The purpose of this master thesis is to contribute to the reduction of knowledge loss and reinvention inside and between organizations pursuing product development projects in developing countries to ensure growth and improved living standards. Investigation and to determination of existing knowledge sharing and knowledge storing practices in several stakeholders of a product development project in Quelimane, Mozambique will be studied. The involved stakeholders are non-profit and governmental organizations and a group of university students. The product development project involved the design and implementation of an anaerobic digester during the spring of 2018. Collaborations between some of the stakeholders started in 2015 and will exceed the project duration. Mixed research methods were used, and open-ended question interviews were conducted for the qualitative data collection. The data was analyzed by coding to find common patterns and relationships. A literature review and desk research were made to obtain detailed information about knowledge management and other related subjects. Results showed that all organizations involved in the product development process experienced at least one barrier to knowledge transfer related to their position as a nonprofit organization pursuing product development in a developing country. The definition of a knowledge management strategy is as important for non-profit organizations as it is for for-profit organizations, but the current methods for choosing a strategy need to be modified in order to fit the overall strategy of such organizations. The implementation of a knowledge management strategy and suitable knowledge management methods and activities could contribute to the reduction of knowledge loss and reinvention inside and between organizations pursuing product development projects in developing countries to ensure growth and improved living standards. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att bidra till en minska kunskapsförlust och återskapandet av tekniska lösningar inom och mellan organisationer som bedriver produktutvecklingsprojekt i utvecklingsländer för att säkerställa tillväxt och förbättrad levnadsstandard. En undersökning av befintlig kunskapsdelning och kunskapshantering hos flera aktörer i ett produktutvecklingsprojekt i Quelimane, Moçambique utfördes. De involverade aktörerna är ideella och statliga organisationer och en grupp universitetsstudenter. Produktutvecklingsprojektet involverade design och implementering av en anaerob rötkammare under våren 2018. Samarbetet mellan några av aktörerna startades 2015 och kommer att fortsätta efter projektets slutförande. Blandade forskningsmetoder användes och intervjuer med öppna frågor genomfördes för den kvalitativa datainsamlingen. Data analyserades genom kodning för att hitta gemensamma faktorer och relationer. En litteraturundersökning och skrivbordsarbete genomfördes för att få detaljerad information om kunskapshantering och andra relaterade ämnen. Resultaten visade att alla organisationer som deltog i produktutvecklingsprocessen upplevde minst ett hinder för kunskapsöverföring i samband med deras ställning som en ideell organisation som bedriver produktutveckling i ett utvecklingsland. Definitionen av en strategi för kunskapshantering är lika viktig för ideella organisationer som för vinstdrivande organisationer, men nuvarande metoder för att välja en strategi behöver ändras för att passa den övergripande strategin för sådana organisationer. En definiering av en kunskapshanteringsstrategi och lämpliga kunskapsförvaltningsmetoder och aktiviteter kan bidra till minska kunskapsförlust och återskapandet av tekniska lösningar inom och mellan organisationer som bedriver produktutvecklingsprojekt i utvecklingsländer för att säkerställa tillväxt och förbättrad levnadsstandard.

A product development project has been carried out in collaboration with Ifairs company. This project attempts to test and study the usability of Ifairs product, that still in the development phase, a new virtual platform for online events. Ifairs platform was designed to ensure a better user experience, and more engagement between host and attendees; in fact, Ifairs motto is ‘let´s engage people.’ Data have been collected from questionnaire interviews and field observation to determine the users' needs. The results have been analyzed to translate users' needs to product requirements and design specifications. Since the company has already given a final product prototype, this prototype has been evaluated to establish which requirements were fulfilled in order to start re-designing concepts. A number of concepts have been created and tested based on the design specification. This project has focused on user experience, usability, designing, and administering questionnaires. The results of analyzing users' work and needs showed that the interest in the online meeting platform has increased during the last years also that interaction between host and attendees is very weak. The attendees are not engaged and lose concentration quickly. The collected users' needs were to have a platform that is easy to use and protects security and privacy, where attendees can have an enjoyable experience with good interaction and engagement. In the testing of Ifairs platform, more users' needs were collected, and three concepts were made according to the list of requirements and from the data collected in previous steps.The design process followed in this project is a wheel lifecycle, so the design process needs to go forward or iterate until all the goals and users' needs are achieved.

Detta examensarbete har gjorts under vårterminen 2023 i företaget Scania i Södertälje, Stockholm. Examensarbetet handlar om effektivisering av reservdelsutvärdering inom fordonsindustrin genom att använda Leans grundprinciper, Scania produktionssystemet samt reservdelsklassificering. Arbetet är ett förbättringsprojekt där reservdelarna som produceras på emobility produktionslinje är arbetets fokus. Arbetet inleddes med att samla in data genom intervju, observationer och företagets produktionssystem. Därefter studerades nuvarande tillståndet av produktionen, där produktionsvolymer följdes upp och kopplades till lämpliga klassificeringsmetoder, sedan skapades värdeflödeskartläggning för nuvarande tillstånd. Resultatet som togs fram från nulägesbeskrivning, produktionsprocess och produktionsanalys visade att företaget jobbar utifrån dess principer och prioriteringar, reservdelsklassificering, samt tillämpar leanprinciperna. Examensarbetet innebär att genomföra ett förbättringsarbete som inte bara handlar om att analysera och undersöka problemen, utan det fokuserar på att identifiera relevanta metoder och lösningar som kan implementeras. Slutligen dras en slutsats och förslag om den lösningen och metoden kan bidra till förbättring. Slutsatserna föreslår att företaget fokuserar på de mest efterfrågade reservdelarna och tillverka dem på den dedikerade produktionslinjen för de kommande två åren, vilket är beprövat arbetssätt som visar sig lämpligt och effektivt eftersom det används och fungerar bra i andra produktionslinje inom samma företag. / This thesis has been done during the spring term 2023 in the company Scania in Södertälje, Stockholm. The degree project is about streamlining spare parts management in the automotive industry by using Lean principles, Scania production system and spare parts classification. The work is an improvement project where the spare parts produced on the e-mobility production line and this is the focus of the work. The work began by collecting data through interviews, observations, and the company's production system. Next, the current state of production was studied, where production volumes were followed up and linked to appropriate classification methods, then value flow mapping was created for the current state. The results obtained from the current situation description, production process and production analysis showed that the company works based on its principles and priorities, spare parts classification, and largely applies the lean principles. The degree project involves carrying out an improvement project that is not only about analyzing and investigating the problems, but it focuses on identifying relevant methods and solutions that can be implemented. Finally, a conclusion is done, and suggestions are made as to whether the solution and method can contribute to improvement. The conclusions suggest that the company focuses on the most demanded spare parts and manufacture them on the dedicated production line for the next two years, which is a proven way of working that proves to be suitable and effective as it is used and works well in other production lines within the same company.

<p>Godkänd; 1999; 20070403 (ysko)</p>

Industries of today are constantly making changes and advancing towards a future with the purpose of innovation, improvement and sustainability. New technologies give the opportunities to make advantages in a number of fields and adapt new methodologies to their processes and products; in this project, we are going to study the application of digital twins in the automotive sector, focusing on the ergonomic evaluation of an interior truck cabin by using motion capture system and DHM tools.A number of 6 participants have been tested with Xsens motion capture performing different tasks related to reachability, storage and comfort inside the truck cabin. Their actions get recorded and implemented in an evaluation software called ScaleFit, which provides numerical results for several parts of the body in terms of position and force. Selecting the appropriate criteria for evaluating the ergonomics is essential to make a proper analysis of how the workplace affects the user and vice versa. On the other hand, the DHM software IPS-IMMA has been employed to simulate the exact postures adopted by the participants with a digital truck model and mannikins with the same dimensions. Both methods are compared to study to what degree they are able to give the necessary feedback to evaluate in a realistic and accurate way.The results obtained show an advantage for motion capture systems rather than DHM tools. However, by getting improvements in the software and new types of data to implement, we could be able to state that both technologies are near the same level of accuracy and proper application for a digital twin process in trucks and vehicles. We consider this methodology quite appropriate for companies with the purpose of making ergonomics analyses and other issues that relate to the design and development of trucks and vehicles. Also, different processes and types of digital twin approach have been realised depending on the tool employed and the flow of information, including digital twin itself, digital shadow and digital model. Although these processes have been realised to perform the experimental part in the most optimal way, they can be somewhat abstract to be established for a certain application,so the methodology employed for this project could vary for another company’s purpose. / <p>Utbytesstudenter Universidad de Málaga, Spanien</p>

In this dissertation a study and analysis of seven Development Partnerships, (DP) within the Community Initiative, Equal, is presented. The EQUAL programme ran in every member states of the EU during 2000-2007 and was financed by the European Social Fund. The purpose of the programme was to fight against discrimination and exclusion for a better working life through the work of so called Development Partnerships, (DP). DP's work in collaboration with different organizations from different fields of society all with the purpose to develop innovative methods and models. The seven Swedish DP's in this study all had in their field of work supported youth with problems in school and in their transition to working life. In this study the DP's application documents (realization plans) have been studied in order to analyze their view of the problems with transition from school to working place for Swedish youth and their proposals for solutions of this type of problems. The result of the study is illustrated in an ideal typical four-field model that focuses on two important dimensions of the activities of the DP's. One of these aspects is about whether the DP's is operating within the public or the private sector. The other aspect is about whether the DP's has a focus on individuals or upon systems. As an outcome of these two dimensions four ideal typical DP's are created, in this model called he Pedagogue, the Bureaucrat, the Idealist, the Consultant. The model shows that each one of these ideal typical DP's has to take into consideration some special factors in their programmes, especially the survival of the project or the ideas in the long run. These factors are described in the model as movements and dependences to adjacent DP's. For example it is important for the DP's from the private sector to achieve legitimacy for their programme. The DP's from the public sector has to import alternative ideas into the regular activities. The DP's with individuals in focus are stressing the importance of developing models for new systems, while DP's with systems in focus has the need to have activities that has individual based activity in order to gain credibility. The model illustrates important conditions and requirements that DP's has to take into consideration when developing supporting activities for youths. / I denna licentiatavhandling presenteras en studie och analys av sju utvecklingspartnerskap (UP) inom Europeiska Socialfondens gemenskapsinitiativ Equal. Equalprogrammet bedrevs inom EU:s alla medlemsländer under perioden 2000-2007 med syfte att motverka diskriminering och utestängning inom arbetsmarknaden. Detta mål skulle främst förverkligas genom den verksamhet som bedrevs i de s.k. utvecklingspartnerskapen, (UP). I UP samarbetade ett antal organisationer från olika samhällssektorer i ett eller flera projekt med syfte att utveckla framgångsrika metoder och modeller. De sju svenska UP som studerades har alla utvecklat stödjande verksamhet till ungdomar med problem inom skolsystemet och i övergången till arbetslivet. I avhandlingsarbetet har UP:s ansökningshandlingar (genomförandeplaner) studerats med syftet att analysera deras syn på dels den etableringsproblematik som finns bland svenska ungdomar, dels de förslag till lösningar på denna problematik som de presenterar. Resultatet av studien utmynnar i en idealtypisk fyrfältsmodell som främst illustrerar två viktiga dimensionella aspekter av UP verksamhet. En av dessa aspekter är inom vilken samhällssektor UP främst rör sig inom, offentlig eller privat. Den andra aspekten handlar om verksamheten har ett individ- eller systemfokus. Utifrån dessa två dimensioner skapas fyra olika slags idealtypiska UP, i modellen benämnda Pedagogen, Byråkraten, Idealisten och Konsulten. Resultatet visar på att var och en av dessa idealtypiska UP har särskilda faktorer att ta hänsyn till i sin verksamhet, inte minst projektets eller idéernas överlevnad på lång sikt. Dessa faktorer beskrivs i modellen som rörelser och beroenden till de i modellen angränsande UP. Det är alltså viktigt för UP från den privata sektorn att uppnå legitimitet för sin verksamhet. För UP från den offentliga sektorn är behoven större att finna alternativ till den ordinarie verksamheten. De UP som har ett in- dividfokus betonar vikten av att utveckla modeller med systemfokus, medan UP med fokus på system upplever behovet av att ha en individförankrad verksamhet för trovärdighetens skull. Modellen illustrerar de viktiga förutsättningar och krav som utvecklingspartnerskap har att ta hänsyn till för att framgångsrikt kunna utveckla stödjande verksamhet till ungdomars etablering till arbetslivet. / Godkänd; 2008; 20080416 (ysko)

In focus in this licentiate thesis is academia as a workplace. The aim is to explore possible relations between working conditions, career possibilities and health and ill-health, respectively. It is a case study inspired by Grounded Theory and based upon sixty in-depth interviews with doctoral students and academic staff such as lecturers, senior lecturers and professors at three universities. Both men and women participate in the study, and half of them are or have been on long-term sick leave. Two models are used in the analysis; Karasek and Theorell's (1990) model "demand-control-support" in the analysis of working conditions, health and ill-health in an academic context and Kanter's (1977) structural model, based on possibilities, power and relative numbers, in the analysis of career possibilities. The results show that both teachers and doctoral students think of it as a privilege to work within academia, since it is associated with freedom, autonomy, inspiration and good career possibilities. In contrast, they view their work load as high, work tasks as fragmented combined with constant audits, lack of time and lack of support, the study shows that these conditions might lead to stress and ill health. In spite of relatively low sick leave numbers in academia, there is reason to believe that university staff tends to work when sick and that this is a growing problem. One reason to this development is the fact that, because of the way work is organized, it is possible to work at home when sick and to compensate for loss of working hours by working during evenings and weekends. This means that signs of warnings of possible future sick leave do not fail to appear, which might be one of the reasons to increased numbers of long-term sick leave. In this context, there is reason to apply a gender perspective, as women doctoral students are overrepresented among staff on long-term sick leave. In Karasek and Theorell's model, there is no gender perspective, which is made evident when it is combined with Kanter's model. One of the conclusions of this study is that working conditions of men and women, career possibilities and health and ill-health are related. By using these two models in the analysis these connections are demonstrated. Hopefully the results of this study might serve as a basis for measures aiming at creating healthier workplaces within academia. / Denna licentiatuppsats handlar om akademin som arbetsplats. Syftet är att undersöka samband mellan arbetsförhållanden, karriärmöjligheter och hälsa respektive ohälsa inom akademin. Licentiatuppsatsen har karaktär av en fallstudie och har inspirerats av grundad teori (grounded theory). Studien baseras på sextio djupintervjuer med doktorander och universitetslärare bestående av adjunkter, lektorer och professorer, vid tre lärosäten. Både kvinnor och män medverkar i studien, varav nästan hälften av intervjupersonerna är, eller har varit, långtidssjukskrivna. Två modeller fungerar som analysverktyg för att beskriva och analysera det empiriska materialet. Karasek och Therorells (1990) "krav-kontroll-stödmodell" används för att analysera arbetsförhållanden, hälsa och ohälsa i en akademisk kontext, medan Kanters (1977) strukturmodell, som baseras på möjligheter, makt och antalsfördelning mellan könen, används för att analysera karriärmöjligheter inom akademin. Resultaten visar att både lärare och doktorander på många sätt upplever det som ett privilegium att ha akademin som arbetsplats, eftersom den förknippas med frihet, hög autonomi, stimulans och goda karriärmöjligheter. Däremot upplevs arbetsbelastningen inom akademin hög, arbetsuppgifterna splittrade och studien visar att detta i kombination med ständiga utvärderingar, tidsbrist och otillräckligt stöd leder till stress och ohälsa. Trots relativt låga ohälsotal inom akademin är dold sjukfrånvaro och sjuknärvaro växande problem. En förklaring till den dolda sjukfrånvaron kan vara att arbetets karaktär gör det möjligt att arbeta hemifrån vid sjukdom, eller att kompensera förlorad arbetstid på kvällar eller helger. Frekvent sjuknärvaro och dold sjukfrånvaro medför att den varningssignal som korttidssjukfrånvaro kan fungera som uteblir, vilket kan vara en bidragande orsak till den ökande långtidssjukfrånvaron. Här finns anledning att anlägga ett genusperspektiv, eftersom kvinnliga doktorander är överrepresenterade bland de långtidssjukskrivna. Karasek och Theorells modell saknar genusperspektiv, vilket blir uppenbart när modellen används tillsammans med Kanters modell. En slutsats av studien är att det finns samband mellan kvinnor och mäns arbetsförhållanden, karriärmöjligheter hälsa och ohälsa. Genom att använda dessa två modeller som analysverktyg synliggörs dessa samband. Målsättningen är att resultaten från denna licentiatuppsats kan ligga till grund för åtgärder som skapar friskare universitet. / Godkänd; 2008; 20080520 (ysko)

Sensor networks are being deployed to monitor physical surroundings in a wide range of applications including healthcare, agriculture, education, transportation, home automation, industry, and they are bringing revolutionary change in the innovation area. Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs) offer tremendous potential for increasing the efficiency of many systems. The transmitting of information during an event of an emergency from the physical environment is most important in monitoring applications where the network of sensors is placed. In order to react in a fraction of second in the event of critical situations such as fire, toxic gases leak, or flood, a quick enough system is required. One of the biggest challenges when building a wireless network is choosing a good protocol for the desired application. What are we trying to accomplish? What is the proper protocol for that? There are several communication protocols, and each has a specific focus.The main focus of this thesis is to build a sensor network for measuring air temperature using a wireless communication protocol for said application. Based on the results a conclusion is reached about the energy yield, the communication range, and the connection strength, considering how they affect obstacles, such as the weather conditions or different objects. / <p>Utbytesstudent Universidad de Granada, Spanien</p>

The report describes the process of designing a new tool to help the workers in Aurobay in the storage section. Nowadays, Aurobay also imports their engine parts from Asia and America, although previously, they imported engine parts from Europe only. This change has created a problem to establish good working conditions due to the material of those boxes, which is cardboard. Now comes two different types of boxes, i.e., the previous ones (in plastic, which are reusable) and the new ones in cardboard (that are no reusable), which led to an increment of effort in workers' muscles during the performance in their job taking the boxes. This degree project aims to create a new tool, which should be possible to perform the handling task in a way that leads to better ergonomics (i.e., good performance and little risk of disorders). To develop this improvement this thesis is divided into the following main aspects: an initial prestudy of Aurobay work environment, the development of concepts, election of the best concepts, development of designs, and the evaluation of the new designs. Achieving these objectives was complicated but with a lot of hard work, the results were successful. After the physical prototypes were made, the results were positive. And also,with these results, some future improvements were collected for the final prototype to reduce risks for muscular disorders of the workers. / <p>Utbytesstudenter, Universidad de Málaga, Spanien</p>

Access to human resources is a crucial factor in most cases of business and regional development. Due to demographical changes, urbanization and new values among the next generation, the competition to find the right workforce is likely to increase. Reports have stressed that the difficulties for companies to find the right labor can become a hindrance to sustainable business and regional development. Considering the low proportion of women in the field of engineering, only 20 percent, one must ask; Why are WE (Works in Engineering) not more attractive for women? The purpose of this thesis is to describe the collaboration between an expanding enterprise in a semirural area and a gender research project, from three different perspectives in order to find some answers for the overarching question. In the first paper, the purpose is to describe and analyze the creation of a process model for gender awareness within an enterprise. The second paper will, with the same empirical data, focus on the interdependence between enterprise and region. Finally, the last paper, written for a conference in India, addressing readers unfamiliar with the gender equality issue in the Swedish context, describes how a male facilitator combines disclosing personal life experiences with other methods, as a strategy to inspire men to consider a gender perspective, to use gender glasses. Gender equality has been a topic on the political agenda in Sweden for a long time. Although much progress has been made, many obstructive structures remain. Sweden is one of the European countries that have the highest participation rate for women in the labor force. However, the labor market is highly gender-segregated, both horizontally, which refers to the concentration of women and men in different types of jobs, and vertically, the concentration of women and men in different jobtasks and positions. Due to this background, the innovation system, Triple Steelix, was granted funding by VINNOVA for the project “Gender Perspective for Attractive Work”, in the fall of 2008. The purpose of the research project was to develop methods and knowledge that would contribute to increased gender awareness in order for employers to become more attractive to current and potential staff. The framework for the collaboration is action research in combination with feminist theory, the concept of “doing gender”, theories of masculinity, and attractive work theories. Different approaches and methods, such as analogies, anecdotes, and pictures, have been used during workshops with the organization, in order to nourish the joint learning process.Findings are that in an industrial environment with an “engineering discourse”,driven by a technical-economic rationality that prioritizes market demands, gender issues are not often seen as a parameter for sustainable business or regional development. Nevertheless, the project demonstrates that with an interactive approach and an open dialogue that considers the company's needs, arguments, and intervention for more gender-equal workplaces do not necessarily meet resistance. In this case, the concept of employer brand was the admission ticket for the collaboration. The combination of different participatory methods that were adapted to the context made it possible to counter resistance from individuals and to discuss gender from different perspectives and ways of reasoning. Another conclusion is that when launching long-term transformational processes in an organization, gender should not remain a “non-issue”. When gender issues are integrated, it will contribute to examining the organization from a new perspective regarding issues such as power, symbols, and relations. In the described collaboration, gender perspective was integrated and the enterprise became more aware of gender issues as an important component of strengthening the employer brand. The principle of the described process model can probably be used in similar cases if adapted to a local context.