Lean is a method used mainly in assembly manufacturing to streamline production by eliminating various types of waste. The use of Lean in the process industry is currently limited. Some critics say, the use of the tools in Lean is very limited, while others argue that the approach of the method needs to be adapted to the conditions that exist in the process industry. Since Lean aims to eliminate waste, there is a tool called value stream map that is used to map material and information flow to identify waste in the manufacturing industry. The thesis was conducted as a case study at BillerudKorsnäs Karlsborg's paper production, where the purpose was to investigate how value stream mapping can be applied in the paper industry, with the aim of identifying and eliminating non-value-creating activities. While performing the value stream map, several problem areas were identified within the information and material flow. The most important were considered maintenance of the production equipment as well as product and material handling. This led, among other things, to recommendations for expanding finished goods inventory and introducing better documentation, to create inventory management strategies to reduce inventory levels in material inventories. Following a value stream map, it was also concluded that the applicability of the tool was considered good since activities and problem areas could be identified synoptically. / Lean är en metod som främst används inom stycktillverkning för att kunna effektivisera produktionen genom eliminering av olika typer av slöserier. Användningen av Lean inom processindustrin är i dagsläget begränsad, somliga kritiker menar på att användandet av de verktyg som Lean erbjuder är väldigt begränsade medan andra hävdar att metodernas angreppssätt behöver anpassas efter de förutsättningar som finns inom processindustrin. Då Lean syftar till att eliminera slöserier finns det ett verktyg som heter värdeflödesanalys som används för att kartlägga material- och informationsflöde för att kunna identifiera slöserier inom tillverkningsindustrin. Examensarbetet utfördes som en fallstudie på BillerudKorsnäs papperstillverkning i Karlsborg där syftet var att undersöka hur värdeflödesanalys kan tillämpas inom pappersindustrin med målsättningen att identifiera och eliminera icke värdeskapande aktiviteter. Vid utförandet av värdeflödesanalysen identifierades en mängd problemområden inom information- och materialflödet. De mest väsentliga ansågs vara underhåll av produktionsutrustningen samt produkt- och materialhantering. Detta ledde bland annat till rekommendationer att utöka färdigvarulager samt införa bättre dokumentation, för att skapa lagerhanteringsstrategier med syfte att minska lagernivåer i materialager. Efter genomförd värdeflödesanalys kunde även slutsatserna dras att tillämpbarheten av verktyget ansågs vara god då aktiviteter och problemområden kunde identifieras på ett överskådligt sätt.

Purpose – The purpose of the research is to explore how defective parts and products affect the sustainability aspect of manufacturing companies and how defects can be reduced.    Method – To reach the purpose of the study, a single case study and literature review have been conducted. The single case study has used an abductive approach throughout the study with the use of quantitative and qualitative data. The different methods to collect the data throughout the study were observations, interviews, questionnaires, and document studies. The empirical data was later analysed with pattern matching against the theoretical framework to reach results.    Findings – It is clear that defective parts and products have a negative effect on manufacturers’ sustainability performance. The use of lean methodology and its tools can provide manufacturing companies with accurate information on what defects they have and the causes behind, in order to reduce the number of defects and improve the sustainability aspect.     Limitations – The research has been limited to one company and a certain area within its production. The studied area was further narrowed down to only include the closest processes to the machines, hence, processes before and after the area are not covered in this research.    Keywords – Defects, Sustainability, Production, Lean, Plastic injection moulding, Process.

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The purpose of this study is to contribute to thedevelopment of the Logistics Management discipline. A motivefor the study is that I have found actors being very anonymousin the Logistics Management literature. I have found this to bein contrast to my practical experiences where actors are highlyessential. On the basis of an interview study and a literaturestudy I want to give some thoughts and ideas for thedevelopment of the discipline. The interview study wasconducted with 48 actors operating across a supply chain withindifferent business areas of a multinational Swedish company.The actors views of the organisation, problems associated withit and logistical variables were focused. In the literary studyI focused on fundamental ideas and characteristics. I alsofocused on scientific foundations and points of departure inLogistics Management research. In the text I strive to view the world as sociallyconstructed and in my writing I have the effort to beinterpretative and reflective. With these points of departure Itry to use approaches seldom used in research within thelogistics management discipline. In my work I present thoughts and ideas which are importantto notice with regard to the aim of the discipline to benormative and contribute to the development of one or manyorganisations. The first issue that I highlight is that in theinterview study it was apparent that there existed clusterswith different perspectives across the supply chain. Theseperspectives provided different sorts of understanding for theorganisation and problems associated with it. I found this tobe a reason for problems within the organisation. In theliterature, however, I found the insight about this is low ornot outspoken, which motivates further studies. As aconsequence of the different views and understanding, I noticedthat the interviewees put different meaning into concepts likecustomer focus and holistic vision. The different meaningseemed to be a reason for problems within the organisation.Since I regard the concepts as central and obvious within thediscipline, more attention could be given to the concepts andhow they are used. The interviewees also emphasised awell-functioning organisation and the importance ofimplementing solutions. Implementation issues could thereforebe highlighted to a larger extent, to elucidate obstacles andpossibilities for successful change management and to highlightproblems that need to be treated. In the interviews people andtheir behaviours were seen as central. Therefore human andtheir behaviours could be given more attention. Understandingfor people’s behaviour as a foundation for changemanagement processes could be emphasised even more. As aconsequence, I consider reference to other disciplinesnecessary to reach a higher understanding of these behaviours.Since the studied company was far from the best practicestudies that now dominate the area and the study has proven tobe fruitful, the discipline could strive to be more balancedand use other cases to elucidate problems and highlight theseproblems. Some authors’opinions that other paradigms and viewsthan the ones dominating the discipline should be used todevelop it, has been strengthened by the study, especially withregard to paradigms and views with a focus on actors. / NR 20140805

It has long been well-known that economic variables such as GDP and fuel price as well as socio-demographic characteristics and spatial distribution are key factors in explaining car use trends. However, due to the recently observed plateau of total car travel in many high income countries, it has been argued that other factors, such as changes in preferences, attitudes and life-styles, have become more important drivers of car use.    This thesis shows that the two variables GDP per capita and fuel price explain most of the aggregate trends in car distances driven per adult in Sweden: as much as 80% over the years 2002 to 2012. The estimated elasticities are well in line with previous literature and can reasonably well reproduce the trend in car distances driven per adult back to 1980. We find, however, a substantial variation in elasticities between municipalities depending on public transport supply, population density, share of foreign-born inhabitants and the average income level.   Swedish National Travel Survey data from 1978 to 2011 reveals that reductions in per adult driving mainly occurred among urban men. Urban men of all income groups reduced their driving for both commuting and non-commuting trips in conjunction with rising gasoline prices, which may have contributed to this development. We find that driving among those socio-demographic groups, who have better opportunities to reduce their driving, and driving for discretionary rather than commute purposes is being reduced over time. Sweden is ranked among the most gender-equal countries in the world; yet we find a substantial remaining gender gap in the share of adults driving a car on an average day, even when controlling for other socio-economic differences. / <p>QC 20150409</p>

The purpose of this thesis was to map and evaluate the current transportation flow for transportation of asphalt at a Swedish construction company in the asphalt pavement sector. The mapping and evaluation target the transportation methods together with the information and material flow. With the support of the theoretical framework, this thesis further proposes and investigates a more efficient asphalt transportation process whilst offering suggestions of how digital aids could assist in higher efficiency of the process from manufacturing to paving. Because the purpose and scope of this thesis are of predictive nature, the corresponding research purpose was chosen, which is answered by utilizing an abductive research approach and case study as research design. The empirical findings are of high importance to guide the problem formulation and to set the phenomenon in a practical example. The choice of a qualitative research strategy was made, which is further motivated by the observation and interview-based data collection. Furthermore, the Casual Loop Diagram together with the qualitative analysis has shown that information sharing is a vital part of transportation planning which concerning the current information flow at the case company makes it difficult to attain a successful transportation structure. This thesis has proposed a new information flow assigning an additional role undertaking the position as a central coordinator that is accountable for transportation planning during project day. With this change of flow, the company can utilize the benefits of transportation planning methods such as route planning and consolidated transportation. Consequently, with a central coordinator that has a complete overview of the transportation during the project day, it would increase the visibility and contribute to increased transportation efficiency.

Optimization is a method that is, as the name suggests, used to find the    optimal solution for different problems. In practice the method is used for    many different purposes, everything from minimizing the distance traveled by a traveling salesman, to maximizing the storage capacity of a warehouse. The purpose of this project was to develop a tool that, through the use of optimization finds a solution to production and transporting problem of the logistics at Norra Timber. To achieve this, a series of functions were written in MATLAB that read data files from the user. The functions then use that data to define and solve the production and transportation problem proposed by Norra Timber using a built in solver from the optimization toolbox in MATLAB. When the program has found a solution, it is exported into a series of Excel spreadsheets to make the results easier to read. The method was found to be successful in finding the optimal solution for all the different scenarios that were tested. In total, five different scenarios were tested. One baseline test and four scenarios where each one was built upon the scenario before it. At the end of the final scenario, the total cost of the production was reduced by approximately 1.15%, compared to the baseline test, which matched the expected cost reduction. In conclusion, the tool fulfills the requirements of functionality. It is efficient at testing different scenarios and finding the optimal solution. However, the tool does have minor inconveniences that can be improved upon. While they can be detrimental to the user experience, they do not affect the results.

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Transport investments and policies are increasingly turned towards dealing with transport congestion rather than with shortening the potential free flow travel time. However, appraisal methodologies for projects meant to reduce congestion are relatively less well developed compared to methodologies for projects aiming to reduce travel times. Static assignment models are for instance incapable of predicting the build-up and dissipation of traffic queues and capturing the experienced crowding caused by uneven on-board passenger loads. Despite of the availability of dynamic traffic assignment and despite of fairly concrete ideas of how integration with demand models could take place, only few model systems have been developed for real applications. The predicted reduction of traffic volume across the Gothenburg congestion charge cordon in the peak, 11%, turned out to be an accurate estimate of the observed reduction, 12%. The reduction in the off-peak, however, was overpredicted, as it was also in the Stockholm case. To analyse congestion charges in Stockholm it is necessary and fully possible to integrate DTA with the demand model. In the performed tests it could be seen that both tested models had problems replicating the flow on the main bypass early in the morning but otherwise performed well. A case study of a metro extension in Stockholm demonstrated that congestion effects constitute more than half of the total benefits and that these effects are excessively underestimated by a conventional static model. Effects of various operational measures can be analysed with BusMezzo and the results have been validated against observed data. The findings indicate that all three tested measures in a case study (boarding through all doors, headway-based holding and bus lanes) had an overall positive impact on service performance and that there are synergetic effects. Using a continuous VTT distribution and hierarchical route choice was demonstrated as a successful method of modelling the multi-passage rule implemented in Gothenburg congestion charges and was shown to give realistic predictions of route choice effects. First results from integration of DTA with a travel demand model for the Stockholm region show that even without systematic calibration the DTA is in reasonable agreement with observed traffic counts and travel times. The presented experiments did not reveal a striking difference between using a macroscopic and a microscopic assignment package. While travel time savings are often the only benefit included in public transport project appraisals, the best practice assigns weighted value of time to average load/capacity measures. However, failure to represent dynamic congestion effects may lead to substantial underestimation of the benefits of projects primarily designed to increase capacity rather than reduce travel times. The impact of small operational measures should not be underestimated. These measures are relatively cheap compared to investments in new transit infrastructure and large societal gains can therefore be achieved by their implementation. / Investeringar och åtgärdsprogram inom transportområdet handlar allt oftare om att råda bot på trängsel snarare än att minska potentiella friflödesrestider. Utvärderingsmetoder för projekt som syftar till att minska trängsel är dock mindre utvecklade än metoder för projekt som syftar till att minska restider. Statiska nätutläggningsmodeller är till exempel inte lämpade för att prognosera uppbyggnad och avveckling av köer eller för att fånga upplevd trängsel orsakad av ojämn belastning på kollektivtrafikfordon. Trots förekomsten av dynamisk trafikutläggning och trots tämligen konkret kunskap om hur integration med efterfrågemodeller kunde gå till, finns det endast ett fåtal modellsystem utvecklade för verklig tillämpning. Den predikterade trafikflödesminskningen på 11 % över trängselskattesnittet i Göteborg visade sig stämma väl överens med den observerade minskningen på 12 %. Minskningen under lågtrafik visade sig dock vara överskattad, precis som i Stockholmsfallet. För att analysera trängseleffekter i Stockholm är det nödvändigt och fullt möjligt att integrera en DTA-modell med efterfrågemodellen. I de utförda testerna observerades att båda de testade modellerna hade problem med att återskapa korrekta flöden på Essingeleden under morgonens maxtimme, men i övrigt gav god överensstämmelse. I en fallstudie av blå tunnelbanelinjes förlängning i Stockholm visade det sig att trängseleffekter utgjorde mer än hälften av de totala nyttorna och att dessa effekter är kraftigt underskattade i en konventionell statisk modell. Effekter av olika operationella åtgärder kan analyseras med BusMezzo och resultaten har blivit validerade mot observerade data. Resultaten tyder på att alla tre testade åtgärder i en fallstudie (ombordstigning i alla dörrar, turtäthetsbaserad reglering och busskörfält) hade en positiv inverkan på servicenivån och att det förekommer synergieffekter dem emellan. Användandet av kontinuerlig tidsvärdesfördelning och hierarkiskt ruttval har framgångsrikt demonstrerats som en metod för att modellera flerpassageregeln i Göteborgs trängselskattesystem och visade sig ge realistiska prediktioner av ruttvalseffekter. De första resultaten från integrationen DTA i efterfrågemodellen för Stockholmsregionen visar att även utan systematisk kalibrering är modellresultaten i paritet med observerad trafikflöden och restider. Experimentresultaten tyder inte på någon slående skillnad mellan att använda makroskopisk eller mikroskopisk nätutläggning. Restidsvinst är ofta är den enda nyttan som ingår i nyttokalkylen för kollektivtrafikinvesteringar, men i visa fall är det befogat att använda viktade tidsvärden beroende på förhållandet belastning / kapacitet. Att inte modellera dynamiska trängseleffekter kan dock leda till påtagbar underskattning av nyttorna i projekt som primärt handlar om kapacitetshöjning snarare än restidsförkortning. Nyttan av små operationella åtgärder ska inte underskattas. Dessa åtgärder är oftast relativt billiga jämfört med investeringar i ny transportinfrastruktur och stora sociala nyttor kan därför åstadkommas. / <p>QC 20150601</p>

During the last seven years, the total cost for Swedish public transport provision has increased by over 30 percent in real terms according to figures from the government agency Transport Analysis. A similar pattern is found if considering a longer time span. Part of the cost increase can be attributed to an increased supply, and part is due to price increases on input factors that are measured by an industry index produced by the public transport industry. The fact that about half of the costs in Swedish public transport are covered by public funds calls for responsibility in how these funds are used, and this means that information about cost drivers and cost efficiency is necessary. The lack of information about these factors in the Swedish public transport sector is the main motivation for the two papers included in this thesis. In this cover essay, the developments over the last decades in Swedish public transport are described, and there is a focus on the last ten years with the Doubling Project and the market in 2012. As mentioned, the costs as a whole, as well as per unit costs such as cost per vehicle kilometer, have increased in real terms since 2007. Even though parts of the cost increase can be attributed to an increased supply or the price of input factors, this development might be problematic for at least two reasons. First, the ambition of the industry to double the number of travelers by the year 2020 seems to have resulted in a supply increase around year 2010 and a similar increase in the number of boardings. However, the cost per vehicle kilometer and cost per boarding have both increased since then, which can bring into question whether the supply increases have been made at the right places and to the proper extent to have the desired effect on travel. Second, it is not clear whether a price increase for input factors can be viewed as an ``acceptable'' explanation for the cost increase. To the extent that the Public Transport Authority (PTA) or operator can affect the price of input factors such as buses (detailed or environmental requirements, etc.) or labor (demands on take-over of previous staff), an endogenous relationship is possible, which could disguise these potentially cost-driving factors as general price increases. At the end of this essay, a discussion about the lack of publicly available data highlights the non-compliance with EU regulations related to this. More data resources, perhaps with open access, would enable more comparisons between contractual forms, PTAs, and operators, which would provide examples of good and poor solutions and concepts in the industry and would have the potential to ensure better use of public funds. Below is a summary over the two paper included in this licentiate thesis. Papper I - “Costs for Swedish Public Transport Authorities” - uses contract-level data for the year 2012 and econometric methodology to investigate how contract factors affect costs for bus contracts. A theoretical framework is established to show some of the cost mechanisms that are at work in the two most popular contractual forms in Sweden, and the paper provides some insights into what results to expect from the empirical analysis. The most important results from the econometric analysis are that higher population density and a contract being operated by a publicly owned (municipal or county council) operator are both associated with having higher costs. Also, no statistically significant differences could be found when using incentive payments in the contracts. Papper II - “Cost Efficiency in Swedish Public Transport” -has a similar perspective as Paper I, but it uses stochastic frontier analysis to focus on cost efficiency and differences across PTAs. Data for the year 2013 are used, along with other data sources, to derive a cost frontier from which some of the deviations from this can be attributed to cost inefficiencies. The results are similar to those of Paper I, namely that cost efficiency is lower in high-density areas and in contracts that are directly awarded to a publicly owned operator. When comparing the cost efficiency of the PTAs (or counties), most exhibit small differences. The difference between the 1st and 15th-ranked county is only about 8 percent. The difference is somewhat larger when turning to the third and second least efficient counties of Stockholm and Skåne. The least efficient county of Västmanland is about 30 less cost efficient than the 1st-ranked county. / De senaste sju åren har de totala kostnaderna för att bedriva kollektivtrafik i Sverige ökat med över 30 procent i reala termer enligt siffror från myndigheten Trafikanalys. Jämförs en längre tidsperiod hittas samma mönster. En del av kostnadsökningen kan förklaras med ett ökat utbud under perioden, och en del med ökade priser på insatsfaktorer vilket kan mätas med ett prisindex sammansatt av kollektivtrafikbranschen. Det faktum att ungefär hälften av kollektivtrafikens kostnader täcks av offentliga medel ställer krav på ett ansvarsfullt utnyttjande, vilket i sin tur kräver information om hur kostnader och kostnadseffektivitet påverkas. Dylik information är begränsad för svensk kollektivtrafik, vilket är den huvudsakliga motiveringen till de två papperen i denna uppsats. I den tillhörande kappan beskrivs de senaste decenniernas utveckling i den svenska kollektivtrafiken, med ett större fokus på de senaste tio åren med branschens fördubblingsprojekt samt marknadsöppningen år 2012. Som nämndes tidigare har kostnaderna som helhet, samt olika typer av styckkostnader såsom kostnad per körd utbudskilometer, ökat i reala termer sedan 2007. Även om delar av kostnadsökningarna kan attribueras till ett ökat utbud eller prisökningar i insatsfaktorer kan utvecklingen ändå vara problematisk av åtminstone två anledningar. För det första verkar branschens ambition att fördubbla resandet till år 2020 ha gett en utbudsökning under åren kring 2010, och en resandeökning något år senare. Vad som är tydligt är dock att både kostnaden per utbudskilometer och passagerare ökat. I ljuset av detta blir det tveksamt om utbudsökningarna skett på rätt ställen. För det andra är det oklart om en prisökning i insatsfaktorerna kan ses som ”acceptabla” anledningar till branschens kostnadsökning. I den mån kollektivtrafikmyndigheter och/eller operatörer kan påverka priset på insatsfaktorer såsom bussar (särkrav, miljökrav etc.) eller personal (personalövertagande etc.) riskerar man ett endogent samband vilket gör att dessa, potentiellt kostnadsdrivande, faktorer lätt kan sorteras bort som allmänna prisökningar. I slutet av kappan förs även en diskussion om den bristande tillgången på offentlig data i svensk kollektivtrafik, och att kollektivtrafikmyndigheterna inte följer uppsatta EU förordningar relaterat till detta. Ett större utbud av data, och helst ett öppet sådant, skulle möjliggöra för mer jämförelser mellan kontrakt, utförare och kollektivtrafikmyndigheter, vilket i förlängningen tydligare skulle kunna påvisa bra och dåliga exempel i branschen och bidra ett bättre resursutnyttjande av skattemedel. Nedan följer en sammanfattning av de två papper som ingår i licentiatuppsatsen. Papper I, “Costs for Swedish Public Transport Authorities”, använder data från år 2012 på kontraktsnivå för att med ekonometriska metoder analysera hur olika kontraktsfaktorer påverkar kostnaderna i busskontrakt. Analysen utgår från en teoretisk modell visar på kostnadsmekanismer i de två vanligaste kontraktstyperna, och som ger några insikter om vilka resultat som kan förväntas från den empiriska analysen. De viktigaste resultaten från den ekonometriska analysen är att kostnaderna är högre om kontraktet körs i ett område med hög befolkningstäthet, eller om operatören av ett kontrakt har en offentlig ägare (kommun eller landsting). Incitamentsersättning till operatören kan inte påvisas ha en statistiskt signifikant påverkan på kostnaderna. Papper II, “Cost Efficiency in Swedish Public Transport” , har en liknande utgångspunkt som Papper I, men använder stokastisk frontanalys för att fokusera på kostnadseffektivitet och skillnader i denna mellan kollektivtrafikmyndigheter. Data från år 2013 används tillsammans med ett antal andra datakällor för att ta fram en kostnadsfront, där vissa avvikelser från denna attribueras som kostnadsineffektivitet. Resultaten påminner om de i Papper I, nämligen att kostnadseffektiviteten är lägre i tätbefolkade områden, samt i kontrakt som direkttilldelas en offentligt ägd operatör. En jämförelse av kollektivtrafikmyndigheternas (länens) kostnadseffektivitet visar att de flesta län inte skiljer sig åt. Skillnaden mellan den mest effektiva och 15e mest effektiva länet är ca 8 procent. Skillnaden är något större till Stockholms och Skåne län, som har tredje respektive näst lägsta kostnadseffektivitet, samt det sist placerade länet, Västmanland, som är cirka 30 procent mer ineffektiv än det bäst placerade. / <p>QC 20151007</p>