Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 iii, 111 leaves / The purpose of this study was to determine the core competencies of Sappi Forest Product division as a basis for establishing future developments. The literature focused on the resource-based view where the analysis of the firm’s internal resources and capabilities can be used as the starting point of strategy. / M

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 iii, 111 leaves / The purpose of this study was to determine the core competencies of Sappi Forest Product division as a basis for establishing future developments. The literature focused on the resource-based view where the analysis of the firm’s internal resources and capabilities can be used as the starting point of strategy.

<p>For complex technical systems in the electricity and pulp and paper industries, maintenance management addresses how to exploit physical assets in the most profitably way. This is a difficult task that requires taking into consideration parameters of totally different natures – e.g. reliability data, operating costs, condition of technical systems, the environment and rules and regulation.</p><p>An incorrect estimate of a residual lifetime can result in a premature renewal with accompanying high capital costs. If, however, renewal is delayed, a breakdown may occur which can cause major damage to technical equipment and a loss of income due to outages. Because of the complexity of many technical systems, it can be hard to select adequate data to use when making decisions about renewal strategies. To cope with this, one approach is to use less detailed models that are operated by skilled analysts.</p><p>This work demonstrates the advantage of such an approach by proposing two methods applied in a joint methodology that has its origins in RCM. The methodology consists of Dynamic Lifetime Model (DLA) and the Condition Based Index (CBI). The DLA method copes with the financial risk associated with the point in time for when a renewal is carried out and the CBI method uses critical parameters to estimate the condition of a technical system. The two methods together create a quantitative connection between reliability, maintenance and financial risk. A case study based validation of the methodology was carried out at SCA Ortvikens paper mill on a refiner system and Forsmark nuclear power plant. Lessons learned from the case study showed that the methodology could be used to identify which components could cause costly breakdown. By using the methodology a manager gets a decision support tool for estimating short-term and long-term consequences of decisions regarding maintenance management in order to maximize utility of the system concerned</p>

For complex technical systems in the electricity and pulp and paper industries, maintenance management addresses how to exploit physical assets in the most profitably way. This is a difficult task that requires taking into consideration parameters of totally different natures – e.g. reliability data, operating costs, condition of technical systems, the environment and rules and regulation. An incorrect estimate of a residual lifetime can result in a premature renewal with accompanying high capital costs. If, however, renewal is delayed, a breakdown may occur which can cause major damage to technical equipment and a loss of income due to outages. Because of the complexity of many technical systems, it can be hard to select adequate data to use when making decisions about renewal strategies. To cope with this, one approach is to use less detailed models that are operated by skilled analysts. This work demonstrates the advantage of such an approach by proposing two methods applied in a joint methodology that has its origins in RCM. The methodology consists of Dynamic Lifetime Model (DLA) and the Condition Based Index (CBI). The DLA method copes with the financial risk associated with the point in time for when a renewal is carried out and the CBI method uses critical parameters to estimate the condition of a technical system. The two methods together create a quantitative connection between reliability, maintenance and financial risk. A case study based validation of the methodology was carried out at SCA Ortvikens paper mill on a refiner system and Forsmark nuclear power plant. Lessons learned from the case study showed that the methodology could be used to identify which components could cause costly breakdown. By using the methodology a manager gets a decision support tool for estimating short-term and long-term consequences of decisions regarding maintenance management in order to maximize utility of the system concerned / QC 20111216

Utifrån bakgrundsinformationen har massa- och pappersindustrin varit aktiva under en lång tid utanför Askersund, Aspa Bruk, och Jönköping, Munksjön, innan införande av reningstekniker. Utsläppen av obehandlad fiber och massa tillsammans med metaller som använts av industrierna har lett till bildandet av fiber- och metallrika sediment i recipientvattendragen. Dessa sediment utgör långsiktiga negativa och toxikologiska effekter på växter och djur i den akvatiska miljön. Dessutom har metallerna i de fiberrika sedimenten potential att migrera nedströms i olika utsträckning beroende på lokala miljömässiga faktorer. Det är därav av stor betydelse att utvärdera förekomstmönster och potentiella miljömässiga effekter av metaller i fiberrika sediment. Huvudsyftet var att studera spridningen av metaller och dess potentiella miljömässiga/hälsomässiga effekter i fiberrika sediment inom två halvslutna vattendrag med utlopp i sjön Vättern. Metoden inkluderade mätning av metallkoncentration (genom ett XRF-instrument), glödningsförlust (LOI) och pH mätning av sedimentets porvatten följt av statistisk analys för att undersöka effekterna av pH och organiskt material på koncentration och spridning av metaller. Riskanalys utfördes tillsammans med nationella referensvärden utifrån metoden Svensk Standard tillsammans med effektbaserade tröskelvärden. Resultatet visade att sedimenten i Aspa Bruk hade högre nivåer organiskt material än Munksjön som indikerade en stor input av organiskt material härledda från fiber och/eller massa. Medan ytsedimenten i Aspa Bruk uppvisade högre metallkoncentrationer jämfört med i Munksjön var koncentration av de flesta metallerna (såsom arsenik, bly, koppar, zink, nickel, krom, kobolt och barium) i Munksjöns djupare sediment 60–80 % högre än i Aspa Bruk. En avvikelse sågs för zink vars koncentration var högst vid 3–6 cm i Aspa Bruk. Det framkom även att de högsta koncentrationerna av metall, förutom kobolt och barium förekom vid utkanten av fiberbanken för båda områdena. För båda områdena sågs koncentrationen av kvicksilver, kadmium och kobolt minska signifikant i samband med en ökande nivån organiskt material. Denna trend framkom även för barium och nickel i Munksjön och för zink i Aspa Bruk. Förekomsten och fördelningen av kvicksilver och kadmium observerades påverkas ytterligare av pH. Riskanalysen påvisade att sedimenten i Munksjön var mest förorenade i relation till spridningen. Metallerna med störst negativa effekter och av störst miljöhänsyn i nedåtgående ordning var kvicksilver, bly, koppar, kobolt och zink. / Based on gathered background information, pulp and paper industries have been active for a long time in Askersund, Aspa Bruk, and Jönköping, Munksjön, counties before the introduction of purification techniques. The discharge of untreated fiber and pulp along with metals used by the industries led to the formation of fiber- and metal-rich sediments in recipient watercourses. These sediments pose long-term negative and toxicological effects on the plants and animals in the aquatic environments. Moreover, the metals in the fiber-rich sediments have the potential to migrate downstream to various extents, depending on the local environmental factors. It is thus of great importance to evaluate the distribution pattern and potential environmental effects of metals in fiber-rich sediments. The main purpose was to study the distribution of metals and their potential environmental/health effects in fiber-rich sediments within two semi-enclosed waterbodies draining into the Vättern lake. The method involved measuring metal concentrations (by an XRF-instrument), loss of ignition (LOI), and pH of sediment porewaters, followed by statistical analysis to explore the impacts of pH and organic matter on the concentration and distribution of metals. Risk assessment was performed with national reference values using the standard Swedish method together with effect-based threshold values. The results showed that the sediments in Aspa Bruk had higher values of LOI than those in Munksjön, indicating a larger input of organics derived from fiber and/or pulp to the former. While the surface sediments in Aspa Bruk exhibited higher metal levels compared to Munksjön, the concentrations of most metals (such as arsenic, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, chromium, cobalt, and barium) in Munksjön's subsurface sediments were 60-80% higher than those in Aspa Bruk. A deviation was seen for zinc, whose concentrations were highest at 3-6 cm in Aspa Bruk. It also appeared that the highest concentrations of the metals, except for cobalt and barium, occurred at the edges of the fiberbank in both areas. In both areas, concentrations of mercury, cadmium and cobalt declined significantly with increasing organic matter contents. Such trend was also evident for barium and nickel in Munksjön and zinc in Aspa Bruk. The occurrence and distribution of mercury and cadmium was observed to be affected additionally by pH. Risk assessments revealed that the sediments in Munksjön were most contaminated in relation to the spreading of fiber banks. The metals of the most negative effects and thus environmental concerns, ranked in decreasing order, included mercury, lead, copper, cobalt, and zinc.

In recent years, the necessity and opportunity for transforming pulp and paper mills into integrative units for large-scale output of biochemicals, biomaterials, and biofuels have come up in discussions of industrial renewal in the Northern hemisphere (mainly in Canada, Sweden and Finland). This transformation is related to technology shifts as well as changing business models based on new bioproducts due to profoundly new market conditions. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse how wood-based biomass industries – with an emphasis on incumbent pulp and paper industries (PPIs) – are managing this industrial and technological transformation that is taking place beyond the papermaking paradigm. Innovation theories on mature industries, their incumbents, and their propensity for technological lock-in and inertia are well-known. How new entrants and incumbents manage these large shifts is seen as central in understanding the dynamics of new, large-scale sustainable technologies on the one hand and the renewal of large, mature process industries on the other. Three research questions are addressed. First, where are the knowledge and technology frontiers developing in this transformation? Second, how are incumbents of PPIs are managing large market and technology shifts based on existing capabilities and knowledge bases? Third, what are the key mechanisms behind the transformation of PPIs from a process-industry perspective? The hermeneutical insights into the system of biomass technologies in general and the PPI industries in particular were gained by using a qualitative case-study approach, which formed the basis for four research articles and for outlining the empirical context and key words search of the quantitative bibliometric methods in a fifth research article. The research findings and main contributions address an identification of the, analytical, “formal”, science-based technology frontiers from a knowledge base perspective.  Old industrialised forest/PPI nations tended to specialize in rather slow growing, forest-based frontiers. They seem to have stayed close to the research trajectories of their woody raw material and knowledge base with the exception of North America. However, this not the entire explanation of transformation and technology development. Chemical pulp mills, in several cases developed into biorefineries, are the nexus of the emerging development block. They are contributing with products in a bioeconomy that is actively moving away from fossils and polluting materials (such as cement, cotton, plastics). In addition, demo plants (potentially nurturing hundreds of bioproducts) that are present at mill sites and involve different stakeholders, can act as the interface between analytical and synthetic knowledge bases that otherwise are difficult to combine in the upscaling phases of process industries. The response of PPI organizations to shifts in both technology and business models is also explained by the concept of diverging innovations of non-assembled products. These are part of a diversification of an industry from a forest industry perspective, and also of a diversification that may enter trajectories of several by-products and side-streams of the pulp “biorefinery” mill, and have analogies to a product-tree and to the material transformation flow of its production systems. But it is also a phenomenon of synergies in a broader multi-sectorial perspective, i.e. new sets of related products/processes that are able to replace industries of non-assembled products under the above-mentioned, new market conditions. The phenomenon of diverging innovations can be regarded as both an empirical contribution – the breaking up of a closed integrated process industry into something new with several emerging and integrative industries as a response to the large shifts in papermaking and sustainable needs in society – and as a theoretical remark on the model for non-assembled products presented by Utterback (1994). / Under de senaste åren har nödvändigheten och möjligheten att omvandla massa- och pappersbruk till integrerade produktionsenheter för storskalig produktion av biokemikalier, biomaterial och biobränslen uppkommit i diskussioner om industriell förnyelse på norra halvklotet - främst i Kanada, Sverige och Finland. Denna omvandling är relaterad till teknikskiften samt förändrade affärsmodeller baserade på nya bioprodukter och kraftigt ändrade marknadsförutsättningar. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera hur vedbaserade industrier – med betoning på befintliga massa- och pappersindustrin - hanterar denna industriella och tekniska omvandling utanför det traditionella papperstillverkningsparadigmet. Innovationsteorier om mogna branscher, deras benägenhet för teknisk inlåsning och tröghet är välkända. Hur nya och etablerade aktörer hanterar dessa stora förändringar ses som central för att förstå dynamiken i ny, storskalig, hållbar teknik å ena sidan och förnyelse av mogna processindustrier å andra sidan. Tre forskningsfrågor behandlas. Först, var utvecklas kunskaps- och teknikfronter i denna omvandling? För det andra, hur hanterar etablerade aktörer i massa- och pappersindustrin  stora marknads- och teknologiskiften baserade på befintliga kunskapsbaser? För det tredje, vilka är de huvudmekanismerna bakom omvandlingen av massa- och pappersindustrin ur ett processindustriellt perspektiv? Förståelsen för det biomasseteknologiska systemet i allmänhet och massa- och pappersindustrin i synnerhet erhölls genom att använda kvalitativa fallstudier och metoder. De låg till grund för fyra forskningsartiklar och utmejslade den empiriska kontexten för kvantitativa, bibliometriska metoder i en femte forskningsartikel. Forskningsresultaten utgörs bl a av en identifiering av analytiska, "formella", vetenskapligt baserade teknikfronter. Äldre skogsindustriländer tenderar att specialisera sig i långsamväxande, skogsbaserade teknikfronter. De följer forskningsbanor närmare deras vedråvaru- och kunskapsbaser (med undantag av Nordamerika). Men det är inte hela förklaringen till teknikutvecklingen och dess omställningspotential. Kemiska massabruk, i flera fall utvecklade till bioraffinaderier, kan utgöra hävstången för ett framväxande utvecklingsblock. De bidrar med produkter i en bioekonomi som aktivt rör sig bort från fossila och resursineffektiva material och processer (såsom cement, bomull, plast). Dessutom kan demonstrationsanläggningar härbärgera en storskalig testmiljö för hundratals bioprodukter som är placerade i närheten av massafabriker och som involverar forsknings-, industri- och samhällsintressenter. De kan ävenfungera som gränssnitt mellan analytiska och syntetiska kunskapsbaser som annars är svåra att kombinera i uppskalningsfaser. Massa- och pappersindustrins omvandling förklaras också av begreppet divergerande innovationer av icke-sammansatta produkter. Dessa är delvis en diversifiering av en bransch ur ett skogsindustriellt perspektiv, delvis en diversifiering som kan generera i biprodukter och sidoströmmar, som har analogier med produktträd och påminner om det materiella transformationsflödet i det egna produktionssystemet. Divergerande innovationer kan ge ett synergifenomen ur ett bredare sektoriellt perspektiv, dvs nya uppsättningar av produkter och processer som kan ersätta industrier med icke-sammansatta produkter under de nya marknadsförhållandena som ovan beskrivits. Fenomenet med divergerande innovationer kan betraktas som både ett empiriskt bidrag - att bryta upp en sluten, integrerad processindustri till något nytt med flera framväxande och integrerande näringar som ett svar på de stora förändringarna i industrin och i samhället – och också som en kritik av modellen för icke-sammansatta produkter som tidigare presenterats av Utterback (1994). / <p>QC 20160829</p>