Research Abstract Purpose: to explain how there is a direct correlation between nursing staff ratios and patient results regarding mortality, infection, poor patient safety, and other sentinel events. Aims: how is patient care compromised by nursing staff shortage? Methods: observational studies from public information records such as Medicare patient claims, AHA, and surveys from RNs working at acute care hospitals. Results: certain groups are more susceptible to sentinel events. Patients with chronic diseases, elderly, patients needing intensive care, or overall unstable patients are examples of patients who fall under this category. Studies show that patients are at higher risk for receiving detrimental care due to poor nurse to patient ratio. Conclusions: adding to a nurse’s workload increases patient mortality in length of stay in hospitals due to hospital administration only needing to meet the minimum staffing requirements. The minimum staffing required for operations still does not meet the recommendations provided by the Safe Staffing Act. Key Words: nurse shortages, patient safety, patient outcomes, healthcare quality, workload, hospital acquired infections, staffing, CAUTI, VAP, CABI

Bakgrund: Palliativ vård förekommer i olika vårdavdelningar då det inte är förutsägbart att veta när en patient kommer vara i behov av palliativ vård. Sjuksköterskorna på en slutenvårdsavdelning har i uppgift att behandla och lindra patientens fysiska symtom samtidigt som de psykiska och emotionella behoven av patienten uppfylls medans fokuset av palliativ vård är att lindra patientens lidande. Palliativ vård är ett helhetsgrepp som omfattar fyra olika hörnstenar: symtomlindring, teamarbete, kommunikation samt stöd till närstående. Personcentrerad palliativ vård är grunden till en optimal palliativ vård. Personcentrerad palliativ vård innefattar vikten av patientens centrala roll i vården. Brister i de fyra hörnstenarna försämrar kvaliteten av den palliativa vården. Syfte: Syftet är att belysa sjuksköterskors upplevelser av brister inom den palliativa vården på slutenvårdsenheter. Metod: En kvalitativ litteraturstudie med 10 artiklar hämtade från de internationella databaserna för medicin och omvårdnad, Pubmed och Cinahl. Artiklarna granskades med SBU:s (statens beredning för medicinsk och social utvärdering) mall för kvalitetsgranskning. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras med hjälp av tre olika teman: otillräckliga organisatoriska förutsättningar, otillräckligt teamarbete samt otillräckliga kunskaper om palliativ vård. Under följande teman lyfts det upp hur olika typer av brister påverkar sjuksköterskans upplevelser av att jobba med palliativa patienter. Konklusion: Resultatet belyste att brister inom palliativ vård upplevdes av sjuksköterskorna som ett hinder för att erbjuda den palliativa patienten bästa möjliga vård. Samtidigt bidrog bristerna till en hög arbetsbelastning, oro och osäkerhet hos de deltagande sjuksköterskorna. Gemensam faktor för bristerna som belyses i litteraturstudien är deras negativa påverkan på sjuksköterskornas välmående och arbete som till följd påverkar patientens palliativa vård. / Background: Palliative care occurs in different care departments as it is not predictable to know when a patient will be in need of palliative care. The nurses in an inpatient ward are tasked with treating and alleviating the patient's physical symptoms while meeting the patient's psychological and emotional needs. Palliative care is a comprehensive approach that includes four different key points: symptom relief, teamwork, communication and support for relatives. Person-centered palliative care is the basis for optimal palliative care. Personcentered palliative care includes the importance of the patient's central role regarding their own care. Steady cooperation between patient and nurse increases the possibility of building trust between the two parties. Aim: The aim is to shed light on nurses' experiences of shortages in palliative care in inpatient units. Method: A qualitative literature study with 10 articles gathered from PubMed and CINAHL,international databases for research in medicine and nursing, were reviewed with the SBU's (Swedish agency for health technology assessment and assessment of social services) template for quality review. Result: The results are presented using three different themes: insufficient organizational conditions, insufficient teamwork and insufficient knowledge about palliative care. The themes highlight how different types of shortages affect the nurse's experiences of working with palliative care patients. Conclusion: The results highlighted that shortages in palliative care were perceived as an obstacle to offering the palliative patient the best possible care. The shortages resulted in high workload, worry and insecurity among the participating nurses. A commonality in the consequences of the shortages is their negative impact on the nurses’ wellbeing and work, which consequently affects the patient’s palliative care.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Excessive shrinkage threatens the viability of retailers, especially grocery retailers because they operate on low profit margins. One possibility is for retailers to dismiss employees who are perceived to be responsible for excessive shrinkage, but South African law generally requires that the employer prove individual culpability or poor performance to justify a dismissal. In most cases, retailers are not able to identify the exact causes of shrinkage or those employees who may be responsible for the shrinkage. Pep Stores has developed a novel group dismissal model, using a poor performance process, in terms of which a store's entire staff complement is dismissed on the basis of collective responsibility for failing to avoid excessive shrinkage. The Pep model is attractive to retailers because it overcomes the retailer's inability to produce evidence relating to excessive shrinkage. This Study Project seeks to determine whether collective responsibility for shrinkage may be introduced in owner-managed grocery stores and, if not, whether adaptation of the model or new technology might facilitate its introduction. A further objective is to determine whether the applicability of the Pep model correlates to factors such as the size, activity level and complexity of retail stores. Three barriers to the application of the Pep model in grocery retail stores were identified: firstly, the determination of an "acceptable level of shrinkage" that is reasonably attainable; secondly, the conducting of sufficiently accurate stock takes to support dismissals and, thirdly, the existence or creation of circumstances allowing the implementation of collective responsibility for shrinkage. Grocery retailers have no difficulty in identifying an attainable "acceptable level of shrinkage" or in conducting highly accurate stock takes and stock counts. Circumstances allowing the imposition of collective responsibility for shrinkage were, however, clearly not present. Collective responsibility was precluded by the specialised nature of the employees' tasks and a lack of co-responsibility arising from employees' inability to directly observe each other. However, an adapted Pep model is applicable in grocery retail stores at departmental level if the departments are insulated from fraud or error by receiving clerks and cashiers. This insulation may be achieved by implementing joint receiving procedures that involve each department in receiving departmental stock and an increase in cashier monitoring. The introduction of Radio Frequency Identification Technology will ultimately facilitate the implementation of the Pep model through the enhanced insulation of departments. This enhanced insulation is achieved through the ability to track the movement of individual items in stores and the reduction of receiving and cashier error and fraud as a result of the automation of aspects of these functions. This technology, however, is unlikely to be implemented in the short term given the significant cost of RFID tags and the technical and organisational constraints to adoption. Perceptions on the applicability of the Pep model are correlated in smaller stores to total store floor areas, while the applicability of the model in larger stores is correlated to the size of staff complements. This suggests that the model may be ideally applicable in smaller stores, where the total store floor area is relatively smaller and in larger stores, where the staff complements are relatively larger. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oormatige voorraadverlies bedreig die lewensvatbaarheid van kleinhandelaars, veral kruidenierswarehandelaars, omdat hulle met klein winsmarges werk. Een moontlikheid is dat kleinhandelaars werknemers ontslaan wat gesien word as die verantwoordelikes vir oormatige voorraadverlies, maar die Suid-Afrikaanse reg vereis oor die algemeen dat die werkgewer indiwiduele skuld of swak prestasie bewys om ontslag te regverdig. In die meeste gevalle is kleinhandelaars nie in staat om die presiese oorsake van voorraadverlies, of die werknemers wat vir die voorraadverlies verantwoordelik mag wees, te identifiseer nie. Pep Stores het 'n vindingryke groep-ontslagmodel ontwikkel, met gebruik van 'n swakprestasieproses, ingevolge waarvan 'n winkel se hele personeel ontslaan word op grond van kollektiewe verantwoordelikheid weens versuim om oormatige voorraadverlies te vermy. Die Pep-model is aantreklik vir kleinhandelaars, want dit oorkom die kleinhandelaar se onvermoë om bewys te lewer in verband met oormatige voorraadverlies. Hierdie navorsingsprojek probeer vasstel of kollektiewe verantwoordelikheid vir voorraadverlies ingestel kan word in eienaarbestuurde kruidenierswinkels en, indien nie, of aanpassing van die model, of nuwe tegnologie, die invoer daarvan sou kon fasiliteer. 'n Verdere doelstelling is om vas te stel of die toepaslikheid van die Pepmodel korreleer met faktore soos die grootte, bedrywigheidsvlak en kompleksiteit van kleinhandelwinkels. Drie struikelblokke vir toepassing van die Pep-model in kleinhandelkruidenierswinkels is geidentifiseer: eerstens, die bepaal van 'n "aanvaarbare voorraadverliesvlak" wat redelik haalbaar is; tweedens, die uitvoer van voldoende akkurate voorraadopnames om ontslag te steun en derdens die bestaan of skep van omstandighede wat die implementering van kollektiewe verantwoordelikheid vir voorraadverlies moontlik sal maak. Kruidenierskleinhandelaars ondervind geen probleme met die identifisering van haalbare "aanvaarbare voorraadverliesvlakke" of met die uitvoer van hoogs akkurate voorraadopnames en - tellings nie. Omstandighede wat die oplê van kollektiewe verantwoordelikheid vir voorraadverlies moontlik maak, was egter duidelik nie aanwesig nie. Kllektiewe verantwoordelikheid is uitgesluit weens die gespesialiseerde aard van die werknemers se take en 'n gebrek aan mede-verantwoordelikheid weens werknemers se onvermoë am mekaar direk waar te neem. 'n Aangepaste Pep-model is egter toepasbaar in kruidenierskleinhandelwinkels op departementele vlak indien die departemente van bedrog of foute deur ontvangsklerke en kassiere afgeskerm word. Die afskerming kan bereik word deur die implementering van gesamentlike ontvangsprosedures wat elke departement betrek by die ontvangs van departementele voorraad en verskerpte kassiermonitering. Die invoer van Radiofrekwensie-identifikasietegnologie sal uiteindelik die implementering van die Pep-model fassiliteer deur die verhoogde afskerming van departemente. Hierdie verhoogde afskerming word bereik deur die vermoë om die beweging van indiwiduele items in winkels na te speur en die vermindering van ontvangs- en kassierfoute en -bedrog as gevolg van die outomatisering van aspekte van die funksies. Hierdie tegnologie sal egter waarskynlik nie oor die korttermyn toegepas word nie weens die aansienlike koste van RFIO-etikette en die tegniese en organisatoriese beperkings op die invoer daarvan. Persepsies oor die toepasbaarheid van die Pep-model word in kleiner winkels gekorreleer met die totale winkelvloeroppervlak, terwyl die toepasbaarheid van die model in groter winkels gekorreleer word met die grootte van die personeelkorps. Dit suggereer dat die model ideaal toepasbaar mag wees in kleiner winkels waar die totale winkelvloeroppervlak relatief kleiner is en in groter winkels waar die personeelkorps relatief groter is.

Bakgrund: Idag är det brist på operationssjuksjuksköterskor i Sverige, vilket har resulterat i att flera operationsavdelningar är förhindrade att bedriva full operationsverksamhet. Erfarna operationssjuksköterskor går i pension under de närmsta åren samtidigt som intresset att utbilda sig till operationssjuksköterska varit svagt. Bristen på behöriga operationssjuksköterskor kan förvärras om inte åtgärder görs, vilket kan få svåra konsekvenser som att antalet operationer måste reduceras ytterligare eller ställas in vilket skulle bidra till ett lidande för patienten samt en ökad arbetsbelastning på den befintliga personalen. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva grundutbildade sjuksköterskors uppfattningar om operationssjuksköterskans profession. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med en fenomenografisk ansats utfördes. Ett strategiskt urval genomfördes, vilket resulterade i nio individuella intervjuer med grundutbildade sjuksköterskor på ett sjukhus i södra Sverige. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i fyra kategorier: En intresseväckande profession, En krävande profession, En teknisk profession och En osynlig profession. Var och en av kategorierna bestod av två underkategorier. Slutsats: Grundutbildade sjuksköterskor har otillräcklig kunskap och kännedom om operationssjuksköterskans profession. Ökad klinisk erfarenhet och information om operationssjuksköterskans profession skulle kunna skapa ett ökat intresse eller underlätta i valet om en framtida operationssjuksköterskeutbildning. / Background: Today is a shortage of operating theater nurse in Sweden, which has resulted in several operational departments are unable to engage fully operational business. Experienced operating theater nurse will retire in the next few years while the interest to train as a operating theater nurse has been neglected. The lack of competent operating theater nurse may worsen if no measures implemented to change the situation, which can have serious consequences, such as the number of operations must be further reduced or canceled, which would contribute to the suffering of the patient and an increased workload on existing staff. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe nurses perceptions of operating theater nurse profession. Method: A qualitative study with phenomenographically was performed. A strategic choice was conducted, which resulted in nine individual interviews nurses at a hospital in southern Sweden. Results: The analysis resulted in four categories: An interesting profession, A demanding profession, A technical profession and An invisible profession. Each of the categories consisted of two categories. Conclusion: Nurses have inadequate knowledge and understanding of operating theater nurse profession. Increased clinical experience and information about the operating theater nurse profession could create an increased interest in or facilitate the election of a future operating theater nurse education.

The recent growth of Teach For America (TFA) has enabled it to substantially expand the teacher labour supply in many rural Southern communities, one of its largest and fastest-growing partnership subsets. Though it is generally accepted that these areas face more severe teacher shortages than most other regions in the country, there is little research as to how these staffing challenges arise or how they might be resolved; TFA’s potential to grow the rural Southern teacher supply thus signals a promising opportunity in need of further research. This work offers a case study of teacher labour outcomes in the Mississippi-Arkansas Delta, TFA’s oldest and largest rural Southern partnership site. In this region, local schools have experienced a 600 per-cent increase in corps member presence since 2008; consequently, TFA provided anywhere from a quarter to a half of the area’s new teacher labour supply each year from 2008 to 2010. A mixed-methods analysis illuminates both the causes of Delta teacher shortages and TFA’s potential to address these vacancies. Within the Delta, local schools face chronic teacher shortages because the communities they serve are overwhelmingly poor, geographically isolated, and racially segregated. TFA appears to have targeted the Delta communities where teacher labour policies have systematically fallen short, as it partners with districts bearing the greatest share of the region’s aggregate teacher vacancies. Additional statistical testing reveals that amongst these hard-to-staff districts, TFA has further focussed its resources into the schools that serve more rural, less educated, and/or predominantly African American populations. In this way, TFA funnels its corps members into the very districts where state reform efforts have struggled most, thus serving as a powerful resource for realigning ‘sticky’ outcomes in the most hard-to-staff Delta school districts. These findings notwithstanding, closer examination reveals significant drawbacks and limitations to current TFA outcomes in the rural Southern Delta. TFA does not saturate hard-to-staff school districts enough to produce statistically significant changes in local teacher vacancy rates. Instead, the programme appears to have established an unofficial threshold for the number of teachers placed per district; once this ceiling has been reached, additional corps members are funnelled into a new area regardless of the original district’s remaining need. Additionally, there is no long-term ‘exit strategy’ to help Delta districts employing TFA corps members to eventually cultivate their own high-quality teacher labour supply, thus leaving them perpetually dependent on TFA to staff their classrooms. Preliminary evidence suggests that state governments could address these shortcomings through 1) increased financial support for TFA to fully saturate vacancies in current partnership districts, as well as 2) the simultaneous development of grow-your-own teacher certification programmes in rural Delta districts. The evidence suggests that these two strategies would improve TFA as a targeted teacher recruitment strategy for hard-to-staff communities both in the Delta and across the programme’s nine other rural Southern partnership sites.

Rising Antimicrobial Resistance is a threat faced all over the world. Bacterial infections that were treatable with antibiotics only a few years ago can now lead to life-threatening conditions. This thesis is part of the work of a large platform, PLATINEA, trying to reduce the rate of new resistances occurring in Sweden by preventing non optimal treatment. Due to shortages of the right antibiotics, suboptimal antibiotics are prescribed, which has shown to be accelerating the resistances among the bacterial populations. This study proposes an information exchange database and a central storage model for critical antibiotics to circumvent stock outs and inconveniences resulting from shortages of medically valuable antibiotics. Through interviewing prominent actors in the Swedish pharmaceutical supply chain an inside into the procurement of antibiotic in Sweden and what concerns are faced by the organs involved was created. Literature studies on occurred shortages of antibiotics in Sweden and the world were examined and possible reasons for these were identified. Examination of governmental efforts and assignments created the context in which gaps were identified that this thesis work could fill. A focus on Benzylpenicillin and Rifampicin were kept throughout the study. The collected data led to the implementation recommendation of two models by this study. An information platform suggested to allow better, faster and more accurate information exchange between all involved actors of the supply chain as well as a centralized storage model for the storage of antibiotics with medically high value in Sweden.  Through the implementation of the model systems shortages of critical antibiotics can be circumvented and better availability of information leads to quicker reactions ability to stock outs of other antibiotics.

In Nigeria, almost every business enterprise relies on petroleum products for power or transportation. Shortages of petroleum products cripple business activities and undermine development of the Nigerian economy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore supply chain management strategies needed by petroleum business leaders to mitigate shortages and sustain business development in Nigeria. The sample for the study included 10 senior leaders from 2 private-sector Nigerian downstream petroleum supply companies located in the Niger Delta region, who had successfully implemented strategies for petroleum supply. The resource based view theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews and review of operational and policy documents from the supply companies. Data were transcribed, analyzed, and validated through member checking and triangulation, resulting in the identification of 6 themes: appropriate allocation of resources to all segments of the supply value chain for efficiency, efficient banking and foreign exchange operations, engaging appropriate human capital for operational efficiency, technology application in both operational and nonoperational segments, maintaining good organization reputation in the industry, and investment in Nigerian crude oil refining and infrastructures. Findings may be used by petroleum business leaders and investors to create effective and efficient supply chain management, leading to product availability, employment opportunities, poverty reduction, and economic development.

In the first 3 years of the Obama Administration, 2009-2011, the number of warning letters issued to pharmaceutical firms for manufacturing and quality issues increased by 81% to 49 letters. Only 9 letters were issued in the last 3 years of the George W. Bush Administration. Shortfalls in compliance and product quality led to medicine shortages that affected patients' treatment and health. This quantitative study sought to learn to what extent, if any, the independent variables, management behaviors and financial indicators at pharmaceutical firms in the United States, correlated with, or predicted, the dependent variable, compliance with the FDA regulations. FDA's enforcement actions on the firms were the treatment event. A shift in the relationship between the variables occurred after the FDA interventions, which highlighted a new level of compliance. Of the 1144 SurveyMonkey invitations sent to the members of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers, only 21 completed the survey's 133 questions. Three research questions were addressed using correlations and linear regressions. The theory of planned behavior was applied to correlate behavioral constructs with the compliance of the firms leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. By establishing an inverse relation between financial indicators and the firms' level of compliance, the study offers awareness and insight to senior leaders regarding their behaviors and the decision-making process. Enhancing managers' decision-making processes in light of their beliefs, along with their control over financial indicators, could reinforce the presence of effective quality systems among pharmaceutical manufacturers minimizing medicine shortages.

In this study of intercultural communication, I investigate the multi-faceted meaning of the expression " cultural fit " in the sense that it is used by recruiters when shortlisting Indian information technologists to fill skills shortages for the Y2K project in Australia. The data is in the form of ten videotaped interviews in Bangalore and the recruiter commentary on those tapes in Melbourne. A crucial decision to be made by recruiters in any shortlisting process is " How will the candidate fit into the workplace?" This question becomes more problematical when applied to overseas-trained professionals. I take a critical approach, drawing principally on the research traditions of linguistics where studies of intercultural communication and workplace interaction intersect, employing chiefly the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis and Interactional Sociolinguistics and the more abstract notions of Bourdieu. A bridge between these different discourse approaches is provided by Sarangi & Roberts < 1999 < who show the connection between the larger institutional order and interactional routines, through an elaboration of frontstage talk and backstage talk following Goffman < 1959 < . An analysis of the interviews < frontstage talk < reveals "cultural fit" to involve a knowledge of institutional talk, in particular, directness. The recruiter commentary < backstage talk < draws attention to issues of intelligibility, body language, technical expertise and workplace values. the study shows that Indian Information Technologists have "partial fit" in that they possess technical fit but do not demonstrate, or lack the opportunity to demonstrate in the interview, Australian workplace values such as small talk, humour and informality. The recruiter judgments were fleeting and apart from checking for intelligibility, were made on the basis of candidates' body language thus highlighting its importance and its relative absence from the discourse approaches mentioned above. This study shows clearly that there is room for more communicative flexibility on the part of all the stakeholders.

ITAB Shop Concept är ett multinationellt företag som utvecklar, tillverkar, säljer samt installerar inredningskoncept och produkter till butikskedjor. En del av denna produktion innefattar tillverkning av kassadiskar, vilka består av komplexa produktstrukturer med hundratals ingående komponenter. På grund av att ITAB upplevde att komponenter saknades vid start av kassadiskmontaget, gavs uppdraget att undersöka orsakerna till detta. Studiens syfte var att kartlägga och analysera orsaker till störningar i ledtider som påverkar tillgängligheten på komponenter till monteringsavdelningen på ITAB Shop Concept Jönköping samt ge rekommendationer. Produktionen av kassadiskar var helt kundorderstyrd och produktionsplanering skedde med hjälp av affärssystemet Jeeves Universal. Metoden som användes var materialbehovsplanering, vilket innebär att planeringen av tillverkning och inköp baseras på kassadiskarnas produktstrukturer, lagersaldon och ledtider. ITAB producerade mellan 50-60 kassadiskar vid högsäsong och mellan 30-40 stycken vid lågsäsong. Vid insamlingen av dataunderlaget undersöktes tillverkningsorder som inte var startklara vid planerat startdatum. Detta gjordes genom daglig mätning, där samtliga tillverkningsorder inspekterades för att utläsa vilka komponenter som hade brist mot lager. Mätningarna visade att egenproducerade komponenter utgjorde drygt hälften av bristerna medan inköpta utgjorde ungefär en femtedel. Resterande brister berodde på så kallade fästelement, vilket är ett samlingsnamn för bland annat skruvar och muttrar. Dessa komponenter är lågvärdesartiklar och med hjälp av en bättre styrningsmetod skulle detta problemet kunna reduceras. Bättre rutiner för snabbinventering skulle behöva införas för att förhindra att minussaldon uppstår. Detta gäller inte enbart fästelement utan för samtliga artiklar i produktionen. För egenproducerade komponenter identifierades i vilka produktionsgrupper en störning i ledtiden först uppstod. För sex av dessa studerades rutinerna mer djupgående för att utreda varför störningar hade uppstått. De problem som identifierades var bland annat bristande rapporteringar och att data i Jeeves inte överensstämde med verkligheten. För två av produktionsgrupperna var den utförda arbetstiden mer än 50 respektive 80 procent längre än planerad. Detta medförde att planerad beläggning inte var tillförlitlig och operatörerna i dessa produktionsgrupper hade svårt att hinna med. För att förbättra detta och få en bättre planering bör regelbunden uppdatering av ställ- och stycktider utföras. Mätningarna visade även på tydliga felaktigheter mellan verkliga lagersaldon och de registrerade i Jeeves. En av anledningarna till detta var bristande rutiner vid kassationer. Då en kassation uppstod rapporterade operatören detta, men det kunde ta lång tid innan det noterades av produktionsplanerna på grund av hur planeringen i affärssystemet var uppbyggt. Eftersom produktionen var direkt kundorderstyrd innebar en kassation att en ny akut tillverkningsorder behövde släppas. Därför är det viktigt att dessa tidigt behandlas för att inte brist ska uppstå. Efter att en akutorder har släppts är det även viktigt att denna prioriteras i produktionen, vilket gjordes genom att produktionsledarna lämnade ut en lista till berörda produktionsgrupper. Detta skulle istället kunna göras med hjälp av Jeeves, eftersom systemet är försett med möjligheten att använda prioriteringskoder. Ett annat problem som identifierades i ett par produktionsgrupper var att körplanen som Jeeves utformat inte följdes. För plockning av material användes istället en lista baserad på när kundorder skulle vara klara. Detta medförde att material plockades samtidigt till monteringen och lackeringen, trots att lackering utförs innan montering. Därför bör truckförarna för kassadiskplocket följa körplanen för att säkerställa att material har plockats fram i rätt tidpunkt till respektive operation. För en av produktionsgrupperna var det svårt att följa körplanen och för att lösa detta behöver bättre förståelse för andras arbetsrutiner utvecklas hos personalen. Genom ett bättre samarbete mellan och inom produktionsgrupperna skulle det vara enklare för vissa produktionsgrupper att genomföra sitt arbete. För inköpta komponenter är det många variabler som påverkar och de problem som datainsamlingen påvisade var att inleveranser ofta blev stående i godsmottagningen. Detta medförde att materialet inte blev tillgängligt i affärssystemet även om det fysiskt fanns tillgängligt i produktionsanläggningen. En annan observation som gjordes var att material ofta beställdes till samma dag som det skulle användas i produktionen. Detta innebar att materialet behövde levereras i rätt tid från leverantörerna för att inte brist skulle uppstå. Eftersom ledtiderna för anskaffning av material var korta ställs större krav, något som inte återspeglades tillbaka på leverantörerna. Utifrån studiens resultat blev det tydligt att ITAB behöver fokusera mer på tillgänglighet av material. Därför kan det vara av intresse att undersöka huruvida det är ett felaktigt fokus i produktionen. Genom ITABs fokusering på leveransprecision och slutdatum uppstod suboptimering och operatörerna hade ingen helhetsuppfattning över tillgänglighet. Därför är det rimligt att fokusering på tillgänglighet och startdatum istället skulle skapa bättre balans i produktionen, vilket skulle kunna leda till ökad produktivitet. / ITAB Shop Concept is a multinational company that develops, manufactures, sells and installs interior design concepts and products to retail chain stores. A part of this production includes manufacturing of checkouts, which have complex product structures with hundreds of components. This thesis came to because ITAB experienced that components were missing at the start of the checkout assembly. The purpose of this thesis was to identify and analyze the causes of lead-time deviations that affect the availability of components to the assembly section at ITAB Shop Concept in Jönköping and give recommendations. The production of checkouts was completely customer-driven and the production planning was done with the ERP-system Jeeves Universal. The method used was material requirements planning, which base the production planning for purchasing and self-production on the product structures of the checkouts and also on inventory levels and lead times. ITAB produced between 50-60 checkouts at peak season and 30-40 in the off-season. To collect data material, every manufacturing order, which wasn’t ready to the planned start, was examined. This was done by making daily measurements, where all manufacturing orders were inspected to deduce which components had a shortage of stock. The measurements showed that self-produced components contributed to slightly more than half of the shortages while purchased components constituted of approximately one-fifth. The remaining shortages were due to screws and brackets. These components are low-cost products and by using a better inventory control method, the risk of shortages for these could be reduced. Better procedures for rapid update of inventory would also be necessary in order to prevent the occurrence of negative inventory balance. This applies not only to screws and brackets but for all components in the production. For self-produced components, production groups could be identified where a disturbance in lead-time first emerged. For six of these, routines where examined in more detail to investigate why the disturbance had occurred. The problems that were identified were for instance lack of reporting and that the data in Jeeves didn’t correspond to the reality. For two of the production groups, the reported work time was more than 50 percent and 80 percent longer than planned. This meant that scheduled availability was unreliable and the operators of these production groups had a hard time keeping up. To improve this and get a better production plan, planned work time and setup time should be regularly updated. The measurements also showed clear errors between actual inventory levels and the levels registered in Jeeves. One reason for this was found to be inadequate procedures for wasting. When wastage occurred, the operator reported this but then it could take a while before the production planner noted this because of how the planning was structured in the ERP-system. Since production was directly customer-driven, a new urgent manufacturing order had to be released. Therefore it’s important that these cases are noted early to avoid that shortages occur. When an urgent manufacturing order has been released, it’s also important that this order is prioritized within the production. At the time of this thesis, this was done by the production managers who gave out a list of urgent orders to the production groups. This could instead be performed with the help of Jeeves, as the system already is equipped with the ability to use priority codes. Another problem that was identified in a few productions groups was that the dispatch list that Jeeves generated wasn’t followed. Instead the operators in charge of transporting components to the assembly section and painting area used a list based on the orders completion date. This meant that the components were delivered at the same time to both these production groups, even though the painting should be done before the assembly takes place. Therefore, truck drivers for checkout components should follow the dispatch list in order to make sure that materials are transported to the correct operation at the correct time. Although, for one of the operations, it would be difficult to follow the dispatch list because many orders are combined. To solve this, personnel need to have better understanding of each other’s work routines. Through better collaborations between and within the productions groups, a better work situation could evolve. For purchase components, there are many variables that influence and one of the problems that were identified was that deliveries often were left standing in the receiving area. This meant that the material wasn’t available in the ERP-system even though the material was available within the production plant. Another observation that was made was that materials often were ordered to the same day it would be used in the production. This meant that the material had to be delivered on time from suppliers in order to avoid that shortages would occur. Given that the lead times for procurement of materials were short, it requires higher demands. These demands were not reflected back to the suppliers, which should be the case. Based on the results of this study, it became clear that ITAB has to focus more on the availability of materials. Therefore, it may be of interest to investigate whether right focus is used or not. While ITAB is focusing on delivery precision and completion dates, the operations were sub-optimized and the operators didn’t have a whole view of the material flow. It is therefore reasonable to believe that focus on availability and start date instead would create a better balance in the material flow, which could lead to increased productivity.