The Health Care System has struggled with many problems such as medical errors, poorly designed processes, waste, and customer dissatisfaction. The Lean Six Sigma methodology has been shown to be efficient in solving problems in the manufacturing industry and in services, as well. In this study, a framework for applying Lean Six Sigma to the health care industry is presented. The framework depicts a systematic methodology to solve problems typically found in this industry. A case study is also presented on how to apply this framework. The DMAIC Model has been conducted in an Imaging Department to identify the root causes of problems and to define a future state of the process

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3196.pdf: 1584882 bytes, checksum: e87305ed1643450b13fc00d6bac58c63 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-20 / The approach Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) has been proposed in the late ninety, and since then, has been successfully deployed in many companies, achieving promising results in reduction of lead time in environments with high product variety. This approach, although already established abroad, mainly in the United States, is poorly known in Brazil as not to have official records of its practice, thus providing a vast new area of research. From this context that this dissertation aims to explore and understand the general ways to reduce lead time based on QRM and propose a practical application of this approach. For this objective to be achieved, we sought, first, the comprehensive review of the literature concerning the reduction of lead time, describing the tools and principles to reduce lead time in the QRM approach and then propose to implement some of the principles and tools of QRM in the production area in a business of writing. This proposed implementation of QRM is analyzed and validated by simulations that visualize the interactions of variables from the factory floor and the effects of these variables in the percentage of use of sectors in the intermediate level of inventory (WIP) and lead time. It is hoped that the practical implementation of the proposals to reach a 55% reduction from the current level of WIP company and up to 77% in the average lead time of its products. Thus, this research contributes to the theory and practice in management of manufacturing systems, showing the importance of reducing lead time and the effects and benefits of implementing QRM in a Brazilian company. / A abordagem Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) foi proposta no final da década de noventa e, desde então, vem sendo implementada com sucesso em inúmeras empresas, atingindo promissores resultados na redução de lead time em ambientes com alta variedade de produtos. Essa abordagem, embora já estabelecida no exterior, principalmente nos Estados Unidos, ainda é pouco conhecida no Brasil a ponto de não possuir registros oficiais de sua aplicação prática, proporcionando, assim, uma nova e vasta área de pesquisa. A partir desse contexto que surge essa dissertação que tem como objetivo geral explorar e entender as formas para a redução de lead time com base no QRM e propor a aplicação prática dessa abordagem. Para que este objetivo fosse alcançado, buscou-se, primeiramente, a revisão integral da literatura a respeito de redução do lead time, descrevendo as ferramentas e os princípios para a redução de lead time na abordagem QRM; em seguida, propô-se a implementação de alguns dos princípios e ferramentas do QRM na área de produção em uma empresa de materiais de escrita. Essa proposta de implementação do QRM é analisada e validada por simulações que permitem visualizar as interações das variáveis do chão-de-fábrica e os efeitos dessas variáveis no percentual de utilização dos setores, no nível de estoque intermediário (WIP) e no lead time. Espera-se que a implementação na prática das propostas apresentadas atinja uma redução de 55% do nível atual de WIP da empresa e de até 77% no lead time médio de seus produtos. Dessa forma, essa pesquisa pretende contribuir com a teoria e a prática em gestão de sistemas de manufatura, mostrando a importância da redução do lead time e os efeitos e benefícios da implementação do QRM em uma empresa brasileira.

Stress and sleep problems are common in the working population and cause considerable costs for society. Sleep is the most important part of recovery, and poor sleep has a negative impact on overall functioning, which might have important consequences for both the employee, the employer and society. In order to find strategies to alleviate this contemporary public health concern of stress and poor sleep in the working population, this thesis evaluated interventions performed at the workplace to target these issues. The first intervention is a randomized controlled trial of a 25% work time reduction for full-time workers within the public sector in Sweden. Study I evaluated the impact of work time reduction on subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, sleepiness, perceived stress, and bedtime worries. Assessments included diary data from one week at three occasions over 18 months. Study II investigated time-use patterns through activity reporting sheets used during the work time reduction by evaluating the amount of total workload, paid work, non-paid work and recovery activities. Both studies investigated workdays and days off separately as well as the importance of gender, family status and work situation (only Study II). The second randomized controlled intervention of the thesis is a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention at the workplace targeting sleep disturbances among employees within the retail sector in Sweden (Study III). Data were collected through questionnaires, diaries and objective sleep measurement (actigraphy) over a period of ten days before and after the intervention, as well as at a three-month follow up. The study evaluated the effects of the intervention on sleep and explored the moderating effect of burnout-levels at baseline. In our studies, an economically fully compensated reduction of work hours for full-time workers lead to long-term positive effects on sleep duration and sleep quality, sleepiness and levels of perceived stress. During this work time reduction, the total workload of both paid and non-paid work was reduced and time spent in recovery activities increased. The results indicate that a more balanced relation between effort and recovery was established. The second intervention, which targets the individual through a group CBT-intervention for insomnia at the workplace, was shown to improve insomnia symptoms in daytime workers who did not suffer from concurrent burnout. Such an intervention could support the individual in handling sleep problems and preventing the development of more severe and chronic sleep disorders, as opposed to interventions aimed at making environmental changes at the workplace. However, the CBT-intervention evaluated within this thesis will need to be further developed in order to be beneficial for more groups of employees. The positive effects of these interventions might be beneficial for public health and help improve employee’s life satisfaction, daily functioning and health development.​ / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Denna rapport utreder möjligheterna till att reducera ledtiden, med en uppskattning av minst 10%, för plockprocessen på den utlevererande avdelningen som kallas den ”avgående avdelningen” hos EJOT Sverige AB i Örebro. Företaget vill i dagsläget skapa sig en tydlig helhetsbild av processen samt få underlag, för eventuell framtida implementering, i form av förbättringsförslag för en ledtidsreducering. Under arbetets gång beskrivs nuläget utifrån datainsamling, intervjuer och observationer, i kombination med ett spagettidiagram som presenteras. De möjliga rotorsakerna till problemen kartläggs genom att skapa ett fiskbensdiagram som sedan analyseras. Analyserna visar på att processen är komplex och därmed även problemen. Orsaker som valts för vidare analys är: layout, körslinga och placering av låga gods.  Tre förbättringsförslag har tagits fram utifrån analyserna och dessa handlar om att skapa en ny optimerad layout, en ny optimerad körslinga samt att eliminera placeringen av låga gods.  Det fortsatta arbetet bör vara att optimera en ny lagerlayout samt se över och standardisera en ny körslinga. Företaget bör också se över möjligheterna att eliminera placeringen av gods på markplan. / This report investigates the possibilities of reducing the lead time, with an estimate of at least 10%, for the picking process at the delivery unit called the “outgoing department” at EJOT Sverige AB in Örebro. The company currently wants to create an overall picture of the process and get a basis, for possible future implementation, in the form of improvement proposals for a lead time reduction. During the work, the current situation is described based on data collection, interviews and observations, in combination with a spaghetti diagram that is presented. The possible root causes of the problems are mapped by creating an Ishikawa diagram which is then analyzed. The analyses show that the process is complex and thus also the problems. Reasons chosen for further analysis are: layout, driving loop and placement of low goods. Three improvement proposals have been developed based on the analyses and these are about creating a new optimized layout, a new optimized driving loop and eliminating the placement of low goods. The continued work should be to optimize a new warehouse layout and review and standardize a new driving loop. The company should also review the possibilities of eliminating the placement of goods on the ground floor.

High test data volume and long test application time are two major concerns for testing scan based circuits. The Illinois Scan (ILS) architecture has been shown to be effective in addressing both these issues. The ILS achieves a high degree of test data compression thereby reducing both the test data volume and test application time. The degree of test data volume reduction depends on the fault coverage achievable in the broadcast mode. However, the fault coverage achieved in the broadcast mode of ILS architecture depends on the actual configuration of individual scan chains, i.e., the number of chains and the mapping of the individual flip-flops of the circuit to the respective scan chain positions. Current methods for constructing scan chains in ILS are either ad-hoc or use test pattern information from an a-priori automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) run. In this thesis, we present novel low cost techniques to construct ILS scan configuration for a given design. These techniques efficiently utilize the circuit topology information and try to optimize the flip-flop assignment to a scan chain location without much compromise in the fault coverage in the broadcast mode. Thus, they eliminate the need of an a-priori ATPG run or any test set information. In addition, we also propose a new scan architecture which combines the broadcast mode of ILS and Random Access Scan architecture to enable further test volume reduction on and above effectively configured conventional ILS architecture using the aforementioned heuristics with reasonable area overhead. Experimental results on the ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show that the proposed ILS configuration methods can achieve on an average 5% more fault coverage in the broadcast mode and on average 15% more test data volume and test application time reduction than existing methods. The proposed new architecture achieves, on an average, 9% and 33% additional test data volume and test application time reduction respectively on top of our proposed ILS configuration heuristics. / Master of Science

A realização de projetos dentro do prazo estabelecido é um fator comum em diversas áreas de produção como a engenharia civil, de aviação, química, transportes, indústria em geral, entre outras. No entanto, na engenharia de software, a questão do tempo na construção de um produto é um desafio de processo a ser superado em cada novo projeto. O cumprimento de prazos no desenvolvimento de software é tão crítico que o próprio controle de atrasos no ciclo de produção é um fator a ser considerado na análise de redução do tempo de desenvolvimento. A complexidade do ambiente de software, a competitividade de mercado, as mudanças de requisitos constantes durante o projeto e o tempo disponível cada vez mais restrito, aumentam as chances de insucesso quando analisado o indicador de tempo na produção de software. O objetivo deste trabalho é reunir e organizar as práticas e técnicas de engenharia de software em um roteiro que permita a redução do tempo no desenvolvimento do software. Neste roteiro, é descrita a utilização organizada e planejada das práticas de engenharia de software que auxiliam no planejamento, na criação da arquitetura de solução, na definição da infra-estrutura técnica para reutilização e a utilização da engenharia simultânea, visando proporcionar ganhos reais no tempo de produção do software e no aumento da produtividade. / The completion of software project within schedule is a common goal in several industries like building engineering, aviation, chemical, transport, wares and so on. However, in software engineering, the schedule is a process challenge from the beginning of each new project. The time is so critical that the delay control is an analysis point for cycle time reduction in software development. The complex environment, the pressure to reduce time-to-market, frequent requirements changes during the project life-cycle, increase the failure chance of software projects when we analyze the time indicator in the software development process. The dissertation goal is to meet and to organize of software engineering practices and techniques in an organized roadmap aiming cycle time reduction in software development. In this roadmap, the practices are organized to help software planning, solution architecture, component based development definition, to promote reuse and concurrent engineering with purpose to reduce cycle time software development and improve productivity.

A realização de projetos dentro do prazo estabelecido é um fator comum em diversas áreas de produção como a engenharia civil, de aviação, química, transportes, indústria em geral, entre outras. No entanto, na engenharia de software, a questão do tempo na construção de um produto é um desafio de processo a ser superado em cada novo projeto. O cumprimento de prazos no desenvolvimento de software é tão crítico que o próprio controle de atrasos no ciclo de produção é um fator a ser considerado na análise de redução do tempo de desenvolvimento. A complexidade do ambiente de software, a competitividade de mercado, as mudanças de requisitos constantes durante o projeto e o tempo disponível cada vez mais restrito, aumentam as chances de insucesso quando analisado o indicador de tempo na produção de software. O objetivo deste trabalho é reunir e organizar as práticas e técnicas de engenharia de software em um roteiro que permita a redução do tempo no desenvolvimento do software. Neste roteiro, é descrita a utilização organizada e planejada das práticas de engenharia de software que auxiliam no planejamento, na criação da arquitetura de solução, na definição da infra-estrutura técnica para reutilização e a utilização da engenharia simultânea, visando proporcionar ganhos reais no tempo de produção do software e no aumento da produtividade. / The completion of software project within schedule is a common goal in several industries like building engineering, aviation, chemical, transport, wares and so on. However, in software engineering, the schedule is a process challenge from the beginning of each new project. The time is so critical that the delay control is an analysis point for cycle time reduction in software development. The complex environment, the pressure to reduce time-to-market, frequent requirements changes during the project life-cycle, increase the failure chance of software projects when we analyze the time indicator in the software development process. The dissertation goal is to meet and to organize of software engineering practices and techniques in an organized roadmap aiming cycle time reduction in software development. In this roadmap, the practices are organized to help software planning, solution architecture, component based development definition, to promote reuse and concurrent engineering with purpose to reduce cycle time software development and improve productivity.

O desemprego crescente é diagnosticado como um dos maiores males da globalização econômica durante o último quarto do século XX até os dias atuais, servindo de impulso para o surgimento do ideário da flexibilização na Europa como proposta de repensamento dos instrumentos jurídicos em matéria de trabalho. Acolhido na legislação brasileira, tal postulado deitou raízes na Constituição da República de 1988 em temas caros ao Direito do Trabalho como salário e jornada de trabalho, privilegiando a negociação coletiva e originando novas modalidades de contratos e, principalmente, de planejamento da distribuição das horas de labor em prol do incremento do setor empresarial, levado a reboque na espiral do acelerado mercado global. O objetivo do presente estudo consiste na análise desta influência, com foco centralizado no tema do gerenciamento e remuneração do período de trabalho subordinado e suas diversas formas. Na medida em que, após cerca de três décadas de aclimatação, os imperativos flexibilizatórios são seguidamente acusados de ter traído o investimento social realizado e de provocar a precarização geral das relações trabalhistas, importa investigar a razão pela qual alguns institutos criados sob seu jugo, entre eles o banco de horas, sofrem cada vez mais rejeição das centrais sindicais e das entidades profissionais, que pressionam de forma contínua pela adoção de medidas menos conservadoras, especialmente na administração do tempo de efetivo trabalho. Neste diapasão, buscam-se inovações em tese mais benéficas ao empregado, dentre as quais a redução do limite semanal do trabalho, sem diminuição do padrão salarial mensal, é a mais ambiciosa e polêmica proposta na persistente meta de criação e manutenção de postos de emprego. / The increasing unemployment is diagnosed as one of the major evils of economic globalization during the last quarter of the 20th Century and up to the present days, serving as a driving force for the outbreak of the ideas of flexibilization in Europe as an invitation to reconsider the legal instruments in terms of jobs. Admitted by the Brazilian legislation, such postulate took roots in the 1988 Constitution of the Republic in matters relevant for the Labor Law, as salary and working time, favoring the collective bargaining and originating new contract modalities and, mainly, the planning the distribution of labor hours for the benefit of the increment of the business sector, taken in the wake of the accelerated global market. The objective of the present study consists of the analysis of such influence, with centralized focus on the theme of management and remuneration of the subordinated working period and its different forms in Brazil. To the extent that, after three decades of acclimatization, the flexibility imperatives are repeatedly accused of having betrayed the social investment carried out and of provoking the general instability of labor relations, it is worth to investigate the reason why some institutes created under its subordination, among which the bank of hours, have been increasingly suffering rejection by the Unions and professional entities, which have continuously been putting pressure on the adoption of less conservative measures, in special, on the administration of the effective working hours. In this sense, innovations theoretically more beneficial to employees are pursued, among which the reduction of the weekly working time, without reducing the monthly salary standards, is the most ambitious and controversial proposal towards persistently targeting to create and maintain job posts.

I den tillverkande industrin ställer idag kunder krav på korta leveranstider samtidigt som de tillverkande företagen ser tid som en begränsad resurs. Detta innebär att företag tvingas fokusera på att reducera ledtiden och däribland produktionsledtiden. Vid tillverkning av kundanpassade produkter finns inte möjligheten att hålla lager för att snabbt kunna besvara kunders efterfrågan och därför måste dessa företag sträva efter att effektivisera sina processer för att reducera ledtiden. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur ledtiden kan reduceras i ett produktionssystem för kundanpassade produkter. Två frågeställningar har upprättats för att uppfylla syftet: 1. Vilka möjliga orsaker finns till långa ledtider i ett produktionssystem som tillverkar kundanpassade produkter? 2. Hur kan långa ledtider reduceras i ett produktionssystem som tillverkar kundanpassade produkter? För att kunna besvara dessa två frågeställningar har författarna genomfört en fallstudie samt litteraturstudier. I fallstudien har observationer, intervjuer, dokumentstudier samt en följesedel använts för att samla in empiri. Empirin har strukturerats, bl.a. i en värdeflödeskarta, och sedan analyserats mot teori som tagits fram i de litteraturstudier som genomförts. I den analys författarna genomfört har hög nivå av PIA identifierats som huvudorsak till lång ledtid. Vidare har en djupare analys bidragit till att författarna kunnat utröna underliggande orsaker till uppbyggnaden av PIA, fem i fallstudien och fyra i litteraturstudierna. De underliggande orsakerna författarna identifierade både i fallstudien och i litteraturstudierna var varierande materialflöden, pushbaserad materialstyrning, flaskhals och partiformning. Den femte identifierade orsaken i fallstudien var prioriteringsregler. Författarna har sedan tagit fram lösningsalternativ för respektive orsak och därefter diskuterat vilka lösningsalternativ som bäst kunde tillämpas i det studerade produktionssystemet. De lösningsalternativ som valts för att eliminera respektive orsak är omläggning av materialflöden för att minska variationerna, implementering av CONWIP för huvudflödet genom produktionssystemet, eliminering av flaskhals genom att tillämpa ett extra skift för denna maskin, användning av FIFO som prioriteringsregel samt tillämpning av överlappning för batcher av höga kvantiteter. Genom att tillämpa dessa förändringar anser författarna att ledtiden i det studerade produktionssystemet kan reduceras. / In the manufacturing industry today, customers require short lead times at the same time that manufacturing companies consider time as a scarce resource. This means that companies are forced to focus on reducing lead time, including production lead time. When manufacturing customized products there is not possible to keep stock to quickly answer customer demand and therefore, these companies strive to streamline their processes to reduce lead time. The purpose of this study is to examine how the lead time can be reduced in a manufacturing system for customized products. Two issues have been established to answer the purpose of this study: 1. What are the possible reasons for long lead time in a manufacturing system that produces customized products? 2. How can long lead times in a manufacturing system that produces customized products be reduced? In order to answer these two questions, the authors conducted a case study and literature reviews. In the case study observations, interviews, document studies, and a delivery note have been used to collect empirical data. The empirical data have been structured, for example in a value stream map, and then analyzed on theory developed in the conducted literature studies. In the conducted analysis the authors identified a high level of WIP as the main cause of the long lead time. Furthermore, a deeper analysis contributed by the authors have been able to determine the underlying causes for the development of WIP, in the case study five causes were identified and in the literary studies four causes. The underlying causes identified by the authors in the case study as well as in the literature studies were material flow variation, push-based material handling, bottleneck and lot sizing. The fifth identified cause in the case study was priority rules. The authors then developed optional solutions for each cause and then discussed the different solutions that could be applied in the manufacturing system the authors studied. The chosen solution for eliminating each cause is reduce diversion of material flows to reduce variability, implementation of CONWIP for the main flow through the manufacturing system, eliminating the bottleneck by applying an extra shift for this machine, using the FIFO priority rule and the application of overlapping batches of high quantities. By applying these changes, the authors consider that the lead time in the studied manufacturing system can be reduced.

Produktivitet kan inom tillverkande industri användas som ett nyckeltal för mått på effektivitet; enkelt uttryckt hur bra man utnyttjar tillgängliga resurser för att skapa god avkastning. För att öka produktiviteten bör man identifiera och eliminera, alternativt minska risken för störningar i flödet. Bland störningar återfinns bland annat ställtid och justeringar. Genom att reducera tiden för omställning av maskinutrustning ökar tillgänglig produktionstid liksom flexibiliteten i produktsortimentet. Syftet med studien är att identifiera och belysa produktivitetshämmande företeelser och ge förslag till produktivitetshöjande åtgärder för och vid postning såväl för hela flödet vid Chemwood AB i Alvesta. Utöver närmare studie av postningsförfarandet identifierades och analyserades även andra för flödet störande företeelser. Postningsförfarandet vid Chemwood AB kan enbart normeras till den grad där grundläggande moment ingår. Tiden för postning kan reduceras genom enkla åtgärder. / Productivity can within production be regarded as a tool of measuring efficiency – simply put how well you use available resources in order to create value and high yield. In order to increase productivity thou should aim at identifying and if possible eliminate the risk of disturbances in the line of production. Amongst disturbances one can see setup times and adjustments. By reducing the time of setup in the planing equipment the available time for production as well as the flexibility in product assortment increases. The purpose of the study is to identify and elucidate restraints and provide suggestions of improvement for the entire flow; particularly measures for reducing setup time in the planer. The setup procedure at Chemwood AB in Alvesta can be standardised to a level where basic elements are included. The setup time can without difficulty be reduced.