Purpose of the thesis This study aims to propose an AI maturity model in order to be able to evaluate to whatextent large-scale manufacturing companies utilize AI in their inbound logistical operationsand also to reveal the challenges related to the implementation of AI.  Methodology This study employs a qualitative research method with the use of a survey conducted on 10companies within 5 industries. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were employed attwo out of these 10 companies. Theoretical framework The theoretical framework provides a deeper theoretical understanding of inbound logisticsoperations, AI implementations and their suggested operationalization in inbound logisticsoperations at large-scale manufacturers. Further, it also provides theory of the challengesassociated with implementing AI in inbound logistics operations. Empirical data The empirical section illustrates the data that were collected through survey and interviewstudy. First, data is presented based on the respondents' various industries that are grouped.Within each grouped industry, data is structured according to the various RQ’s and proposedframeworks, meaning that data will be related to the different levels of AI implementation,maturity levels as well as challenges. Analysis and discussion In this section, the industries are analysed and discussed with the help of the theoreticalframework and collected empirical data. This was first established with an individual analysisof industries where one research question is covered at a time. After this is done, across-analysis is carried out on the involved industries in relation to the research questions. Conclusion This chapter gives a concluding discussion and presents theoretical and practicalcontributions. The main results of the three research questions are highlighted. Finally, further research opportunities and limitations are discussed.

Esta investigación analiza los determinantes de la innovación tecnológica en las empresas peruanas para el año 2017, utilizando información de la Enterprise Surveys del Banco Mundial, aplicándose un modelo Probit Bivariado para analizar la dependencia de la decisión de innovación con el proceso de inversión. En el estudio se encuentran los siguientes resultados relevantes: i) los requerimientos específicos de clientes externos explican el desarrollo de innovación tecnológica, por lo que dicho proceso depende especialmente de factores exógenos, ii) la presencia de interdependencia estadística entre las decisiones de inversión e innovación y iii) existen otros factores significativos que explican las decisiones de inversión y de innovación, tales como la pertenencia a un grupo económico, ser una empresa exportadora, el tamaño de la firma y la antigüedad de la empresa. / This research analyzes the determinants of technological innovation in Peruvian companies for the year 2017, using information from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, applying a Bivariate Probit model to analyze the dependence of the innovation decision with the investment process. The following relevant results are found in the study: i) the specific requirements of external clients explain the development of technological innovation; so that, this process depends especially on exogenous factors, ii) the presence of statistical interdependence between investment and innovation decisions and iii) there are other significant factors that explain investment and innovation decisions, such as belonging to an economic group, being an exporting company, the size of the firm and the age of the company. / Tesis

Bakgrund: Tillverkningsindustrins små företag utgör en stor andel av de totala företagen i Sverige, och branschen omsätter näst mest i landet. Tillverkningsbranschen står även för det största förädlingsvärdet. Det finns stor utvecklingspotential för dessa mindre företag när det gäller tillväxt, och ökad tillväxt skulle gynna såväl det lokala som nationella samhället. Förbättrad kunskap inom ekonomistyrning kan vara en väg till ökad tillväxt, men forskningen inom ämnet är skral när de kommer till små företag då den främst utgått empiriskt ifrån stora företag. Således saknas en helhetssyn över kunskaperna i tillverkningsindustrins små företag samt vad som förklarar dessa kunskaper.  Syfte: Att fördjupa förståelsen för ekonomistyrning bland mindre tillverkningsföretag genom att undersöka vilka ekonomistyrningskompetenser som är mer eller mindre frekventa i tillverkningsföretag med årlig omsättning mellan 5–20 miljoner kronor. Studien ämnar även undersöka vad som kan förklara de nuvarande ekonomistyrningskunskaperna.  Genomförande:  Det empiriska materialet samlades in via enkäter som undersökte företagsstruktur, självskattade kunskaper inom ekonomistyrning, framtida behov samt planerat tillvägagångssätt för att förbättra kompetenser inom ekonomistyrning. Enkäten skickades ut till över 800 respondentföretag. För att analysera empiriska data användes statistiska analysmetoder.     Slutsatser: Mindre tillverkningsföretag anser sig ha goda kunskaper inom de finansiella delarna av ekonomistyrning, relativt goda kunskaper inom de organisatoriska delarna och mindre goda kunskaper inom de kulturrelaterade delarna. Studien identifierar tre faktorer som genom underliggande strukturer förklarar företagens ekonomistyrning. Ett statistiskt signifikant samband har funnits mellan ledningsgruppens utbildningsnivå och förklaring av kunskaper inom en av de tre faktorerna. / Background: The manufacturing industry's small companies make up a large proportion of the total companies in Sweden, and the industry has the second highest turnover in the country. The manufacturing industry also stands for the greatest value added. There is room for development for these smaller businesses in terms of growth, and increased growth would benefit both local and national society. Improved management control competencies may be a path to increased growth, but research on the subject is scant when it comes to small companies, as it has primarily been empirically based on large companies. Thus, a holistic view over the knowledge structure in the manufacturing industry's small companies is lacking, as well as what explains their competencies.   Objective: Deepening the understanding of management control within smaller manufacturing companies by examining which management control competencies are more or less frequent in manufacturing companies with annual sales of between SEK 5-20 million. The study also intends to investigate what might explain their current knowledge within management control.  Design: The data was collected via surveys that examined company structure, self-assessed knowledge in management control and future competence need regarding management control. The survey was sent to more than 800 respondent companies.   Conclusion: Smaller manufacturing companies consider themselves to have good knowledge in the financial and organizational parts of management control and less knowledge in the culture-related management control. The study identifies three factors that explain the financial management of companies through underlying structures. A statistically significant relationship has been found between the management group's level of education and the explanation of knowledge within one of the three factors.

Produktorienterade industriföretag strävar alltid efter att producera och leverera produkter som möter kundens behov och preferenser. Produktutveckling är därför en viktig del i företag för att kunna vara konkurrenskraftig i en alltmer konkurrensutsatt miljö på marknaderna. Stora delar av den befintliga litteraturen inom produktutveckling förklarar att produktutvecklingsprocessen behöver involvera externa aktörer för att möta kundbehov. Denna uppsats avser därför att behandla ett produktorienterat industriföretags process för utveckling av nya produkter och möjligheten till att involvera externa aktörer.  Syftet eftersträvar därför att beskriva hur produktorienterade industriföretag kan involvera kunder, återförsäljare och leverantörer i deras produktutvecklingsprocess, för att gynna utvecklingen av nya produkter.   Studien har genomförts via en deduktiv ansats av kvalitativ karaktär utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. En litteraturinsamling inom Co-Creation och Usability Testing är till grund för uppsatsens teoretiska innehåll och insamling av empiriskt material. Forskningsdesignen är en fallstudie tillsammans med ett utvalt företag. Det empiriska materialet hämtades in genom intervjuer med tre respondenter från det valda fallföretaget. Valet av intervjupersonerna gjordes utifrån deras olika roller i verksamheten och dess betydelse för att inkludera externa aktörers involvering i produktutvecklingen.  Resultatet av studien visar att det produktorienterade industriföretaget har goda möjligheter att involvera externa aktörer i processen för utveckling av nya produkter. Utifrån det studerade fallföretaget arbetar de redan framgångsrikt med kundinteraktion och insamling av feedback från återförsäljare och leverantörer. Däremot bör fallföretaget utveckla produktutvecklingsprocessen genom att använda informationen från de externa aktörerna för att bättre möta kundbehov och bygga kundrelationer.  I slutsatsen tydliggörs också hur kundinvolverade tester kan ge företaget ytterligare information och kunskap som kan vara nyttig att använda i processen. Utifrån slutsatsen kan fallföretaget genomföra förändringar och ges möjligheten att bättre möta kundernas behov, vilket kan generera nyttiga konkurrensfördelar.

Целью исследования является оценка влияния демографических и профессиональных характеристик руководителей промышленных предприятий на их цифровизацию для выработки рекомендаций по повышению успешности реализации цифровой трансформации российских компаний. Объект исследования. В качестве объекта исследования послужили российские предприятия обрабатывающей промышленности. Предмет исследования. Предметом исследования является механизм взаимосвязи персональных характеристик руководителя и цифровизации промышленных предприятий. Методология исследования. Теоретической и методологической основой исследования послужили теория высших эшелонов, и агентская теория. Для эмпирического анализа был построен порядковый логит. Информационная база исследования была составлена автором на основании данных опроса RUFIGE и базы данных Bureau van Dijk RUSLANA. Научная новизна. Научная новизна исследования заключается в том, что было произведено развитие теории «высших эшелонов», но в отличие от авторов, которые изучают отдельные личные характеристики руководителей, в данном исследовании характеристики были рассмотрены в совокупности (демографические и профессиональные).Данное исследование является одним из немногих в России, так как анализирует предприятия обрабатывающей промышленности с использованием эконометрической модели, которое одновременно рассматривает множество персональных характеристик генерального директора и их влияние на цифровизацию предприятий. Практическая значимость исследования. Практическая значимость исследования состоит в том, что его результаты и представленные рекомендации могут быть способствовать совершенствованию процессов внедрения цифровых технологий в производственные процессы. Также результаты исследования могут быть использованы собственниками компаний и советами директоров для подбора кандидатов на должность генерального директора. / The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of demographic and professional characteristics of managers of industrial enterprises on their digitalization in order to develop recommendations to improve the success of the digital transformation of Russian companies. Object of the study. The object of the study is the Russian enterprises of the manufacturing industry. Subject of the study. The subject of the research is the mechanism of interaction between the personal characteristics of the manager and the digitalization of industrial enterprises. Research Methodology. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the theory of higher echelons, and agency theory. An ordinal logit was constructed for the empirical analysis. The information base of the study was compiled by the author on the basis of the RUFIGE survey and the Bureau van Dijk RUSLANA database. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the theory of "upper echelons" was developed, but in contrast to the authors, who study individual personal characteristics of managers, in this study the characteristics were considered in the aggregate (demographic and professional).This study is one of the few in Russia, as it analyzes manufacturing enterprises using econometric model, which simultaneously considers many personal characteristics of general manager The practical significance of the study is that its results and the presented recommendations can help to improve the processes of implementing digital technologies in production processes. Also the results of the study can be used by company owners and boards of directors to select candidates for the CEO position.

Smartphones and other mobile devices are a common sight in our daily lives. The improvement in technology has given us small and portable devices that have the performance only found in desktop computers and more high-end devices less than a decade ago. An industry that has been quick to adopt technologies in the past is the manufacturing industry, examples of these adoptions are the conveyor belt and robots, which both are innovations of their time. Aside from hardware technologies, there are software technologies that the manufacturing industry has been using, e.g. complex information systems to manage materials and resources in the production. With the developments in mobile technology, a question arises whether the information systems can be combined with it in the manufacturing companies. One of the technologies that has become popular in the past years is the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. These kinds of devices can improve communication and flexibility. This leads us to the purpose of identifying how the use of ERP-connected mobile and mobility-supporting devices can affect processes among shop floor and production management personnel in large manufacturing companies. Using a qualitative approach, case studies of eleven companies were conducted using semi-structured interviews and direct observations. Personnel with different roles were interviewed to identify applications and devices that would reduce execution time, improve quality, or improve the flexibility of processes and tasks. These eleven companies were analysed with a model that focus on the dimensions complexity, specificity, and dynamism of a company's production structure, as well as a model that focus on the same dimensions in the roles of production personnel. The result was six applications and corresponding devices that could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a process in a significant way. The analysis showed that the management in companies had similar needs in mobile or mobility-supporting devices. Similarly, the assemblers and machine operators also had similar needs. No connection was found between the production strategy and the need for mobile or mobility-supporting devices.

Variations can have substantially negative effects on performance and it is therefore important to investigate how the variations can be reduced or absorbed in an appropriate way for competitiveness. Manufacturing companies are daily exposed to variations and operations managers need to take capacity management decisions with this in mind to secure the delivery capability. The current body of knowledge mainly focus on techniques for root cause analysis for reducing variations, especially in the manufacturing processes, neglecting the fact that both internally and externally generated variations are more or less possible to affect. Buffers are traditionally associated with waste and unfavourable performance, while the right buffers can be of strategic importance. The purpose of this research is therefore to increase the understanding of causes for variations, actions to reduce variations and how buffers can be used to mitigate negative effects of variations related to capacity management in a manufacturing context. Three research studies have been conducted, including four appended papers, to fulfil the purpose. These studies encompassed different combinations of traditional literature reviews, conceptual research with logical reasoning and case study research. The findings demonstrate that working on mitigating negative effects of variations is a complex challenge and not just about choosing to reduce or absorb the variations. In general, it is concluded that the variation management and buffer management include several aspects to consider with implications for the capacity management. In addition, the results indicate that the decisions in manufacturing companies tend to be based on intuition and previous experience due to a lack of decision support. Furthermore, the participating companies perceive that several of their internal routines contribute to their prevailing variations. This research contributes to an awareness of causes for variations that are possible to affect, possible actions to reduce the variations and the purposes of different buffers to absorb variations. This is sought to facilitate a systematic way of working with reducing and absorbing variations, creating support in the variation management and the buffer management from a capacity management perspective. / Variationer kan medföra negativa effekter för en verksamhets prestation och det är därmed viktigt att utforska hur variationerna kan reduceras eller absorberas på lämpligt sätt för att verksamheten ska vara konkurrenskraftig. Tillverkande företag är dagligen exponerade för variationer och produktionschefer behöver beakta detta i kapacitetsadministrationen för att säkerställa leveransförmågan. Befintlig litteratur fokuserar främst på tekniker för att analysera grundorsaker inom tillverkningsprocesserna och ignorerar det faktum att både internt och externt genererade variationer är mer eller mindre påverkbara. Buffertar associeras traditionellt med oönskat slöseri fastän rätt buffertar kan vara av strategisk betydelse. Syftet med denna forskning är därmed att öka förståelsen för orsaker till variationer, åtgärder för att reducera variationer och hur buffertar kan tillämpas för att överkomma negativa effekter av variationer i relation till kapacitetsadministration inom en tillverkningskontext. Tre forskningsstudier, innefattande fyra publikationer, har genomförts för att uppfylla syftet. Dessa studier består av en kombination av traditionella litteraturstudier, konceptuell forskning med logiska resonemang och fallstudier i tillverkande företag. Resultaten visar att arbetet med att hantera negativa effekter av variationer är en komplex utmaning som stäcker sig bortom valet av att reducera eller absorbera variationerna. Generellt dras slutsatsen att det är flertalet aspekter att beakta för variationsadministration och buffertadministration med implikationer för kapacitetsadministrationen. Det visade sig att besluten tenderar att vara baserat på intuition och erfarenheter i tillverkande företag, mycket till följd av en avsaknad av beslutsstöd. Vidare framgår det att de medverkande företagen upplever att flera av deras interna rutiner bidrar till upphovet av variationer. Denna forskning bidrar till en ökad medvetenhet om orsaker till variationer som är påverkbara inom företag, möjliga åtgärder för att reducera variationerna och syftet med olika buffertar för att absorbera variationer. Detta är avsett att underlätta ett systematiskt arbetssätt för att reducera och absorbera variationer, samt utgöra ett stöd för variationsadministration och buffertadministration från ett kapacitetsadministrationsperspektiv. / KOPability

Manufacturing companies are increasingly serving customers through valuebased offers by adding and integrating more services in their businesses. Although, manufacturers mainly still use cost-based pricing, many are reconsidering their pricing strategies to capture a fair share of the value they create through value-based offers. Therefore, adopting to value-based pricing (VBP) becomes a necessity when competing value-driven. This study explores the barriers to VBP among servitising industrial manufacturers. Related concepts to VBP, such as value-based selling (VBS) and service-dominant logic (SDL) are also discussed in this thesis. The study implemented a qualitative multiple-case study. The case companies provided insights to their VBP journey and the barriers they face, where contextual factors are an important aspect to consider. In the findings, the discovered barriers are divided into internal and external barriers. It is evident that companies should work with SDL and VBS as means for overcoming barriers as they affect the outcome of VBP. Hence, this thesis contributes to the emerging research on VBP, and provides guidance to companies that are on their VBP journey.

Swedish companies have invested a lot of time, effort and resources into becoming moreenvironmentally friendly. The primary focus of this on-going process has been to implementenvironmental management systems and to develop more environmentally friendlytechnologies. Measuring the effects of these actions has proven more difficult. Theintroduction of environmental indicators is emerging as a simple, yet effective way forcompanies to measure their environmental performance, increase the control of theirenvironmental activities and help the decision making process when developing new productsand processes. The aim of the project is to study to what extent eight Swedish companies in three differentbranches of industry use environmental indicators, if there are any similarities and differenceswithin and between branches and if any conclusions can be drawn. The companies chosen arethree companies within the pulp- and paper producing industry, three companies within theiron- and steel producing industry and two companies within the car manufacturing industry.The primary method of analysis is to study the environmental report from one factory of eachcompany, the environmental section of the financial report and/or the environmental report ofthe entire company or business group and environmental information on each company’s website. No interviews were conducted with any of the companies, since it was deemed that therewas not enough time if they were to be meaningful. Before the evaluation, the concept of environmental indicators needs further examination. Theindicators are comparative, comparing an environmental quantity to a financial one. Examplesof common indicators are energy use per quantity of produced product or emissions of CO2-equivalents per tonne of produced product. Since the denominator is the same, companieswith significantly different sizes of production can easily be compared to each other. Today itis hard if even possible to compare companies within the same branch to each other and evenharder to compare ones in different branches to each other or to branch indexes. The lack ofcommon guidelines for measuring, processing and presenting the results of environmentalperformance data is the biggest problem when using environmental indicators today. The environmental indicators can be used in a number of different roles. Today they are usedto measure and compare the environmental performance of a company as well as tools forcommunication to various stakeholders. If the companies continue to develop the indicators,they can be used pro-actively in the decision making process as well as to highlight problemareas and to track the progress towards goals set by the company. Some of the companies inthis report are already using indicators in one or more of the advanced roles. All the companies were evaluated in two different ways, qualitatively and quantitatively atthree levels of reporting. The three levels were the environmental report from a single factory,the environmental report for the entire company/business group and the environmentalinformation on the Internet from each company. The qualitative evaluation analysed how the companies used environmental indicators, if thecompanies used them explicitly, if they used them to track goals and if there were differencesbetween the different levels of reporting. The analysis showed that only a few companies usedenvironmental indicators at the single factory level, but that all companies used them in thebusiness group reports and on the Internet. There was also a much higher degree of coherencybetween the companies financial reporting than there was in their environmental one. Thequalitative evaluation also showed that the pulp- and paper companies used the mostenvironmental indicators, the iron- and steel companies used them most effectively and thatthe car companies used them to their fullest extent. The quantitative evaluation analysed each company by itself to examine how each individualcompany used the environmental indicators. The differences between the use of indicators atthe different levels of reporting also became more evident. The pulp- and paper companieswere the most consistent while the iron- and steel companies had the biggest differences withthe car companies somewhere in between. The analysis also showed that companies that werepart of bigger business groups had bigger differences, especially if they were not part of themother company. There are two major conclusions that can be drawn from the report. The first one is thatcompanies use environmental indicators to measure and present their environmentalperformance because they see them as effective tools. The second one is that commonguidelines are necessary to develop the indicators further. The first conclusion can be drawn from the fact that all the companies use environmentalindicators as a tool for reporting their environmental performance in their primary channels ofinformation, the business group reports and on the Internet The second conclusion can be drawn from the fact that even though the companies werechosen because they produced different products, they turned out to have very similar types ofemissions but very different environmental indicators. Since all the companies are verysincere in their efforts to limit their impact, on the environment and the fact that they have allchosen environmental indicators to measure their impact the need for coherency is great forfurther development. It is doubtful that the companies themselves can develop the indicatorson their own which means that the authorities and possibly the branch organisations have towork together to develop common guidelines. The biggest challenges are to decide on thecommon rules of reporting and to put financial values on the environment. If these problemscan be resolved, environmental indicators can be used to their fullest potential in the future. / www.ima,kth.se

Sammanfattning Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att skapa ett ramverk för att underlätta valet av automatisk identifieringsteknik för tillverkningsföretag med tillhörande lagerhanteringsprocesser. Syftet är också att identifiera brister i Emballator Lagan Plasts nutida spårbarhetslösning, tillämpa ramverket för att välja en lämplig automatisk identifieringsteknik och utforma en bättre framtida spårbarhetslösning.  Metod: Denna studie är baserad i kvalitativ forskningsmetod och inkluderar en systematisk litteraturstudie, en intervjustudie och en fallstudie. Data till första forskningsfrågan insamlades genom en systematisk litteraturstudie och en intervjustudie med expert inom automatiska identifieringstekniker. Data till forskningsfråga två insamlades genom intervjuer med anställda hos Emballator Lagan Plast tillsammans med vetenskapliga artiklar.  Resultat: Genom att analysera data från den systematiska litteraturstudien gentemot data från intervjustudien sammanställdes ramverket för val av automatisk identifieringsteknik. Baserat på intervjuer med anställda identifierades brister i den nuvarande spårbarhetslösningen hos Emballator Lagan Plast. Ramverket tillämpades sedan för att välja automatisk identiferingsteknik som en del av den framtida spårbarhetslösningen. Den framtida spårbarhetslösningen baseras på 2D-streckkoder, förändringar i lagerhanteringsprocesserna samt mer utnyttjande av det tillgängliga lagerhanteringsystemet. / Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to create a framework for manufacturing companies to facilitate the choice of auto-id technology. The purpose is also to identify faults in the current traceability solution at Emballator Lagan Plast, apply the framework to choose an auto-id technology and to suggest the future traceability solution.  Method: This thesis is based on qualitative method and includes a systematic literature review, an interview study and a case study. For research question one data was gathered through a systematic literature review and through an interview with an expert in the field of auto-id technologies. For research question two data was gathered through interviews with employees at Emballator Lagan Plast together with scientific articles.  Results: By analysing data from the systematic literature review and the interview the framework for choosing an auto-id technology was established. Based on interviews with employees’ faults in the current traceability solution at Emballator Lagan Plast was identified. The framework was applied to choose an auto-id technology as a part of the future traceability solution. The future traceability solution consists of 2D-barcodes, changes in warehouse processes and increased utilization of the warehouse management system.