The development of productivity in the construction industry has long been at a steady state compared to the manufacturing industry. Studies have shown that, amongst other things, waste on construction sites can reach up to one third of the total production cost. This has been observed from different aspects, and change is forthcoming.This thesis aims to provide a foundation for an increased productivity at production sites of building bridges. It is primarily based on a field study at Skanska, at a bridge construction site near Grängesberg. Via continuous interviews with the whole production crew, construction workers and management, information on interference and possibilities of improvement at the work site has been documented.

In 2005, Outokumpu began to implement its system of Continuous improvement, OK> 1, at Avesta Jernverk. OK> 1 has not generated sufficient results on plant KPI:s. The purpose of this study is to identify the understanding,  participation and commitment regarding to OK> 1, and to suggest some actions to make OK> 1 more successful with emphasis on these three aspects. The thesis shall also determine whether there are any differences in the attitude towards OK>1 between Blue Collars and White Collars.The study consisted of a survey, and interviews. The output from these methods were processed and analyzed and finally resulted in a SWOT ? analysis and suggested actions for improving the understanding, participation and commitment towards OK>1.

Many companies are currently working to optimize and streamline their processes and production lines to achieve higher profitability. In increasingly competitive markets, companies are working to find solutions to increase the value of their production with such a small use of resources as possible. A tool used to accomplish this is the Lean management system. Lean comes from the production system that Toyota has been developing since the early 1900's, The Toyota Production System (TPS). The Lean philosophy helps companies, by working towards Continuous improvement in its operations, to achieve higher customer satisfaction, more efficient production and ultimately higher profitability. Many companies are working to implement Lean in their organization. But there are many who fail to implement a complete change towards Lean.

We were commissioned by Bulten Stainless AB to identify and analyze their customer order flow. Because the company had problems with delays in the production and deliveries to the customer, the task also included investigation of how the company work with prevention and management of delays. The purpose of the project also included to identify critical factors for effective order flow in smaller workshop companies.The information about the flow and how the work takes place within the company were collected through observations on the company and interviews with the staff. This information was used to draw maps over the customer order flow and to write a description of the current situation within the company. Both strengths and weaknesses of the companies work could be identified through analysis of the present situation.

Trioplanex International AB is a part of the group Trioplast Industrier AB, which produces packaging materials for the film and hygiene industry. The group is active throughout Europe, where most of the production is located in Sweden, with head office in Smålandsstenar. Operations in Landskrona consist of Trioplanex International AB and Trioplast Landskrona.Semi-finished articles consisting of paper cores, so called bobbins, give rise to a high amount of core waste in any form of core cutting. The objective of the report is to map out all core waste and illustrate the material flow with regard to present layout and equipment.In the beginning of the project an analysis of the current process was carried out with focus on the cutting equipment. A case study in the form of an improvement work took place in order to reduce the causes which had the biggest impact on existing machinery.Improvement proposals were discussed by the author together with supervisor, assigner and other parties involved.

Grus i maskineriet ? en fallstudie om förbättringspotentialVäxeln AB, a company that provide sales, service and repair of industry gears, has contacted the authors of the essay and asked us to investigate in which areas of the company that has improvement potential. Persistent improvement is a recurring and up-to-date issue that many business leaders not put enough resources on. A big problem in many companies is the issue that there is no comprehensive view and therefore some of the workers tend to not follow the routines that are required for the whole system to work.The goal with the essay is to give Växeln AB advice on to which areas in the company that have improvement potential.We have used a qualitative method with mainly semi-structured interviews which has led to an inductive approach. 13 co-workers that work in different areas of Växeln AB have taken part in the interviews.

This thesis investigates lacks in today?s use of the ERP-system Mapaz Affärssystem inthe production planning at Solna Pressgjuteri, and possible improvements. Today thedates calculated by the program to plan the orders are inaccurate and the ordersequence is not optimal, and therefore continuous manual corrections are needed.The approach was to study the program Mapaz to understand how it works, andidentify available parameters for input and output in the different tools offered in theprogram. By studying old lists of planned orders and relevant parameters in Mapaz forindividual orders, production groups, products and operations, the connectionbetween input and output parameters could be understood.Participating in planning meetings and discussions with the company behind theERP-system identified the current usage, desideratum and possibilities with theavailable tools. These were then matched to describe the reasons to the insufficientplanning and form possible actions for improvement.The work has showed poor understanding for the ERP-system and its functions, assome tools intended to assist the planning were not used, and some even usedincorrectly.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there were any differences in how first-line managers within   municipal care   rated their management leadership qualities, and structural empowerment before and after the course in "leadership, learning and improvement". The study had a quasi-experimental design and 64 managers participated. There was a significant improvement in the LaMI factor ?Achievement orientation?, after participation in the course "leadership, learning and improvement". In other factors, there was no significant difference before and after training.

In process oriented organizations, it is important to have well-functioning work processes tosupport the work being performed. In order to accomplish this, the organization has to makecertain decisions regarding the design and usage of the processes. This master thesis is based ona case study of a work process that is being used for the industrialization of products at Ericssonin Katrineholm. The aim of the study is twofold. One aim is to improve the studied process byidentifying improvement opportunities and carrying out the required adjustments.

AbstractThe overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate to what extent new research findings, in neuroscience and learning, may be useful in a school improvement context. In a qualitative interview study combined with questionnaire, we have investigated the approach to school improvement that exists in a municipality. Informants have been head teachers in preschool and primary school, special education teachers in a student health team and a development manager. The outcome of the study showed that all of the study participants, all of which have a formal mandated to work for school improvement occurs. It also shows that informants, according to their professional position, express different goals when relating to school improvement.

This report is a study made at Pallco AB. Pallco is a subcontractor that is specialized on steel and aluminium components.The aim of the report is to show an improvement proposal that leads to a reduction of the storage and improve the flow through the production of one item that is a part of a product that Pallco manufactures.With the increasing competition from other countries who can manufacture with lower costs must Swedish companies try to make theirs manufacturing as efficient as possible and remove all waste. By using the tools of Lean Production it is possible to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency.The method we used is value stream mapping. A map of the present condition has been made and then different improvement proposal were discussed. A map of a future condition has also been designed..

ABB Capacitors Ludvika started their LEAN-project in november 2010, but still has not the whole factory been introduced to the LEAN-tool called 5S. 5S is only implemented on the ?easiest? work-areas.By implementing 5S, at the workingstation called inburkningen, would make the workstation and the area around it much more structured, clean and systematized. The operators are a little bit skeptical to the work that includes Continuous improvement today, because they can not see any progresses. If 5S were implememted the operators would be able to avoid searching for tools because with 5S, each tool will have a specified place at the workstation.5S would simplify the cooperation between the shifts, because 5S includes clear instructions for how the workstations will be cleaned after each shift.This report will include my recommendations, thoughts and opinions regarding however ABB Capacitors Ludvika should implement or not implement the LEAN-tool 5S.

This report deals with the performance of a batch flow treatment of landfillleachate compared with a continuous flow system. The parameters in focus were total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), BOD5 and COD. The pilot-scale experiment used eight barrels with a volume of 150 liters. Each barrel was constructed differently concerning its flow, its bed material grain size and its presence of plants or not. Four of the barrels worked in batch mode, thus four in continuous flow mode.

Today's fierce competition means that companies constantly must develop their business and internal processes. Focus on processes and Continuous improvement is something that characterizes Lean Production which ICA logistics are applying with their concept Leading Logistics. Standardized routines for handling damaged gods were insufficient at the ICA distribution center in Kungälv. Handling and registration of damaged gods were not performed uniformly, resulting in problems with controlling and monitoring the process.The purpose of this thesis was to analyze and make recommendations how the process of internal handling of damaged gods could be improved. Therefore a comprehensive understanding was needed of the entire material flow through the warehouse and important quality aspects such as product safety and delivery reliability.The methods used are literature reviews, interviews and observations to produce a comprehensive process mapping of the current situation at the distribution center.

The role distribution between designers and product coordinators and the system support between these roles are adapted according to the method of working that product models primarily are created for production and after sales market. At the same time models are also created to support a cross-functional way of working. This means that product structures exists on paper and as CAD-models before they are created in Scanias PDM-system environment which leads to unnecessary work and to information not being shared as early as it should be possible.A theoretical study has been performed with the purpose of understanding the problems and to create a foundation for improvement suggestions. Representatives from both roles have been interviewed together with other individuals with insight in the collaboration. A minor study concerning the roles of interests? collaboration at Volvo CC was also performed to be able to relate the study to another company.