Background – Increase in global competition, technological changes and demanding customers have resulted in more knowledge-intensive, unstable, complicated and an uncertain environment. In order to overcome these demand uncertainties and tough circumstances, manufacturers are required to investigate methods to increase flexibility. To achieve the flexibility improvements, each component of supply chain such as suppliers, manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distributors must possess the potential to be flexible. Theory implies that the main link between company’s upstream supply chain namely suppliers and its own business unit are the sourcing strategy. Usually sourcing practitioners distinguish between sourcing strategies using portfolio models. They normally categorize purchased items based on the strategic importance of the item and characteristics of its supply market. It is a critical issue to explore how different sourcing strategies, for different categories of procured items, can influence sourcing flexibility. Purpose– The purpose has been diagnosed as to study how the prerequisites of Bombardier’s procurement procedures along with its associated strategies, can affect the flexibility that can be provided through sourcing namely sourcing flexibility. This study desires to investigate the concept of sourcing flexibility with considerations on category level. It can be beneficial to investigate how different strategies, related to different categories of procured component, can influence the level of sourcing flexibility specified to that category. This would lead us to two key questions: How can sourcing flexibility be defined in Bombardier and why is it required? How can sourcing strategies influence sourcing flexibility considering different categories of components? Methodology– To provide appropriate definitions for sourcing flexibility and strategic procurement, this study went through a comprehensive review on the relevant literatures. By a deep analysis, accompanied with several unstructured interviews on one of the undergoing projects in the company, the drivers for the sourcing flexibility have been diagnosed. The procured components have been categorized into four categories of strategic, bottleneck, leverage, and noncritical through 4 different structured quantitative questionnaires. 33 diverse individuals with purchasing and/or engineering background answered those questionnaires. The categorization criteria have been extracted out from two models suggested by Kraljic (1983) and Olsen & Ellram (1997). Four independent components, one from each category, were selected for further observations. Finally, the links between sourcing strategies and sourcing flexibilities were expansively analyzed through 9 semi structured interviews with company’s strategic purchasers and suppliers’ representatives. Conclusion– Sourcing flexibility can be defined from two perspectives. First one refers to the capability of the focal firm to change the structure of its upstream supply chain. Second aspect refers to the ability of company’s suppliers to provide it with flexibility in three dimensions of delivery, volume and product. Both two aspects along with related dimensions can be measured in three different conditions of required, actual and potential by using range, mobility and uniformity as measuring elements. The results showed that the first perspective has a direct relationship to the sourcing strategies that focal firm may apply for different categories of procured component. Furthermore, the availability of second perspective is highly dependent on the relationship between the focal company and its suppliers, where strategic procurement plays an indispensable role. Based on the results the required level of sourcing flexibility, related to each category, differs significantly with other categories. The findings also suggested that the levels of delivery, volume and product flexibility have a close connection to the diverse strategies and attributes of the four different categories. Additionally they are well dependent on the internal operational capabilities of the suppliers along with the established relationship between buyer and supplier. Originality/Value– Main portions of previous studies have explored the concepts of sourcing flexibility and strategic procurement separately. Although, there exists some narrow numbers that have analyzed the relationship between sourcing strategies and sourcing flexibility to some limited extent. This study tries to contribute to the existing literature by empirically exploring the principal reasons for companies necessitating to increase sourcing flexibility. It investigates how sourcing flexibility can be improved through strategic procurement. The main contribution is to consider sourcing flexibility from the category perspective. Latter is a subject that has been neglected in the previous literatures. It is extremely hard to find literature which has analyzed sourcing flexibility at the category level. This report analyses the level of sourcing flexibility specified to different categories of strategic, bottleneck, leverage, and noncritical components. It suggests some factors that may influence the selection of a specific sourcing flexibility strategy regarding different component categories. Finally, it may introduce some extra elements that can be influential on the level of sourcing flexibility dimensions. Some examples of those influential elements are bargaining power and establishment of a close relationship.

Although the concept of tensegrity structures was invented in the beginning of the twentieth century, the applications of these structures are limited, partially due to their low stiffness. The stiffness of tensegrities comes from topology, configuration, pre-stress and initial axial element stiffnesses.  The first part of the present work is concerned with finding the magnitude of pre-stress. Its role in stiffness of tensegrity structures is to postpone the slackening of cables. A high pre-stress could result in instability of the structure due to buckling and yielding of compressive and tension elements, respectively. Tensegrity structures are subjected to various external loads such as self-weight, wind or snow loads which in turn could act in different directions and be of different magnitudes. Flexibility analysis is used to find the critical load combinations. The magnitude of pre-stress, in order to sustain large external loads, is obtained through flexibility figures, and flexibility ellipsoids are employed to ensure enough stiffness of the structure when disturbances are applied to a loaded structure.  It has been seen that the most flexible direction is very much sensitive to the pre-stress magnitude and neither analytical methods nor flexibility ellipsoids are able to find the most flexible directions. The flexibility figures from a non-linear analysis are here utilized to find the weak directions.  In the second part of the present work, a strategy is developed to compare tensegrity booms of triangular prism and Snelson types with a truss boom. It is found that tensegrity structures are less stiff than a truss boom when a transversal load is applied. An optimization approach is employed to find the placement of the actuators and their minimum length variations. The results show that the bending stiffness can be significantly improved, but still an active tensegrity boom is less stiff than a truss boom. Genetic algorithm shows high accuracy of searching non-structural space. / QC 20110524

Standarden på skolbyggnader behöver höjas samtidigt som de behöver bli flexibla för att kunna möta framtida förändringar. I lokalresursplaneringen brottas kommuner med oförutsägbara framtida elevantal, bland annat till följd av oberäknelighet i demografifrågan. Skollokaler riskerar att periodvis stå tomma eller vara för få och därför måste fastighetsbeståndet klara av förändring. Det är nödvändigt att restaurera och nyttja befintliga byggnader. Genom att anpassa en befintlig struktur av en byggnad efter de behov som råder ökar byggnadens totala livslängd och materialåtgång, transporter och föroreningar reduceras. Att lokalanpassa en byggnad till en befintlig stomme som samtidigt ska vara flexibel, funktionsduglig och regelrätt kommer dock med utmaningar. I denna studie är huvudsyftet därför att undersöka om det är möjligt att skapa trivsamma, funktionsdugliga, flexibla, hållbara och regelrätta skolbyggnader av en befintlig stomme för att möta morgondagens behov. Olika hinder och möjligheter för lokalanpassningen ska belysas. Genom att utföra litteratur- och intervjustudie har slutsatser kunnat dras. Litteraturen användes för att skapa ett ramverk inför intervjuer och för att till viss del svara på studiens forskningsfrågor. Kvalitativa intervjuer utfördes för att få en djupare förståelse för hur skolarkitektur upplevs av personer som vistas dagligen i skolmiljöer. Sedan testades resultatet från litteratur- och intervjustudien i ett fallstudieobjekt, en byggnad i Luleå kommun som eventuellt skulle kunna utgöra skollokaler. Ett gestaltningsförslag togs sedan fram i form av planlösningar för fallstudiens våningsplan. Från litteraturen identifierades planering, incitament och materialval som viktiga delar för ett cirkulärt flöde. De initiala skedena är avgörande för det cirkulära byggandet, bland annat är en återbruksinventering nödvändig och framtida demontering och återbruk bör beaktas redan i designfasen. Material är med fördel homogena för att underlätta för återbruk och bör hanteras varsamt vid demontering. Högre ekonomiska incitament för återbruk behövs samtidigt som kunden behöver känna en säkerhet över kapacitet och garanti. När det kommer till flexibiliteten identifierades stommens struktur och regelverk som faktorer som påverkar möjligheterna till flexibilitet vid lokalanpassning. Fönstrens placering, byggnadskroppens form och de bärande delarna är begränsande när det kommer till valmöjligheter. Krav vid ändring på exempelvis tillgänglighet, takhöjd och antal toaletter är också begränsande. Från intervjustudien framkom att klassrummen bör vara utformade för att ge goda förutsättningar för digitala verktyg. Stora klassrum efterfrågas för att kunna möta elevantalet och variera undervisningsform. Skolans fysiska miljö kan bli bättre på att arbeta med elevers olika behov samt tillgänglighet. Vidare tycker elever att det är viktigt med hållbarhet och återvinningsstationer eftersöks. Placering av funktioner är viktigt för att undvika spring, minska ljudnivå och skapa en lagom avskildhet mellan personal och elever.

The ability to be flexible will be of great importance to stay competitive as a manufacturing company, and the human operator is a key resource to rapidly respond to changes within manufacturing. Creating a cross-trained workforce where the operators have the ability to rotate between tasks is a strategy to increase the labor flexibility, which in turn can increase the manufacturing flexibility. Equipping the operators with supporting technology has been seen beneficial to become more flexible. Using AR (Augmented Reality) for training has great potential, but few tests have been made in a real industrial environment. Furthermore, there is a lack of involvement of the operators in previous research. This study aims to investigate how AR can be implemented practically at an automotive manufacturing company and, by involving the operator, examine how the AR solution can contribute to increased labor flexibility. To fulfill the aim of the study, the following research question was formulated: • What factors are important to consider when implementing AR technology for increased labor flexibility in a manufacturing company? The research process of this study has included a literature review and a single case study conducted at a production line in an automotive manufacturing company. The design thinking process has been followed during the case study, to be able to always include the operators in the process. In the final phase of the case study, two prototypes were created to evaluate, from the operator’s perspective, how AR can be used at the shop floor. Data was gathered using tools from the design thinking toolbox, including explorative interviews and observations. The study results shows that the preferred AR method for experienced operators is using a hand-held device. Head mounted devices still has barriers to overcome, and more tests are needed to evaluate the user acceptance and risks involved with using head mounted devices in an industrial environment. The thesis has contributed to highlight what factors needs to be considered when implementing AR, by conducting real-life tests at the case company. Implementing AR in an industrial environment is not only buying the right hardware and software. There is a need for a strategy in how the technology should be adapted to the organization. This thesis proposes a start of the implementation journey in using AR to increase labor flexibility by formulating solution targets for further developing of AR technology.

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Purpose – The authors want to give an actual overview of the CREM in Sweden and investigate how certain issues, such as business alignment and strategy of CREM are handled in Sweden.Importance – Scant published research in the academic field of corporate real estate management is covering the Swedish market, hence this paper tries to close this gap. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines current literature on the topic of CREM and analyses market data gained by a survey and interviews to illustrate the status of CREM in Sweden to dayLimitation – The participation rate in the survey prevents the authors from drawing conclusions significant for the whole market, a wider ranged survey including unlisted companies would certainly help enhancing this research and identify more patterns in the marketKeywords – Corporate Real Estate Management, strategy, business alignment, performance, benchmarking, flexibility, outsourcing, Sweden

The rapid development of microelectronics has equally rapidly increased the demand for miniaturized energy storage devices. On-chip micro-supercapacitors (MSCs), as promising power candidates, possess great potential to complement or replace electrolytic capacitors (ECs) and microbatteries (MBs) in various applications. Recently, planar two-dimensional (2D) MSCs, composed of isolated thin-film microelectrodes with extremely short ionic diffusion path and free of separator on a single substrate, have become particularly attractive because they can be directly integrated with microelectronic devices on the same side of a flexible substrate to act as a standalone microsized power source. However, the areal capacities and energy densities of the 2D MSCs are commonly limited by the low voltage window and the thin layer of the electrode materials. Obviously, integrating more active material into cleverly designed three-dimensional (3D) electrode architectures will effectively increase the areal performance within a limited footprint area in spite of some loss of flexibility and cycling stability. However, it is still a big challenge to effciently and cost-effectively fabricate on-chip MSCs with high electro-chemical performance and abundant electrode structures. Here, three types of MSCs including graphene-based 2D planar MSCs, on-chip 3D interdigital MSCs and self-assembled 3D tubular MSCs were fabricated, respectively. The fabrication process, electrode materials structure and morphology, electrochemical performance, mechanical properties, integration process and difficulty, and practical application of these 2D and 3D devices are studied in detail.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women, this type of cancer is diagnosed in around 9000 women every year in Sweden. The most common studies to find breast cancer is through mammography where the breast tissue is compressed and exposed by radiation. Not only does the technique expose the breast tissue for radiation, but it can also be very uncomfortable. There is research on a new kind of scanning where use of microwaves reduces the uncomfortable situation. The MDH research team that are working with this technology needs help to position a transmitter of microwaves to test their equipment. The purpose of this paper is to discover a way to mechanically position a transmitter so that it can be moved along a breast model. The investigation will be made through a product development process in order to review the research question: RQ: “How can a product be designed to position and adjust a microwave transmitter to various locations in order to help testing of cancer research equipment?” By using an agile working methodology in combination with a Design thinking process this thesis includes several sprints that involved continues improvement and feedback from the research team. The first sprint was mostly to discover and experiment on new design ideas as well as control if any of them could work. It resulted in need of measurement changes and redesigning. The second sprint involved measurement corrections. The model itself had the reasonable measurements and the functions worked as expected. However, some of the functions needed to be improved as well as a problem with clearing of the wires to the transmitter itself. The third sprint included changes where more freedom was given and more clearance was made for the wires, but this design turned out to be unpredictable. The fourth sprint included a completely new design to stabilizing the prototype as a result from the researchers’ feedback. To answer the research question, the final design resulted in a 3D printed stand designed to move the transmitter along x-axis as well as rotate around y-axis to adjust to different breast diameters and forms. The stand also includes a rack and pinion design that makes it possible to adjust to different breast lengths. Lastly, the stand makes it possible to gradually move the transmitter around the breast model. However, the final design does not only answer the research question it also fulfils stability and functionality requirements set by the research team. This clarifies why the first iterations needed redesigning. Therefore, the stand is ready for preliminary tests of the researcher’s equipment. To conclude, there are many different design solutions that can answer the research question. However, the design requires stability which reduce the number of design solutions.

The size and composition of the Swedish electricity generation are changing. This, in combination with new legal requirements from regulatory entities including the EU Directive 2019/944, creates several challenges for the design of the future system. Among other things, the directive suggests that flexibility solutions are to be integrated into grids to increase the degree of utilization and avoid congestions, when socio-economically profitable. This thesis evaluates what this could mean in a Swedish context, in combination with providing a basic understanding of the contradictions that can arise between a desired efficient grid use in an energy system that goes towards more distributed and intermittent energy generation sources. The work is carried out in collaboration with Vattenfall Eldistribution AB, focusing on the geographical area of Uppsala and Stockholm, the Swedish region hit hardest by local congestions. The work assumes that the economic value of a flexibility solution is at most equivalent to the cost of a conventional new construction aimed at capacity strengthening, or the Value of Lost Load (VoLL). The report’s most important deliverable is a model based on this view. The model is used to evaluate the economic value of flexibility per kWh, in three regional grid construction projects within the mentioned region.  The results show that there is a great potential for using flexibility resources to increase utilization in grids and also to optimize the costs that society pays for this infrastructure by such methods. However, the work concludes that the usage of flexible technologies primarily is to adapt electric consumption with intermittent energy generation, rather than being used to solve local grid capacity shortages.

This thesis focuses on the dilemma of self-employment. It tries to explore the relationship between self-employed people and public finances in general. The goal itself is an analysis of the relationship between public budgets and payments of the self-employed. But for more the thesis adds calculations of two hypothetic models of regulation and deregulation. Secondary goal is an evaluation of a self- employment status as solution for unemployment. Rational choice theory and prospect theory are also used along the way. As methods of research, the cost-benefit analysis and questionnaire survey was used. According to the outcomes of calculations etc. the result seems to be negative in economic way for current setup of payments with dominant loss of potential financial resources in retirement funds. Nevertheless, a number of savings also takes place. But even mentioned savings can't cover the discrepancy between potential incomes and real ones.