Since the emergence and the subsequent evolution of lean manufacturing concepts, numerous enterprises of different scale and specialties have adopted lean tools and techniques in their facilities with varying success. In general, lean manufacturing related studies have been conducted on large manufacturing firms, such as the automotive industry. Yet, lean manufacturing tools and techniques are also suited for small enterprises. Thus, the main concern of this study is to investigate the success of set-up time reduction efforts (one of the steps needed to achieve 'one-piece flow') in secondary wood products manufacturing facilities on four woodworking machines (moulder, shaper, table saw, and band saw) based on firm size. The first objective of this research is to explore the results of the implementation of set-up time reduction efforts on selected woodworking machines in enterprises of varying size. It is assumed that company size is a major factor influencing the rate of set-up time improvements. To that end, the first hypothesis, which states that 'Small firms are less successful in reducing set-up time through set-up time reduction efforts than are large firms,' has been developed and supportive questions have been corresponding created. While statistical testing of the hypotheses created for this is not possible due to the limited number of participants, speculations about the possible outcome can be made. Thus, for hypothesis one, the data obtained does not show any sign of a relationship between a firm size and the success rate of set-up time reduction efforts. The second objective of this study is to investigate how a firm's productivity is affected by set-up time reduction efforts as related to firm size. With regards to some of the weaknesses of typical small manufacturing firms (e.g. having limited budget and resources, intuitive management strategies including lack of strategic planning), large firms, by and large, are expected to be more successful in increasing productivity through set-up time reduction. To that end, the goal is to investigate results of the set-up time reduction efforts in terms of productivity improvement in manufacturing facilities. With this in mind, the second hypothesis was proposed, which reads 'Small firms achieve lower productivity gains through set-up time reduction than do large firms.' For the second hypothesis, while no conclusive proof can be offered, no sign of a relationship between firm size and productivity gain through set-up time reduction could be found. Another objective of this study is to explore the success rate of set-up time activities on the four types of woodworking machines in industry facilities considering the training activities provided by manufacturers. The aim is to compare set-up time improvement performance of manufacturers between enterprises which trained their workers/operators and enterprises which did not train their employees. To understand the relationship between the scale of firms (and/or facilities) and training activities to improve set-ups, the third hypothesis, which reads 'Small firms are less concerned with set-up time reduction through training than are large firms,' has been developed. For the third hypothesis, while testing is not possible, it appears that there is no relationship between firm size and the level of concern for set-up time reduction through training activities. The final objective of this research is to investigate whether the secondary wood manufacturing firms studied experienced a bottleneck in their production due to the long set-up actions of machines. In order to accomplish this objective, the final hypothesis, 'In both, large and small firms, bottlenecks occur at machines with high set-up times,' has been developed. The final hypothesis cannot be accepted or rejected due to the limited number of responses obtained, set-up time was a frequently indicated explanation for the occurrence of production bottlenecks in secondary wood products manufacturing firms. / Master of Science

Implementing Take-Back Systems comes with many challenges and opportunities for companies. This study investigates the possibility of implementing a Take-Back System at Gardena to fulfill their circularity goals. For this purpose, a literature review was conducted to gain insight into the topic and its relevance for the research. Furthermore, a qualitative study was conducted to gain insight into Gardena and its relevant stakeholders and how a potential Take-Back System would affect its organization. The literature and qualitative study laid the ground for the development of a concept consisting of a Pilot Project taking place in Germany. The contribution of this thesis is to investigate uncertainties when implementing a Take-Back System within the Gardena organization during the Pilot Project. / Att implementera Take-Back System medför många utmaningar och möjligheter för företag. Denna studie undersöker möjligheten att implementera ett Take-Back System på Gardena för att uppnå deras cirkularitetsmål. För detta ändamål genomfördes en litteraturstudie för att få insikt i ämnet och dess relevans för arbetet. Vidare genomfördes en kvalitativ studie för att få insikt i Gardena och dess relevanta parter och hur ett potentiellt Take-Back System skulle påverka dess organisation. Litteraturstudien och den kvalitativa studien lade grunden för utvecklingen av ett koncept bestående av ett Pilotprojekt som äger rum i Tyskland. Bidraget från denna avhandling är att undersöka osäkerheter vid implementering av ett återtagningssystem inom Gardenaorganisationen under Pilotprojektet.

Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) technology has emerged as a transformative force in the manufacturing industry. Using robots and advanced material deposition systems, LSAM facilitates the efficient creation of large-scale components with exceptional precision and reduced production times. Beyond its capacity to manufacture complex structures, this technology drives innovation by fostering the exploration of new materials and designs, opening new frontiers in the aerospace, automotive, and construction sectors. The synergy between robotics and additive manufacturing in LSAM represents a significant advancement toward the future of manufacturing, where customization, efficiency, and sustainability are paramount.  Within the framework of this research, conducted in collaboration with ABB and RISE, a series of tests have been developed to optimize printing parameters when transitioning from one material to another. This study showcases how simple adjustments in the workflow of robotic stations can lead to significant improvements in print quality and increased resource efficiency, paving the way for more precise and sustainable manufacturing.  This research has not only generated valuable insights into the behavior of LSAM under different operating conditions but also provided practical solutions for its continuous improvement. These findings are relevant for the continuous improvement of large-scale additive manufacturing processes and provide important insights for future research in the fields of robotics and advanced manufacturing. Additionally, a systematic methodology has been developed to evaluate and validate results, ensuring the reliability and reproducibility of findings. These achievements solidify the role of LSAM as a fundamental technology in the evolution of the manufacturing industry toward a more efficient and sustainable future.

由於全球化營運的趨勢，許多企業皆邁向跨國的經營模式，組織的層級與規模隨業務需要逐漸擴大，導致對於整合與控制企業資源、企業流程和資訊系統的需求日益增強。不但必須了解國內外企業的所有資源與營運狀況，還需將所有資源加以整合，並整合上下游成為一個完整的供應鏈模式，以能即時提供對企業有利的資訊供決策之用。而企業經營面對的競爭也是全球性的，更快速地反應市場及客戶需求，或是更流暢地與上、下游廠商溝通，都是企業必備的條件，但這樣的理想便需要透過作好組織內部的企業資源規劃（Enterprise Resource Planning，ERP）來達成；亦即良好的企業資源規劃為供應鏈有效運作之基礎。 因此國內企業也逐漸體認企業資源規劃系統的重要性，尤其面對全球化競爭、組織扁平化、產業知識快速擴散與新科技對企業的衝擊，國內各企業無不全力投入提升企業競爭力的行列，對於企業資源規劃系統的需求也就日益增加。但目前國內尚無適合台灣企業本土化的導入方法，可作為企業資源規劃系統導入實施的步驟依據，故而提出一套能適合國內企業導入企業資源規劃系統的方法實為當務之急。 有鑑於此，本研究透過文獻探討蒐集彙整的方式，以瞭解成功導入企業資源規劃系統之方法；接著，利用模式推導方式，提出一適合國內企業導入企業資源規劃系統的參考模式及建議；再者，本研究將以半導體產業之IC製造業為例，對事先選定的個案公司透過深入訪談、實際觀察、文件及檔案資料收集等方式，輔以非結構化問卷進行個案研究；最後，藉由個案研究所得之結論，針對之前所提之參考模式加以修正，以供國內半導體產業之IC製造業的借鏡，並作為未來導入企業資源規劃系統之參考。 / For the trend towards global operations, the business models of many enterprises become in international style, and the organizational hierarchies and sizes of these enterprises are also becoming expanded. Therefore it extraordinarily needs to integrate and to control the business resources, processes and information systems of an enterprise to overcome these changes. To reach this goal, an enterprise must draw up the right enterprise resource planning (ERP). And also, a right enterprise resource plan is the basis to integrate its upstream and downstream as to be an efficient and effective supply chain. To face the worldwide competition and new information technologies striking, many enterprises in Taiwan are growing to realize the importance of implementing ERP systems to enhance their competition capabilities. Although the demand of implementing ERP systems is becoming great, it lacks a model of implementing ERP systems for the enterprises in Taiwan. Therefore, to provide a suitable model for the Taiwan’s enterprises is a task of the urgency at present. In this research, firstly we survey the existing models for the implementation of information technology applications and ERP systems. Secondly, we study the operating characteristics of the enterprises in Taiwan, and propose a preliminary model of implementing ERP systems for the enterprises in Taiwan. Finally we analyze the properties of IC manufacturing industry and visit an IC manufacturing enterprise as to be our real study case to get its implementation experience, and use this information to revise our preliminary model. The model proposed in this thesis could be used as a reference model for the IC manufacturing enterprises to implement their ERP systems.

本研究以兩構面「技術知識的特質」和「知識創新管理」探討台灣母公司與大陸子公司間之新產品專案進行方式。以技術知識的特質分類中之技術知識的複雜度、技術知識的可分割程度、技術知識的外顯程度、技術知識的標準化程度和技術知識的路徑相依度，研究台灣母公司和大陸子公司合作進行專案，其中著重在專案內知識管理流程和技術特質間的相關性探討，在兩岸合作的專案中主要以台商直接投資大陸的廠商為個案內容，也就是進行於台灣母公司和大陸子公司間的專案。 　　而所探討的產業為資訊硬體產業，在產業中個案的選擇考量以廠商產品種類集中、專案產品與企業業務內容一致、投資大陸時間長和廠商在產業內為領先廠商為主，選擇廠商業務內容有資訊儲存設備、資訊產品精密零組件、電腦輸入裝置、電腦鍵盤、LCD背光板和數據機等六個個案，為個案分析的主體。 　　研究所得的結論為「技術知識複雜度會影響專案團隊的異質性」、「技術知識可分割程度影響兩岸之間合作模式」、「技術知識可分割程度會影響專案溝通進行方式」、「技術知識外顯程度會影響專案知識在兩岸間的交付模式」、「技術知識外顯程度會影響專案負責人所具備的知識背景」、「技術知識標準化程度會影響知識的主要來源」、「技術知識路徑相依度與大陸子公司技術能耐有關」、「資訊硬體產業內中小企業投資大陸主要受兩股力量的影響，其中一股拉力來自人工成本的考量，另一股推力來自企業客戶的壓力」等。 　　並依研究結論提出具體建議，對產業界提出針對投資的外部環境和廠商內部組織運作上兩方面，在投資外部環境上有「掌握大陸經營環境的變化」、「善用大陸的資源」、「重視產業互動和加強廠商互助」等，在廠商內部組織運作上有「廣泛的吸收資源網路中的知識並引進不同背景的員工」、「建構資訊管理系統有效儲存知識」、「利用知識技術的可分割性，建立企業的競爭優勢」、「有效運用組織內部成員意見，促進產品知識創新」等具體建議。 / This study discussed how the characteristics of technological knowledge influence the knowledge management, including input, adsorption and integration, storage, and circulation via NPD project in Taiwan and Mainland China. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to discuss the following topics: 　　1. How does the knowledge transfer via NPD project from Taiwanese company to China subsidiary company? 　　2. What characteristics of technological knowledge do the NPD projects have in Taiwanese company and China subsidiary company? 　　3. What is the relationship between the characteristics of technological knowledge and NPD project knowledge management? 　　According to the analyses of six cases in computer manufacturing industry, the study has generated the following conclusions: 　　1. The complexity of technological knowledge characteristics can affect the composition of team members. 　　2. The segmentation of technological knowledge characteristics can affect the model of cooperation in the project in Taiwanese company and China subsidiary company. 　　3. The segmentation of technological knowledge characteristics can affect the communication style in the project. 　　4. The explicitness of technological knowledge can affect the model of project transfer. 　　5. The explicitness of technological knowledge can affect the background of project leader. 　　6. The standardization of technological knowledge can affect the input of knowledge. 　　7. The relative technology ability in China subsidiary company can affect the path dependency of technological knowledge. 　　8. Two driving forces influence the investment in computer manufacturing industry in Mainland China, one is customer's suggestion, the other is labor costs.

This thesis consists of five individual essays and an introductory chapter. The essays are all in the field of industrial dynamics and more specifically focus on firm entry and exit in Swedish industrial sectors. The essays mainly contribute to the empirical literature on entry and exit. In four of the five essays, panel data methods are used in the empirical investigation. The first essay presents the patterns of entry and exit in industrial sectors in Sweden and studies the importance of different determinants of entry and exit rates in industries. The second essay focuses on the relationship between entry and exit. The third essay has a regional perspective, focusing on regional determinants of entry and exit. It also investigates the importance of the differences in industry structure for differences in entry and exit rates across regions. The fourth chapter uses the theory of product life cycle to investigate how knowledge intensity differs in entering and exiting firms in different stages of the product life cycle. The fifth and last essay focuses on the importance of firm demography, in terms of firm size and age, for the decision to perform process R&D, product R&D or combine process with product R&D.

The main concern of this licentiate thesis is to discuss how built space is used for communication in the manufacturing industry, from a visual communication perspective. The thesis presents and develops the notion of 'communication space' and presents a model to describe the relation between different factors in the communication space. In a multiple case study, six different cases from the manufacturing industry are described and analyzed to highlight how built space is used for communication in a lean production context. Research results on how built spaces such as improvement places, meeting places and a development workshop affect improvement processes and communication are presented. What the studied improvement areas, meeting places and workshop can be said to communicate about the improvement processes is analyzed. The research results show that the built spaces in manufacturing industry are used for communication on two levels, both as places for interaction between employees and as a part of a communication process. The study also shows a relation between architecture from a specific time and the relation to the improvement work in the industrial context. How the results can be used to facilitate communication in the built spaces used for improvement processes in manufacturing industry is suggested in the thesis. / DeViP and Kaikaku

隨著經貿全球化與自由化，各項商業活動漸無國界概念，跨國企業遊走各國，善用全球生產要素，但資源有限，企業永續經營與成長，不能只靠有限的土地、勞動力與資本等傳統生產要素，創新研發與知識累積能力成為比傳統生產要素更重要的關鍵，研發國際化更是全球經貿發展不可逆的趨勢。 本研究以2007年臺灣1,770家製造業廠商為對象，運用Probit及Tobit二種模型，分別探討在不同技術來源下，海外投資廠商決定投入海外研發以及投入資源多寡的決定因素。研究結果發現，「廠商規模」、「行業別」、「進入模式」、「國際化深度」、「投資地區」、「市場考量」以及「母國提供技術」為臺灣對外投資廠商決定投入海外研發與否之重要影響因素。一旦決定投入海外研發後，研發資源投入多寡的決定因素則有所變化，廠商規模大小與投資行業、獨資或合夥、市場夠不夠大等重要性降低成不顯著，相對的盈利與否影響性提升，但卻是負向影響關係。同時，本研究參考社會心理學領域的「調節變數」概念，探討「技術來源」是否具有調節效果，實證結果也證實不同的技術來源，確實會影響解釋變數與被解釋變數（海外研發配置）之間的因果關係，具備調節效果，這也表示技術來源對於海外研發配置確實扮演重要的關鍵角色。 / Along with globalization and liberalization, the trade goes around the world borderlessly. In order to take advantage of relatively cheap land and labor, multinational corporations extend business worldwide. However, due to the limitation of natural endowments and human resource, Innovation becomes the key factor, which plays a more-important-than-ever role for business sustainable development. This paper examines the determinants of overseas R&D of Taiwanese multinationals; including whether to invest in R&D and how to allocate. Our empirical results indicate that the firm size, IT industry, entry mode, internationalization level, investment location, market motivations and technology acquisition are the determinants of overseas R&D investment. Furthermore, whether above determinants remain significant when Dependent Variable turns to be overseas R&D allocation? The empirical results suggest that firm size, industry category, entry mode and market motivations are no more significant. Instead, profitability becomes significant with negative affect. Besides, we also found the strong effect of technology acquisition on overseas R&D investment and allocation. Different technology source acquired does play a moderating role in the relationship between independent variables and overseas R&D.

Cette thèse se concentre sur le lien entre la politique sur le changement climatique, le commerce international et la compétitivité pour les industries exposées au commerce à forte intensité énergétique (EITE). En particulier, elle explore la question: la politique climatique peut-elle être conçue de telle sorte que les décideurs politiques puissent dissiper l'inquiétude que toute tentative sérieuse de décarbonation des secteurs EITE conduise à des résultats pervers de délocalisation de la production et des émissions EITE (les « fuites de carbone »)? La thèse aborde cette question en s'appuyant notamment sur les dix années d'expérience de l'UE en matière de tarification du carbone en tant qu'instrument dominant de décarbonation des secteurs EITEs. Ceci est fait en deux étapes. Premièrement, en évaluant empiriquement les solutions politiques existantes de l'UE et en se demandant si les politiques répondent finalement aux critères fondamentaux d'efficacité environnementale, d'efficacité économique et de cohérence des politiques par rapport aux objectifs à long terme de l'atténuation climatique de l'UE. Un certain nombre de lacunes et d'incohérences importantes dans les politiques sont identifiées de cette manière, elles-mêmes intéressantes et pertinentes par rapport aux paramètres politiques actuels. Deuxièmement, cette thèse prend du recul et remet en cause l'idée que le cadre politique global de l'UE- en particulier le rôle dominant du marché du carbone EU ETS - est suffisant pour décarboner ces secteurs à plus long terme. / This thesis focuses on the nexus between climate change policy, international trade and competitiveness for energy-intensive trade-exposed industries (EITEs). In particular, it explores the question: Can climate policy be designed such that policy makers can do away with the concern that any serious attempt to decarbonise EITE sectors will lead to perverse results of offshoring of EITE production and emissions – a phenomenon known as “carbon leakage”? The thesis approaches this question by drawingin particular on the 10 years of experience of the EU with carbon pricing as the dominant tool for decarbonising EITE sectors. This is done in two steps. Firstly, by empirically evaluating existing EU policy solutions and asking whether the policies ultimately meet basic criteria for environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency, and policy coherence with respect to the long-term goals of EU climate mitigation. A number of important policy gaps and incoherencies are identified in this way that are of themselves interesting and of relevant to current policy settings. Secondly, this thesis takes a step back and questions and ultimately challenges the idea that the overarching policy framework of the EU– in particular the dominant role of the EU ETS carbon market – is sufficient for decarbonising these sectors in the longer term.

This thesis if focused on the application of methods of robust econometrics to real economic data. We focuse on the issuies of international trade in Czech Republic and the problem of employment and growth of small businesses in Europe. We also focues on estimation of panel data by classical approaches (least squares, fixed effects, GMM) and bzy robust techniques. The first part of dissertation focuses on analyzing determinants of FDI in Czech manufacturing industry. The aim is to estimate a model where the stock of FDI is expressed as a function of several economic factors (K/L, profit per worker, R&D, Balassa index and others). We estimate these models by OLS, fixed effects and GMM. With regard to ambiguous results we used least trimmed squares as a diagnostic tool for detection of outliers. Elimination of two polluting industries out of the data set brings certain improvement in significance of some factors. The second part of dissertation we focus on an estimation of models of employment and net production in 28 European countries for small businesses as a function of economic and institutional variables by special technique of estimation. We describe robust version of within group fixed effects estimation. The aim of paper is to estimate a set of models and to test the properties of estimator. With...