Kaizen har sedan 1970-talet möjliggjort för företag att arbeta med ständiga förbättringar. Ständiga förbättringar syftar till allt ett företag gör för att göra morgondagens arbete bättre. Kaizen är en kundfokuserad teori och vill därför utveckla företaget i ett mer kundorienterat synsätt. Kaizen-teorin är inte lika välutvecklat i tjänsteföretag som den är för producerande företag, därför fokuserar arbetet på att fördjupa kunskapen inom området. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur tjänsteföretag inom finansbranschen kan arbeta med ständiga förbättringar genom Kaizen. Genom att genomföra intervjuer med sju olika anställda på ett tjänsteföretag inom finansbranschen och genom en litteraturstudie har forskningsfrågorna kunnat besvaras. Analysen bygger på jämförelsen av nuläget (resultat) och den teoretiska referensramen. För att ett företag ska kunna arbeta med Kaizen behöver de använda sig av filosofier och verktyg. Dessa kan vara brainstorming sessioner, Root-cause, erfarenhetsutbyten, workshops, plan-do-check-act (PDCA), 5S, standard operating procedure (SOP) och en organisationskultur som främjar ett kundperspektiv. Slutsatsen som studien visar är att Spotlight Stock Market bör arbeta med Kaizen till viss del på ett sätt de redan gör. Spotlight bör fortsätta arbeta med brainstorming sessioner, Root-cause, erfarenhetsutbyten, workshops och organisationskulturen på det sätt de idag gör. För att fortsätta arbeta med Kaizen bör Spotlight implementera PDCA, 5S och SOP i redan existerande processer och rutiner. Genom att undersöka flera tjänsteföretag inom finansbranschen skulle ytterligare underlag kunna genereras för att öka generaliserbarheten i framtida studier. Vidare studier av implementeringen skulle då kunna resultera i en generell modell för implementeringen av Kaizen i tjänsteföretag inom finansbranschen. / Since the 1970s, Kaizen has made it possible for companies to work on continuous improvement. Continuous improvement refers to everything that a company does to make tomorrows work better. Kaizen is a customer-focused theory and therefore wants to develop the company with a more customer-oriented approach. The Kaizen theory is not as well-developed for in-service companies as it is for producing companies, and the writing focuses on deepening the knowledge within the area. The purpose of the study has been to investigate how service companies in the financial industry can work with continuous improvement through Kaizen. By conducting interviews with seven different employees at a service company in the financial industry and through a literature study, the studied questions have been answered. The analysis is built upon comparison between current situation (result) and the theoretical framework. For a company to work with Kaizen, they need to use philosophies and tools. These can for example be brainstorming sessions, root-cause, experience exchanges, workshops, plan-do-check-act (PDCA), 5S, Standard operating procedure (SOP) and an organizational culture that fosters a customer perspective. The study shows that Spotlight Stock Market should work with Kaizen to some extent in a way they already do. Spotlight should continue to work on brainstorming sessions, root-cause, experience exchanges, workshops, and organizational culture in the way they do today. To continue working with Kaizen, Spotlight should implement PDCA, 5S and SOP in already existing processes and procedures. By examining several service companies in the financial industry, more research could be generated to improve the generalizability for future studies. Further studies of the implementation could then result in a general model for the implementation of Kaizen in service companies in the financial industry.

The construction industry has faced severe criticism against its inefficiency, high costs and insufficient quality. Besides, the building branch is one of the most dangerous occupations.Skanska Sverige AB runs an international project focused mainly on improving safety, increasing overall process efficiency and providing customers higher value. A part of this project are Standard operating procedures. These are supposed to be the best practices known at the company and should be used on sites as stepwise work instructions.The purpose of this study was to study the creation of Standard operating procedures and to propose a model for continuous improvement of the Standard operating procedures.A theoretical review concerning standards, standardization and continuous improvement is presented.Four case studies were conducted in the thesis in order to clarify what and how to improve. The case studies show that inspiration can be taken from organizations within or outside the building trade. An important new element in Standard operating procedures would be a risk analysis. The risk evaluation corresponds with Skanska´s safety strives. In order to guarantee that a Standard operating procedure really contains the best practice, the process of continuous improvement has to be well managed. The process can be stimulated by the implementation and improvement management at “Väg och anläggning” Skanska.Based on the empirical study and the theoretical framework, a model illustrating continuous improvement is proposed. The never ending life spiral of a Standard operating procedure involves all the organizational levels. The model demonstrates that small stepwise improvements are more cost efficient than large radical changes.Advantages and risks connected to the continuous improvement are described. The benefits would be both monetary and non-monetary. The key success factor of continuous improvement is the proper implementation of Standard operating procedures since it is up to individuals to keep continuous improvement alive. Both the managers on different levels and workmen must be trained and their importance in continuous improvement process must be deep rooted in their thinking. Proper training and excellent leadership would diminish worker´s resistance and prevent an unwanted phase-out.Finally, Skanska is encouraged to trust its own research. The formal content of Standard operating procedures is good enough for launching.

Currently, many industrial companies generate many losses in their after sales this is generated to an error in the control of inventories and in turn in a mishandling of their assets through their processes, therefore the present research proposes a management model of processes and control of inventories in order to reduce customer losses due to the large number of existing complaints and thus increase sales. Therefore, the process management model, which will contribute to the standardization, optimization and control of its critical processes, and for which indicators, procedures and policies will be proposed for each stage of the process in order to measure its efficiency and effectiveness for correct decision making. With respect to the control of inventories, it is proposed to make a segmentation of the products, which allows the identification of the most important products for the company, to then design a demand forecast model for families of products that will later be individualized considering their factors initial and finally using an inventory management model will obtain the optimal quantity of spare parts order to use in the technical service of the equipment reducing the annual costs related to the inventory.

Since the last recession the hardwood flooring industry is currently enjoying strong growth. With this growth come new challenges for manufacturers of hardwood flooring. QEP Wood Flooring division, located in Johnson City, Tennessee, USA is a midsize flooring company which historically struggled with high customer claims. In 2016, QEP’s Johnson City management team implemented an initiative to address the top three leading causes of defects and waste in their hardwood flooring panels. A systematic plan was devised and implemented by utilizing basic quality tools and methods such as Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC), root cause analysis, 5-why, check sheet and deployment of effective employee awareness training. As a result, QEP Wood Flooring division reduced 81.56% in chip-out, increased 1.7% in production yield, saved over $90k annually in customer claims while improving the quality of their products and increasing customer satisfaction. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing an effective process and low-cost tools to improve the quality of wood flooring products elsewhere in the wood flooring industry.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att undersöka vad en ledare behöver göra för att skapa förutsättningar för och arbeta med ständiga förbättringar i offentliga organisationer. Studien rymmer en teoretisk litteraturstudie samt en empirisk intervjustudie. Den teoretiska datainsamlingen visade initialt att tidigare forskning i huvudsak är inriktad på implementering av ständiga förbättringar i privata organisationer. Detta föranledde att datainsamlingen kompletterades med forskning kring offentliga organisationers särdrag samt forskning om ledarskap i ett bredare perspektiv. Resultatet av litteraturstudien blev att framstående modeller för implementering av ständiga förbättringar samt förändringsarbete fusionerades tillsammans med forskning specifikt gjord på offentliga organisationers särdrag i en ny modell, vilken testas empiriskt i denna studie. Modellen beskriver områden som visserligen redan är beskrivna av tidigare forskning, men förklarar med hjälp av ett bredare teoretiskt perspektiv och empiri hur den blir applicerbar i en offentlig organisation. I intervjustudien intervjuades tio personer som i sin yrkesroll leder förbättringsarbete i en offentlig organisation. I intervjuerna behandlades de åtta områdena som ingår i den framtagna modellen genom att respondenterna tillfrågades om de ansåg området vara viktigt för att skapa förutsättningar för implementering av arbete med ständiga förbättringar, de ombads motivera sitt svar och om möjligt ge exempel på hur de arbetade med respektive område. Varje intervju dokumenterades i en framtagen struktur i form av ett frågeformulär. Utsagorna sammanfördes i ett gemensamt dokument där de sorterades för att mönster och skillnader skulle framträda, vilka beskrivs i studiens empiridel. När resultatet från intervjuerna sammanställts i studiens empiridel gjordes en likartad analys av studiens teoridel. Detta skapade två delar av data, den data som beskrivs av teorin och den data som beskrivs av empirin. Analysen gjordes genom att se vilken data som enbart fanns i endera del samt vilken data som fanns i både teori- och empiridel. Författarnas slutsats är att de åtta områdena i den framtagna modellen är viktiga områden för ledare att beakta för att skapa förutsättningar för och arbeta med ständiga förbättringar i offentliga organisationer. Särskilt framträder tre områden som angelägna för offentliga organisationer och dessa är; att säkerställa en positiv organisatorisk kultur; forma en arbetsstruktur och arbeta iterativt. Vidare drar författarna slutsatsen att förbättringsverktyg skulle kunna användas i högre utsträckning i offentliga organisationer för att stödja ledares arbete med att skapa förutsättningar för och arbeta med ständiga förbättringar. / The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate what a leader needs to do to create the conditions for, and work with, continuous improvement in public organizations. The study contains a theoretical literary study as well as an empirical interview study. The theoretical data collection initially showed that prior research is mainly focused on the implementation of continuous improvements in private organizations. This led to data collection being supplemented with research on the characteristics of public organizations, and further with research on leadership in a broader perspective. The result of the literary study was that prominent models for the implementation of continuous improvements and change were merged together with research specifically done on the characteristics of public organizations in a new model, which is empirically tested in this study. The model describes areas that have already been described by previous research, but with the help of a broader theoretical perspective and empirical data, explains how it becomes applicable in a public organization. In the interview study, ten people were interviewed who in their professional role lead continuous improvements work in a public organization. In the interviews, the eight areas included in the developed model were addressed by asking respondents if they considered the area to be important to create the conditions for the implementation of continuous improvement, they were asked to justify their response and, if possible, give examples of how they worked with each respective area. Statements from each interview were documented in a developed structure, in the form of a questionnaire. The statements were collated into a joint document, where they were sorted so that patterns and differences could emerge, which are described in the study's empirical section. When the results of the interviews were compiled in the study's empirical section, a similar analysis was made of the study's theoretical section. This created two parts of data; the data described by theory, and the data described by empiricism. The analysis was done by examining which data existed in only one part, and which data was present in both theoretical and empirical information. The authors conclude that the eight areas in the developed model are important areas for leaders to work with in order to create the conditions for, and work with, continuous improvement in public organizations. In particular, three areas appear to be especially important for public organizations and these are; to ensure a positive organizational culture, to form a work structure, and to work iteratively. Furthermore, the authors conclude that improvement tools could be used to a greater extent in public organizations to support leaders' efforts to create the conditions for, and work on, continuous improvement. / <p>2020-06-26</p>

Lean Production is one of the most generally accepted concepts for increasing operational effectiveness. However, its implementation is still challenging for many companies as it implies not only changes of technical systems and management systems but also changes in attitudes and culture. Generalizable implementation steps have still not yet emerged and there are many ways to implement Lean Production. A Lean Production implementation is a never ending process since it is always possible to become leaner. Thus, the implementation of Lean Production is a long-term commitment for a company in order to reach success. There is a need for research on how to develop and integrate improvement work in order to establish a successful implementation of Lean Production. Accordingly, the overall purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to contribute to an increased understanding of how to successfully implement Lean Production. Moreover, the objective is to develop a supportive framework for a successful Lean Production implementation and to describe this in a general process for the implementation of improvement work. Through literature reviews and three research studies, a supportive framework for the successful implementation of improvement work has been developed. The first study is an explanatory literature and interview study to build a concept model of improvement work. The second study is an exploratory embedded single case study that was conducted to validate the model. Finally, the third study is an exploratory multiple holistic case study that investigated enablers for continuous improvement after a radical implementation of Lean Production. The resulting supportive framework consists of important actions to consider during the different stages of a process for the implementation of improvement work. In the first stage after a radical implementation phase, actions important to sustain change and enable continuous improvement include for example a focus on good leadership on shop floor and efforts in the area of control and follow-up of results in production teams. To develop continuous improvement several actions are defined, like the importance of understanding the context of improvement work including important relations to operations and to develop the production strategy with objectives to align the improvement work. To reach long term success it is important to integrate continuous improvement into operations and important actions for this stage are for example to update the Operational Management System on the company-specific-production-system framework’s processes continuously, which includes visualisation of the overall improvement work process. / INNOFACTURE - innovative manufacturing development

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El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The service sector, specifically the automotive sector, has witnessed significant growth in the economy and is constantly searching for methods to improve its quality indexes with its customers; however, errors in general repairs are ever present in this tertiary activity. This document undertakes a practical study to measure the effectiveness of the Lean Service Quality (LSQ) model, which combines the development of a multi-elemental scale to measure service quality (SERVQUAL) and a conceptual/practical Lean Service model, with the aim of reducing the number of poorly performed technical repairs at a Toyota automobile dealership. The main result of the research was defining a practical guide to replicate the LSQ model. In addition, as the model’s first approach, the study demonstrated that, for the dealership under study, the rate of bad repairs was ultimately reduced by 5.17%.

In a time where digitalization is becoming more and more necessary to work with, tools such as simulation is becoming more of a standard to be able to make decisions made on facts. Within previous research there is a gap in the research, as the factors enabling operators to use simulation is an unexplored topic. Therefore, to fill this gap and provide the industry with help, this study fulfills the purpose:  Create a framework for enabling operators to use simulation for continuous improvements.  By looking at the different areas in the production and identifying challenges within the production, information handling between the departments and the structure of the company, the purpose of this study is fulfilled. The purpose was achieved through the usage of two research questions.  What are the challenges in practice for enabling operators to use simulation for continuous improvements?  How can these challenges be overcome, to enable operators to use simulation for continuous improvements?  To answer the research questions, a case study was performed alongside a literature review. The case study consisted of interviews performed at a case company within the automotive industry. The gathered empirical and theoretical data was then analyzed trough a thematic analysis.  The conclusion of this study was that, for enabling operators to use simulation for continuous improvements, companies must first have the right organizational structure, were a foundation for continuous improvement is present. The reason for this being that if a company desires to work with simulation tools, they must first work in an environment where suggestions and improvements are supported.

<p>  </p> <p>Education reforms aimed at improving student outcomes often fail because they are top-down and do not successfully scale to wider use. Over the past two decades, improvement science, which uses disciplined inquiry to solve district problems at scale, has emerged as a solution. This multi-case study investigated the question: What are the profiles and lived experiences of superintendents who use improvement science? Data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews with three superintendents who were part of a superintendent network that focused on improvement science. The superintendents were from diverse districts: A regional Education Services District, an urban school district, and a suburban school district. Data were analyzed through themes that emerged in the literature and data. Four key findings were gleaned: Superintendents need to 1) prioritize a positive workplace culture, 2) shift ownership to staff, 3) support staff in sharing and risk taking, and 4) shift to the use of measurements at the team-level. Three recommendations stemmed from the findings and literature: Superintendents should 1) foster a workplace culture emphasizing ownership and vulnerability, 2) ensure implementation is user-centered, and 3) focus on solving the most pressing problems connected to student outcomes. Action steps for each recommendation are provided. Superintendent profiles showed them to be leaders who improve the workplace culture, are equity-driven, are vulnerable and reflective, are instructional leaders and system thinkers, and are collaborative. Yet they are still working toward staff taking ownership of improvement efforts. In essence, staff implementation has not caught up to superintendent vision. This study suggests if superintendents build capacity around a positive workplace culture and a user-centered, problem-specific approach, districts will be able to solve the most pressing student equity gap problems at scale.</p>