I en värld som präglas av ny teknik, ökad konkurrens och skiftande behov är det viktigt att kunna attrahera sina kunder. Relationsmarknadsföringen fick sitt genomslag på 1970-talet och är idag ett mer frekvent använt begrepp än tidigare. Vår studie har undersökt hur ett företag inom den svenska träindustrin arbetar med relationsmarknadsföring och kundrelationer på sin B2B-marknad. Studien önskar bredda kunskapen inom ämnet och bidra med ny forskning till branschen. Syfte Syftet är att öka förståelsen för de faktorer som påverkar hur kundrelationer utvecklas och vad som kännetecknar dem. Metod Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod i form av en fallstudie där vi genom fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer erhållit empiri från AB Plankan. Slutsats Studien visar att AB Plankan likt tidigare forskning i ämnet, värdesätter kundrelationer och processen runt dem. AB Plankan har genom sin medverkan visat att de aktivt arbetar med att starta och utveckla kundrelationer med vad som för dem är rätt kunder. Kundrelationerna utvecklas genom ett samspel mellan företag och kund, och kännetecknas av samarbete, fokus på lönsamhet och kommunikation. / Background In a world characterized by new technology, increased competition and changing needs, it is important to be able to attract its customers. Relationship marketing had its impact in the 1970s and is today a more frequently used term than before. Our study has examined how a company in the Swedish wood industry works with relationship marketing and customer relationships in its B2B market. The study wishes to broaden the knowledge in the subject and contribute new research to the industry. Purpose The purpose is to increase the understanding of the factors that affect how customer relationships develop and what characterizes them. Method We have used a qualitative method in the form of a case study where obtained/collected/received empirical data from the selected company through four semi-structured interviews. Conclusion The study shows that AB Plankan, like previous research in the subject, values customer relationships and the process around them. Through their participation, AB Plankan has shown that they actively work to start and develop customer relationships with what are the right customers for them. Customer relationships are developed through an interaction between company and customer, and are characterized by cooperation, focus on profitability and communication.

This dissertation studies a framework in support biomass wood pellet supply chain. The worldwide wood pellet market is growing at a phenomenal rate. However, the economic sustainment of this business depends on how well the producers manage the uncertainty associated with biomass yield and quality. In the first part of the dissertation, we propose a two-stage stochastic programming model that optimizes different critical decisions (e.g., harvesting, storage, transportation, quality inspection, and production decisions) of a biomass-to-pellet supply system under biomass yield and quality uncertainty to economically produce pellets while accounting for the different pellet standards set forward by the U.S. and European markets. The study develops a hybrid algorithm that combines Sample Average Approximation with an enhanced Progressive Hedging algorithm. We propose two parallelization schemes to efficiently speed up the convergence of the overall algorithm. We use Mississippi as a testing ground to visualize and validate the algorithms performance. Experimental results indicate that the biomass-to-pellet supply system is sensitive to the biomass quality parameters (e.g., ash and moisture contents). In the second part of the dissertation, we propose a bi-level mixed-integer linear programming model that captures important features such as the hurricane’s degree, quality of damaged timbers, price-related issues, optimizes different critical decisions (e.g., purchasing, storage, and transportation decisions) of a post-hurricane damaged timber management problem. Lack of efficient tools to manage the wood market interactions in the post-hurricane situation increases timber salvage loss drastically. The overall goal is to provide an efficient decision-making tool for planning and recovering damaged timber to maximize its monetary value and mitigate its negative ecological impacts. Due to the complexity associated with solving the proposed model, we developed two exact solution methods, namely, the enhanced Benders decomposition and the Benders-based branch-and-cut algorithms, to efficiently solve the model in a reasonable time-frame. We use 15 coastal counties in southeast Mississippi to visualize and validate the algorithms' performance. Key managerial insights are drawn on the sensitivity of a number of critical parameters, such as selling/purchasing prices offered by the landowners/mills, quality-level, and deterioration rate of the damaged timbers on their economic recovery following a natural catastrophe.

In den letzten Jahren sind die gesellschaftlichen Ansprüche an die Waldnutzung deutlich gestiegen. Den begrenzten Produktionsmöglichkeiten des Waldes stehen vielfältige, teilweise konkurrierende Nutzungsansprüche gegenüber. Die vielfach geforderte Balance aus ökologischem, ökonomischem und sozialem Nutzen kann unter Umständen im Zuge der multifunktionalen Waldwirtschaft zukünftig nicht mehr auf ganzer Fläche erbracht werden. Unter den vielen verschiedenen gesellschaftlichen Nutzungskonflikten waren und sind insbesondere die Nutzungskonkurrenzen zwischen Holznutzung (Forst- und Holzwirtschaft) und Nutzungsverzicht (Naturschutz) in den letzten Jahren von zentraler Bedeutung. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit die Entwicklung und Anwendung von Methoden zur Bewertung der naturalen und ökonomischen Auswirkungen von Nutzungskonkurrenzen zwischen der Forst- und Holzwirtschaft und dem Naturschutz. Hierfür werden die folgenden wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen bearbeitet: (1) „Welche Auswirkungen haben aktuelle naturschutzfachliche Maßnahmenplanungen auf die Forstwirtschaft?“ und (2) „Welche Auswirkungen hat der veränderte inländische Holzeinschlag auf die Holzindustrie?“ Die Methoden und Ergebnisse der vorliegenden wissenschaftlichen Arbeit zur Bewertung von Nutzungskonkurrenzen wurden in drei peer-reviewten und zwei weiteren Artikeln in forst- und holzwirtschaftlichen Fachzeitschriften veröffentlicht.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:55:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniele_Brocardo.pdf: 2059728 bytes, checksum: dcb984728a5209e52d0cd062ccb95de3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This paper aims to discuss narratives regarding wood industry work between 1950 and 1970 (time of major activity), in Cascavel, located in Western Paraná. This dissertation is organized in three chapters: the first one analyzes the city historiography. For this purpose we selected works concerning this subject, such as Alceu Sperança's Cascavel: a história, reissued in 2011 and Terra, Sangue e Ambição: a gênese de Cascavel, published in 2013, by Vander Piaia. We look for a discussion concerning, according to these works, the city history being build over the wood industry action; on the second chapter the analysis is focused on oral narratives, regarding people who worked in the wood industry between 1950 and 1970. We use Oral History methodology. Interviews were conducted and analyzed from 2011 to 2013 with former owners and employees aiming to discuss the different relations between this industry and its employees, as well as its relation with deforestation itself, analyzing perceptions towards the process, since even if they worked together, their perceptions tend to vary according to their work positions, thus it is necessary to verify if the interviewed person was a manager, or a sawyer, accountant or something else inside his/her workplace. In this regard we interviewed several subjects, who were chosen according to their work positions; on the third chapter the analysis is also focused on these people's perception regarding their environment and its relations with human beings. From these memories it is possible to investigate which are their perceptions on the landscape, how they describe flora and fauna surrounding them, as well as the expressions used for these descriptions and how their ideas concerning environment are changed according to the interviewee's time, space and social position / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral refletir sobre as narrativas a respeito da ação das indústrias madeireiras entre as décadas de 1950 a 1970 (período de maior atividade destas) no município de Cascavel, localizado no oeste do Estado do Paraná. A dissertação se organiza em três capítulos: o primeiro é dedicado à análise de parte da historiografia sobre o município. Para tanto foram selecionados o livro de Alceu Sperança Cascavel: a história, reeditado em 2011, e o livro Terra, sangue e ambição: a gênese de Cascavel, publicado em 2013, de Vander Piaia. Busca-se problematizar, nestas obras, os elementos que estão sendo afirmados na construção de uma história para o município junto à ação das madeireiras; no segundo capítulo a análise se concentra nas narrativas orais de alguns sujeitos que atuaram no setor madeireiro no período de 1950 a 1970. A metodologia utilizada consiste na História Oral. Foram analisadas quatro entrevistas produzidas no período de 2011 a 2013 com ex-proprietários e empregados do setor madeireiro. Procura-se, a partir das entrevistas, problematizar as diferentes relações travadas pelas madeireiras, seja com seus empregados, seja na extração da floresta, investigando ainda as distintas percepções deste processo, uma vez que, por mais que todos os entrevistados tenham trabalhado junto às madeireiras, a percepção sobre este processo tende a ter variações conforme suas ocupações: se desempenhavam a atividade de gerente, serrador, contador ou outras. Neste sentido, as entrevistas foram realizadas com diferentes sujeitos, escolhidos em função das diversas ocupações no trabalho de exploração da madeira; no último e terceiro capítulo a análise também se concentra nas narrativas dos sujeitos que atuaram no setor madeireiro, enfocando suas percepções sobre o meio natural e suas relações com os seres humanos. A partir das memórias destes sujeitos é possível investigar quais são suas percepções sobre a paisagem, como descrevem a fauna e a flora que os cercavam, os termos usados nesta descrição e como a concepção sobre o meio natural se modifica conforme o tempo, o espaço e o lugar social do entrevistado

When developing a new system, it is a good idea to involve the end users from the start to prevent usability issues. This thesis has evaluated how one can develop a data visualisation system for the sawmill industry with a focus on user experience.  Semi-structured interviews with a snowball sample approach were used to acquire the demands of the end users. From these demands, paper prototypes were developed and then evaluated. Data on these prototypes were collected iteratively with the help of usability tests. This was done to understand how pleased users were when using the product but also to evaluate how efficiently they used it. Metrics have been used to measure the user experience of the product with both the paper prototypes and a hi-fi prototype, also described as the alpha prototype.  The conclusion answers the two research questions asked in this thesis. It concludes that the interview technique used in this thesis gave a good understanding of what information the users were interested in. Regarding measuring user experience, usability issues have been detected and reduced for each iteration, which indirectly results in a higher efficiency since the number of confusions are reduced. Something that can be seen from the system usability scale tests is that the high scores (about 89) they generated indicate that the users are pleased. With the different metrics used in this thesis, the conclusions are that the fewer the obstacles are for the user, the less annoyed they are when using the product and in turn perform their goals faster.

The thesis deals with possibilities of using of mobile band saws. An economic analysis of band saw utilization for woodworking was carried out. Further the work evaluates and analyses the technological string of lumber production in a selected area. In the first part there is a study of current state of technological string of saw timber production. The second chapter deals with the evaluation of state in consideration of woodworking in relation to selected location of production facilities. The third part is focused on evaluation of possibilities of mobile band saw utilization that is carried out on Husqvarna SMB - 70. The fourth section describes technological variations and tries to determine criteria for choosing of the best variant. It details opportunities of a small - grower that tries to find the most suitable variant by selling a wood, so as it brings the maximum profit. The work deals with various possibilities of timber production in which the band saw is included. Technical parameters of particular saws are described here. And by means of economic parameters the most suitable technology for sawn wood production is determined. The goal of this thesis is to choose a suitable technology for timber production based on economic analysis and with regard to conditions of the processing plant.

Diversas investigaciones sostienen que las pymes son la columna vertebral de la industria, simbolizan el crecimiento económico de una nación. En Perú uno de los principales problemas de las pymes es la falta de acceso al mercado por su escasa competitividad. Esto debido, a la baja eficiencia que presentan un gran porcentaje de las pymes peruanas. Por tal motivo, esta investigación propone un modelo de producción basado en las metodologías Lean y TOC para resolver este problema. Este artículo presenta un caso de estudio en una pyme manufacturera de muebles de madera que sufre problemas de eficiencia en su sistema de producción. El modelo propuesto consiste en la aplicación de herramientas Lean siguiendo el enfoque TOC, con el fin de incrementar la productividad y eficiencia, identificando y reduciendo los desperdicios. En síntesis, tras la aplicación del modelo se demostró que la eficiencia en la producción aumentó y los desperdicios se redujeron. / Various researches maintain that SMEs are the backbone of the industry, they symbolize the economic growth of a nation. In Peru, one of the main problems of SMEs is the lack of access to the market due to its low competitiveness. This is due to the low efficiency of a large percentage of Peruvian SMEs. Therefore, this research proposes a production model based on Lean and TOC methodologies to solve this problem. This article presents a case study in a wooden furniture manufacturing SME that suffers from efficiency problems in its production system. The proposed model consists of the application of Lean tools following the TOC approach, in order to increase productivity and efficiency, identifying and reducing waste. In summary, after the application of the model, it was shown that production efficiency increased and waste was reduced. / Trabajo de investigación

There is a rapid change in the current market that requires more customisation and higher quality for a lower price. For SMEs, it is a challenge to compete and develop the production system in this increasingly competitive environment. One way to increase the competitive advantages is to investigate the possibilities to involve Lean tools such as VSM. The purpose of the VSM design is to get a quick holistic view of the production system to find value-added and non-value-added activities and improve the production system. A VSM is, however, not widely explored in a production system with high flexibility and a high number of variants in a functional layout. It has been discovered that there is a research gap in the literature, and some researchers proclaim that there is none or a negative correlation between VSM and flexible production. Therefore, there is a need to further explore these concepts together at a case company with these pa-rameters.The methodological approach is a single case study at a case company. The research focuses on investigating how the VSM can be applicable in a production system with high flexibility on a functional layout facility. The study will focus on hard aspects such as the VSM itself and soft aspects such as Lean concepts, Change Management, and employee’s behaviour and reactions. The reason is that enterprises need to investigate parameters and employee behaviour since a production system with high flexibility on a functional layout often perceives as a complex system. Therefore a conceptual model has been developed to facilitate the adoption of this kind of production system. The created conceptual model is based on the findings from the case company and theories from the literature studies. The methods that supported the data collection in the case are interviews with the production personnel and personnel from the management de-partment, observations, VSM and a literature review.

The outdoor logistics in wood industry is an interesting research area since many factors need to be taken into consideration for an efficient process. However, little research can be found specifically in term of the outdoor logistics within wood industry. The purpose of this study is to design a model for streamlining outdoor logistics in the wood industry. Additionally, what important factors for more efficient outdoor logistics are also to be investigated.  According to Institute for Transport Research (2002), the material handling is defined as all physical handling, movement, storage and packaging of materials. To make the study scope clear, the outdoor logistics is specifically defined as the outdoor material handling in this study, and the outdoor refers to the local area outside the production buildings. A major part of this investigation work has been performed at one case company called Valbo Trä. The research is done through literature review, interviews, site observations at case company, and has generated a broad and deep understanding of the operations at the case company and the theoretical basis for the model development.  This study shows that the demand for different products is very different as well as the lengths and quantities of the products. Such fluctuating demand generally occurs in the wood industry, not only at the case company. The unpredictability of the demand for raw materials makes it complex for the case company to meet the customer's demands for finished products. On the other hand, the material handling becomes complex when the inventory levels increase. The inventory levels create, among other things, tied up capital, obsolescence, tighter handling space and poorer visibility for the truck drivers. Obsolescence that occurs can be traced to material handling. Damage occurs during internal transport and the wood suffers from damage due to weather conditions during outdoor handling. When handling materials outdoors, there are also risks in the form of obscured visibility during transport with loaders. Violation of speed limits and varying compliance with safety rules also occur. High inventory levels also affect the possibility of applying FIFO. Flows, obsolescence, and safety have been identified as the most important factors for more efficient outdoor logistics within the wood industry. Based on the identified factors a model could be designed and applicable within the wood industry.

Mercury contamination is an environmental issue with high priority due to its high toxicity. In addition to the atmospheric deposition, several lakes and rivers in Sweden are contaminated as a result from wood and pulp-fiber industries which stretches back 200 years. In Luleå, Sweden, a former groundwood industry, Karlshäll, has contributed to mercury pollution in the sediments of Notviken, a small bay connected to Luleå River and the Bothnian Sea, through release of process water. Industrial release of chemicals and wood pulp have resulted in a special type of sediment called fiber banks. The fiber banks contain high levels of organic matter and very little oxygen which contributes to large gas emissions from the fiber banks, gas ebullition. There is no generally accepted method for examining how mercury contaminants are spread through gas ebullition. The aim of this thesis was to review and find methods for that purpose. Through the literature review several types of methods emerged. Some of them were useful for measuring volumes of gas, whereas others were better designed for collecting gas and analysing it for concentration of elements. There are pros and cons with all methods but the one considered most useful in the case of Karlshäll would be Skarp’s method with active and passive sampling. The passive part includes setting up tents over the fiber bank with a known area, and then calculate the volumes of gas which migrate up through the water during a certain amount of time. The active sampling consists of stirring the fiber bank sediment with a stick and then gather the ascending gas bubbles in a Teflon-bag. The Teflon bag is thereafter sent to a chemical environmental laboratory for analysis of the concentration of elements. This method is the only one of the ones reviewed in this thesis which have been tested in Sweden at sites with gas- ebullition facilitated mercury transport. Although, Varadharajan et al’s (2011) sampling device with automation could be applicable if a long-term, high frequency monitoring programme would be used at Karlshäll. In addition, a sampling device with an integrated carbon-absorption-tube collector for trapping gaseous Hg would be beneficial if the samples can’t handle a long-distance transportation. Thus, the samples could be sent to a local laboratory instead. However, this type of device is not yet invented and would need further studies to develop. / Kvicksilverföroreningar är ett stort miljöproblem som räknas till de särskilt farliga ämnena vilka skall fasas ut för att nå miljömålet giftfri miljö. Föroreningarna är mycket giftiga för djur och miljö och det kvicksilver som redan spridits ansamlas och stannar kvar under lång tid i mark, vatten och biota. Utöver den atmosfäriska depositionen så är floder, älvar och sjöar i Sverige förorenade med kvicksilver, ett resultat av en 200-årig industri för tillverkning av pappersmassa och träfiber där kvicksilver varit en del i tillverkningsprocessen.  I Luleå fanns det ett träsliperi kallat Karlshäll mellan åren 1912–1962 som släppte ut orenat processvatten innehållandes kvicksilver tillsammans med rester av träfiber till den närliggande viken, Notviken, som är ett inlopp från Lule älv. Industriella utsläpp av kemikalier och träfiber har resulterat i bildandet av en viss typ av bottensediment, kallad fiberbank. Fiberbankarna innehåller höga nivåer av organiskt material i kombination med lite syre vilket bidrar till stora gasutsläpp från fiberbankarna, gasavgång. Det finns ingen vedertagen metod för att undersöka hur kvicksilverföroreningarna sprids genom gasavgång. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och hitta metoder som kan undersöka kvicksilverföroreningarnas spridning via gasavgång. Genom en litteraturstudie och intervju med en entreprenör inom miljöteknik framträdde flertalet olika metoder för att kunna kvantifiera eller mäta kvicksilver i gas från fiberbankar. Några av dem var användbara för att mäta volymer av gas. Andra metoder lämpade sig bättre för att samla in gas för analys av koncentrationer av olika ämnen.  Även om alla metoder i viss mån lämpar sig för att undersöka gasavgång från sediment ansågs Jonny Skarps metod som inkluderade både aktiv och passiv provtagning med gasfällor och teflonpåsar vara den mest passande för fiberbankar likt den i Karlshäll. Den passiva metoden innefattar installation av tält över en känd area på sedimentbotten och sen beräkna mängden gas som bubblar upp under en viss tid. Den aktiva insamlingsmetoden bygger på att sediment störs med ett spetsigt föremål, exempelvis ett lod, så att gasbubblor släpper från sedimentet och samlas in med hjälp av en teflon- påse. Teflon-påsen skickas sedan till ett kemiskt laboratorium i Göteborg för analys av innehållet i gasen. Båda dessa provtagningssätt kunde tillsammans mäta mängden kvicksilver ifrån gasen samt volymen av gasen. Denna metod är den enda av de som undersökts i denna uppsats som testats i Sverige på platser med kvicksilver som avgått i gasform från fiberbankar. Dock så är Varadharajan med fleras (2011) automatiserade gas-insamlare ett bra alternativ ifall en hög frekvens av provtagning är nödvändig i kombination med en lång insamlingstid. Denna skulle kunna kombineras med en insamlingsmetod av gasbubblor där det lokala kemilaboratoriet kan analysera innehållet. I detta fall krävs att ett kolfiber-rör är en del av mätinstrumentet. Dock finns det ännu inte något sådant instrument och fler studier behövs för att utveckla ett sådant.