Näringsliv och offentlig sektor står inför ständiga utmaningar att förändra och effektivisera sin verksamhet. Idag ses information som en verklig produktionsfaktor och åtkomst till lämplig informationen ses som en nödvändighet för uppnå effektivitet och produktivitet i de individuella aktiviteterna (Oehlmann, Thoben & Weber, 1997). Med hjälp av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner på produktionsgolvet har tillverkande industrier hittat en effektiv metod för att minska variationerna, öka kvaliteten, förbättra kommunikationen, minimera kostnaderna och snabbare få ut produkterna på marknaden, den s.k. Time-to-market (Coetzee, 2004). Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om Informationslogistik genom införandet av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner kan påverka effektiviteten och kvaliteten i ett företag vilket använder sig av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner. En fallföretagsstudie har genomförts på HMS Industrial Networks AB, en världsledande leverantör av fältbuss-teknologi för automationsutrustning. De har utvecklat ett IT-system för att hantera elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner vilket de använder fullt ut i sin tillverkning. Mer praktiskt har uppsatsens arbete handlat om att undersöka hur de anställda upplever att det påverkat deras effektivitet i det dagliga arbetet, såväl som kvaliteten i arbetet, informationen och på produkterna. Intervjuer med användare från dokumentationsteamet och produktionsmedarbetarna har gjorts och resultatet visar att användandet av PRIS och elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner har gett en rad effekter i verksamheten, både för dem vilka administrerar och hanterar produktionsunderlagen såväl som för de berörda användarna på produktionsgolvet och i övriga delar i organisationen. Resultatet visar att Informationslogistik i allra högsta grad kan påverka effektiviteten och kvaliteten i ett företag. Dokumentationsteamet kan arbeta parallellt i de olika produktionsunderlagen, det är enklare att lägga upp ett underlag och hantera uppdateringar, innehållet är spårbart och de kan återanvända allt innehåll i nya artiklar, samtidigt som informationen snabbt når ut på produktionsgolvet. För medarbetarna i produktionen har det inneburit att de nu kommer åt informationen snabbare, de kan ta egna och snabbare beslut, de känner sig mer självständiga, de har blivit mer effektiva samt att de nu har ett samlat ställe för all produktionsrelaterad information de behöver för att kunna utföra sitt jobb. Likaså har kvaliteten i underlagen ökat och på produkterna ut till kund. De har också fått en en säker distribution och hantering av information samt en större kontroll på tillverk-ningsprocessen. / Industries and governments stand before constant challenges to change and make their business processes more efficient. Information is now considered an actual production factor, and the appropriate availability of information is seen as crucial for the efficiency and effectiveness of individual tasks (Oehlmann, Thoben & Weber, 1997). With help of electronic work instructions process manufacturers has discovered an effective method for reducing variability, increasing consistency, and bringing new products to the market significantly faster (Coetzee, 2004). The main objective of this report is to examine if Information Logistics through the use of electronic work instructions can affect the efficiency and quality in a company that uses electronic work instructions. A case study has been carried out at HMS Industrial Networks AB, a world-leading supplier of field bus technology for automation devices. They have developed a system that handles the electronic work instructions, which they use through out the production plant. The system is called Production Resource Infomanagment System (PRIS). The work in this report has examine how the employees experience that PRIS has affected their efficiency on a daily basis, as well as the quality of their work, in the information and on the products. Interviews with users from both the documentation team and the production team have been carried out and the result shows that the use of PRIS and electronic work instructions have had major impacts in the company, for those who administrates and handle the production sheets as well as for the users on the production floor and in other parts of the company. The result shows that Information Logistics can affect efficiency and quality in a company. The documentation team can work parallel in different production sheets, it’s easier to create production sheets and work with updates in them, all of the content in a production sheet can be reused in other articles and the distribution of information to the users is instant. For the production team, the use of electronic work instructions has decreased their time for information retrieval, they can now make their own decisions and in a faster way than before, they feel more independent, their efficiency has increased and they now only have one place for all the production related information they need in order to perform their jobs. The quality of the information in the production sheets have also increased, as well as the quality of the products sent to customers. They have also got a secure distribution and in-formation management and improved process control.

Orientador: João Maurício Rosário / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T08:08:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caceres_MauroSergioJuarez_D.pdf: 14153245 bytes, checksum: eb274a6cfc34c223cb0ab36ddddce9a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Este trabalho reflete uma inquietação que surge da observação de um cenário onde a filosofia de concepção, manufatura, colocação no mercado e atualização e ou modificações de produtos nos diversos ramos da indústria, cada vez mais, ocorrem dentro de um ciclo realizado no universo digital, antecedendo quaisquer investimentos em máquinas, equipamentos ou infraestrutura. Esta inquietação traz o questionamento de como a educação profissional no país está se mobilizando para atender a demanda de profissionais que atuem neste entrelaçamento de softwares e sistemas que executam montagens, simulações e gerenciamento de dados de engenharia dentro deste universo digital. Assim coloca-se neste trabalho uma Proposta Metodológica para o Ensino Tecnológico na Manufatura Digital-PLM, fundamentada na Metodologia de Ensino por Competências, abrangendo o aspecto tecnológico e o pedagógico, assim como os conceitos de Manufatura Digital, Gerenciamento do Ciclo de Vida do Produto - Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Projetos Colaborativos e os benefícios destas tecnologias e metodologias, como uma opção para dar conta do desafio a ser transposto pelas instituições dedicadas à educação profissional, no sentido de suprir o mercado de trabalho com esta mão de obra especializada, contribuindo para o desenvolvimento do país / Abstract: The creation, production, updating or modification, and marketing of different industrial products take place in a digital universe which precedes any investment in machinery, equipment or infrastructure. This project focuses on the professional education challenge to produce consistent scientific and up-to-date technically competent professionals, who can fulfill the demand created by the aforementioned stages of industrial product development. It also examines the ways in which the country's professional education system can mobilize itself in order to meet the demand for professionals who can work in the network of software and systems, that assemble, simulate, and manage engineering data within this digital universe. The project presents concepts on digital manufacturing, product lifecycle management-PLM, the benefits of such technologies and show a Methodological Proposal Based on Skills, it focuses in Digital Manufacturing-PLM, using on considerations about the professional formation teaching methods, as well as the challenge to be overcome by those institutions dedicated to the country's professional education, in order to satisfy the skill trade market demand, thus contributing to its development / Doutorado / Mecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto Mecanico / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

La neuroimagerie est confrontée à des difficultés pour analyser et réutiliser la masse croissante de données hétérogènes qu’elle produit. La provenance des données est complexe – multi-sujets, multi-analyses, multi-temporalités – et ces données ne sont stockées que partiellement, limitant les possibilités d’études multimodales et longitudinales. En particulier, la connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale est analysée pour comprendre comment les différentes zones du cerveau travaillent ensemble. Il est nécessaire de gérer les données acquises et traitées suivant plusieurs dimensions, telles que le temps d’acquisition, le temps entre les acquisitions ou encore les sujets et leurs caractéristiques. Cette thèse a pour objectif de permettre l’exploration de relations complexes entre données hétérogènes, ce qui se décline selon deux axes : (1) comment gérer les données et leur provenance, (2) comment visualiser les structures de données multidimensionnelles. L’apport de nos travaux s’articule autour de trois propositions qui sont présentées à l’issue d’un état de l’art sur les domaines de la gestion de données hétérogènes et de la visualisation de graphes. Le modèle de données BMI-LM (Bio-Medical Imaging – Lifecycle Management) structure la gestion des données de neuroimagerie en fonction des étapes d’une étude et prend en compte le caractère évolutif de la recherche grâce à l’association de classes spécifiques à des objets génériques. L’implémentation de ce modèle au sein d’un système PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) montre que les concepts développés depuis vingt ans par l’industrie manufacturière peuvent être réutilisés pour la gestion des données en neuroimagerie. Les GMD (Graphes Multidimensionnels Dynamiques) sont introduits pour représenter des relations complexes entre données qui évoluent suivant plusieurs dimensions, et le format JGEX (Json Graph EXchange) a été créé pour permettre le stockage et l’échange de GMD entre applications. La méthode OCL (Overview Constraint Layout) permet l’exploration visuelle et interactive de GMD. Elle repose sur la préservation partielle de la carte mentale de l’utilisateur et l’alternance de vues complètes et réduites des données. La méthode OCL est appliquée à l’étude de la connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale au repos de 231 sujets représentées sous forme de GMD – les zones du cerveau sont représentées par les nœuds et les mesures de connectivité par les arêtes – en fonction de l’âge, du genre et de la latéralité : les GMD sont obtenus par l’application de chaînes de traitement sur des acquisitions IRM dans le système PLM. Les résultats montrent deux intérêts principaux à l’utilisation de la méthode OCL : (1) l’identification des tendances globales sur une ou plusieurs dimensions et (2) la mise en exergue des changements locaux entre états du GMD. / Neuroimaging domain is confronted with issues in analyzing and reusing the growing amount of heterogeneous data produced. Data provenance is complex – multi-subjects, multi-methods, multi-temporalities – and the data are only partially stored, restricting multimodal and longitudinal studies. Especially, functional brain connectivity is studied to understand how areas of the brain work together. Raw and derived imaging data must be properly managed according to several dimensions, such as acquisition time, time between two acquisitions or subjects and their characteristics. The objective of the thesis is to allow exploration of complex relationships between heterogeneous data, which is resolved in two parts : (1) how to manage data and provenance, (2) how to visualize structures of multidimensional data. The contribution follow a logical sequence of three propositions which are presented after a research survey in heterogeneous data management and graph visualization. The BMI-LM (Bio-Medical Imaging – Lifecycle Management) data model organizes the management of neuroimaging data according to the phases of a study and takes into account the scalability of research thanks to specific classes associated to generic objects. The application of this model into a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system shows that concepts developed twenty years ago for manufacturing industry can be reused to manage neuroimaging data. GMDs (Dynamic Multidimensional Graphs) are introduced to represent complex dynamic relationships of data, as well as JGEX (Json Graph EXchange) format that was created to store and exchange GMDs between software applications. OCL (Overview Constraint Layout) method allows interactive and visual exploration of GMDs. It is based on user’s mental map preservation and alternating of complete and reduced views of data. OCL method is applied to the study of functional brain connectivity at rest of 231 subjects that are represented by a GMD – the areas of the brain are the nodes and connectivity measures the edges – according to age, gender and laterality : GMDs are computed through processing workflow on MRI acquisitions into the PLM system. Results show two main benefits of using OCL method : (1) identification of global trends on one or many dimensions, and (2) highlights of local changes between GMD states.

Products make substantial impact on environment. Design for Environment (DfE) is an approach to design where all the environmental impacts of a product are considered over entire products life. Since over 80% of the product costs are committed during the early stages, design can play a central role in reducing this environmental overloading by product. However, unlike cost and performance, use of environmental criteria and DfE is far from part of mainstream designing. Individual guidelines often exist for DfE but these are not integrated with design tools. There is a need for capture of the rationale in design process as a know how backup for later use. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is currently the most promising and scientifically proven technique for estimating environmental impacts of a product during its lifecycle. Current LCA tools are not well integrated with design process and CAD tools. Consequently, there is a need for an LCA tool integrated into the natural design process that can be applied to early as well as detailed design stages. Detailed LCA is critically dependent on high volumes of product specific data, time consuming, often unaffordable and used after the detailed stages of design. Current approximate LCA methods are either incomplete, inaccurate or require prior knowledge of what data is important There is substantial uncertainty involved in the environmental impact calculations in LC. While Literature discusses uncertainty of impact data, there is no discussion on how to calculate and represent the total uncertainty in the potential impact of a product proposal at any given stage in design with respect to LCA. There is a need for a method that can aid in decision making by supporting quantitative comparison of available alternatives to identify the best alternative, under uncertain information about alternatives. Often the likely performance, cost or environmental impacts of a product proposal could be estimated only with certain confidence, which may vary from one proposal to another. The overall objective of this thesis is to “Develop a support to the designers using which they can develop environmentally friendly product lifecycles in much the same way as they currently design products, at all stages of their design, while reusing information from their past design activities”. For this the specific objectives are to: 1.Understand how designers currently design products and what they need for developing environmentally friendly product design. 2.Develop a holistic framework for both generation and evaluation of environmentally friendly life cycle proposals. 3. Capture rationale as part of the design process. 4. Estimate uncertainty in the environmental impact assessment during design. 5. Evaluate product lifecycle proposals with multiple criteria under uncertainty. 6. Integrate design process with environmental impact assessment. 7. Apply environmental impact assessment through the design process. From the descriptive studies we found that there is substantial difference in the environmental impact among products having the same functionality generated during the same design process. Analysis of industrial products available in the market show similar results. This means that design can substantially affect the impact created by a product. In our studies, designers did not consider environmental impact as a criterion in evaluation and we also identified the typical activities performed by designers during An Interactive Support for Developing Environmentally Friendly Product Lifecycles designing that must be allowed, supported or taken into account while developing a support for environmentally friendly product lifecycle design (EFPLD). The requirements of the designer for support are: tools should be proactive, easy to learn, understand and use, allow understanding of design rationale, act as a checklist, reduce total time, store knowledge and experience as know‐how backup, useful in all stages of design, not require too much extra effort for analysis, integrated to CAD, aid in trade off between choices, show uncertainty analysis, aid in analysis & improvement, and consider all lifecycle phases. A holistic framework, ACLODS (is a acronym of the six dimensions) constituting the following six dimensions: a) Activities, b) Criteria, c) Lifecycle phases, d) Outcomes, e) Design stages, and f) Product Structure was proposed for development of environmentally friendly product lifecycle designs. Through descriptive studies we found mainly 4 categories and associated sub categories of uncertainty in information with respect to LCA in design. The four categories are uncertainty in product structure, lifecycle phases, data quality, and methodological choices. The sub categories are assemblies, sub- assemblies, parts, relations, and features in product structure, material, production, distribution, usage, and after‐usage in lifecycle phases, temporal relevance, spatial relevance and sample size in data quality, and temporal relevance, spatial relevance, and comprehensiveness in methodological choices. At any point of time, uncertainty in information available is an accrual of the combination of the individual uncertainties. A method called confidence weighted objectives method is developed to compare the whole lifecycle of product proposals using multiple evaluation criteria under various levels of uncertainty. It is compared with normal weighted objectives method and found to be better since it estimates the overall worth of proposal nd confidence on the estimate, enabling deferment of decision making when decisions cannot be made using current information available. A new integrated platform IDEA‐SUSTAIN is developed in this thesis for supporting synthesis in product development on a commercial CAD workspace, while also aiding automated capture and storage of the rationale behind the decisions for retrieval whenever required during design. It is extended to support life cycle assessment of product proposals created by automatically extracting the information already stored while designing and ask for other information required to model the lifecycle without much extra effort from the designer. Then it uses the method for uncertainty reasoning developed also as a part of this research to estimate the level of confidence on the impact value owing to the incompleteness in knowledge available. The estimation is possible at part, assembly or product levels, for a single lifecycle phase or multiple phases. Using in‐house design exercises and feedback questionnaire evaluation of support is done. The usage of Idea‐Sustain has been found to be the best for both generation and evaluation of product proposals. The two computer aided tools – software (LCA) and Idea-Sustain-are compared with each other for fulfilling the functional requirements by analysing the feedbacks given by the designers on these tools against these requirements. Idea‐Sustain fulfilled well most of the requirements while the software (LCA) fulfilled only some of the needs, that too less effectively.

The music industry worldwide is rapidly evolving as a result of commercial, technological and demographic developments. The magnitude of the strategic impact of these developments on the South African music industry is evaluated in terms of internal and external factors, such as the intrinsic industry growth levels, ability to adapt to change, the consumer buying power, audio-visual piracy and counterfeiting, literacy, employment and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Collected data from public domain and proprietary music industry sources are transformed and presented in terms of the competitiveness of the South African music industry, from which key points for strategic leverage are identified. These key points of strategic leverage include education and training, relevant music industry research, the formalisation of the music industry strategy process and the development of alternative marketing, sales and distribution channels. In comparison to specific benchmark countries, the South African music industry has significant technological and socio-economic challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed in order to become a competitive co-evolutionary participant in the world music industry. South Africa, as an emerging world player, is ideally positioned for the development and implementation of new technological and commercial systems, such as the download distribution channel. This however, requires the collaborative participation of government departments, educational institutions, public and private enterprises. In particular, in-depth research on the local music industry is needed, which should include the collection of relevant statistical data. This study presents suggestions for some strategic interventions, including an application of the Porter DNA-model. / Dissertation (MMus (Music Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / MMus / unrestricted

Seit einiger Zeit hat die Industrie hier die enge Verzahnung ihrer Güterproduktion mit Dienstleistungen, auch oft als Services oder Lösungen bezeichnet, als strategische Option erkannt. Der Vorteil einer engen Verflechtung von Produkt und Dienstleistung ist, dass insbesondere im Pre- und Aftersales-Bereich neue Wertschöpfungsmöglichkeiten entstehen, die auf dem einzigartigen Know-How und dem Wissen der anbietenden Unternehmen basieren. Zunehmend wird über solche Lösungen sogar der größere Anteil der Wertschöpfung für das Unternehmen erzielt, so dass die Bedeutung solcher Angebote beständig zunimmt. Der vorliegenden Band dokumentiert die Arbeit des Verbundvorhabens „Produkt-Dienstleistung-Lifecycle-Management“, welches von 2011-2014 den Lehrstuhl für Betriebliche Informationssysteme an der Universität Leipzig zusammen mit Unternehmen ATB Arbeit, Technik und Bildung GmbH, CADsys GmbH, Amtech GmbH und SITEC GmbH aus Chemnnitz realisiert und mit Mitteln der Europäischen Union und des Freistaates Sachsen durch das Programm FuE-Projektförderung der SAB finanziert wurde. Erstmalig werden integrierte Konzepte und Werkzeuge für ein Lebenszyklusmanagement in der Verbindung von Produktion und begleitenden Dienstleistungen vorgestellt, die in entsprechenden Use-Cases in der Praxis zur Anwendung geführt werden konnten.:Dienstleistungslebenszyklen in Produktlebenszyklen (Christian Zinke) Review und Bewertung der Eignung von Open-Source-Lösungen als technische Lösung für ein Life-Cycle-Management produktbezogener Dienstleistungen (Christian Zinke und Florian Golemo) Abbildung von Dienstleistungen im Aras Innovator (Christian Zinke) Unterstützung der produktbezogenen Dienstleistung durch die Integration des Service Modeller (Florian Golemo) Kundenintegration und Kollaborationsmöglichkeiten im Aras Innovator (Christian Zinke, Lars-Peter Meyer) Unterstützung von Pre-Sales Dienstleistungen am Beispiel der Erarbeitung eines technischen Lösungsvorschlag (Frieder Swoboda, Egbert Mauersberger, Christian Zinke) Unterstützung von After-Sales Dienstleistungen am Beispiel des Ersatzteilmanagement (Frieder Swoboda, Egbert Mauersberger, Christian Zinke) Evaluation des PDLM Konzepts und des Unterstützungssystems (Christian Zinke)

The new reality is about connectivity. From social media to collaborative tools in work environments, people and their devices are highly intercommunicated. This reality also affects the manufacturing industry, which has been developing standards to keep up with technology and take advantage of it. These technologies are encompassed in what has been called Industry 4.0. Out of all the technologies, apart from artificial intelligence, the main drives of Industry 4.0 are considered by many studies augmented reality (AR) and industrial internet of things (IIoT). This thesis suggests that these drivers have been mostly tested either in an isolated fashion or with limited connectivity. The main objective is to explore the advantages of connecting AR, IIoT, and the main source of information in the manufacturing process: product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. Two sub-objectives are extracted from the main one: to study of value created from real-time role-dependent AR information displaying, and to study how the connection AR-IIoT-PLM can affect developing and deploying times of AR experiences. To achieve the mentioned objectives, a case of study is built, and the combined system implemented on it. Following design and creation methodology, an artefact is created, and conclusions are extracted from the design, implementation, and usage stages. Main results are an improvement in developing and deploying time of AR experiences, along with guidelines to extract as much value as possible from the implementation of a combined system of this sort. This thesis includes a discussion section, where the potential of the system is explained and framed within the near future of manufacturing companies.

This thesis investigates the impact management of product information has on the well-studied concepts of value propositions and business model innovation. Previously, it was not sufficiently documented how this type of information influences these concepts. As the pressure for digitalizing increases and traditional industries risk getting overthrown, understanding the factors affecting a company’s value proposition is more important than ever. To do this, this thesis outlines what product information is, for which stakeholders it matters, and during which phases in a product's lifecycle it has significance. Further, it gives four real-life examples of current use states (“as-is”) at a manufacturer of industrial motors - the case company. These examples are then analyzed and developed into proposed states (“to-be”) based on the findings from live observationat the factory, interviews with relevant stakeholders, and internal documents from the case company. Two main conclusions can be drawn based on the analysis performed on the real-lifeexamples. Firstly, it is found that well-managed product data have the ability to positively impact the value proposition. Secondly, it is found that it is too complex to determine which product information various stakeholders should have access to. It is more manageable to make all product data available to all stakeholders, via a data structure that minimizes the learning curve for users. The two conclusions have several practical and theoretical implications that are also discussed in detail. Finally, this thesis contributes to the field of industrial management by specifically outlining how product information affects value proposition, which in turn influences business models. / Denna rapport undersöker effekterna av hanteringen av produktinformation på de väletablerade koncepten värdeerbjudande och affärsmodellsinnovation. Tidigare har det inte varit tillräckligt dokumenterat hur denna typ av information påverkar dessa koncept. I takt med att trycket för digitalisering ökar och traditionella industrier riskerar kullkastas, så är förståelsen för de faktorer som påverkar ett företags värdeerbjudande viktigare än någonsin. För att göra detta har denna rapport undersökt vad produktinformation är, för vilka användare det har betydelse, och undervilka faser i en produktlivscykel som det har relevans. Dessutom ger rapporten fyra exempel, baserade från vekliga livet, på användarscenarion (“befintliga fall”) hos en tillverkare av industrimotorer - fallföretaget. Dessa exempel är sedan analyserade och utvecklade till föreslagna scenarion (“blivande fall”) baserade på de iakttagelser som gjorts på fallföretagets fabrik, intervjuer med relevanta parter och intern dokumentation från fallföretaget. Två huvudsakliga slutsatser kan konstateras baserat på analysen av dessa autentiska exempel. För det första konstateras att väl hanterad produktinformation kan påverka värdeerbjudandet positivt. För det andra upptäcks det att det är för komplicerat att avgöra vilken produktinformation olika parter bör ha tillgång till. I stället är det mer hanterbart att göra all produktinformation tillgänglig för allaparter, via en datastruktur som minimerar inlärningskurvan för användarna. Dessa två slutsatser har flertalet praktiska och teoretiska konsekvenser, som också diskuteras i detalj i rapporten. Avslutningsvis så bidrar denna rapport till fältet inom industriell ekonomi genom att särskilt diskutera hur produktinformation kan påverka värderbjudande, som i sin tur kan influera affärsmodeller.

In the fluctuating and competitive business world, the significance of Product Lifecycle Management is on the rise. It's becoming a pivotal strategy for organizations keen on preserving their market competitiveness. However, the practical execution of PLM often poses tangible difficulties. Even though businesses recognize the potential benefits of PLM, the challenges in its effective deployment tend to create hurdles, making the implementation process complex and formidable. This study centered on Tetra Pak applying a distinct framework and a statistical approach to assess the level of PLM maturity. Utilizing a quantitative research methodology, a survey tool that was specifically designed to be in line with this framework was adopted. The research carefully examined the PLM-related business dimensions and components, and the results ultimately revealed Tetra Pak’s overall PLM maturity levels. This method produced a thorough understanding of the company's PLM framework and uncovered potential areas that could use improvement. The findings from this study contribute to a wider comprehension of PLM's role in bolstering sustainability and competitiveness in the contemporary business landscape. The maturity framework, developed as part of this research specific to Tetra Pak, serves as a versatile instrument to steer PLM implementation. This framework assists businesses in adapting to shifting strategies, thereby helping them to maintain a competitive advantage in an ever-changing market.

In recent years, customers demand for new products has increased in line with a rapid technological change. This has put pressure on industrial companies regarding New Product Development (NPD) in order to continuously develop and produce products at or above the customers’ expectations. Furthermore, products need to be profitable throughout the whole product lifecycle.In order to consider the whole product lifecycle in NPD, inputs with information, as well as, involvement from/of downstream functions are considered as two critical factors to ensure that profitable products are developed. Information from other functions with a wide range of perspectives, knowledge and experiences from previous products are vital.This thesis uses the above mentioned notion while examining a large multinational company, Company X. Product Development in the Company X Group follows the Gateway process which was released group-wide in 2009. This process consists of gateways which cannot be passed if not all requirements are satisfied in each step. This ensures that all areas are covered and that products are developed in an effective matter.Interviews, observations and archive analysis are methods utilized to define the current state at CXDY. The current workways and processes are compared to the outspoken ones by the company. Also, the workways and processes are compared to the theory of project management, product development, Design for X methodology and management of knowledge. In the analysis, gaps are identified and the authors present their solutions to improve the NPD process at the Company XThe major findings in the proposed solution were a new approach of the Gateway process that; takes the Internal Customer into consideration, has clear definitions of roles and responsibilities and has a cross-functional team that represent the Internal Customer in order to encourage concurrent engineering.Due to confidentiality reasons some parts of this report are hidden.Keywords: New product development, Project management, Product Lifecycle, Concurrent engineering, Design for X, Management of knowledge. / Under senare år har kundernas efterfrågan på nya produkter ökat i takt med en snabb teknologisk utveckling. Detta har ställt krav på tillverkande företag att fokusera på produktutvecklingprojekt för att kontinuerligt leverera produkter som uppnår eller överträffar kunders förväntningar. Vidare måste produkterna vara lönsamma genom hela produktlivscykeln.För att kunna beakta hela produktlivscykeln i produktutvecklingsprojekt anses input med information och involvering från/av nedströmsfunktioner vara två kritiska faktorer för att säkerställa att lönsamma produkter utvecklas. I detta är informationen från andra funktioner med olika perspektiv, kunskaper och erfarenheter från tidigare produkter avgörande.Denna avhandling behandlar ovanstående tankar när ett stort multinationellt företag, Företag X. Produktutveckling i Företag X-koncernen följer Gateway-processen som släpptes på grupp-nivå under 2009. Denna process består av Gateways som inte kan godkännas om inte alla krav är uppfyllda i varje steg. Detta säkerställer att alla områden har behandlats och att produkter utvecklas effektivt.Intervjuer, observationer och arkivanalys är metoder som applicerats för att definiera det aktuella läget vid CXDY. De nuvarande arbetssätten och processerna jämförs med företagets uttalade. Arbetssätten och processerna jämförs vidare med teorin om projektledning, produktutveckling, Design för X-metodik och kunskapsförvaltning. I analysen identifieras luckor och författarna presenterar sina lösningar för att förbättra produktutvecklingsprojekten på CXDY.De viktigaste resultaten i den föreslagna lösningen var ett nytt tillvägagångssätt av Gateway-processen som; tar hänsyn till interna kunder, har tydliga definitioner av roller och ansvar och har ett tvärfunktionellt team som representerar den interna kunden för att främja Concurrent engineering.På grund av sekretesskäl har vissa delar av denna rapport gömts.Nyckelord: Produktutveckling, Projektledning, Produktlivscykel, Concurrent engineering, Design för X, Kunskapsförvaltning.