det viktigt med ett effektivt materialflöde för att kunna förse riggen med material i rätt tid.Då komponenterna lagras i stora kvantiteter på rullar sker det att det endast finns en rulle av vissa komponenter vilket skapar störningar då samma komponent använts till två eller flera jobb samtidigt.Arbetet resulterar i att fallföretaget bör jobba med ständiga förbättringar samt att tillämpa en metod för förebyggande av störningar inom det interna materialflödet.

In the socio-technical society, the demands of the user create opportunities for new services based on mobile devices. Services such as Swish and Samsung Pay contribute to new ways for both individuals but also companies to carry out simple mobile-based payments. Through past studies in the field in focus, development of services for mobile payment services, and group and in-depth interviews a number of influencing factors on the design process have been noticed: factors such as the customer’s major impact on a design process and the importance of a functioning communication between designers and customers. Working agile facilitates this and at the same time enables the involvement of users in the design process. This work focus on norms and trends in the design process and the most important influencing factors in a design process based on reality. / I det sociotekniska samhället skapar kraven från användare möjligheter till nya tjänster med utgångspunkt i mobila enheter. Tjänster som Swish och Samsung Pay bidrar till nya sätt för både privatpersoner men också företag att utföra enkla mobilbaserade betalningar. Genom teoretisk bakgrund till området i fokus, utveckling av tjänster hos mobila betaltjänster, samt utförandet av djupgående intervjuer och gruppintervjuer har flera olika påverkande faktorer på designprocessen kunnat urskiljas: faktorer som kundens stora inverkan på en designprocess och vikten av en fungerande kommunikation mellan alla designers och kunden. Agilt arbete underlättar för detta och samtidigt möjliggör involvering av användare i designprocessen. Detta arbete fokuserar på normer och trender inom designprocessen och de viktigaste påverkande faktorerna i en designprocess utifrån från ett verklighetsbaserat fokus.

De globala förhållandena förändras hela tiden och denna förändring har en stor inverkan på världshandeln. Detta dynamiska förhållande påverkar i sin tur ett outsourcingen hos ett företag. De flesta produktionsföretagen måste anpassa sig till de nya omständigheterna. Traditionellt har outsourcing sköts av företag i länder såsom Kina, men även Vietnam och Bangladesh. På senare tid har lönerna i Kina höjts och i och med det har även medelklassen vuxit. Syftet med detta arbete är att analysera denna trend och utforska en alternativ region som har potential att ersätta Kina när det gäller outsourcing Regionen som arbetet har fokuserat på är Östafrika, specifikt Kenya och Etiopien. Essän utforskar möjligheterna för tillverkningsföretag att flytta sin produktion till denna region. Genom en extensiv analys baserat på en omfattande litteraturstudie, visar rapporten att Etiopien och Kenya har goda möjligheter att vinna marknadsandelar i framtiden. Etiopien har fördelar när det gäller kostnader, medan Kenya redan har åstadkommit mycket gällande produktionsvolym. / The global economic circumstances change continuously and that change has a vital impact on the world trade. With the circumstances changing, it influences the outsourcing scheme. Most companies that deal with manufacturing must adapt to the new conditions. Traditionally the outsourcing within manufacturing has been allocated to countries such as China and recently Vietnam and Bangladesh. With the increasing wages in China and growing middle class the conditions have changed for the industry. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this recent trend and explore an alternative region which has the potential to fill in the gap. The region we have focused on is East Africa and specifically Kenya and Ethiopia. The main focus of the paper is to explore the opportunities for manufacturing companies to outsource to this region and to examine the possible future scenarios. From the research, based on the extensive analysis grounded in literature study, we concluded that both Kenya and Ethiopia have great chances of winning more market share in the future. Ethiopia have many advantages especially when it comes to costs, while Kenya has already achieved a lot regarding production volume.

<p>Validerat; 20101217 (root)</p>

<p> Some independent software vendors might not endure the reduction in revenue and increased costs associated when they switch software license models. The lack of identified and prioritized complexities might lead to potential increased revenue loss or prevent small and medium-sized independent software vendors within the United States from migrating from perpetual software licensing to subscription-based models. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore, document, and describe organizational complexities and their prioritization in contributing to the failure or success of software license model migration. The research questions for this qualitative case study included a Primary Research Question: What complexities can senior management of small and medium-sized independent software vendors (ISV) encounter when migrating from a perpetual license model to a subscription-based licensing model? Supporting Research Question 1: What is the prioritization of the complexities determined to be a factor in the migration of software licensing models? Supporting Research Question 2: How do identifying and prioritizing complexities affect decision-making to mitigate potential initial revenue loss? For this study, eight managers were recruited from a small to medium sized independent software vendor. Specifically, participants in the sample were managers who have worked within the software industry for at least four years, had knowledge of the company&rsquo;s existing software license model, and were involved in the consideration of migrating from a perpetual license model to a subscription-based licensing model. The data collection methods for this research were face-to-face interviews, a focus group, and direct observations. The multi-criteria decision analysis theory and diffusion of influence theory served as the conceptual framework for this research. The framework provided a model for software vendor executives to identify and prioritize complexities and reduce the initial loss of revenue during license migration. Eight themes emerged: financial, go-to-market, infrastructure, reorganization, security, training, and unknown strategy. There was a consistency between the themes and literature. The data was consistent with the multi-criteria decision and diffusion of influence theories. The results indicated four key findings: support functions were less aware of complexities, no evidence of a clear strategic plan was present, the most significant complexity anticipated was the go-to-market complexity, and there was a direct effect on decision-making in identifying and prioritizing complexities. Exploring and understanding the totality of complexities an independent software vendor may encounter, the prioritization of those complexities, and adjusting decision-making to compensate for those complexities, while establishing and following a communicated strategic plan may significantly reduce the potential for financial loss, increase market positioning and competitive advantage. The results and limitations may provide areas for future research. Future studies should seek to conduct similar studies with multiple independent software vendors to provide additional levels of validation and reliability. Such studies should include independent software vendors who have successfully and unsuccessfully migrated license models.</p><p>

This work contributes to the development of electrocatalysts for use in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, specifically for the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). To achieve this, electrochemical analysis was conducted using biofabricated platinum (bio-Pt) catalyst. Bio-Pt per se was found to be a poor catalyst for the ORR, attributed to the platinum being inaccessible to the reactants. Various ‘cleaning’ techniques were tested to partially remove biomass, providing improved catalytic activity.

This thesis seeks to expand the knowledge on fluid gels and hydrocolloid tribology from a microstructural perspective. This was based on recent research highlighting the significance of tribology for in-mouth fat-related textural analysis during oral processing and the use of hydrocolloids, including fluid gels, for the development of reduced fat liquid and semi-solid foods. This thesis considers the control of fluid gel microstructures and the influence of hydrocolloid microstructure on material properties and lubrication. It is shown that the microstructure of a fluid between two-rubbing surfaces determines the tribological response which cannot necessarily be predicted from that fluid’s rheology. The microstructure of foods is therefore important in determining textural attributes, and tribology is an important field to study alongside rheology for the designed formulation of low-fat foods with acceptable mouth-feel. Particles of kappa-carrageenan fluid gels are shown to form aggregated percolated networks at low volume fractions and to have rheological properties between that typical for linear-polymers and hard-spheres. This behaviour is suggested to result from the particles having ‘hairy’ structures, that is, disordered polymer chains, resultant from a disruption of the molecular ordering process caused by the applied shear during their formation.

The relationship between the formulation of ceramic mould materials for investment casting and their mechanical properties was investigated. A number of different ceramic materials were employed throughout the investigation including alumina, zirconia, mullite and colloidal silica. Ceramic shell specimens were investigated by measuring mechanical strength using flexural and compressive testing with the former being conducted at both room and elevated temperatures. Samples were further investigated by thermal expansion measurement and Archimedes porosity measurement. It was determined that the incorporation of unstabilised zirconia as both a stucco and filler material was effective in terms of reducing the fired strength of investment casting ceramics. Structural observations of samples under SEM revealed that the weakened samples featured significant cracking in the fired condition due to the occurrence of the zirconia phase transition. Thermal expansion measurements confirmed both the presence of the phase transition and the extent of the disruption caused. It was observed for slurries containing silica and alumina, that variation of the proportions of either had a significant effect on the properties of the final shell material. It was also shown that the size of the ceramic particles within the slurry had a significant effect on the final properties of the ceramic body.

This thesis aimed to quantify the effect of anabolic agents ascorbic acid (AA)/ proline (P) on the rates of contraction of the fibrin hydrogel scaffold as well as develop a process for increasing construct collagen content, tensile strength and widths. Supplementation with AA/ P, in combination or individually, revealed contrasting effects on the rates of fibrin gel contraction dependent on concentration and culture duration. There appeared to be strong correlations between the extents of contraction and construct collagen content. Enhancing the stiffness of the fibrin hydrogel augmented widths of the constructs but did not improve construct collagen content or tensile strength. The results further demonstrated that increasing the volume fraction of fibrin fibres present, either by increasing the total volume of reagents or by adjusting the ratio of thrombin to fibrinogen used could be utilised to modify sinew widths. Constructs prepared using a stiffer fibrin gel formulation, supplemented with AA+P, resulted in enhanced collagen content, sinew tensile strength and improved interface tensile attachment. The results also demonstrated variation in fibrin gel contraction rates and collagen production due to different cell sources, growth medium employed or the use of metal ion cofactors Zn\(^{2+}\)/ Mn\(^{2+}\), thereby suggesting areas that could be investigated further and optimized.