The core sheet metal at ABB Power Grids in Ludvika is transported between two workstations, the core cutting and the core stacking. The current method for transportation is carried out with overhead cranes and a mobile part connected to the core stacking station. The workstations are placed between a traffic route which makes the transportation very time consuming. The Purpose of this thesis is to develop different transport solutions that will result in a more efficient and secure transport of core sheet metal. Through alternative solutions to the existing one the transport of core sheet metal between two stations will be more efficient and secure. The main problem is that there is a critical area that must be free when no transport is being carried out. Qualitative surveys in the form of interviews with staff and observations through videos were used to build understanding of the problem. Based on interviews and analysis a design specification was developed for a new transport solution. The suggestions in this report is transportation with an AGV, forklift, conveyor belt or automatic conveyor system. By putting the different alternatives against each other in Pugh's matrix it proved that transport using a conveyor belt is the most efficient and safe solution. Different conveyor belt-concepts were developed and later evaluated in Pugh's matrix to determine which concept is most appropriate for ABB. The result was a conveyor belt built in sections where one part of the conveyor belt is tilted up like a bridge opening. The time for transport can be significantly reduced and the payback period for this investment of SEK 420,000 is 12–15 months. / På ABB Power Grids i Ludvika sker förflyttning av kärnplåt mellan två arbetsstationer, klippning och kärnläggning. Idag utförs transporten med hjälp av traverser och en utskjutande del från kärnläggningsstationen. Stationerna är placerade på varsin sida av byggnaden samt att en transportgång går mellan arbetsstationerna. Detta medför att förflyttningen blir väldigt tidskrävande. Syftet med examensarbetet är att ta fram lösningsförslag som medför en mer effektiv och säker transport av kärnplåt. Genom alternativa lösningar till den som finns idag ska transporten av kärnplåt mellan två stationer bli mer effektiv och säker. För att bygga förståelse kring problemet utfördes kvalitativa undersökningar i form av intervjuer med berörd personal och observationer i form av videogranskning. För att bygga förståelse i hur processen såg ut användes ingenjörsmässiga metoder i form av en processflödesanalys för att kunna analysera den befintliga transporten. Utifrån intervjuer och analysen togs en kravspecifikation fram för en ny transportlösning. Lösningsförslagen denna rapport lyfter fram är förflyttning med en AGV, gaffeltruck, transportband eller automatiska transportörsystem. Genom att ställa dem olika alternativen mot varandra i Pughs matris visade det sig att lösningsförslaget med hjälp av ett transportband är den mest effektiva och säkra lösningen för ABB. Sedan togs olika koncept på transportband fram som kunde appliceras mellan de två stationerna och utvärderades i Pughs matris. Resultatet blev ett transportband byggt i sektioner där en del av transportbandet tiltas upp likt en broöppning. Tiden för transport kan avsevärt minskas och återbetalningstiden för denna investering på 420 000kr är 12–15 månader.

Companies are pressured by dynamic markets and the increase of innovation speed, technology change and shortening of product life cycles. They need to attend to customer demands and ever-changing environmental conditions, policies and regulations set by governments and institutions in order to stay relevant on the market and be allowed to operate. Innovation has therefore become a must and the innovation processes are a central part of companies’ operations. Futures studies is presented as a systematic way of studying the future that can contribute to a better understanding of the needed direction of innovations. The aim of the study is to investigate how futures studies can be embodied in the innovation process of manufacturing companies in the industry of rail and road vehicles. The structure of an innovation process within the industry of rail and road vehicles is summarized to consist of three different phases: the fuzzy-front-end, the development and the maintenance. The innovation process is further divided by the components of the product and during the entire process there are decision points to evaluate the projects. The organizational aspects which are considered to have the most influence on the innovation process concern the company environment and internal knowledge sharing. Futures studies are moderately performed at different stages of the innovation process and levels of the organization, mainly at corporate level and in the fuzzy-front-end. The people involved in these activities are solely employees from the company in question and the main issue found regarding the activities of futures studies is that the results of the foresight are not communicated properly across the company. Two ways in which futures studies can be embodied in the innovation process are identified to create more high-quality ideas and to tune the product during the process according to the future market, with a third way ensuring alignment with corporate level.  A recommendation is presented consisting of a scenario workshop which enables for futures studies to be embodied in the innovation process of manufacturing companies. Activities and pointers for prior, during and after the workshop are presented. The results of the workshop will further be embodied in the innovation process in three different ways, in the beginning, alongside and as a basis for the corporate strategy.

Under vårterminen 2020 förändrades arbetsvillkoren för universitets- och högskoleanställda när regeringen införde ett krav på utökat distansarbete i samband med coronaviruset. Arbetet inom akademin beskrivs redan innan kravet som gränslöst och förknippat med hög arbetsbelastning. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur kravet på utökat distansarbete i samband med coronaviruset har påverkat universitets- och högskoleanställdas uppfattningar om work-life balance samt krav, kontroll och socialt stöd i arbetet, och även om det finns skillnader gällande dessa avseenden mellan olika yrkeskategorier. Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ ansats och empirin har samlats in genom webbenkäter. Resultatet analyserades utifrån kravkontroll och socialt stöd-modellen samt utifrån teori kring rollkonflikter. Resultatet tyder på att kravet på utökat distansarbete främst har uppfattats negativt och resulterat i högre krav på den anställde, försämrad work-life balance, övertidsarbete, och mer arbete på kvällar och helger. Störst negativ förändring har den yrkeskategori som bedriver undervisning och forskning upplevt. Vad som framkom i resultatet är också att variabler som avsett att mäta kontroll i arbetet; krav på påhittighet och krav på skicklighet, istället verkade uppfattas som krav. Det finns anledning att anta att de nya arbetsformerna skapat ökade krav i sig, oberoende av om arbetet skulle skett på distans eller inte, vilket kan påverka work-life balance och hur anställda förlägger sin arbetstid. Samtidigt finns det även anledning att tro att det utökade distansarbetet i samband med de nya arbetsformernas införande också kan ha skapat ökade krav i arbetet, minskat socialt stöd och en försämrad work-life balance. Studiens resultat tyder på att kravet på utökat distansarbete har påverkat universitets- och högskoleanställdas uppfattningar om work-life balance, samt krav, kontroll och socialt stöd i arbetet.

As a general rule, companies have focused most of their improvement initiatives in manufacturing and operations, leaving their internal service processes behind. This study presents a FRACAS process which is underperforming in terms of lead time. The process is studied in detail and the people who work with it were interviewed to find out how they think the process inhibits their work. The contribution this study makes is that it provides an example of what lean FRACAS could mean. The studied process presents itself as non-compliant with what the employees wish from such a process. This in turn causes these employees to underperform since they think that the process does not seem to provide value to neither themselves nor the customers.

A broad research foundation exists on Lean management in the manufacturing context. Furthermore, the implementation of Lean in product development is discussed by an increasing number of publications. Yet, little documentation of the specific application in product development testing has been published. This master thesis provides insights into the specific environment of product development testing and the application of Lean methods.   Utilizing a systematic literature research, the beginning of this work elaborates principles of case study research, the context of testing as part of product development and the Lean management framework. The findings are synthesized into a priori construct for the case research. Main pillar for this construct is the value stream mapping method. It combines the analysis of the current state, the development of the future state and a strategy for the implementation of improvements.   Central part of this thesis is the in-depth case study of a global operating manufacturing company in the off-highway machinery market. Three product development testing sites were visited by the author in order to apply the previously defined case study framework. Through cross case analysis common process characteristics of the current state are derived. From a micro level perspective the relations within and across the testing process are shown.   Needs, values, wastes, interruptions and other process parameters are systematically analyzed; improvements are elaborated and prioritized to develop a common future state for the testing process. A partial takt time driven test process could be developed. To visualize the process task boards were introduced and the value stream map was digitalized and connected to a management information system. The systematic understanding of information needs is a major part of the future state. A possible implementation strategy is presented in this thesis.

Innovation is a key factor for economic development and growth, and firms need to continuously innovate in order to stay competitive. However, innovation is complicated in today’s markets as there are many different aspects for companies to manage. The very first phase of innovation, the fuzzy front end (FFE), is critical and this phase presents one of the greatest opportunities of improvement for the overall innovation process. Yet, the research on this phase is limited. The new product development (NPD) and the FFE are different from each other and require different ways of thinking and working. The FFE is the phase that takes place before the structured NPD phase and it aims to develop a sustainable flow of ideas. All innovations are born as creative ideas and creativity is the production of new and useful ideas. Many stress the importance of the environmental variable climate as important for creativity and innovation. This thesis is a case study which aimed to investigate the climate for creativity and innovation at an innovation department at Arla Foods Sweden. The innovation department is working successfully with NPD but lately, the ideas that the innovation department has produced have been rather few and not good enough for the results they want to achieve. Therefore, this case study had the overall goal to find improvements areas regarding the climate for creativity and innovation in the FFE. In order to investigate the climate an established instrument, a questionnaire, was utilized. This gave an initial diagnosis of the climate for creativity and innovation at the department. Thereafter, interviews were carried out with each of the members of the department to gain in- depth understanding of the current climate. Additional interviews at Arla Foods were carried out to provide the results with a wider picture. Moreover two projects which took place in the FFE were observed to get insight of how professional consultants work with creating a favorable climate. The two managers of these projects were also interviewed. The results of this thesis revealed that the current climate is relatively favorable for working in the NPD while it is not favorable for the FFE. Thus, it was indicated that additional requirements are placed on a climate that are to be favorable for creativity and innovation in the FFE. For this specific case study, a number of dimensions (risk taking, idea time, dynamism/liveliness, playfulness/humor, idea support and encouragement, debates, and discussion) and underlying factors (input and inspiration, idea process, and clarity) that could be improved at the Innovation department were identified.

Competitive systems for manufacturing, especially assembly systems, have to cope with frequent changes of external as well as internal demands. A proactive behaviour in an assembly system should make it capable of rapid changes and have an ability to handle frequent changes and disturbances. During recent decades several different system theories have occurred of which the majority remained theories never taken to actual production solutions. The thesis presents results from four case studies.   It is suggested, that the proactivity of an assembly system is strongly influenced by the system’s ability to change the three parameters: 1) level of automation, 2) level of information, 3) level of competence[l3]  (among the operators in a defined work area).   Proactivity is not easy to describe. However, this[l4]  thesis has taken a step in that direction. A general definition of proactivity is “taking action by causing change towards a state and not only reacting to change when it happens”. Another way to phrase this is "to be anticipatory and taking charge of situations”. Proactivity can be described as the ability of preparation for: - Changes and disturbance during operation; - Planned long-term evolution for a sustainable and perfect production system.   Such a system consists of technical components efficiently integrated with human operators and has the ability to handle frequent changes. Proactivity in an assembly system is dependent on the following factors: -         Continuous changes; -         Mandate to allocate resources; -         Mandate to do short term planning. The thesis presents a first model for evaluation of different technical resources that contributes to an overall proactive system behaviour. The model has been published but not yet tested. / QC 20120119

This thesis presents a product development project done at Scania Ferruform in Luleå. The process that was used is called Stage-Gating which means that the project is divided into gates. The gates used in this project were the following: Planning, Concept development, Ergonomic analysis, Analysis of culture and work environment, Refinement & Documentation. The purpose was to generate concepts that lowers the overall load on the operators at the crossmember painting lines unloading station, to better the production. The subsystems investigated in this project were the following: Trolley, Hooks, Lifting table (+Control panel) & Pallets (Packaging). The mission from Scania was to analyse, concept generate, find tools and solutions to the crossmember painting line. The aim was to deliver: Foundation of product development regarding the unloading station, Ergonomic evaluations of the chosen concept towards today’s station, Analysis of work environment and culture & Report. The project was started by interviewing operators and leaders to get a clear picture of the current situation and what has been done so far. The method to reach the desired solutions consists mainly of concept generation. To evaluate and choose concept, Screening and Scoring was used which ensures that the best possible concept is chosen. The chosen concept that is called Concept 3 includes 14 new functions where some functions are more important than others. The results show that Concept 3 will perform 30–60 % better regarding ergonomics than today’s station. It also shows that at the average of the amount of lifts per takt, the ergonomic evaluation get a red evaluation in the zones where the operators work the most. Culture and work environment shows that skepticism towards the management is deeply rooted in the culture which leads to a worker collective to form. In turn, this leads to that unhealthy working conditions is enforced by the culture itself. More results can be seen in the section Results & Discussion. One of the most important conclusions is that even if the chosen concept improves the ergonomics, it does not eliminate the extreme loads and the extent of beams the operators are lifting daily. Even with proof of improvement, it is impossible to eliminate the immense load — which leads to that something else than the operator have to take up the force of the beams. Manual handling is therefore not an option to consider.

In almost all supply chains, materials need to be stored or buffered, implying that manufacturing companies need effective replenishment methods. However, this is challenging, since companies must balance inventory costs and customer service in complex and different situations. Therefore, it is important to choose replenishment methods carefully. One well-known and widespread method is Material Requirements Planning (MRP). But the method has problems, such as regarding volume flexibility. There are other methods, but the literature lacks case studies and detailed descriptions and analysis of them, especially for visually oriented methods. Therefore, it is important to explore different methods for materials supply. The purpose of this study is to analyze the application of visually oriented replenishment methods in manufacturing industry and further to design a tentative decision tool for selecting methods. The research aims to provide some answers to three key questions. The first research question concerns general factors that are important for evaluating how effective replenishment methods are. From the literature review, different factors emerged such as product characteristics (fit in the Kraljic matrix, volume issues, size, etc.); information, trust, and geographical proximity between supplier and customer; and different logistics goals (delivery service elements, tied-up capital, use of resources, inventory accuracy). It is also import to include the basic principles methods are related to. The factors were summarized in an analysis model, which is structured with three main areas (planning environment/conditions, basic principles, and effects). The model is used to analyze four case studies. The  second research  question focuses  on  the  characteristics for  visually orientedreplenishment methods. Examples of characteristics are: easy to understand and operate, offers uncomplicated flows, substantially applicable for noncritical and leverage parts with high yearly requirement and fairly even consumption, provides potential for  reduced  errors  in  stores/flows, potential for  providing high  delivery service and low levels of tied-up capital and resource utilization. The third research question focuses on what a tentative decision tool for selecting replenishment methods might look like, based on the factors that emerged from the other research questions and studies by others. In order to achieve an efficient materials supply, companies need to consider these factors when selecting replenishment methods. The decision tool consists of different steps, considering aspects of the planning environment/conditions in relation to the product and the supplier. The importance of the companies’ goals/motives for materials supply must also be assessed. The output from the decision tool is appropriate replenishment methods. / <p>QC 20130603</p>

Improved use of resources is of enormously high relevance and crucial for achieving as well as maintaining a sustainable condition. Especially industrial production has a superior responsibility in creating a long-term viable way of living. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation procedures for operational resources in production systems, meaning product material, energy, equipment and humans. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises, representing the largest number of all companies in Europe, are mostly not able to deal with these kinds of issues in addition to their daily business. The purpose of this licentiate thesis is the investigation for and development of an evaluation approach for resource efficiency and effectiveness in small and medium-sized enterprises. Two literature reviews and one industrial case study have been carried out. To start with, the first  literature  review  founds a theoretical  basis  for  the meaning of resource efficiency and effectiveness. The second literature review investigates latest measures and approaches for production system evaluation. In the next step an evaluation approach for resource efficiency and effectiveness evaluation in small and medium-sized enterprises is developed and tested within a single case study. The result consists of a comprehensive approach for small and medium-sized enterprises with focus on economic short-term and long-term improvements. / <p>QC 20140416</p>