The purpose of this paper is to present a sample of how Swedish manufacturing companies deal with equipment downtime cost, and further how they analyze its reduction. The study was performed by conducting a web-based survey within Swedish firms that have at least 200 employees. The main results obtained from the investigation show that the estimated downtime cost constitute about 23.9 % from the total manufacturing cost ratio, and 13.3 % from planned production time. Additionally, the hourly cost of downtime, whether planned or unplanned, is relatively high. However, there is a shortage of systematic models that capable to trace the individual cost imposed by downtime events. This lack was shown apparently whilst 83 % of surveyed companies they do not have any complete model adapted for quantifying their downtime costs. Moreover, only few companies develop their cost accounting methods such as, activity-based costing (ABC) and resource consumption accounting (RCA) to assimilate and reveal the real costs that associated with planned and unplanned stoppages. Still, the general pattern of downtime cost calculation allocated to direct labor and lost capacity cost. On the other hand, the attempts of decreasing downtime events and thus costs were based on schedule maintenance tactics that supported by overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) tool, as an indicator for affirming improvements. Nonetheless, the analysis indicates the need for optimized maintenance tactics by incorporating reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and total productive maintenance (TPM) into companies’ maintenance systems. The maintenance role of reducing downtime impacts not highly recognized. Furthermore, the same analysis shows the requirement for better results of performance measurement systems is by implementing total equipment effectiveness performance tool (TEEP). The advantage of such tool is to provide the impact index of planned stoppages in equipment utilization factor. Finally, the lack of fully integrated models for assessing the downtime costs and frameworks for distinguishing the difference between planned and unplanned stoppages are the main reasons behind the continuation of cost in ascending form. Due to that, the improvements will emphasize on areas with less cost saving opportunities. As a result, this will affect the production efficiency and effectiveness which in return has its influence on costs and thereby profits margin.

O trabalho apresenta o sistema de apoio à decisão - SAD, projetado especificamente para pequenas indústrias. A pesquisa concentrou-se em parte no estudo das disciplinas envolvidas no tema análise econômico-financeira de empresas, de forma a recuperar as teorias e conceitos mais pertinentes, para, numa segunda etapa, aplicá-las ao projeto e implementação de um sistema de apoio às decisões de pequenas indústrias. O sistema de apoio à decisão - SAD foi concebido em parceria com 107 empresas de São Paulo, com o objetivo de realizar, de forma acurada e rápida, várias análises de apoio à tomada de decisões, entre as quais destacam-se as seguintes: análise das relações custo - volume - lucro (CVL); análise por taxa-alvo de retorno; cálculo de preços (orçamentos); análise econômica de seleção de produtos e de terceirizações de produtos, subconjuntos e operações. Além de específicas análises de administração financeira, outras relativas ao planejamento da produção são também colocadas à disposição pelo SAD, como é o caso do planejamento de materiais e de subconjuntos - MRP-I, do planejamento de capacidade para operações e máquinas - CRP, e do diagrama De-Para para apoiar arranjo físico, entre outras. O sistema tem oferecido apoio a uma série de tomadas de decisões em pequenas indústrias do Estado de São Paulo, com efetiva melhoria dos seus resultados econômico-financeiros. / This study presents a decision support system - simplified in portuguese as SAD, specifically designed to small manufacturing companies. The research concentrated partly on the study of the disciplines involved in economic-financial analysis of companies, in way to recover the theories and more pertinent concepts, for, in a second stage, to apply them to the project of a decision support system of industries of small load. The SAD was conceived and validated in partnership with 107 small manufacturing companies of São Paulo. It uses Managerial Accounting and Microeconomic models as long as Industrial Engineering methods. The research priorizes practical relevant managerial issues. The SAD was designed to realize accurately and rapidly several analysis to support decision making. The following analysis were highlighted: profit-cost-volume, target rate of return, pricing, products\' selection mix and make-or-buy decisions. Besides specifically financial management analysis, others relative to production planning were made available by the SAD, as materials requirements planning (MRP), capacity requirements planning (CRP), and the \"Chart of weighted values\" that supports lay out. The decision support system - SAD offered decision support to several small manufacturing companies, with effective improvement in their economical, financial and operational results.

Circularity and sustainability, these are terms that are discussed in many different ways in current research due to the climate crisis. To face the challenges of the climate crisis and new consumer behaviour, the still emerging concept of Industry 4.0 is considered in different ways. When it comes to circularity, this thesis highlights and focuses on the circularity part of reverse logistics or in other words, the reverse flow of goods in a supply chain. These themes are interrelated but not seen as a whole by research so far. This thesis analyses which Industry 4.0 technologies can be used in reverse logistics, what economic, environmental and social effects they have and how they can be measured. Methodologically, we combine exploratory and explanatory research with a deductive way of reasoning, where we analyse data of 4 interviews and 2 surveys in at total 5 Swedish and German manufacturing companies out of the mining, construction equipment, electronics, fasteners and communication industry with a multi method qualitative approach. This is done with the help of literature related to Industry 4.0, reverse logistics as well as environmental, economical and social sustainability. Our results are that the most used Industry 4.0 technologies by manufacturing companies in reverse logistics are Big Data, CPS, IoT and AI. When it comes to sustainability effects and measurements, the companies mostly are focusing on economical and environmental sustainability, while social sustainability is not observed to a similar extent. Especially environmental effects are seen and measured as these figures are important and in demand at the market right now, while economical effects are more often measured with regular KPIs and social effects are not considered as much.

ivABSTRACTBusinesses must overcome a variety of difficulties as a result of the considerable changersin the global economy. Due to import limitations, excessive inflation, and ongoing foreignexchange troubles in the economy. Sri Lankan industries, particularly food markers, arecurrently experiencing extremely difficult times. For many people in the nation, the foodbusiness is crucial. A nation’s ability to succeed economically and politically depends onthe availability of cheap, nutritious food that is also in good supply. The government isaware that consumers care about the cost and safety of the food they eat. Everyone alsoseems to be becoming more concerned about the origin of their food, how it is raised orcultivated, and whether it is sufficiently nutrient-dense. The food sector is tightly regulatedto ensure everything runs smoothly due to the necessity to supply food safety and value. Inmost sectors, of the company's inventory makes up a sizeable portion of its current assets.It's beneficial for the business process to manage such inventories in order to prevent lossesbrought on by stock shortfalls and surpluses. There were several examples where companieswere collapsed due to mismanagement of their inventories. Thus, this research expected toexamine the impact of inventory management on profitability of listed food manufacturingcompanies in Sri Lanka as this sector operation is highly relied on the inventories.A quantitative research strategy was adopted for this study and financial data was obtainedfrom the published annual reports of 14 listed food manufacturing companies on theColombo Stock Exchange for a period of 5 years from 2016/2017 to 2020/2021 to conductthe analysis. In this regard descriptive, correlation and regression analysis were conductedto analyze the data by using Statistical package for the social science (SPSS) software.Inventory turnover, number of inventory days and gross margin return on inventory havebeen identified as dimensions to measure the independent variable of inventorymanagement. Company profitability has been identified as the dependent variable and itwas measured through return on equity and return on assets. Six hypotheses wereestablished and tested to ascertain how inventory management affects profitability based onthese five variables. Results of the study show that inventory turnover has a significantnegative impact on return on assets and medium negative impact on return on equity. Thestudy also reveals that the number of inventory days and gross margin return on inventoryhas no significant impact on return on assets and return on equity. The study's findings willbe crucial in advising policy makers, operational managers of food manufacturingcompanies for the efficient inventory management which lead to enhance the profitabilityof those companies.

<p>Osnovni cilj istraživanja predstavlja identifikovanje faktora<br />koji utiču na uspešnost poslovanja proizvodnih preduzeća, i to<br />korišćenjem metodologije iz oblasti analize panel podataka.<br />Kao mera uspešnosti poslovanja korišćena je profitabilnost.<br />Istraživanjem je obuhvaćena analiza uticaja nekoliko internih i<br />eksternih faktora. Utvrđen je značajan uticaj kako internih<br />(veličina preduzeća, finansijska zaduženost, efikasnost<br />korišćenja imovine i stopa opipljivosti imovine) tako i<br />eksternih (inflacija, BDP i kamatne stope) faktora na<br />uspešnost poslovanja proizvodnih preduzeća.</p> / <p>The main goal of this research is identifying factors that have an impact on<br />business success of the manufacturing companies, by using the<br />methodology of panel models analysis. Profitability is used as a measure of<br />business success. Research involves analysis of several internal and<br />external factors.<br />Significant influence of several internal (size, financial leverage, efficiency of<br />assets usage and tangibility of assets) and external factors (inflation, GDP<br />and interest rates) on business success of manufacturing companies has<br />been identified.</p>

Despite being a fairly new concept, sustainable development is gaining more attention from social actors. The demand on companies to incorporate sustainable development practices is therefore increasing. Previous research has emphasized that companies are influential drivers of sustainable development practices and many claim to work actively with the issue, yet few have implemented such practices to a sufficient extent. Many companies who claim to be working actively with sustainable development were found to be uncertain of what it implies. Moreover, manufacturing companies tend to be greatly dependent on the consumption of raw material, energy and waste disposals and are therefore often affected by changes associated with sustainable development. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify what drives manufacturing companies to commit to sustainable development practices.   In the field Management of Sustainable Development, previous research has neglected drivers of sustainable development in relation to managers’ differing interpretations of the concept, constituting a research gap. It has also been suggested by previous research to investigate sustainable development from an organizational perspective, thus this study investigates individual managers’ interpretations and what drives companies to adopt sustainable development practices. The following research question has therefore guided this study:   What drives manufacturing companies to adopt sustainable development practices and how do these drivers vary depending on managers’ interpretations of the term?   In order to investigate this phenomenon and fulfill the purpose of our study, a qualitative approach was deemed most suitable. Six manufacturing companies in Västerbotten County were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. In addition, a triangulation method was used, where official and organizational documents were collected from each participating company to complement the interview data and decrease subjectivity. The analysis of our empirical data resulted in a compiled analysis of the key findings, where we found that manufacturing companies in Västerbotten perceive sustainable development as an ambiguous term and interpret it differently but consider environmental factors as a central feature of the term. Furthermore, we can conclude that the adoption of sustainable development practices is facilitated by establishing a separate sustainable development strategy or incorporating sustainable development into the company’s general business strategy.

<p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med denna undersökning är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer skapa en ökad förståelse för, och belysa skillnader och likheter inom, ledarskap i tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag. Syftet är också att fastställa om eventuella skillnader beror på verksamhetens inriktning eller om det finns andra skäl till skillnaderna.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>I min studie har jag använt mig av det kvalitativa angreppssättet, det har jag gjort eftersom jag försöker att sätta mig in i hur olika ledare tänker och agerar i olika situationer, jag försöker även komma underfund med vilken ledarskapsstil de använder sig av. Jag har utfört sex intervjuer av semistandardiserad karaktär, intervjuerna har genomförts på plats hos respektive respondent. Utfallet av dessa intervjuer redovisas i empiriavsnittet och kopplas sedan samman med teorier i analysavsnittet. Resultatet av min undersökning redovisas slutligen i avsnittet slutsats.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Resultat & slutsats: </strong>Min slutsats är att jag inte kan hitta några betydande skillnader på ledarskapets inriktning och ledarens ledarskapsstil som beror på om ledarens företag är ett tjänsteföretag eller ett tillverkande företag. Däremot kan jag hitta flera likheter där den största är att samtliga ledare som jag intervjuat i denna uppsats har en i grunden demokratisk ledarskapsstil. Sett ur ett större perspektiv tycker jag att ledarskap och ledarskapsstil inom de två olika verksamhetstyperna tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag utgår från samma grunder.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Förslag till fortsatt forskning:</strong> Att studera den demokratiska ledarskapsstilen på djupet för att försöka hitta olika nyanser och inriktningar av demokratiskt ledarskap skulle vara intressant. Att kvantitativt studera vilken ledarskapsstil ledare inom tjänsteföretag jämfört med tillverkningsföretag har, för att statistiskt bevisa vilka ledarskapsstilar som används skulle också vara intressant. Eller att jämföra unga oerfarna ledare med äldre erfarna ledare. Ett ytterligare förslag till fortsatt forskning är att jämföra kvinnliga ledare med manliga.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Uppsatsens bidrag: </strong>Denna uppsats har bidragit med att ge en ökad förståelse för hur ledarskap och ledarskapsstilar ser ut hos olika ledare, på olika position, i olika typer av företag. Uppsatsen tydliggör också skillnader och likheter mellan ledare i tjänsteföretag och tillverkningsföretag.</p> / <p><strong>Aim:</strong> The aim of this study is that through qualitative interviews provide a greater understanding, and highlight the differences and similarities within, leadership in service and manufacturing companies. It also aims to establish whether any differences due to the focus of activity or if there are other reasons for the differences.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Method:</strong> In my study I have used the qualitative approach; I've done because I try to put me into how various leaders think and act in different situations, I am also trying to figure out what leadership style they use. I've done six interviews of semi-standard nature; the interviews have been conducted on the premises of each respondent. The outcome of these interviews are reported in the empirical section and then connected to the theories in the analysis section. The results of my study will be presented finally in the section conclusions.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions: </strong>My conclusion is that I cannot find any significant differences in leadership orientation and leader's leadership style that depends on whether the leader's business is a service or manufacturing company. However, I can find many similarities with the biggest being that all the leaders whom I interviewed in this essay have a fundamentally democratic leadership style. From a larger perspective, I think that leadership and management style within the two different types of business, Service Company and Manufacturing Company is based on the same grounds.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong>To study the democratic leadership style deeper and try to find different nuances and approaches of the democratic leadership would be interesting. To quantitatively examine the leadership style of leaders in service compared to manufacturing companies, in order to statistically prove the leadership styles used would also be interesting. Or to compare young inexperienced leader with more experienced leaders. A further proposal for continued research is to compare female to male leaders.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Contribution of the thesis: </strong>This paper has contributed to a better understanding of how leadership and leadership styles, looks at different leaders, different positions, in different types of businesses. The essay also makes clear the differences and similarities between leaders in service and manufacturing companies.</p>

This thesis puts focus on the points where organisations perceive, translate and implement a new organisational idea, and the implementation and translation of one specific efficiency method is studied. We have looked at how a group of small manufacturing companies have implemented an efficiency method (Efficient production/Lean Production) and how they have translated it to fit their own organisation. The authors were interested in finding out both about the challenges and the positive outcomes of implementing an efficiency method in a company. While getting to know more about the subject, the translator’s (the person responsible of implementing the method into the own organisation) role and importance to the implementation became more interesting. In cooperation with a Host Company (HC), a decision was made to study a group of small manufacturing companies who had all participated in one of HC’s programs, Lean School for Small Companies. To be able to make generalisations from the results, a multiple-case study was carried out. To fulfil our purpose and gain a somewhat objective understanding of the processes of implementation we decided that it was necessary to interview two people from each company, one that had attended the Lean School and one who did not, but was directly affected by the efficiency method in daily work. The empirical findings were analysed in the light of the theoretical ideas we found about implementation of efficiency methods and translation of organisational ideas. The results of the study were in many aspects consistant with the theories found on the subject. The processes of an implementation is complex and are affected by the factors commitment of leaders, problems or obstacles, the translators role and ability to manage the translation process and, furthermore, by knowledge input.

Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer skapa en ökad förståelse för, och belysa skillnader och likheter inom, ledarskap i tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag. Syftet är också att fastställa om eventuella skillnader beror på verksamhetens inriktning eller om det finns andra skäl till skillnaderna.   Metod: I min studie har jag använt mig av det kvalitativa angreppssättet, det har jag gjort eftersom jag försöker att sätta mig in i hur olika ledare tänker och agerar i olika situationer, jag försöker även komma underfund med vilken ledarskapsstil de använder sig av. Jag har utfört sex intervjuer av semistandardiserad karaktär, intervjuerna har genomförts på plats hos respektive respondent. Utfallet av dessa intervjuer redovisas i empiriavsnittet och kopplas sedan samman med teorier i analysavsnittet. Resultatet av min undersökning redovisas slutligen i avsnittet slutsats.   Resultat &amp; slutsats: Min slutsats är att jag inte kan hitta några betydande skillnader på ledarskapets inriktning och ledarens ledarskapsstil som beror på om ledarens företag är ett tjänsteföretag eller ett tillverkande företag. Däremot kan jag hitta flera likheter där den största är att samtliga ledare som jag intervjuat i denna uppsats har en i grunden demokratisk ledarskapsstil. Sett ur ett större perspektiv tycker jag att ledarskap och ledarskapsstil inom de två olika verksamhetstyperna tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag utgår från samma grunder.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Att studera den demokratiska ledarskapsstilen på djupet för att försöka hitta olika nyanser och inriktningar av demokratiskt ledarskap skulle vara intressant. Att kvantitativt studera vilken ledarskapsstil ledare inom tjänsteföretag jämfört med tillverkningsföretag har, för att statistiskt bevisa vilka ledarskapsstilar som används skulle också vara intressant. Eller att jämföra unga oerfarna ledare med äldre erfarna ledare. Ett ytterligare förslag till fortsatt forskning är att jämföra kvinnliga ledare med manliga.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats har bidragit med att ge en ökad förståelse för hur ledarskap och ledarskapsstilar ser ut hos olika ledare, på olika position, i olika typer av företag. Uppsatsen tydliggör också skillnader och likheter mellan ledare i tjänsteföretag och tillverkningsföretag. / Aim: The aim of this study is that through qualitative interviews provide a greater understanding, and highlight the differences and similarities within, leadership in service and manufacturing companies. It also aims to establish whether any differences due to the focus of activity or if there are other reasons for the differences.   Method: In my study I have used the qualitative approach; I've done because I try to put me into how various leaders think and act in different situations, I am also trying to figure out what leadership style they use. I've done six interviews of semi-standard nature; the interviews have been conducted on the premises of each respondent. The outcome of these interviews are reported in the empirical section and then connected to the theories in the analysis section. The results of my study will be presented finally in the section conclusions.   Result &amp; Conclusions: My conclusion is that I cannot find any significant differences in leadership orientation and leader's leadership style that depends on whether the leader's business is a service or manufacturing company. However, I can find many similarities with the biggest being that all the leaders whom I interviewed in this essay have a fundamentally democratic leadership style. From a larger perspective, I think that leadership and management style within the two different types of business, Service Company and Manufacturing Company is based on the same grounds.   Suggestions for future research: To study the democratic leadership style deeper and try to find different nuances and approaches of the democratic leadership would be interesting. To quantitatively examine the leadership style of leaders in service compared to manufacturing companies, in order to statistically prove the leadership styles used would also be interesting. Or to compare young inexperienced leader with more experienced leaders. A further proposal for continued research is to compare female to male leaders.   Contribution of the thesis: This paper has contributed to a better understanding of how leadership and leadership styles, looks at different leaders, different positions, in different types of businesses. The essay also makes clear the differences and similarities between leaders in service and manufacturing companies.

<p>This thesis puts focus on the points where organisations perceive, translate and implement a new organisational idea, and the implementation and translation of one specific efficiency method is studied. We have looked at how a group of small manufacturing companies have implemented an efficiency method (Efficient production/Lean Production) and how they have translated it to fit their own organisation.</p><p>The authors were interested in finding out both about the challenges and the positive outcomes of implementing an efficiency method in a company. While getting to know more about the subject, the translator’s (the person responsible of implementing the method into the own organisation) role and importance to the implementation became more interesting. In cooperation with a Host Company (HC), a decision was made to study a group of small manufacturing companies who had all participated in one of HC’s programs, Lean School for Small Companies.</p><p>To be able to make generalisations from the results, a multiple-case study was carried out. To fulfil our purpose and gain a somewhat objective understanding of the processes of implementation we decided that it was necessary to interview two people from each company, one that had attended the Lean School and one who did not, but was directly affected by the efficiency method in daily work. The empirical findings were analysed in the light of the theoretical ideas we found about implementation of efficiency methods and translation of organisational ideas.</p><p>The results of the study were in many aspects consistant with the theories found on the subject. The processes of an implementation is complex and are affected by the factors commitment of leaders, problems or obstacles, the translators role and ability to manage the translation process and, furthermore, by knowledge input.</p>