In today's digital landscape, data is akin to oil, pivotal for decision-making and innovation, especially in retail with its vast customer data. However, accumulating data presents challenges, notably in costeffective management. This thesis explores strategies for retail firms to optimize data management without sacrificing the data’s potential benefits. Drawing insights from interviews with five retail companies and implementing a product recommendation model. The study reveals that while storage costs are perceived as low, the prevalent "store it all" approach results in storing vast amounts of unused data, incurring unnecessary expenses. Furthermore, compliance with GDPR primarily shapes companies’ data retention policies, with some companies opting for automated deletion or anonymization to align with regulations. However, inconsistencies exist in practice regarding data storage intentions. The thesis culminates in a strategic framework to enhance data management. A four-step framework is proposed: assessing data lifespan, implementing archiving routines, anonymizing and aggregating data, and evaluating cost versus utility. The research underscores the need for deletion strategies to prevent data overload and maintain cost-effectiveness. This thesis contributes to understanding data value and offers practical guidance for retail firms to navigate data management efficiently while complying with regulations like GDPR. Future research could delve into the long-term impacts of retention policies on business operations, assessing data deletion or archiving over extended periods. Longitudinal studies with company data access would enrich this exploration.

Many specific methods and tools have been developed to deal with sustainability problems. However, without a unifying theory it is unclear how these relate to each other and how they can be used strategically. A Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is being developed to cover this need for clarity and structure. It includes backcasting from a principled definition of sustainability as a key feature. The aim of this thesis is to study how this framework can guide the use and improvement of detailed methods and tools, in particular to support sustainable product innovation (SPI). First, a new strategic life-cycle management approach is presented, in which the selection of aspects to be considered are not based on typical down-stream impact categories, but on identified major violations of sustainability principles. Ideas of how this approach can inform various specific methods and tools are also presented, as a basis for an integrated “toolbox” for SPI. As part of such, a new “template” approach for sustainable product development (TSPD) is developed through a sustainability assessment case study of TVs. That study indicates that this approach can create a quick and strategically relevant overview of critical sustainability aspects of a product, as well as facilitate communication between top management, product developers and external stakeholders. Based on such an assessment, it is sometimes necessary to go deeper into details, including the use of specific engineering methods and tools. To facilitate a coordinated assessment of sustainability aspects and technical aspects, an introductory procedure for sustainability-driven design optimization is suggested trough a water jet cutting case study. Equally important, to get a breakthrough for SPI, it is essential to integrate sustainability aspects into the overall decision-making process at different levels in companies. An approach to assessing sustainability integration in strategic decision systems is therefore also developed through a case study involving several companies. Finally, the integration between the FSSD and general systems modeling and simulation (SMS) is discussed and tested in another water jet cutting case study. It is shown feasible to start with the FSSD to create lists of critical flows and practices, ideas of long term solutions and visions, and a first rough idea about prioritized early investments. After that, SMS can be applied to study the interrelationships between the listed items, in order to create more robust and refined analyses of the problems at hand, possible solutions and investment paths, while constantly coupling back to the sustainability principles and guidelines of the FSSD. This research shows that the combination of the FSSD with detailed methods and tools cohesively provides decision-makers with both a robust overview and, when needed, a more coordinated and effective detailed support. To utilize its full potential, this approach should now be integrated into decision processes, software and manuals for SPI.

There is an intersection of challenges where society’s social and ecological problems coincide with the industrial firm’s challenge to maintain profitability in a globalizing world. Products connect these challenges. The development of these products together with services (product-service systems) therefore provides a critical intervention point to address these challenges. This includes e.g. defining what the products and services are, how they will deliver value to users, and the business models that enable them to be realized, as well as how these can contribute to sustainable development of society. The overarching goal of this research is to contribute to sustainable development of society by better understanding how a strategic sustainable development perspective based on backcasting from basic principles for a sustainable society can be brought into and guide product-service system innovation. Interviews with industry professionals, workshops with both manufacturing companies and within student projects, and industrial cases studies, together with a review of literature and theoretical considerations, provide the methodological basis for this work. This thesis contributes to clarifying theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations for a strategic sustainable development perspective to guide product-service system innovation and provides a basis for the integration of these concepts. The findings indicate that the co-innovation of products and services in product-service systems can contribute to sustainable development of society both by supporting reduced material and energy use and by supporting improved life cycle management of materials. Further, a strategic sustainable development perspective can contribute to the refinement of existing tools and methods in product-service system innovation by providing an operational definition of sustainability articulated in the form of first-order principles that describe the boundary conditions for a sustainable society, and by providing guidelines for how to approach a vision of success inside those boundaries in a strategic way. In order to identify solutions that meet society’s pressing challenges, new solution spaces may need to be identified, and this can be enabled by a shift from product development with service as “add-ons” to their co-innovation in product-service systems. An initial approach for how this could be enabled through bringing together set-based approaches to design product-service systems with a strategic sustainable development perspective is presented.

Wood Furniture Products (WFPs) play a significant role in both the global economy and the transition of society towards sustainability. This paper begins with a brief description of the industry and highlights the current challenges and compelling measures of WFPs from a systems perspective through the lens of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and by applying backcasting from sustainability principles (SPs). An examination of the challenges and opportunities of WFPs is performed using an ABCD analysis based on Strategic Life Cycle Management (SLCM). SLCM and Templates for Sustainable Product Development (TSPDs) approaches were applied in order to engage the participating Ningbo Fubang Company in the transition process towards sustainability and to provide an applicable tool for WFP development. The TSPDs were created based on the views of sustainability and WFP experts. This has developed the templates further and contributed to the overall development of the WFPs towards sustainability. Other recommended and compelling measures for the sustainable development of WFPs include: cooperating with non-government organizations (NGOs), conserving forests resources, clean production methods, "take-back" policy in the wood furniture industry, reforming government policies relevant to the industry, implementing waste management systems, green supply chains, clean energy use and distribution, and smart packaging.

No description available.

Relevant and quality-assured geographic data is critical information in several steps of the building process. There are many methods for quality-assuring geographic data during data collection, and in the building process, but in order for the data to be useful throughout the life cycle of a facility it is important that the data maintains reliability and quality even after the handover from a building project. The handover of geographic data from building projects has, by municipal management units, been described as inefficient. When designers do not follow the client's requirements the data must be handled manually, which is both time consuming and a possible risk for the quality of the data. In a time that place great demands on efficiency, quality and sustainability, it is not justifiable to manually digitizing data that has previously already been digital, furthermore there is also a risk that the human factor and interpretations affect the data quality. There are factors in the handover process that needs to be prevented in order to achieve an unbroken information supply throughout the life cycle of a facility. In this thesis, a qualitative study has been conducted with the purpose to identify what factors in the handover process prevent quality-assured handover of geographic data from building projects to management organizations. The findings of the study should also result in recommendations of how the City of Stockholm and other municipalities in general can prevent obstacles in the handover process to assure that geographic data maintains its quality throughout the handover. To identify barriers in the handover of geographic data in building projects, the data collection in this study was done through several interviews with project managers, designers and system managers. The results show that important factors for a successful, quality-assured handover of geographic data are related requirements and communication. Final recommendations in order to assure that the geographic data maintains its quality throughout the handover are: early involvement of the management, clear and early communicated requirements, improved communication to achieve a more holistic view, and automated processes that could replace manual work and check data against requirements.

Adopting sustainability practices in both planned and current operations is increasingly important to many organizations. Due to increased awareness various companies are adopting life cycle thinking. For example, life cycle considerations from raw material extraction to final disposal of products or services are requested in environmental management system standard ISO 14001:2015. Octapharma is a biopharmaceutical company producing various medical products for the treatment of haematology, immunotherapy and critical care. The desire to incorporate environmental life cycle thinking into investment projects led to the research question of how this can be achieved at Octapharma in Stockholm. The objectives included a qualitative investigation of current environmental management strategies practiced in investment projects today. Secondly, a case study investment project was used to explore how one of the most commonly practiced life cycle management (LCM) tools, life cycle assessment (LCA), can be applied for the comparison of two alternative process technologies. The results showed that Octapharma today considers environmental aspects in some investment projects, such as construction, but it may be improved in other types of investment projects. Therefore, specific suggestions and modifications of the project model, in relation to life cycle management literature was developed for important checkpoints in the project management model. Lastly the case project comparative LCA showed that one of the technologies had a significant larger environmental footprint. / Inkludering av ett hållbarhetsperspektiv i företags nuvarande och framtida verksamhet har fått ökande betydelse. På grund av större medvetenhet inkluderar flera organisationer ett livscykeltänk, dvs. utvärdering av miljöpåverkan från råvaruextraktion till avfallshantering av både produkter och tjänster. Bland annat ISO 14001:2015, en miljöledningsstandard, har infört krav på livscykeltänk i certifierade verksamheter. Octapharma är ett läkemedelsföretag som tillverkar produkter inom hematologi, immunterapi och intensivvård. På grund av ett intresse för livscykeltänk i investeringsprojekt på Octapharmas Stockholmsfabrik skapades ett behov av att undersöka hur detta skulle kunna åstadkommas. Delmålen i detta projekt innefattar en kvalitativ undersökning om nuvarande inkludering av miljöaspekter i investeringsprojekt med viktiga projektintressenter i verksamheten. En kvantitativ jämförande livscykelanalys (LCA) av ett avslutat investeringsprojekt syftade till att genomföra en LCA av två olika processteknologier. Resultatet visar att Octapharma idag inkluderar miljöfrågor i vissa typer av projekt, framför allt byggprojekt, men implementeringen i andra projekt kan förbättras. Fortsättningsvis resulterade litteratursökningen och den kvalitativa undersökningen i ett antal förslag på förbättringar i projektmodellen på punkter där miljöfrågor är extra viktiga för slutresultatet. Den jämförande LCAn visade att den ena teknologin hade en betydligt större miljöpåverkan.

O presente trabalho visa a desenvolver um modelo de referência específico para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos e de tecnologias de produção para o setor da produção industrial brasileira de cerâmica para revestimento. É baseado no uso das metodologias de Desenvolvimento de Produtos, Análise e Gerenciamento do Ciclo de Vida Total e de Desenvolvimento de Produtos Sustentáveis, integrando os aspectos industriais com a redução do impacto ambiental e a sustentabilidade de processos e produtos. O setor de produção de cerâmica não foi ainda abordado amplamente, em termos de pesquisa acadêmica, naquilo que concerne à metodologia de projeto de produto e do processo de fabricação. O presente trabalho pode colaborar para o preenchimento desta lacuna e trazer uma contribuição útil a um setor estratégico nacional, já que atualmente o Brasil é o segundo produtor e o segundo consumidor mundial. Do ponto de vista energético, a produção de pisos e azulejos cerâmicos é intensiva e a redução eficiente do impacto ambiental deve ter foco prioritário no próprio processo produtivo. A análise do setor tem revelado fragilidades estruturais, que devem ser corrigidas para alcançar um nível de competitividade internacional. O desenvolvimento da presente pesquisa fornece, como resultados principais, a geração de um modelo de referência para o projeto e desenvolvimento de novos produtos cerâmicos e tecnologia de produção, a partir da análise da prática atual de desenvolvimento, da teoria de processo de desenvolvimento de produto e da análise comparativa do estado da arte no Brasil e na Itália. O modelo proposto é validado com pesquisa de campo realizada em empresas do setor cerâmico no Brasil e na Itália e com análise crítica sobre o cálculo de análise do ciclo de vida. Como resultado secundário, são apresentadas diretrizes para aplicação da metodologia na produção nacional, visando a orientar uma reestruturação estratégica do setor. / The present work intends to develop a specific reference model for new products and production technologies development in the Brazilian ceramic tiles industrial sector. It is based on Product Development, Total Life cycle Analysis and Management and Sustainable Products Development methodologies, integrating the industrial aspects with the environmental impact reduction and the sustainability of processes and products. The ceramic tile production sector has not yet been widely approached, as academic research, about the product and production project methodology. This work can cooperate to fulfill this gap and perform a useful contribution to a national strategic sector, for being, nowadays, Brazil the second producer and the second consumer into the world market. Form the energy point of view, the ceramic tile production is intensive and an efficient environmental impact reduction must have the main focus in the production process. The sector analysis revealed structural fragilities that must be revised to achieve an international competition level. The present research development engender, as main result, the creation of a reference model for new ceramic product and production technology project and development, based on the analysis of the current practice for product development, on the product development process theory and on its application by a comparative analysis of the state of the art in Brazil and Italy. The proposed model is validated by field research in Brazilian and Italian ceramic industries, as well as critical analysis about Life Cycle Analysis calculation. As secondary result, guidelines are presented, to apply this methodology into the national production, aiming to orient a strategic sector restructuration.

A Gestão do Ciclo de Vida (LCM) pode ser entendida como uma abordagem para melhorar continuamente o desempenho em sustentabilidade da organização e de seus produtos e serviços por meio da incorporação do pensamento de ciclo de vida nas práticas de negócio. Entretanto, faltam instrumentos de gestão para auxiliar na sua operacionalização e implementação. Nesse sentido cabe destacar as possibilidades advindas da abordagem de Gestão por Processos de Negócio (BPM), que visa a reestruturação e otimização das atividades organizacionais. Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar e analisar as relações entre essa duas abordagens, verificando as possibilidades de contribuições entre elas. Para isso foi conduzida uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática para identificar as definições e práticas de BPM e LCM, que foram utilizadas para a elaboração de definições de trabalho e para a análise das relações entre as práticas e os processos de negócio. Adicionalmente, foi realizado um estudo bibliométrico para identificar relações entre as duas áreas de pesquisa, a partir do qual é possível afirmar que não há referencial teórico compartilhado entre as duas áreas. Em contrapartida, os resultados da análise de publicações indicam que as práticas de BPM estão relacionadas com os processos de negócio e com o desempenho da organização, e que muitas práticas de LCM estão sendo aplicadas nos processos de negócio, havendo assim uma relação indireta entre as abordagens. Além disso, foram identificadas oportunidades de contribuição relacionados a teoria e prática dessas abordagens: BPM possui um conjunto de práticas para a gestão e melhoria dos processos com base no planejamento estratégico, enquanto LCM possui elementos e práticas que visam a sustentabilidade do ciclo de vida de produtos. / Life cycle management (LCM) is an approach for continuously improve the sustainability performance in organizations and its products through the incorporation of life cycle thinking in business practices. However, there are few management instruments to support this approach. Aiming to meet this demand, the purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship of LCM with Business Process Management, which aims at continuous improvement of organizational activities. A systematic literature review was conduct to identify BPM and LCM definitions and practices, which were used to define BPM and LCM and to analyze the relationship between practices and business process. Additionally, a bibliometric study was conducted to identify relationships between the two areas and its results shows that there are no conceptual framework shared between two. In constrast, the results indicate that BPM practices are related to business processes and organizational performance, and that many LCM practices are being applied into business processes, thus having an indiredt relationship between approaches. In addition, opportunities related to theory and practice are indentified: BPM has a set of practices for the management and improvement of process based on strategic planning, while LCM has elements and practices aimed at sustainability of the life cycle of products.

O presente trabalho visa a desenvolver um modelo de referência específico para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos e de tecnologias de produção para o setor da produção industrial brasileira de cerâmica para revestimento. É baseado no uso das metodologias de Desenvolvimento de Produtos, Análise e Gerenciamento do Ciclo de Vida Total e de Desenvolvimento de Produtos Sustentáveis, integrando os aspectos industriais com a redução do impacto ambiental e a sustentabilidade de processos e produtos. O setor de produção de cerâmica não foi ainda abordado amplamente, em termos de pesquisa acadêmica, naquilo que concerne à metodologia de projeto de produto e do processo de fabricação. O presente trabalho pode colaborar para o preenchimento desta lacuna e trazer uma contribuição útil a um setor estratégico nacional, já que atualmente o Brasil é o segundo produtor e o segundo consumidor mundial. Do ponto de vista energético, a produção de pisos e azulejos cerâmicos é intensiva e a redução eficiente do impacto ambiental deve ter foco prioritário no próprio processo produtivo. A análise do setor tem revelado fragilidades estruturais, que devem ser corrigidas para alcançar um nível de competitividade internacional. O desenvolvimento da presente pesquisa fornece, como resultados principais, a geração de um modelo de referência para o projeto e desenvolvimento de novos produtos cerâmicos e tecnologia de produção, a partir da análise da prática atual de desenvolvimento, da teoria de processo de desenvolvimento de produto e da análise comparativa do estado da arte no Brasil e na Itália. O modelo proposto é validado com pesquisa de campo realizada em empresas do setor cerâmico no Brasil e na Itália e com análise crítica sobre o cálculo de análise do ciclo de vida. Como resultado secundário, são apresentadas diretrizes para aplicação da metodologia na produção nacional, visando a orientar uma reestruturação estratégica do setor. / The present work intends to develop a specific reference model for new products and production technologies development in the Brazilian ceramic tiles industrial sector. It is based on Product Development, Total Life cycle Analysis and Management and Sustainable Products Development methodologies, integrating the industrial aspects with the environmental impact reduction and the sustainability of processes and products. The ceramic tile production sector has not yet been widely approached, as academic research, about the product and production project methodology. This work can cooperate to fulfill this gap and perform a useful contribution to a national strategic sector, for being, nowadays, Brazil the second producer and the second consumer into the world market. Form the energy point of view, the ceramic tile production is intensive and an efficient environmental impact reduction must have the main focus in the production process. The sector analysis revealed structural fragilities that must be revised to achieve an international competition level. The present research development engender, as main result, the creation of a reference model for new ceramic product and production technology project and development, based on the analysis of the current practice for product development, on the product development process theory and on its application by a comparative analysis of the state of the art in Brazil and Italy. The proposed model is validated by field research in Brazilian and Italian ceramic industries, as well as critical analysis about Life Cycle Analysis calculation. As secondary result, guidelines are presented, to apply this methodology into the national production, aiming to orient a strategic sector restructuration.