Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-21T15:07:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauricio Gayubas.pdf: 4547233 bytes, checksum: 9a10b3048bfb27a539b8a17481b2b509 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-21T15:07:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauricio Gayubas.pdf: 4547233 bytes, checksum: 9a10b3048bfb27a539b8a17481b2b509 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / Remanufacturing auto parts is an important activity from the point of view of the triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental) because its components can be reuse and not only has to be sending to be recycled. This case study sought to identify the members of the distribution channel (remanufacturer, distributor and fleet owners) how they influence the willingness to pay in a B2B relation. In addition, regarding all members influences the other members of this distribution channel in making production, distribution and application decisions of alternators and starter motors remanufactured applied in urban and intercity buses. Studyinglocal governmental regulations in Brazil, it was not identified obligation regarding producers to collect alternators and starter motors at the end of their life cycle. This situation would help the manufacturer to develop a more efficient reverse logistics strategy, with higher product volume of remanufactured production and increased activity in volume within the factory and thus invest the market in a vision at the triple bottom line point of view, as well as a better vision of the product by environmentally sustainable point. The remanufacturer produce their products identifying this activity as a business opportunity in the same way that the product is distributed wholesale with the same vision for the distributor and applied in bus fleets as a more expensive product that the reconditioned or repaired in maintenance shops. However, this price is offseted by the benefit cost of quality of the remanufactured products. Despite efforts by the trade associations and remanufacturers, albeit timidly, the information from the point of view that remanufacturing is an environmentally and socially sustainable activity. Customers in the B2B relationship does not identify the remanufacturing activity in this way, leaving an opportunity for the remanufacturer to manifest and develop information tools for green marketing information regarding the pillars of sustainability, bringing the remanufacturer a competitive advantage in environmental awareness among the members of the distribution channel, as well as greater awareness in society. It is an opportunity to promote environmentally sustainable pillar vision for the fleet owners and society as a curriculum in the development of environmental awareness for future generations. / A remanufatura de autopeças é uma atividade importante do ponto de vista das dimensões da sustentabilidade (econômico, social e ambiental) por reutilizar os componentes de um produto com defeito e não somente enviar esse mesmo produto para reciclagem, assim, este estudo de caso buscou identificar nos membros do canal de distribuição (fabricante remanufaturador, distribuidor de autopeças e frotista) a relação B2B que um membro influencia o outro membro desse canal de distribuição na tomada de decisão de produção, distribuição e aplicação dos alternadores e motores de partida veiculares remanufaturados aplicados em ônibus urbanos e rodoviários. Mesmo com as diretrizes mundiais e as leis locais, no Brasil não foi identificada a obrigatoriedade do recolhimento dos alternadores e motores de partida no final do ciclo de vida, o que contribuiria para o fabricante poder desenvolver uma estratégia de logística reversa mais eficiente, com maiores volumes de produtos e maior atividade em volumes dentro da fábrica e assim, investir perante o mercado uma visão do produto pelo ponto de vista ambientalmente sustentável. O fabricante remanufatura os seus produtos identificando essa atividade como uma oportunidade de negócio, da mesma forma que o produto é distribuído no atacado com essa mesma visão pelo distribuidor e aplicado nas frotas de ônibus como um produto mais caro que o recondicionado ou consertado nas oficinas de manutenção dentro das suas próprias garagens. Porém, esse preço é compensado pelo custo benefício da qualidade em que é produzido. Mesmo com esforços por parte das entidades de classe e dos fabricantes, para informar do ponto de vista de que a remanufatura é uma atividade ambientalmente e socialmente sustentáveis, os clientes dessa relação B2B não identificam a atividade de remanufatura dessa maneira, deixando uma excelente oportunidade para o fabricante se manifestar e desenvolver ferramentas de divulgação pelo marketing verde sobre a informação das dimensões da sustentabilidade, trazendo para o remanufaturador uma vantagem competitiva sobre a consciência ambiental junto aos membros da cadeia de distribuição, como também maior conscientização junto à sociedade. É a oportunidade de fomentar a visão da dimensão ambientalmente sustentável para os frotistas e para a sociedade como currículo no desenvolvimento da conscientização ambiental.

This diploma thesis focuses on stock management and related issues in the automotive industry. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part discusses general concepts of logistics and stock management. There are described patterns of production and its connection to the warehouse and logistics issues and more. The practical part focuses on a specific environment of companies operating in the automotive industry and describes its parts and logistics processes that are somehow related to the stock management. The practical part is also more elaborated on Aftermarket issues.

It has for many businesses, especially on competitive markets, become fundamental to offer augmented services around the core product, with the aim of building lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with the customers. The author of this thesis has investigated such services offered on the Mexican truck aftermarket. The art of creating successful customer relations requires theoretical insight. Research applicable on aftermarket services has therefore been studied, and the reader will go into theories of service management, relationship marketing, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty, to better understand the contexts in which aftermarket activities can be placed. The empirical research has been carried out at Volvo Trucks in Mexico through interviews with employees and dealers of its aftermarket organization, but also through interviewing and surveying its truck customers. The main objective of the project was to identify gaps between the aftermarket services offered and the actual needs of the customers, and to address them. Another objective was to find appropriate ways of monitoring customer satisfaction- and loyalty in the future. The lack of spare parts at the dealers was found to be the most urgent problem for the moment. In addition, spare parts availability was evaluated to be the most important area among the surveyed customers. Financial problems of the dealers were found to provoke the lack of spare parts in many cases. In turn, evidence of poor management was identified as possible causing factors to the financial problems. The main general flaw in this sense would be a questionable dealer business focus. The research identified the following issues as possible areas of improvement, based on the theoretical approach chosen: A financial renovation of the Volvo Trucks dealer net, excepting the dealers that are not fully committed to its role. Those are to be phased out. Initiation of IT-solutions to support automatic replenishment of spare parts at the dealerships. Forcing the usage of a common CRM database. Introduction of corporate key performance indicators based on customer relations’ metrics. Altering dealer business focus towards relationship marketing thinking. Improve dealer management business vision and business knowledge. In addition to these findings of possible areas of improvement, the following future methods of customer satisfaction research and customer loyalty metrics are recommended: Yearly one-to-one interviews with core customers performed by the aftermarket organization, and continuous close follow-up actions performed by the dealers, to monitor customer satisfaction. Customer defection rate metrics to monitor customer loyalty.

This thesis report is the final element of the Master of Science degree in Industrial Design Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, conducted between January and September 2017 at Saab AB Surveillance in Järfälla, Sweden. The purpose of this thesis project was to analyze the current situation inside production of aftermarket products with an aim to create an extensive mapping of the current situation. Resulting in suggestions for improvements to stabilize the production and creating integration between the aftermarket and new production.   Products produced at Saab Järfälla are used in military defense applications where the larger systems in electronic warfare (EW) and countermeasure systems have very long life cycles, i.e. up to 40 years, and are being used in harsh environments. The products have to be maintained through various service agreements to include support with repairs, maintenance, supplies and transports between Saab and the client. One of these service agreements has a demanded net average lead time of N+12 days between Saab’s facilities and the client whereas N days inside the Järfälla production site. Mapping the situation and handling all the product information in a production with high-mix, low-volume characteristics have not been easy. The aftermarket processes inside Järfälla include diagnosing, reparation, assembling and testing to ensure the performance of the products. The aftermarket shares resources with the production of newly manufactured products which is one of the reasons creating a vast difference in the lead times standard deviation. Other reasons such as information handling, priority inference, flexibility issues and bad visual management has been the effect of causing delays in the production.   The thesis project has been conducted through a development process using various methods for mapping the current situation and to come up with new ideas to improve the situation. Starting with a search in available literature and research about HMLV production, aftermarket situations and lean principles, onto using well-known methods for analyzing such as value stream mapping, Ishikawa diagrams and data collection to form a requirement specification for the upcoming solutions.   As a result, in the analysis of the current state, the fact that the processes itself works almost flawlessly shows that causes for delays and lack of stability lies between the operations. Thereby through ideation, evaluation and further development towards the conducted requirement specification, a solution to start with is to make sure the visual management works. A solution creating a complete overview of the production between all operations integrating new products with aftermarket using a new kind of visual production control boards. These visual production control boards will help prioritizing using FIFO queues and daily meetings, seeing capacity demands and troubles easy by stacking station- or areawise and also create an altogether working flow together with the current layout of the production site.   Further recommendations include further development of these visual production control boards together with implementing a CONWIP planning and control principle using wagons, standardize communications and continuously become more transparent inside the company. The proposed solutions might not guarantee N days inside the Järfälla production site but it will help operators, planners and management to easier locate problems and allocate capacity to increase the flexibility of the production. / Detta examensarbete är det sista delen på civilingenjörsprogrammet Teknisk Design vid Luleå tekniska universitet, ett arbete som genomfördes mellan januari och september 2017 hos Saab AB Surveillance i Järfälla, Sverige. Syftet med examensarbete var att utföra en nulägesanalys över eftermarknadsproduktionen för att senare kunna ge förslag på förbättringar och kunna hjälpa till att skapa integration mellan eftermarknadsproduktion och produktionen av nya produkter.   Produkter som produceras av Saab i Järfälla används i militära försvarssammanhang där de större systemen inom elektronisk krigsföring (EW) och motåtgärder har mycket långa livscykler, t.ex. upp till 40 år och används i mycket krävande miljöer. Därmed har produkterna olika omfattande serviceavtal för inkludera support med reparationer, underhåll, leverans och transporter mellan Saab och kund. Ett av dessa serviceavtal kräver en genomsnittlig netto ledtid på N+12 dagar mellan kund och Saab för reparation varav N dagar maximalt hos produktionen i Saab Järfälla. Kartläggningen av situationen och hanteringen av all produktinformation i en produktion med hög variation och låg volym har inte varit lätt. Eftermarknadsprocesserna inom Järfälla inkluderar diagnostisering, reparation, montering och testning för att säkerställa produktens prestanda. Eftermarknaden delar även resurser med produktion av nyframställda produkter vilket är en av anledningarna till att skapa en stor skillnad i ledtidens standardavvikelse. Andra orsaker som informationshantering, prioritetsinferens, flexibilitetsproblem och dålig visuell hantering har medfört förseningar i produktionen.   Projektet har genomförts genom en utvecklingsprocess med olika metoder för att kartlägga den nuvarande situationen och att komma med nya idéer för att förbättra situationen. Det startade med en sökning i tillgänglig litteratur och forskning om HMLV-produktion, eftermarknadssituationer och lean principer, på att använda välkända metoder för att analysera som value stream mapping, Ishikawa diagram och datainsamling för att skapa en kravspecifikation för kommande lösningar.   Som ett resultat visar det faktum att processerna själva fungerar nästan felfritt och att orsakerna till förseningar och bristen på stabilitet ligger istället mellan operationerna. Därigenom genom idégenerering, utvärdering och vidareutveckling mot den genomförda kravspecifikationen, är en lösning till att börja med att se till att den visuella hanteringen fungerar. En framställd lösning som skapar en fullständig översikt över produktionen mellan alla verksamheter som integrerar nya produkter med eftermarknaden med hjälp av en ny typ av visuella produktionsstyrningstavlor. Dessa visuella produktionsstyrningstavlorna kommer att bidra till att hjälpa prioritera genom att använda sig av FIFO-köer och dagliga möten, eftersom kapacitetsbehov och problem är enkla genom att istället stapla station- eller områdesvis och skapa ett helt arbetsflöde tillsammans med produktionsplatsens nuvarande layout.   Ytterligare rekommendationer inkluderar vidareutveckling av dessa visuella produktionsstyrningstavlorna tillsammans med implementering av en CONWIP planerings- och kontrollprincip med hjälp av vagnar, standardisering av kommunikationer och att kontinuerligt bli mer transparenta inom företaget. Lösningarna kan inte helt garantera N dagar på Järfällas produktionsplats, men det kommer att hjälpa operatörer, planerare och ledare att lättare hitta problem och fördela kapacitet för att öka produktionens flexibilitet.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) spend plenty of resources in developing products and establishing a profitable market. This includes time-consuming investigations, costly research and development processes, as well as a great deal of risk-taking. In comparison, certain companies specialise in fitting aftermarket merchandise to established markets of products. These companies copy existing aftermarket products as they supply the consumer an alternative that is often cheaper. These are regarded as ‘will-fitters’. Not only do will-fitters act within the market without the need for a lengthy R&D process, or exposure to high risk, but they also seize market share and thereby compromise OEM part sales. Will-fitters pose a concrete competitive threat to an automotive OEM in the aftermarket. The aftermarket is considered highly lucrative, as profitability is relatively high when compared to the car sales market. As will-fitters are active in the market, spare part market share is lost and pieces of a highly profitable market are seized by such competitors. This study investigates relevant OEM competition barriers for will-fitter deterrence and analyses the effects of implementing these barriers. The findings are based upon a case study performed at an automotive OEM, i.e. Volvo Cars. The case focuses on the OEM’s engine air filter, which is currently highly exposed to competition from alternative suppliers. Through combining theory regarding product development and entry barriers along with empirical findings at the case company, the study concludes six competition barriers that are relevant for the OEM as it faces will-fitters. These barriers are: patenting a utility, increasing the level of product complexity, raising the necessary financial investments, delivering additional value offerings, obtaining a strong customer value perception, and pricing competitively. The study concludes each of the barriers’ potency in competition deterrence and discusses the effects of implementing those barriers on the products’ underlying costs. Finally, it is concluded that these barriers could be implemented in order to deter competition. However, none of the discussed competition barriers has shown to yield complete market dominance for the OEM, i.e. a market without competitors. Rather, an effect in the form of decreasing the amount of competitors has been noted. Admittedly, reducing the sheer quantity of active market players seems favourableto the OEM, but a direct correlation with increased market share cannot be concluded. / Tillverkare av originalutrustning (Original Equipment Manufacturer, OEM) spenderar stora mängder resurser för att utveckla produkter och etablera vinstdrivande marknader. Detta kräver ett stort risktagande då tid och kostsam utveckling utförs utan garanterade intäkter. Till skillnad från OEM-företagen finns företag som enbart fokuserar på att producera eftermarknadsprodukter till redan etablerade marknader. Dessa företag, benämnda “will-fitters”, kopierar existerande eftermarknadsprodukter och erbjuder kunden ett, oftast, billigare alternativ. Will-fitters affärsmodell utgörs därmed av att agera inom etablerade marknader vilket medför drastiskt minskade produktutvecklingskostnader samt lägre risk. Som en konsekvens av will-fitters intåg i marknaden reduceras försäljningen för OEM-företagen. Will-fitters utgör därmed ett konkret hot inom eftermarknaden för en OEM såsom en biltillverkare. Eftermarknaden är en lukrativ marknad då vinstmarginalerna är höga relativt nybilsförsäljning. Då will-fitters är verksamma i marknaden tar de marknadsandelar och därmed tappar OEM en del av en lukrativ marknad. Denna studie undersöker konkurrenshinder relevanta för en OEM att implementera mot will-fitters och analyserar effekterna av att implementera dessa hinder. Resultaten baseras på en fallstudie utförd hos en biltillverkare, Volvo Cars. Studien fokuserar på biltillverkarens motorluftfilter, vilken är utsatt för konkurrens av will-fitters. Genom att kombinera teori gällande produktutveckling och konkurrenshinder med empiri från det studerade företaget togs sex relevanta konkurrens hinder fram för en OEM som konkurrerar med will-fitters. Dessa hinder är: patentering av en produkt, öka produktens komplexitet, höja de nödvändiga investeringarna, bidra med ökat värde, förbättra kundens uppfattning av produkten, sätta ett konkurrenskraftigt pris. Studien konkluderar konkurrenshindrens potential i att avskräcka konkurrens samt diskuterar hur implementation av hindren påverkar produktens underliggande kostnader. Slutligen påvisar studien att konkurrenshindren kan implementeras i syfte att avskräcka konkurrenter. Dock visar studien även att ingen av konkurrenshindren skapar en marknad utan några konkurrenter. Snarare, så är den påvisade effekten att antalet konkurrenter minskar. Visserligen är en reduktion av antalet konkurrenter i marknaden positivt för en OEM men en direkt korrelation med ökad marknadsandel har inte kunnat påvisas.

Finding the proper balance between availability and cost efficiency is an important concern within spare part management. Spare part suppliers need to respond quickly to customer demand as a stock-out can have severe consequences for both the customer and the supplier. It is critical to identify what items to keep in stock and where to allocate the inventory to avoid stock-outs. This case study was performed at a large high-tech company producing manufacturing equipment to be used in the electronics industry. The aim was to lower the stock-levels of spare parts while not impairing the availability by combining item classification, demand forecasting, and distribution network optimization. A decision diagram for classifying spare parts was constructed using the analytical hierarchy process. Twenty items were classified using the diagram, and the demand for them was forecasted using the Syntetos Boylan Approximationmethod. The shipping cost for spare parts within one region was minimized using a linear optimization model. The analysis showed that equipment criticality, annual usage value, and installed base are critical when classing spare parts. Instead of using five distribution centers in the European region, it was discovered that the shipping costs would decrease if only three warehouses made up the distribution network. The spare parts investigated appeared to follow the typical characteristics for spare parts, showing a low and irregular demand. Hence, demand forecasting seemed to be unnecessary, considering the difficulties in getting satisfactory results. Instead of combining the results from classification, forecasting, and inventory allocation, we suggest that the processes affecting stocking decisions should cooperate and work towards a common objective, namely to satisfy the customer demand in a cost-efficient way. Thus, widening the meaning of taking on an integrated approach to spare part management. / Inom hanteringen av reservdelar är det en stor utmaning att hitta rätt avvägning mellan tillgänglighet och kostnadseffektivitet. Leverantörer av reservdelar måste snabbt kunna möta kundefterfrågan eftersom uteblivna leveranser av kritiska reservdelar kan få allvarliga konsekvenser för både kund och leverantör. Vilka artiklar som ska lager-hållas och var de ska lagerhållas är avgörande beslut för att undvika att artiklar rest-noteras. I den här fallstudien, som utfördes på ett stort teknikföretag som tillverkarproduktionsutrustning till elektronikindustrin, var syftet att sänka lagernivåerna av reservdelar utan att göra avkall på tillgängligheten. Detta genom att kombineragruppering av artiklar, beräkning av kommande efterfrågan och optimering av distributionsnätverket. För att klassificera artiklar i grupper med liknande egenskaper skapades ett schematiskt beslutsdiagram med hjälp av metoden AHP. Tjugo artiklar ur sortimentet valdes ut som beslutsdiagrammet testades på. För samma tjugo artiklar gjordes prognoser för den kommande efterfrågan med metoden Syntetos-Boylan-Approximation. Distributionsnätverket i den europeiska regionen optimerades medavseende på fraktkostnad genom att applicera en linjär optimeringsmodell. Hur kritisk en reservdel är för den relaterade maskinens funktionalitet, reservdelensårliga förbrukningsvärde och den geografiska placeringen av installerade maskinervisade sig vara kritiska för att kunna klassificera artiklarna effektivt. Analysen av distributionsnätverket i Europa visade att fraktkostnaderna kan minskas om nätverket utgjordes av tre lager istället för fem som det gör i dagsläget. De tjugo undersökta reservdelarna uppvisade de typiska egenskaperna för reservdelar som har rapporterats i litteraturen som låg och oregelbunden efterfrågan. Att sätta prognoser på efterfrågan verkar obefogat med tanke på komplexiteten i beräkningarna och att de ger få tillfredsställande resultat. Istället för att kombinera resultaten från klassificering, prognoser på efterfrågan och lageroptimering föreslår vi att alla de funktioner i ett företag som arbetar med att tillgodose kundefterfrågan bör samarbeta i högre grad och jobba mot ett gemensamt mål, nämligen att tillgodose kundernas efterfrågan på ett kostnadseffektivt sätt. Således vill vi utvidga betydelsen av att ta en integrerad strategi för reservdelshantering

Forskning inom motorutveckling bedrivs för att möta kommande emissionskrav och samtidigt minska bränsleförbrukningen. Kommande förbud mot dieseldrivna fordon planeras i flera städer runt om i världen. Alternativa bränsle som exempelvis naturgas ses som en lovande ersättning även för tunga fordon. Metan som är huvudkomponenten av naturgas har en fördelaktigt förhållande mellan väte och kol vilket gör den attraktiv för CO2-reducering. Hur som helst, bränslets låga cetantal och den höga aktiveringsenergin som krävs för att tända naturgas förutsätter tändstiftsantändning.En fördel av att använda en encylindrig motor inom forskning är möjligheten att studera fenomen utan negativa gasväxlingsinteraktioner från intilliggande cylindrar. Jämfört med en fullmotor möjliggörs även ett snabbare utbyte av motordelar samt lägre bränsleförbrukning.Fokus för detta examensarbete var genomförandet av ett flexibelt bränslesystem för en tändstiftsantänd encylindrig motor. Motorn är en tändstiftsantänd Scania 9 liters som modifieras för encylinder körning. Flexibilitet som t.ex. laddningshomogenitet, selektiv fyllning av inloppsporter och förberedelser för direktinsprutning av flytande bränsle realiserades. För enkel användning är motorn styrd av en eftermarknadsmotorstyrenhet som använder ett användarvänligt grafiskt gränssnitt för ändring av driftsparametrar. Säkerhetshänsyn vid blandning av gasformiga bränsle och luft långt innan inloppsporterna har implementerats. / Most of the fundamental research in internal combustion engines is driven by the ever-increasing stringency of emissions regulations along with the need for increased fuel economy. The proposed ban on diesel vehicles in several cities around the world combined with extensive availability, has made natural gas a promising substitute even for heavy-duty applications. The high hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of methane, the major component of natural gas, makes it attractive from an emissions reduction perspective. CO2 emissions from natural gas combustion are particularly low. However, the low cetane number and high activation energy required to ignite natural gas, requires spark-ignition.In a research setting, it is often advantageous to have a single cylinder engine. The main benefit is the ability to study phenomena without adverse interactions which multi-cylinder operation may cause. This is especially important for gas-exchange studies. Quicker replacement of parts and lower fuel consumption are secondary benefits.The focus of this thesis was the implementation of a flexible fueling system for a single cylinder spark-ignited engine. The engine is a Scania 9-liter spark-ignited engine modified for single cylinder operation. Flexibility in terms of charge homogeneity, selective intake port filling and provisions for liquid fuel direct injection have been provided. For ease of use, the engine is controlled by an aftermarket engine control unit with a graphical user interface for configuration. Safety considerations when mixing gaseous fuels and air well upstream of the intake ports have been implemented.

Abstrakt Bakgrund: Bilindustrin står i dagsläget mitt i en omstrukturering av marknaden, där ansvar för produktion av detaljer förflyttas från biltillverkarna till underleverantörerna. Med denna omstrukturering följer högre krav på kvalitetsnivå och kostnadspress som underleverantörerna måste förhålla sig till. Fallföretaget (Företag X) gjorde cirka 2015 en strategiförändring från att enbart tillverka detaljer till reservdelsmarknaden (eftermarknad) till att även producera till nybilsmarknaden (serieproduktion) där målet var att skapa tillväxt och lönsamhet. Efter strategiförändringen har Företag X vuxit snabbt, men samtidigt har lönsamheten sjunkit till att 2018 vara obefintlig. Affärerna som upphandlas uppvisar positiva marginaler, vilket skapar förvirring i företaget om orsakerna bakom de finansiella prestationerna. Någonstans i deras processer sker något som styrningen inte fångar eller förvarnar om.   Syfte: Syftet med studien är att kartlägga strategiförändringen, implementeringen och Företag X:s styrning för att skapa en ökad förståelse för hur styrning kan stödja en strategiförändring från eftermarknad till att även inkludera serieproduktion. Vidare skall studien bidra med rekommendationer för kritiska egenskaper i styrningen som behöver fokuseras på i samband med en strategiförändring. Ett bidrag skapas även genom att avbilda den resa Företag X har genomgått och vilka utmaningar den har bidragit med.   Metod: Studien grundas i en fallstudie på Företag X, där en växling mellan referensramen och den empiriska insamlingen har nyttjats för att möjliggöra en justering av referensramen för att matcha studiens riktning. Genom att använda metoderna kunde vi uppfylla syftet med studien och därmed skapa ett relevant, teoretiskt bidrag till forskningen.   Resultat: Företag X:s styrning fångar inte beslutsrelevant information och därmed skapas en problematik i företaget. De måste förtydliga styrningen utefter de rekommendationer som delges. Vidare är de kritiska egenskaperna som behöver fokuseras på i styrningen: stödjande, signalerande, diagnostiserande, säkerställande, informationsspridande och motivationsskapare. / Abstract Background: The automobile industry is currently experiencing a reconstructuring of the market, where the responsibility of detail production is transferred between the car manufacturers to their subcontractors. The transference of responsibility also includes an increase in demand from the car manufacturers to the subcontractors to deliver higher quality products at a low cost. The case company (Company X) changed their strategy 2015 to include new car manufacturing in their already existing spare-part production with the intention to create growth and profitability. After the strategic change Company X has grown rapidly, but at the same time profitability has decreased and 2018 the profitability was non-existent. The business agreements show positive margins, which creates confusion in the company about is causing the decrease in financial performance. Somewhere in their processes something is happening that the management control systems aren’t capturing or warn about.        Purpose: The purpose of the study is to map the strategy change, implementation and Company X's management control to create an increased understanding of how management control can support a strategy change from only producing spare-parts to also include manufacturing of new cars. Furthermore, the study will contribute with recommendations for critical features of management control that needs to be focused upon during strategic change. A contribution is also created by depicting the journey that Company X has undergone and what challenges it has contributed with.   Method: The study is based on a case study of Company X, where an iteration between the reference frame and the empirical collection took place to enable an adjustment of the reference frame to match the direction of the study. By utilizing the methods, we were able to fulfill the purpose of the study and thereby create a relevant, theoretical contribution to the research.   Conclusion: Company X's management control does not capture decision-relevant information and thus problems are created within the organization. They ought to change their management control in accordance to the recommendations. Furthermore, the critical features that need to be focused on are: supportive, signaling, diagnosing, securing, information spreading and motivation creator.

The bullwhip effect is defined as an upstream amplification of demand variability and has received interest within multinational companies for decades. As early as in the 1950’s, Forrester (1958) discussed what is today known as the bullwhip effect, which has a negative impact on the customer service, costs, and inventory investment in a supply chain (Lee et al., 1997). Even though the bullwhip effect has been noticed in various industries, the consequences, in form of decreased availability and increased costs the further up the supply chain the bullwhip goes, still remain. The employees at Volvo Group Service Market Logistics suspect that their supply chain has been affected by the bullwhip effect and want to know if it is correct and subsequently know why it has occurred. Therefore, this master’s thesis highlights the root causes of the bullwhip effect and presents strategies to mitigate it. To understand how the bullwhip effect affected the Volvo Group Service Market Logistics’ supply chain, the purpose was formulated as follow: The purpose of this study is to identify events in the Volvo Group Service Market Logistics’ supply chain where the bullwhip effect has occurred, its root causes, and how to reduce or eliminate the bullwhip effects.  The studied flow was from the Central Distribution Center (CDC) in Ghent, to the Regional Distribution Center (RDC) in Brazil, to the Dealers associated to the RDC in Brazil, and the customers. Data was collected from each node and events were studied to find bullwhip events. After sorting out the part numbers that passed the criteria for bullwhip events, the amount of data had to be reduced even more. A couple of different conditions were applied which resulted in four suitable bullwhip events. Thereafter, the authors conducted interviews with Logistics Managers at each node of the supply chain to find the root causes of the bullwhip effect in each studied event.  Among the several found root causes, lack of information transparency was the most frequent occurring root cause, found in three out of four studied bullwhip events. Insufficient communication and lack of information sharing cause bullwhip effects, and the authors found that improved communication both between and within the nodes will contribute to better planning, and consequently avoided bullwhip effects. Other root causes found were issues with the ordering system, lack of learning and experience, neglected lead times, fear of empty stock, price fluctuations, and phase-out of the spare part.  To reduce or eliminate the bullwhip effect, the focus was on mitigating the root causes since the root causes create opportunities for the bullwhip effect to occur. Four suggestions were given with suitable mitigation strategies found in the literature, where the four suggestions were sales campaigns, prepare for boosts, keep track of manually placed orders, and ordering system and Logistics Manager behavioural issues. The suggestions could then be connected to the different found root causes. The stated suggestions and mitigation strategies focused on mitigating the root causes in a long-term perspective and consequently the bullwhip effect itself.