This report covers a development project conducted as Bachelor of Science thesis for the Innovation & design engineer program at Karlstad University. The assignment was created by Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) in Sandviken. The purpose of this project was to seek a solution to a problem the client experience when measuring Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). OEE is a measurement of machine utilization as how well a machine or operation utilized agent the planned time. Today OEE is used on all machines in the business and the company has a constant pursuit for a higher value. OEE shows the availability of the machine, the utilization as well as the quality exchange of the products it produces. This report is structured with an introduction followed by a theoretical framework that later chapters are based on. The report also includes an implementation part and a results part as well as a conclusion with a discussion. The goal of this project has been to find a new method to calculate and visualize OEE for production and to present an educational package for operators and flow managers to have a board knowledge to the measurements all across SMT. The result of the work was a new waterfall graph that visualizes all the losses in the production. The result has also provided an educational package for operators which includes a standard to what code to enter when the machine is in standstill. Further development of the work that has been done, is proposed to be implemented on other machines and also to standardize their work when reporting the cause of standstill in production.

Although total quality management (TQM) has been so widely adopted, its theoretical underpinnings remain relatively unexplored as compared to other management theories. A frequently pointed out research gap is on the cultural side of TQM as a human-oriented management philosophy. TQM is known to begin mainly in Japan and the United States. However, the cultural values of the Japanese and the American people are very different. In Japan, the importance of group harmony is stressed, while the Americans mainly value individual creativity and achievements. Even so, companies in these different cultures have succeeded in implementing TQM and have achieved world class performance. It is reasonable to believe that when TQM, as a culture-free system itself, is being implemented in a particular cultural setting, it must accommodate to a certain extent the local culture. That is to say, Japanese-style TQM is obviously different from American-style TQM and a culture-specific TQM indeed exists. As TQM and ISO 9000 have recently become some of the hottest managerial issues in mainland China and the overseas Chinese regions, this empirical study is concerned with the influence of Chinese cultural values on TQM. In particular, the operations of ISO 9000 certified companies in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and the cultural values of their Chinese managers were analyzed. Grounded on sociological and psychological theories, quantitative (structural equation modeling) and qualitative (case studies and interviews) research methods were employed to devise a general theoretical model of cultural ii influence on TQM. Furthermore, using Chinese cultural values as a case, the specificities of a Chinese-style TQM were uncovered. The study has not only contributed its modest share towards the theoretical development of TQM but has also paved way for understanding indigenous managerial psychology from a different perspective.

Denna studie handlar om organisation och kvalitetsstyrning i mindre och medelstora företag. Syftet är att bidra med ökad förståelse för användning av kvalitetsstyrning i små och medelstora tillverkande företag. Undersökningen gjordes som en fallstudie där två företag studerades. På varje företag deltog ett flertal respondenter, och den metodik som användes var intervju och enkät. Det resultat som framkom är att motiv för certifiering inom kvalitet är avgörande för att lyckas med kvalitetsstyrning. Ambitionen för kvalitetsutveckling måste vara på en högre strategisk nivå, eftersom det är först då man verkligen kommer att lyckas med kvalitetsutveckling. För att lyckas med kvalitetsutveckling räcker det inte att följa standarder och tekniska krav vid tid tidpunkten för certifiering, man måste se kvalitetsutveckling som en del av strategin och få det in i företagskulturen och därmed bli en naturlig del i det dagliga arbetet. I mindre och medelstora företag är ledningens roll mycket viktig då ledningen har extra stor påverkan på företagskulturen. Ledningen skall ha en strategisk överblick, men också arbeta operativt med kvalitetsansvar, och arbeta med medarbetarna för att skapa en kvalitetskultur, där personlig kvalitet genomsyrar arbetet, och alla medarbetare måste vara delaktiga. Man skall vara uppmärksam på bristande rationalitet, att det man säger att man gör inte alltid överensstämmer med verkligheten, vilket också är ett argument för att ej kopiera vad andra påstår sig göra. Arbetssätt måste anpassas till företagets verksamhet, och i detta arbete måste alla involveras, och man skall se verksamheten från flera strategiska synsätt. Kvalitetsverktyg kan hos små och medelstora företag med fördel ha sin utgångspunkt i konkret avvikelsehantering, och man skall vara uppmärksam på att mjuka kvalitetsverktyg är det viktiga i kvalitetsutveckling, inte tekniska aspekter eller en massa onödiga mätningar och analyser som andra påstår att de använder i sin verksamhet. / This is a study about organisation and quality management in small and medium sized companies. The purpose is to contribute to increased knowledge of quality management in small and medium sized companies. The study was made as a case study where two companies participated. At each company various respondents participated in the study, and the method used was interview and questionnaire. The results show that motives for quality certification is crucial for the success or no success of quality management. When quality management is to be developed, the ambition must be on a higher strategic level, as success will only be possible when that is the case. In small and medium sized companies the role of management is very important as management has extra strong influence on the company culture. The company management must have a strategic overview, but also work operatively with responsibility over quality, and work with the employees in order to create a quality culture, where personal quality is the way work is done, and all employees must participate in the quality work. It is necessary to be aware of lack of rationality, where what is said is not always what is done in reality, and that’s also an argument in order not to copy what other say they are doing or working with in the quality management field. The way of working in quality management must be adopted to the situation of the company, and this includes the involvement of all employees, and the business of the company must be seen at from different strategic points of view. The quality tool used by small and medium sized firms can have it’s starting point in the deviation report system, and it is also important to be aware of that softer quality tools are the most important in quality management, not technical aspects and unuseful measurements and analisys that others claim they use in their business.

U.S. manufacturing companies' offshoring of investments to China over the past 4 decades before 2017 has played a significant role in China's economic growth. However, as China's economy expands and the country's standard of living improves, U.S. manufacturing executives are required to take a refreshed look at current investment strategies to adjust for rising costs and a tighter regulatory environment. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore economic strategies that U.S. manufacturing leaders used to offshore effectively to China. The study included in-person interviews of 9 purposeful sampled manufacturing leaders, fluent in English, from 2 U.S. organizations with China operations headquartered in Shanghai. The conceptual framework for this study was the total quality management theory. Four themes emerged in the data from these interviews, on-site observations, and company documentation review, including: (a) movement of innovation closer to production in China; (b) increased localization of the legacy offshoring business; (c) enhancement of China-based cross-functional teams; and (d) incrementally investing to achieve production scale. These findings suggest that U.S. manufacturing leaders need to adapt to a changing and dynamic China market by focusing on local issues to maintain global competitiveness. The implications for positive social change include equipping manufacturing business leaders with information to address offshoring-related decisions more effectively. Additional social change benefits include the overall rise in international safety standards in China, resulting from offshoring investments and the training of manufacturing workers, which prepare them for more advanced roles in the workforce.

This study is a qualitative case study approach to theory building that aims to develop a more holistic understanding of the patterns of coordination in an organisation that has successfully implemented TQM using a communication perspective. The data were gathered at a large private hospital in Bangkok where 36 respondents from nonmedical treatment areas were interviewed. The study used in-depth interviews as the primary data source, complemented with participant-observations and document analysis to address the main research question: In what ways have the effects of TQM on communicative attitudes and practices contributed to coordination? Influenced by the notion of social construction, the analysis suggests that despite TQM consisting of several contributing principles and tools, it is the role of leadership that demonstrated the most significant value to communication and coordination outcomes. Three key patterns of coordination emerge in the study: (1) shared meaning and common purpose derived from management?s interpretation and articulation of TQM reality from a customer perspective, (2) shared understanding as a result of management?s construction of TQM influenced administrative arrangements, and (3) emotional experiences as a result of staff members? social interaction. The finding of this study suggests that achieving coordination is far more complex, and can be difficult to control by management, specifically one emerging from an emotional experience which was found to have more effect on staff members? decisions in investing or reserving their energy in coordination, as compared to the other two patterns. The findings demonstrate that organising coordination is not always rational and static, as previously discussed in the dominant organisation design-based literature. Rather, coordination is highly dependent on the process of social construction, communication, and interaction between organisational members. For this reason, the role of management in ensuring consistency in interpretation and construction of the shared reality, and in ongoing communication is imperative, not only to guide and maintain coordinated actions, but also to achieve meaningful and mindful coordination of members within the organisation. The practical theory developed in the study makes a direct contribution to coordination theory, specifically on the emergence of multi-dimensional coordination patterns which suggests the need to reconsider a research approach that could accommodate the complex nature of coordination which is also driven by communication, social interaction, and reciprocal relationships. Future studies on coordination could be positioned within a relativist, constructionism or interpretivist paradigm and investigate interrelated multiple ontological domains, not only the conventional organisational structure, but also cognition, discursive and social interaction. The study also offers some useful insights into both coordination and communication aspects for practitioners who aim to successfully implement TQM.

<p>Problem: Ledningen från DB Schenker Logistics i Västerås upplever att personalen på produktionen inte alltid uppfyller företagets kvalitetsmål. Det menas att ledningen uppfattar att personalen skulle kunna prestera bättre utan att företaget behöver investera extra pengar. Att bra kvalitet hela tiden levereras i servicebranschen är ett bra konkurrensmedel. Men för Schenkers ledning är det svårt att själva kunna se sina brister och därmed komma med egna åtgärder.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med vår utredning är att beskriva hur personalens arbetsinsats i nuläget ser ut och hur den påverkar företagets kvalitetsmål eftersom Schenkers ledning uppfattar brister. Samtidigt ska utredningen vara ett underlag för företagets ledning för att kunna införa relevanta förbättringar.</p><p>Metod: Det genomfördes en enkätundersökning som riktade sig till Schenkers personal på produktionen, fokusgruppintervju med ledningen samt personliga intervjuer med två kunder.</p><p>Resultat: Utredningen visade att personalen i nuläget tar eget ansvar och att de är medvetna om att en dålig arbetsinsats från deras sida har konsekvenser för företaget. Samverkan med sina medarbetare verkar fungera samt att personalen är också beredd och öppen för förändringar. Men det betyder inte att det hela tiden är tillräcklig för att motsvara ledningens förväntningar. Detta på grund av att det finns brister på kommunikationen mellan ledningen och personalen. Konsekvensen är att inte alla får reda på information eller att den blir otydlig från ledningen. Dessutom visades att ledningens förmåga att kunna ge beröm och därmed motivera personalen skulle kunna vara bättre. Det finns även brister på arbetsmaterialet men detta är oftast en kostnadsfråga vilket ledningen i Västerås inte är ansvariga för utan huvudkontoret i Göteborg. Ledningen borde istället koncentrera sig att förbättra kommunikationen och ge mer beröm till sina anställda. Kunden i sin tur förväntar sig att Schenker förbättrar sin kvalitet. För kunden är det inte väsentligt hur ledningen inför förbättringar i organisationen utan det ska bara synas bättre resultat i framtiden.</p> / <p>Problem: The management from DB Schenker Logistics in Västerås understands scarcity concerning their employee’s performance and that they not always fulfil the company’s quality goals. This means that the management understands that their employees could perform better without need for the company to invest extra funds. To deliver constantly good quality is in the service sector due to the competition very important. At the same time it is difficult for Schenkers management to see their own scarcities and therefore come up with own measures.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of our inquiry is to describe how today’s performance from the employees looks like because Schenkers management understands scarcities. At the same time should our inquiry be a basis of introducing relevant improvements for the company’s management.</p><p>Method: A questionnaire with Schenkers employees, interview in a group with the management and interview with two customers were carried out.</p><p>Results: The inquiry shows that the employees at the present time take own responsibility and are aware of the consequences for the company if they deliver low performance. The cooperation between the co-workers seems to function well and the employees are open and ready for changes. But this doesn’t mean that this is enough to satisfy the management’s expectations. This is because of the scarcities of communications between management and employees. The consequence is that not every employee takes part of the information or that it is indistinct from the management. Besides that it showed that the management’s ability to motivate their employees could be better. There are also scarcities of the company’s equipment but this is in most cases a question of money which the management in Västerås has no influence over but the headquarter in Göteborg. Instead the management should concentrate on to improve the communication to their employees and be able to motivate them more. The costumers on the other side expect that Schenker improve their quality. For the customer it is not important how the management is able to introduce the changes in the organisation but it is just important to see better results in the future.</p>

Problem: Ledningen från DB Schenker Logistics i Västerås upplever att personalen på produktionen inte alltid uppfyller företagets kvalitetsmål. Det menas att ledningen uppfattar att personalen skulle kunna prestera bättre utan att företaget behöver investera extra pengar. Att bra kvalitet hela tiden levereras i servicebranschen är ett bra konkurrensmedel. Men för Schenkers ledning är det svårt att själva kunna se sina brister och därmed komma med egna åtgärder. Syfte: Syftet med vår utredning är att beskriva hur personalens arbetsinsats i nuläget ser ut och hur den påverkar företagets kvalitetsmål eftersom Schenkers ledning uppfattar brister. Samtidigt ska utredningen vara ett underlag för företagets ledning för att kunna införa relevanta förbättringar. Metod: Det genomfördes en enkätundersökning som riktade sig till Schenkers personal på produktionen, fokusgruppintervju med ledningen samt personliga intervjuer med två kunder. Resultat: Utredningen visade att personalen i nuläget tar eget ansvar och att de är medvetna om att en dålig arbetsinsats från deras sida har konsekvenser för företaget. Samverkan med sina medarbetare verkar fungera samt att personalen är också beredd och öppen för förändringar. Men det betyder inte att det hela tiden är tillräcklig för att motsvara ledningens förväntningar. Detta på grund av att det finns brister på kommunikationen mellan ledningen och personalen. Konsekvensen är att inte alla får reda på information eller att den blir otydlig från ledningen. Dessutom visades att ledningens förmåga att kunna ge beröm och därmed motivera personalen skulle kunna vara bättre. Det finns även brister på arbetsmaterialet men detta är oftast en kostnadsfråga vilket ledningen i Västerås inte är ansvariga för utan huvudkontoret i Göteborg. Ledningen borde istället koncentrera sig att förbättra kommunikationen och ge mer beröm till sina anställda. Kunden i sin tur förväntar sig att Schenker förbättrar sin kvalitet. För kunden är det inte väsentligt hur ledningen inför förbättringar i organisationen utan det ska bara synas bättre resultat i framtiden. / Problem: The management from DB Schenker Logistics in Västerås understands scarcity concerning their employee’s performance and that they not always fulfil the company’s quality goals. This means that the management understands that their employees could perform better without need for the company to invest extra funds. To deliver constantly good quality is in the service sector due to the competition very important. At the same time it is difficult for Schenkers management to see their own scarcities and therefore come up with own measures. Purpose: The purpose of our inquiry is to describe how today’s performance from the employees looks like because Schenkers management understands scarcities. At the same time should our inquiry be a basis of introducing relevant improvements for the company’s management. Method: A questionnaire with Schenkers employees, interview in a group with the management and interview with two customers were carried out. Results: The inquiry shows that the employees at the present time take own responsibility and are aware of the consequences for the company if they deliver low performance. The cooperation between the co-workers seems to function well and the employees are open and ready for changes. But this doesn’t mean that this is enough to satisfy the management’s expectations. This is because of the scarcities of communications between management and employees. The consequence is that not every employee takes part of the information or that it is indistinct from the management. Besides that it showed that the management’s ability to motivate their employees could be better. There are also scarcities of the company’s equipment but this is in most cases a question of money which the management in Västerås has no influence over but the headquarter in Göteborg. Instead the management should concentrate on to improve the communication to their employees and be able to motivate them more. The costumers on the other side expect that Schenker improve their quality. For the customer it is not important how the management is able to introduce the changes in the organisation but it is just important to see better results in the future.

In the field of the Total Qualitative Management, like ISO 9000 that enterprises implement. Total Qualitative Management become a model of company, strive for the Total Qualitative Management and reward it as the goal of every company. Recent years, many empirical research results of implementing TQM and their effects on performance have different view points. Some scholars believe that TQM activities indeed have positive impact on firm¡¦s quality and productivity, and reduce production time and then create competitive priorities. The objective of this study is to find out the relationship between TQM practices and business performance, and hope the result of this study could provide some suggestions for the managers.This study sampled 130 the small and medium enterprises manufactures in Taiwan with which had registered ISO 9000 . A total of 130 manufacturing corporations were each sent the questionnaire. There are 129 returned questionnaires, response rate is 99%. The conceptual framework of this study is based on the research model of S.Bruce Han¡BShaw K. Chen¡BMaling Ebrahimpour(2007), that the dimensions of ISO 9000, TQM and Business Performance and significantly correlated.This research adopts the ISO 9000 efforts, TQM practices, competitiveness , and customer satisfaction as business performance of measure perspectives. Using multiple regression analysis, this paper finds that ISO 9000 efforts and TQM practices hasn¡¦t the positive influence to the business performance. Besides, this research finds that the competitiveness and customer satisfaction had positive influences on the business performance. In other words, the firms with high TQM implementation will put more emphasis on competitiveness and customer satisfaction have better business performance.

Banking services are perhaps the largest industry that caters to -the needs of various segments of the population reflecting the diverse Diasporas of the society. Moreover, perceived service quality tends to play a significant role in high involvement (high interaction between customers and service providers) industries like banks. Also, banks often have long-term business relationships with customers. In addition, the banking sector is large enough to capture and represent almost all the critical features of the customer-perceived service quality and the critical dimensions of excellence that the management may have to encounter, in order to effectively manage a service organisation. . However, there is considerable lack of literature with respect to service industry management, especially in the banking industry of developing economies. Therefore an analysis of banks in the UAE from a 'service-quality perspective' may sound interesting at this juncture. Such an investigation is vital for the bankers in order to enhance their business performance. The main objective of this research is to develop a theoretical framework to understand and explore CSFs for banks that succeed in the field of TQM and to identify marketoriented activities that are affected by the use of this approach. This research adapts an interdisciplinary approach that makes use of TQM, service quality, IT, and information systems literature. It takes a holistic view of TQM in the banking sector and considers the different stages of implementation and implications of the TQM. The research design involves a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to incorporate: (1) TQM development; (2) the identification of key TQMsuccess factors commonly cited in the literature, and endorsed by practitioners and experts as important to effective TQM implementation; (3) an in-depth case studies. approach to understand how TQM processes, and critical success factors identified are addressed and implemented; and (4) the possible impact of TQM practices on efficiency. Furthermore, the research framework, which emerged from the literature search, is tested and validated by rigorous quantitative analysis using SPSS. The statistical analysis using Factor Analysis, Regression Analysis, One-Sample Test and Ranking Analysis to test a series of relationships and research constructs to provide solid support for the resulting relationships. i The study has identified twelve CSFs for the successful implementation of TQM: (1) Top Management Support, (2) Strategy, (3) Continuous Improvement, (4) Benchmarking, (5) Customer Focus, (6) Quality Department, (7) Human Resource Management, (8) Quality Technology,. (9) Service Design, (10) Employees, (11) Servicescapes, (12) Quality Systems. Furthermore, it *has been found that the organisational experiences of TQM implementation in-the service- sector in UAE are far from being mature. There is a lot of evidence with reference to the survey results and case studies presented in this study that TQM is still a new management concept, and is widely unknown. In many cases, there is some reluctance to introduce it. . The study has pointed out the CSFs for successful TQM implementation because it is vital for organisations to capture the minds of everybody, starting at the top and permeating throughout the whole organisation and beyond. The philosophy maintains that an organisation's primary objective is to enhance its ability to meet customer requirements by improving the quality of its services. People are the most important management resource and ultimate goal of business. TQM generally means a quest for excellence, creating the right attitudes and controls to make prevention of any possible errors, and optimise customer satisfaction by increased efficiency and effectiveness. Further, this study points out TQM as being an organisation-wide activity which has to reach every employee. Therefore, TQM has been an. approach for continuously improving the quality of services delivered through the participation at all levels and functions of the organisation. From this study, it is evident that the effectivetransformation to TQM has been linked to the extent to which firms implement certain CSFs. This study contributes to the emerging literature on TQM in banking sector in a number of specific ways: (1) It provides new theoretical grounds for studying TQM in banking sector in the context of CSFs that affect competition in the dynamic marketplace; (2) It computes and analyses the total quality management indices with respect to the 16 factors which have been developed from the literature for the banking industry as a whole; (3) It ascertains the level of TQM implementation in the UAE banking scene; (4) It Offers key insights on the criticality of the different TQM dimensions with respect to the banking sector in UAE and (5) It provides a foundation and proposals for future research and investigation.

Lic.-avh. Luleå : Luleå tekniska univ., 2002.