A common problem when choosing a data model for a database is that there are many aspects to take into consideration–making the decision difficult and time-consuming. Therefore this work aims to create a decision method that enhances the decision by making it more suitable for the use-case at hand as well as making it quicker. First, the Analytical Hierarchy Process, a multi-criteria decision method, was identified as a suitable framework that the created decision method was based on. It was developed iteratively and later validated through a survey at Omegapoint. The survey had 27 respondents, but 14 answers were discarded due to being too unreliable, which led to a total of 13 utilized responses. The decision method was implemented in a web application to simplify the survey process, where the respondents use the web application, and answered some follow up questions about the web application’s result and process. It was found that it is possible to create a decision method which makes the choice of a data model quicker and better suited for the use-case. The method is reliable among a subsample of the respondents in the survey as 11 out of 13 respondents found the decision method’s result to be reasonable. However, the small sample size makes it impossible to draw any statistical conclusions of the reliability of the decision method. Additionally, the decision method helps to make the decision quicker, but this is only proven among the respondents in the survey. Based on the results, we conclude that it is possible to create a decision method which makes the decision quicker and better suited for the use-case. However this is only proved among the survey respondents, and a future work could aim to repeat the validation in order to statistically validate the reliability of the decision method. / Ett vanligt problem vid valet av datamodell för en databas är att det finns många aspekter att ta hänsyn till–vilket gör valet svårt och tidskrävande. Detta arbete försöker därför skapa en beslutsmetod som kan förbättra beslutet genom att göra det snabbare och bättre anpassat för användningsområdet. Först valdes Analytical Hierarchy Process, en multikriterie-beslutsmetod, som grund till den framtagna beslutsmetoden. Beslutsmetoden utvecklades iterativt och validerades sedan genom en undersökning på Omegapoint. Undersökningen hade 27 respondenter, men 14 svar plockades bort då de var för inkonsekventa, vilket ledde till att 13 svar användes till slut. I undersökningen använde deltagarna en webb applikation, baserad på beslutsmetoden, och svarade sedan på några frågor och gav feedback om artefaktens resultat och process. Resultaten visade att det är möjligt att skapa en beslutsmetod som gör valet av datamodell snabbare och bättre anpassat för användningsområdet. Metoden anses vara träffsäker bland deltagarna i undersökningen, där 11 av 13 ansåg att resultatet var rimligt. Däremot kan arbetet inte dra några statistiska slutsatser om hur träffsäker metoden är generellt på grund av det låga antalet deltagare i undersökningen. Utöver en god tillförlitlighet, bidrar metoden till ett snabbare beslut, men detta kan endast bevisas för deltagargruppen i undersökningen. Givet resultaten kan vi dra slutsatsen att det är möjligt att skapa en beslutsmetod som gör valet av datamodell snabbare och bättre anpassat för användningsområdet. Detta kan däremot endast kan bevisas för deltagargruppen i undersökningen och därför föreslås att ett framtida arbete skulle kunna upprepa valideringen med en större deltagargrupp för att kunna fastslå modellens tillförlitlighet statistiskt.

Este trabalho descreve um experimento sobre o processo de decisão para priorização de projetos de melhoria em uma indústria de bens de capital. Apenas dois critérios eram aplicados na tarefa de priorizar projetos; exigências legais e complexidade técnica, então, foi proposto avaliar os projetos através de um conjunto mais amplo de critérios, incluindo imagem da marca, participação de mercado, alinhamento estratégico, tempo de lançamento de um novo produto. Para lidar com um número maior de critérios qualitativos e quantitativos, foi introduzido desde então, dois métodos multicritérios, a saber: o uso do AHP (analytical hierarchic process) e o DS-AHP (Dempster-Shafer /AHP). Os fundamentos teóricos dos dois métodos são apresentados. O primeiro método é usado para determinar as importâncias relativas das alternativas, por meio de ponderações em cada nível da estrutura hierárquica; a qualidade dos julgamentos é avaliada por um \"índice de consistência\". O segundo método também utiliza a plataforma de análise do AHP acrescentado mensuração da ignorância no processo de julgamentos por meio de probabilidades subjetivas. São comentadas as aplicações dos métodos em uma específica indústria. Foram observadas objeções dos decisores à aplicação do processo AHP, decorrentes da necessidade de numerosas re-avaliações dos julgamentos, quando o \"índice de consistência\" apresentava-se maior que os valores recomendados. Como ponto positivo foi destacada a simplicidade do método para aplicações no ambiente empresarial. Quanto ao método DS-AHP, o uso do conceito de crença nos julgamentos dos decisores, permitiu melhores aproximações às situações reais; neste caso, a alternativa eleita pôde ser claramente compreendida como a mais provável, e não classificada como provavelmente ou certamente a melhor. O DS-AHP quandocomparado ao AHP apresenta-se como um ferramental de condução mais direta para a obtenção dos resultados principalmente no que se refere ao menor número de comparações exigidas, também ajuda o decisor a identificar e corrigir as possíveis fontes de ignorância, que podem afetar a qualidade da decisão. / This study describes an experiment about the definition of portfolio of improvement projects in an industry of capital goods, which had until recently been prioritized based mainly on legislation demand and technical complexity. It was proposed to increase the criteria numbers including: market image, market share, strategic alignment, launch time to new products. To handle several criteria with focus quantitative and qualitative aspects was necessary introduced two multcriterial methods, namely, analytical hierarchic process (AHP) and Dempster-Shafer AHP process (DS-AHP). The first referred method is used to manage the relative importance of alternatives regarding the fore mentioned criteria based on weights attributed to structure hierarchical levels. The second referred method also uses AHP platform to enable ignorance measurement based on subjective probabilities. Results from direct application of the methods in this specific industry are commented. It was observed that the decision makers have some objections with respect to the AHP process, in the sense that there were judgment inconsistencies which required additional evaluation of the candidate solutions, what was seen as somewhat tiresome. The main advantages which was emphasize by decision makers refers to the ease of application in corporate environmental . As for the DS - AHP process, the possibility of considering believes in a structured way was felt as more appropriated to the real decision process, which effectively involves uncertainties. In this way, the elected alternative can be clearly understood as most probably - and not certainly - the best. Also the DS-AHP process was seen as more directly conducive to the final results in comparison with the AHP process.

Molnets ökade popularitet har drivit allt fler företag till att lansera molntjänster. Det vill säga tjänster som tillhandahålls över internet. För att hålla koll på dessa tjänster krävs det register som lagrar information om dessa. Idag finns det en hel del sådana produkter på marknaden, men vad bör prioriteras vid val eller utveckling av ett tjänsteregister? Denna studie tar upp vilka olika kriterier som finns för ett tjänsteregister som inkluderar molntjänster och rangordnar dessa baserat på hur viktiga de är. Den insamlade datan kommer från intervjuer samt enkäter och jämförs i studien mot tidigare forskning. Datan är analyserad med AHP-metoden, vilket genererar exakta värden som är lätta att jämföra. Studien fastställer att det viktigaste kriteriet i ett tjänsteregister är säkerhet och därefter kommer reliabilitet. / The increasing popularity of the cloud has driven more companies to deploy cloud services, which is a service provided over the internet. To keep track of these services, registries are required which stores information about them. At present there are many such products on the market, but what should be prioritized when selecting or developing a service registry? This study brings up the different criteria of service registries that include cloud services and ranks them based on their importance. The collected data is derived from interviews and surveys and is compared to previous research. The data is analyzed with the AHP-method, which generates accurate values that are easy to compare. This study determines that the most important criterion is security and thereafter reliability.

Este trabalho descreve um experimento sobre o processo de decisão para priorização de projetos de melhoria em uma indústria de bens de capital. Apenas dois critérios eram aplicados na tarefa de priorizar projetos; exigências legais e complexidade técnica, então, foi proposto avaliar os projetos através de um conjunto mais amplo de critérios, incluindo imagem da marca, participação de mercado, alinhamento estratégico, tempo de lançamento de um novo produto. Para lidar com um número maior de critérios qualitativos e quantitativos, foi introduzido desde então, dois métodos multicritérios, a saber: o uso do AHP (analytical hierarchic process) e o DS-AHP (Dempster-Shafer /AHP). Os fundamentos teóricos dos dois métodos são apresentados. O primeiro método é usado para determinar as importâncias relativas das alternativas, por meio de ponderações em cada nível da estrutura hierárquica; a qualidade dos julgamentos é avaliada por um \"índice de consistência\". O segundo método também utiliza a plataforma de análise do AHP acrescentado mensuração da ignorância no processo de julgamentos por meio de probabilidades subjetivas. São comentadas as aplicações dos métodos em uma específica indústria. Foram observadas objeções dos decisores à aplicação do processo AHP, decorrentes da necessidade de numerosas re-avaliações dos julgamentos, quando o \"índice de consistência\" apresentava-se maior que os valores recomendados. Como ponto positivo foi destacada a simplicidade do método para aplicações no ambiente empresarial. Quanto ao método DS-AHP, o uso do conceito de crença nos julgamentos dos decisores, permitiu melhores aproximações às situações reais; neste caso, a alternativa eleita pôde ser claramente compreendida como a mais provável, e não classificada como provavelmente ou certamente a melhor. O DS-AHP quandocomparado ao AHP apresenta-se como um ferramental de condução mais direta para a obtenção dos resultados principalmente no que se refere ao menor número de comparações exigidas, também ajuda o decisor a identificar e corrigir as possíveis fontes de ignorância, que podem afetar a qualidade da decisão. / This study describes an experiment about the definition of portfolio of improvement projects in an industry of capital goods, which had until recently been prioritized based mainly on legislation demand and technical complexity. It was proposed to increase the criteria numbers including: market image, market share, strategic alignment, launch time to new products. To handle several criteria with focus quantitative and qualitative aspects was necessary introduced two multcriterial methods, namely, analytical hierarchic process (AHP) and Dempster-Shafer AHP process (DS-AHP). The first referred method is used to manage the relative importance of alternatives regarding the fore mentioned criteria based on weights attributed to structure hierarchical levels. The second referred method also uses AHP platform to enable ignorance measurement based on subjective probabilities. Results from direct application of the methods in this specific industry are commented. It was observed that the decision makers have some objections with respect to the AHP process, in the sense that there were judgment inconsistencies which required additional evaluation of the candidate solutions, what was seen as somewhat tiresome. The main advantages which was emphasize by decision makers refers to the ease of application in corporate environmental . As for the DS - AHP process, the possibility of considering believes in a structured way was felt as more appropriated to the real decision process, which effectively involves uncertainties. In this way, the elected alternative can be clearly understood as most probably - and not certainly - the best. Also the DS-AHP process was seen as more directly conducive to the final results in comparison with the AHP process.

Due to the global energy crisis there is a vast increase in demand for heat exchangers that reduces the energy consumption during energy transfer between mediums. The current manufacturing process for brazed heat exchangers at the world leading man-ufacturer, Alfa Laval, involves a partial assembly process called Plastic Flange Defor-mation (PFD). The current PFD process is conducted manually and is completely dependent on human presence. The great increasing demand for heat exchangers world wide creates the need for a more efficient and sustainable solution for the PFD process. To meet the capacity increase a higher level of automated process is required. The key areas to investigate in this thesis are quality control and component handling within the PFD process. Concepts for the key areas will be developed and two new concepts for the automated PFD cell will be presented. The used method for this thesis is a combination of the outline of Design Research Methodology (DRM) and the Analytical Hierarchy Approach (AHP) for the decision making process for the final PFD cell concepts. The Developed key area concepts are validated with either physical prototypes or virtually with solid mechanics analysis. The result showed that there exist different solutions and possibilities for handling the large variety of components within the PFD process. The quality controls are solved with a combination of vision systems and actuator motors. The first concept for an automated PFD cell consists of two collaborative robots with specially designed grippers, that allow the robots to handle all the components and perform the quality controls. The cell contains specially designed racks for loading and unloading the pressure plates and frame plates. The second concept is a larger more complex solution with four industrial robots, and with a cycle time half as low as the first concept. Both cells contain the same developed key area concepts. The AHP suggests the second concept with respect to the weighting of the criteria from the stakeholders. The conclusion of this work is that there are opportunities to automate and improve the PFD process using robotics and automated quality controls. The presented concepts can help Alfa Laval meet the increasing demand for heat exchangers in an efficient and sustainable way. / På grund av den globala energikrisen ökar efterfrågan på värmeväxlare som minskar energiförbrukningen genom energiöverföring mellan medium. Alfa Laval är ett världsledande företag som bland annat tillverkar lödda värmeväxlare, där tillverkn-ingsprocessen för närvarande innefattar en delmonteringsprocess som kallas "Plastic Flange Deformation" (PFD). Den nuvarande PFD-processen utförs manuellt och är helt beroende av mänsklig närvaro. Den ökande efterfrågan på värmeväxlare skapar behovet av en mer effektiv och hållbar lösning för PFD-processen. För att möta kapacitetsökningen krävs en högre automatiseringsnivå. De viktigaste områdena att undersöka i denna avhandling är kvalitetskontroll och hantering av komponenter inom PFD-processen. Koncept för dessa områden kommer att utvecklas och två nya koncept för den automatiserade PFD-cellen kommer att presenteras. Metoden som används i denna avhandling är en kombination av Design Research Methodology (DRM) och Analytical Hierarchy Approach (AHP) för beslutsfattandet av de slutliga PFD-cell koncepten. De utvecklade koncepten för nyckelområdena valideras med fysiska prototyper eller virituellt genom hållfasthetsanalys. Resultaten visade att det finns olika lösningar och möjligheter för hantering av den stora variationen av komponenter inom PFD-processen. Kvalitetskontrollerna utförs med en kombination av visionsystem och aktuatorer. Det första konceptet för en automatiserad PFD-cell består av två kollaborativa robotar med speciellt utformade gripare som tillåter robotarna att hantera alla komponenter och utföra kvalitetskontroller. Cellen innehåller speciellt utformade stativ för lastning och avlastning av tryckplattor och stativplattor. Det andra konceptet är en större och mer komplex lösning med fyra industrirobotar och med en cykeltid som är häften så låg som det första konceptet. Båda cellerna innehåller samma utvecklade koncept för nyckelområdena. AHP föreslår det andra konceptet med hänsyn till viktningen av kriterierna från intressenterna. Slutsatsen av detta arbete är att det finns möjligheter att automatisera och förbättra PFD-processen med hjälp av robotteknik och automatiserade kvalitetskontroller. De presenterade koncepten kan hjälpa Alfa Laval att möta den ökande efterfrågan på värmeväxlare på ett effektivt och hållbart sätt.

Over the last century, there has been growing interest in changing the approach to maintenance management. The current practice for selecting critical equipment and making a decision on the most appropriate maintenance strategy is perceived to have serious limitations, principally because it lacks decision analysis. Due to the complex nature of decision-making in maintenance management, different models have been developed for selecting critical equipment. However, many of these models considered maintenance management as operational concern and ignored the strategic concerns of maintenance management. This thesis builds upon earlier works on decision-making for selecting critical equipment and maintenance strategy. It sets out to construct three hypotheses by introducing evidence from a comprehensive literature review, case study analysis and in-depth interviews. The thesis focuses on artificial intelligence and multi-criteria decision-making techniques (i.e. Fuzzy Logic and Analytical Hierarchy Process) to bridge this gap. It proposes a strategic decision-making model in maintenance and asset management for selecting critical equipment and deciding on a maintenance strategy. The novelty of model is to propose an approach in which maintenance strategy can be applied based on the equipment criticality while not making a trade-off between safety and cost but rather to combine the concern of safety with financial, operational and technical perspectives. The model provides an opportunity to consider safety as the first priority. The research output suggests that existing criticality assessment methods for optimising maintenance delivery have limited value and are suffering from a lack of strategic decision analysis. Multi-criteria decision-making tools could be used to improve decision-making of criticality assessment methods and hence maintenance strategy implementation. The validity of the proposed strategic decision-making model was tested through case study analysis and in-depth interviews. The results suggest that a strategic decision-making model could have a significant impact on improving safety, reliability and operational availability. The strategic decision-making model would enable asset managers to track the consequences of their decisions whilst dealing with maintenance. It is also an effective tool in the hands of a maintenance department to convince their asset managers to make a maintenance investment.

Virtual Enterprise (VE) is an organizational business concept. Its key ingredients are collaboration among a set of member companies and integration of their competencies, which are needed for developing a new product or service. This concept is in response to the ever-increasing demand on the manufacturing enterprise to react quickly to changes in the market conditions and become agile enterprises. This thesis presents a quantitative study on the life cycle of Virtual Enterprises. Specifically, it covers the design and management phases. These two phases are modeled using system engineering as a foundation. This has led to the development of two new methods for designing and managing Virtual Enterprises. The design method uses Axiomatic Design Theory and a methodology for complex large systems. The management method is based on the Robust Design principles.

Virtual Enterprise (VE) is an organizational business concept. Its key ingredients are collaboration among a set of member companies and integration of their competencies, which are needed for developing a new product or service. This concept is in response to the ever-increasing demand on the manufacturing enterprise to react quickly to changes in the market conditions and become agile enterprises. This thesis presents a quantitative study on the life cycle of Virtual Enterprises. Specifically, it covers the design and management phases. These two phases are modeled using system engineering as a foundation. This has led to the development of two new methods for designing and managing Virtual Enterprises. The design method uses Axiomatic Design Theory and a methodology for complex large systems. The management method is based on the Robust Design principles.

Abstract Due to the recent financial crisis, global economy downturn forces corporate to downsize, shut down unprofitable plants and layoff which have increased unemployment rate dramatically. Franchising creates a lot of employment opportunities as well as dream come true for many people who dream of becoming a boss. For those reasons, franchising operation model is one of the quickest ways to increase business scale and conquer market share in both Mainland China and Taiwan in a short time. In a value chain, a franchising system not only can increase economy of scale and operation efficiency through ship in/out logistic, production process, marketing, after sale service but also through supporting activities such as infrastructure, human resource, training, purchasing, research and development. However, how to survive or even stand out in such a competitive market, key successful factors plays a very important role. This research paper focuses on beverage franchising chain policy, aiming at understanding key factors which effect a franchisee to choose best fit franchiser and to understand beverage market trend in both mainland China and Taiwan. This research paper chooses a couple franchising policy factors among mainland China and Taiwan and uses analytical hierarchy process to understand franchisee¡¦s decision making process. The interviewees include industrial experts among mainland China and Taiwan, academic representatives and franchisees from both mainland China and Taiwan (9each). By having in depth discussion with each interviewee, qualitative and quantitative AHP survey data was collected for analysis in order to understand franchising industry development trend in mainland China and Taiwan. This research paper further understands the relationship between franchising key policies and future development trend in mainland China and Taiwan through collecting qualitative and quantitative AHP survey data at the same time. By comparing perception differences between the 3 types of interviewees through ANOVA analysis, a more specific proposal can be provided for franchisee, franchiser and related government department for reference. Keyword: Franchising, Chain, beverage market , human resource, analytical hierarchy process, AHP, ANOVA statistic analysis

The function of human resource in business is changing. For this reason, the tasks of human resource top managers become much more complicated as well. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to seek and rank the roles of the human resource top manager. In this study, the framework of human resource top manager¡¦s roles is adapted from Schuler(1990). It becomes a five-role framework of the human resource top manager¡G business person, shaper of change, partner to line, strategy formulator and implementer, and talent manager. In order to elaborate the five roles, each role has added three to four particular activities. Through applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process to gather the opinions of 19 human resource top managers and analyzing the data, it can rank the five roles as below¡G strategy formulator and implementer, partner to line, talent manager, shaper of change, and business person. Furthermore, the ranks will change depends on the different of industries, business scales, and the ownership. From this study, it suggests that the human resource top manager should adjust his/ her roles according to the scenarios. Also, the chef of the business can peek the human resource top manager by evaluating the candidates¡¦ ability to play these five roles.