El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / In this document it was proposed to apply Lean Agriculture, using the five Lean principles focused on the production of organic apples, which would allow to achieve a differentiated product, through the reduction of waste, improvements in the quality of activities and the commitment of the farmers. For this, a review of the literature that corroborated the impact of the methodology was carried out. In addition, surveys were conducted, taking a sample of farmers, which evidenced the gap. Finally it was obtained as a conclusion that after the implementation of the Lean Agriculture methodology in the processes, an increase in production suitable for sale in traditional and organic markets is achieved. In addition, the increase in quality achieved a percent of production suitable for exporting.

Implementation of lean helps many organizations to improve their productivity and efficiency; on the other hand numerous organizations have failed to benefit from lean philosophy. The lean thinking was originated in the automobile manufacturing sector and it widely spreads within the discrete industries; however the today’s challenge is to implement the lean philosophy within continuous manufacturing industries and different organizations regardless to the type, size, or mission of the applicant organization. This has motivated the undertaken research to propose a standard generic transition steps which can be adopted by different organizations in order to become lean. The cement industry is ideal example of the continuous industry sector and it will be used to demonstrate that the lean philosophy is applicable to all deferent organisation types. There are numerous challenges facing the cement industry in today’s competitive environments; one of the major challenges is the capability of the cement industry to adopt and introduce the improvement approaches and techniques by which the overall enhancement can be achieved. The need for improving the efficiency of the cement production line is widely acknowledged in order to reduce the downtime rates, and satisfy high levels of market demand where the demand for cement is mostly second substance behind water. In response to this respect this thesis has investigated and addressed the implementation of the lean philosophy within the cement industry. The main contribution of this study is to convey the message to the decision makers that the lean philosophy is the proposed solution by which the continuous industry and different organisation types can be improved through eliminating or minimising wastes and non-value added activities within the production line.

The poor safety situation in the United Kingdom (UK) construction industry and its adverse socio-economic record are well documented in the existing literature. The application of Lean Construction techniques has been proposed as an effective strategy to address accidents on construction sites, a major safety concern in the construction industry. However, examination of the relationship between Lean Construction techniques and safety issues has been marginal. This study explores this relationship with the aim of developing a framework for using Lean Construction techniques to promote safety on UK construction sites. A framework was initially devised based on a synthesis of the literature and further refined based on findings from interviews held with 10 Lean Construction practitioners on antecedents of Lean Construction techniques and safety issues. In order to develop and confirm the framework, data was collected from practicing Lean Construction organisations using a questionnaire survey and analysed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and inter-rater agreement statistical test to examine the pattern and extent of the relationships. The study found a total of thirty-eight (38) relationships between Lean Construction techniques and safety issues. These relationships are mainly positive in nature in that they demonstrate path to improvement in safety on construction sites. They show which techniques could be used to address the relevant safety issue. Furthermore, it was established that the application of Lean Construction techniques on construction sites can be impeded by challenges such as: lack of Lean Construction knowledge, complexity, misconception about Lean and difficulties in changing employees’ working culture. The study identified strategies that could be used to address these challenges. These include enlightenment on benefits of Lean practice, publication of improvements realised from Lean practice, training, workers’ involvement and empowerment, persistence, robust planning and gradual step-by-step implementation. The study, therefore, concludes that Lean Construction techniques have positive relationships with safety issues on construction sites in the UK and on the basis of the relationships develops an integrated framework to guide application of the techniques by contracting organisations in promoting safety. The study makes a number of recommendations including the incorporation of Lean Construction practice into government health and safety initiatives, regulations and policies, and identifies areas for further research.

Uppsatsnivå: D

The basis for this thesis involved a four month Accelerate Canada internship at the Grand River Hospital Emergency Department in Kitchener, Ontario. The Emergency Department (ED) Process Committee sought insight into strategies that could potentially reduce patient length of stay in the ED, thereby reducing wait times for emergency patients. This thesis uses discrete event simulation to model the overall system and to analyze the effect of various operational strategies within the fast track area of the emergency department. It discusses the design and development process for the simulation model, proposes various operational strategies to reduce patient wait times, and analyzes the different scenarios for an optimal fast track strategy. The main contribution of this thesis is the use of simulation to determine an optimal fast track strategy that reduces patient length of stay, thereby reducing patient wait times. Wait times were most significantly reduced when there was an increased physician presence/availability towards the fast track system. This had the greatest impact on the total time spent in the ED and also on queue length. The second most significant reduction to the performance measures occurred when an additional emergency nurse practitioner was supplemented to the fast track system. Accordingly, the nurse practitioner’s percent utilization increased. There was only one two-way interaction effect that was statistically significant in reducing the primary performance measure of wait times; however, the effect did not change the queue length, a secondary performance measure, by a significant amount. Finally, the implementation of a See-and-treat model variant for fast track had a negligible effect on both the average length of stay and queue length.

The basis for this thesis involved a four month Accelerate Canada internship at the Grand River Hospital Emergency Department in Kitchener, Ontario. The Emergency Department (ED) Process Committee sought insight into strategies that could potentially reduce patient length of stay in the ED, thereby reducing wait times for emergency patients. This thesis uses discrete event simulation to model the overall system and to analyze the effect of various operational strategies within the fast track area of the emergency department. It discusses the design and development process for the simulation model, proposes various operational strategies to reduce patient wait times, and analyzes the different scenarios for an optimal fast track strategy. The main contribution of this thesis is the use of simulation to determine an optimal fast track strategy that reduces patient length of stay, thereby reducing patient wait times. Wait times were most significantly reduced when there was an increased physician presence/availability towards the fast track system. This had the greatest impact on the total time spent in the ED and also on queue length. The second most significant reduction to the performance measures occurred when an additional emergency nurse practitioner was supplemented to the fast track system. Accordingly, the nurse practitioner’s percent utilization increased. There was only one two-way interaction effect that was statistically significant in reducing the primary performance measure of wait times; however, the effect did not change the queue length, a secondary performance measure, by a significant amount. Finally, the implementation of a See-and-treat model variant for fast track had a negligible effect on both the average length of stay and queue length.

This study investigates the implementation of Lean principles to Value Stream Mapping (VSM). The study also explores the benefits and challenges of applying VSM as a mapping model for preliminary work in the context of digitalization within assembly lines. Through a qualitative approach, including literature review and interviews, this research examines the integration of Lean principles with VSM as a framework to uncover and address inefficiencies at a large company assembly line. The study was done at a large enterprise (LE) located in Sweden. The findings highlight the potential benefits of the VSM such as being customizable. However, the study also identifies challenges to the VSM as it is missing important parts, such as systems that need to be covered in a digitalization process. This study found it to be a challenge when using VSM as a mapping tool in a complex assembly process and because of that could not identify any potential opportunities or deficiencies regarding the digitalization. The study also comes with suggestions for further research to explore contextual factors, develop implementation frameworks and investigate the long-term effects and sustainability of this integrated approach.

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This research is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the impact of the use of collaborative and simulation sessions for learning lean principles and methods. Study participants were enrolled in a Lean Manufacturing System Engineering (IE436/536) course at Oregon State University or at three other business and engineering universities where lean manufacturing or related courses focusing on lean principles and methods were taught, including Oakland University's Pawley Lean Institute, University of Pittsburgh, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Lean principles and methods have been documented as an effective improvement methodology and have been applied by many organizations globally since the late 1970s. With the widespread application and potential benefit of lean principles and methods, several professional centers, engineering schools, and some business schools, have taught lean principles and methods in order to educate and train learners in lean knowledge and skills before and/or after entering the workplace. Non-traditional teaching methods e.g., collaborative learning activities and simulation activities aimed at improving training and teaching have been widely used and have been shown to be successful in some studies (e.g., Verma, 2003; Armstrong, 2003; Nikendei, 2007). Little research, however, has focused on how these non-traditional teaching methods might affect learner perceptions e.g., self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes. The relationship between learning and learner perceptions related to the learning of lean principles and methods when using non-traditional teaching methods is also not well understood. The purpose of this research study was three fold: first, to examine the impact of lean collaborative and simulation sessions on lean learning, self-efficacy beliefs, and attitudes; second, to determine whether or not learner background knowledge had an impact on lean learning, self-efficacy beliefs, or attitudes; and, finally, to explore the relationships between lean learning, self-efficacy beliefs, and attitudes. In the first study, data were collected from students who took IE436/536 Lean Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Oregon State University during the Fall term of 2010 or the Fall term of 2011. In the second study, data were collected from students who enrolled in three other engineering or business schools where lean manufacturing systems or related courses that included content involving lean principles and methods were taught using collaborative and simulation sessions. Data from the first study were used to examine the impact of lean collaborative and simulation sessions on learning, self-efficacy beliefs, and attitudes; data from the second study were used to examine on self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes. Results from the first study point out the importance of the use of collaborative sessions on learning for both lean methods studied (Jidoka and pull); whereas, the use of simulation, following collaborative sessions, provided benefits only to those students learning Jidoka methods. The research revealed that the content plays a role in the effect of the use of collaborative and/or simulation sessions. Overall, analysis of individual self-efficacy beliefs revealed no significant self-efficacy differences after participants engaged in simulation sessions. The results did indicate that there were significant differences in intrinsic goal motivation after participating in simulation sessions. The level of background knowledge demonstrated a mixed effect on learning and on attitudes. The findings showed a significant difference in learning pull only for some students. The level of background knowledge did impact learner intrinsic goal motivation, but did not impact other attitudes. In addition, the results indicated that the type of session and background knowledge impacted learning; whereas, only self-efficacy beliefs was shown to impact learner attitudes. In the second study, the overall research findings show that significant differences in learner extrinsic goal motivation resulted from the use of collaborative and simulation sessions. The findings revealed that the sequencing of the teaching methods influenced learner attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. For example, significant differences in learner task value were found only when participants participated in simulation sessions first, followed by collaborative sessions. Similarly, the results showed that participants from universities, in which learners participated in collaborative sessions first, followed by simulation sessions, had higher levels of self-efficacy beliefs when compared with participants from a university in which learners participated in simulation sessions first and then collaborative sessions. Taken together, these research findings provide evidence that the use of collaborative and simulation session, as supplemental tools for teaching lean principles and methods, is beneficial. Based on these results lean educators should consider the content areas, the sequence of the use of non-traditional teaching methods, and self-efficacy beliefs as important potential factors in teaching and training lean principles and methods. / Graduation date: 2013