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Criticism concerning quality deficiencies and high production costs for housing has made many construction companies make efforts to improve performance, inspired by ideas from the manufacturing industry and in particular the car industry. This is often referred to as industrialised building. The ideas are not new but so far their spread has been limited. This study covers two years of one current effort to industrialise house building in a Swedish construction company, the Peab group. An investment in a new factory for automated production of concrete building elements had been made and start up of production in the factory took place during the time of the study. Two subunits, a contractor and a structural building element supplier were involved in the industrialisation effort and the study is confined to these. To improve performance, a prefabricated building system including Peab standards was to be developed and used across the organisation, instead of the existing local solutions. A project, Peab Gemensamt System concept (PGS), was established to conduct the task. The focus for the study is on the facilitators and barriers to make organisational changes for the purpose of industrialising house building in a construction company. Observations were made at meetings with the PGS core team and the involved Peab group staff was interviewed. Notions of organisational competence and embedded knowledge and action were applied to describe the studied company’s specific organisational context and to identify facilitators and barriers. Conclusions concern how organisational context, content of change and the change process interrelated and formed the outcome. In this case, fundamental ideas for change became local attempts. Establishing a project, PGS, for conducting change was new to the target organisation. Facilitators were not created to allow the organisation to learn to change in this new way. The PGS project could therefore not contribute directly to change. One building project introduced a prefabricated building system. It was beyond the team’s control to make necessary changes to benefit from it. Therefore, temporary adaptations to prevailing organisational conditions were made. Another building project introduced a new way of working during the detail design stage. It was within the team’s control to make necessary changes to benefit from it. Existing organisational competence could therefore be enhanced. The new factory had the potential to rationalise production of building elements, but it did not automatically solve problems related to the collaboration between the building element supplier and the contractor. Issues for improving performance through the studied ideas for industrialisation emerge from this. These concern combining the contractor’s and building element supplier’s different ways of working; meeting customer requirements while realising certain industrialisation ideas; and the roles of the permanent and temporary organisations for embedding knowledge without losing flexibility. / QC 20100924

<p>Over many years the housing industry has been criticised concerning its performance related to factors such as quality and cost. Together with the challenge of improving its capability in meeting individual customers’ needs, by means of effective production, this has resulted in a situation where companies look at other industries, such as manufacturing, in order to<i> industrialise</i> their products and processes. Swedish housing producers are today working towards finding more commonality in products and processes at the same time as the ability to deliver customized product and services is maintained or improved. In some cases this means an increase in central control of the design work carried out in project groups.</p><p>This thesis presents a study of the design process for housing at a Swedish property developer, JM AB. Interviews have been conducted with three main groups of actors (project leaders, architects and sellers) connected to ten housing developments. A survey has also been sent out to these individuals as well as to other important actors. The main objectives of these investigations were to find out major actors’ attitudes towards the increase in central control of the design work, in general terms as well as in relation to specific design objects (windows, floor plans, bathrooms and basic structure) for the housing projects.</p><p>The results show that the trend towards more industrialised processes by more structuring and standardising concerning design has had an effect on the design work carried out in project groups. There are positive as well as negative aspects, as well as similarities and differences in attitudes. These differences can be related to different roles as well as to geographical differences. Within this work a <i>triangle</i> has been developed for measuring and comparing different actors’ attitudes. The work further shows that adapting a more holistic view of the design process, by considering it as part of a firm’s product realisation process, could be a base for further developments</p>

No description available.

Over many years the housing industry has been criticised concerning its performance related to factors such as quality and cost. Together with the challenge of improving its capability in meeting individual customers’ needs, by means of effective production, this has resulted in a situation where companies look at other industries, such as manufacturing, in order to industrialise their products and processes. Swedish housing producers are today working towards finding more commonality in products and processes at the same time as the ability to deliver customized product and services is maintained or improved. In some cases this means an increase in central control of the design work carried out in project groups. This thesis presents a study of the design process for housing at a Swedish property developer, JM AB. Interviews have been conducted with three main groups of actors (project leaders, architects and sellers) connected to ten housing developments. A survey has also been sent out to these individuals as well as to other important actors. The main objectives of these investigations were to find out major actors’ attitudes towards the increase in central control of the design work, in general terms as well as in relation to specific design objects (windows, floor plans, bathrooms and basic structure) for the housing projects. The results show that the trend towards more industrialised processes by more structuring and standardising concerning design has had an effect on the design work carried out in project groups. There are positive as well as negative aspects, as well as similarities and differences in attitudes. These differences can be related to different roles as well as to geographical differences. Within this work a triangle has been developed for measuring and comparing different actors’ attitudes. The work further shows that adapting a more holistic view of the design process, by considering it as part of a firm’s product realisation process, could be a base for further developments / QC 20101129

The construction industry is today well known for its way to work in projects where each one is unique and needs its own detail solutions, ways to work and different processes. That means that in the start up phase of each project there has been a need to start all over again since just a fraction of knowledge and solutions pass from one project to another. Companies has been able to work this way due to the fact that lately the interest level has been favourable and the customers has had a buying power which enable construction to be carried out this way. Today the interest is so low that it cannot almost go any lower and the construction industry is therefore forced to find new ways to build houses more efficiently and cheaper to be able to match the market. The answer to this problem was found in the manufacturing industry and the way they work with repeated processes. The construction industry has looked into manufacturing and their ways of working before when they looked at the car industry in the early 20th century but it took about 100 years from that for the industrialized house building that we know today to be born. One of Scandinavia´s largest construction companies Veidekke is currently putting an effort in developing an industrialized house building concept called VeidekkeMAX that consists of three different areas. The three areas are a technical platform, process and an organisation with the purpose to find more effective ways to construct houses without compromising with the final outputs quality. When the work today is carried out with more repeatable process than before it is possible to measure the development of industrialized house building by looking at the maturity of its processes within the company. This study´s aim is to investigate a maturity measurement tool from the manufacturing industry and use it in the construction industry. This study will measure the maturity of the concept VeidekkeMAX and the measurement tool being used is CMM. CMM was developed in the software industry and it measure maturity in five different levels. It is important that the measurement can be repeated so it is possible to see how the development is going. Specific fields within the concept have been chosen for investigation and the empirics for the study has been collected through interviews with employees in the chosen fields. The respondent’s answers have been evaluated and the result is presented in this paper. The result shows that today the maturity in VeidekkeMAX is low since the employees are working in different ways and the observed processes within the company today are individual and varies a lot. The result also shows that it is possible to use CMM within the construction industry but it is as most useful if there are clear processes to measure. This thesis also briefly investigates the question whether it is possible to take standardisation within the construction industry too far and each interviewed was asked for their opinions on where VeidekkeMAX is going. The result showed that within the company there is a fear to take it one step too far which shows the importance to make sure that every employee is on-board with the change and that everyone is motivated to work with the concept and help develop it making it more efficient. / Bostadsbyggbranschen är idag välkänd för sitt sätt att arbeta i projekt där varje projekt är unikt och kräver sina egna detaljlösningar, sätt att arbeta samt processer. Vad det innebär är att man inför varje nytt projekt har varit tvungen att till stora delar återuppfinna hjulet då relativt lite kunskap och lösningar har gått från ett projekt till nästa. Företag har kunnat arbeta på det här viset då ränteläget den senaste tiden har varit gynnsamt och kunderna har haft en köpkraft som möjliggör att producera bostäder på detta vis. Idag är räntan på en så låg nivå att den snart inte kan sjunka lägre och således måste byggbranschen hitta nya sätt att producera bostäder på ett effektivare och billigare sätt för att kunna matcha marknaden. Svaret fanns hos tillverkningsindustrin och hur de arbetar med återupprepande processer. Byggindustrin tittade redan på tidigt 1900-tal hur tillverkningsindustrin arbetar men från det tog dröjde drygt 100 år till innan det industriella husbyggandet, som det ser ut idag, skapades. Ett av Skandinaviens största bygg företag, Veidekke, bedriver i dagsläget en satsning inom det industriella husbyggandet som heter VeidekkeMAX som är ett koncept bestående av i tre olika delar. De tre delarna är en teknisk plattform, process och organisation som alla syftar till att bygga på ett effektivare sätt utan att kompromissa på slutproduktens kvalitet. När arbetet nu sker med flera återupprepande processer så öppnar sig möjligheterna att mäta utvecklingen för det industriella husbyggandet genom att se hur mogna dessa processer hos företaget är. Den här studien syftar till att undersöka huruvida det är möjligt att använda mognadsmätningsverktyg tagna från tillverkningsindustrin och sedan använda inom byggindustrin. Mognadsmätningen i denna studie kommer att ske av VeidekkeMAX och mätverktyget som testas är CMM. CMM kommer ursprungligen från mjukvaruindustrin och processmognaden mäts i fem olika nivåer. Viktigt är att mätningen går att återupprepa kontinuerligt för att på så vis kunna se hur utvecklingen sker. Specifika områden inom konceptet har valts ut för granskning och empirin för att genomföra mätningen samlas in genom intervjuer med anställda inom områdena. Därefter utvärderas deras svar och ett resultat av mätningen redovisas. Resultatet visade att mognaden inom VeidekkeMAX var relativt låg då de anställda arbetar på väldigt olika vis och de processer som observerade till stor del var individuella. Resultatet visar också att det går att använda mätverktyget CMM inom byggindustrin men det når sin största potential om det finns tydligt uppstyrda processer att mäta. Studien går även in på frågan om man kan gå för långt med standardisering inom byggbranschen och varje intervjuad anställd tillfrågades även om deras syn på vart VeidekkeMAX är på väg. Resultatet visar att det finns en rädsla att gå för långt och det belyser vikten av att se till att ha alla anställda med på tåget och se till att varje individ är motiverad till att hjälpa till att utveckla och förbättra satsningen.

Is inflation targeting an appropriate framework for monetary policy? Experience from the inflation-targeting countries countries are optimistic about inflation targeting as a monetary-policy framework. South Africa is also following this trend. The international literature review of the topic offers lessons to be learnt from the common experience of the countries considered. It shows that inflation targeting is not a universal remedy to modern economic ills -- there is an emerging danger of assigning monetary policy a larger role than that which it can perform; a danger of expecting monetary policy to accomplish tasks that it cannot achieve; and a danger of preventing monetary policy from making the contribution that it is capable of doing. Therefore, inflation targeting cannot address all the macroeconomic problems that face many countries, except for inflation. Nonetheless, it plays a crucial role in improving macroeconomic performance. / Economics / M.A. (Economics)

We investigate the practical use of Taylor-type rules in Trinidad and Tobago, which is in the process of implementing market based monetary policy and seeks to implement flexible inflation targeting in the presence of a managed exchange rate. This is motivated by the idea that normative Taylor rules can be shaped by the practical experience of developing countries. We find that the inflation – exchange rate nexus is strong, hence the country may be unwilling to allow the exchange rate to float freely. We contend that despite weak market development the Taylor rule can still be applied as the central bank is able to use moral suasion to achieve full pass through of the policy rate to the market rate. Our evidence rejects Galí and Monacelli’s (2005) argument that the optimal monetary policy rule for the open economy is isomorphic for a closed economy. Rather, our evidence suggests that the rule for the open economy allows for lower variability when the rule is augmented by the real exchange rate as in Taylor (2001). We also reject Galí and Monacelli’s (2005) hypothesis that domestic inflation is optimal for inclusion in the Taylor-type rule. Instead we find that core CPI inflation leads to lower variability. Additionally, our evidence suggests that the monetary rule, when applied to Trinidad and Tobago, is accommodating to the US Federal Reserve rate. Further, we expand the work of Martin and Milas (2010) which considered the pass through of the policy rate to the interbank rate in the presence of risk and liquidity. By extending the transmission to the market lending rate, we are able to go beyond those disruptive factors by considering excess liquidity and spillovers of international economic disturbances. We found that these shocks are significant for Trinidad and Tobago, but it is not significant enough to disrupt the pass through. As a result, full pass through was robust to the presence of these disruptive factors.