In early January 2010 the authors participated in a meeting with the chief engineer for a company in which a central part is manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCB). At this meeting it emerged that the machinery and production methods have changed substantially since the early 1990's. The spreadsheet for preliminary production time calculations by the company is today based on conditions from almost 20 years ago. The company has over the years been trying to adjust the spreadsheet template. The result of these adjustments has filled it with historical residue, something which makes the template difficult and time consuming when the primary user tries to handle it.The purpose of this study was to help the company increase its accuracy in the representation of the production times for the different PCB-based products by developing a new costing model based on an already existing but inadequate spreadsheet template. The company also expressed the wish that the new costing model would be less time consuming to work with.The methods used to achieve the goal are interviewing, participatory observations and meetings with relevant persons. The data obtained were analyzed using the theory on PCB production and visualization of data.

Syfte - Syftet med studien är att få en djupare insikt i sambandet mellan ledarskap och de faktorer som bidrar till ökat engagemang hos medarbetarna i arbetet med ständiga förbättringar. Studien riktar sig mot ett mellanstort industriföretag som implementerat lean production.Design/ metod - I vår undersökning valde vi att göra en kvalitativ fallstudie. Data samlades in i ett svenskt industriföretag. Totalt har 7 intervjuer genomförts.Undersökningsresultat - Resultatet vi kom fram till är att medarbetarna är i låg utsträckning delaktiga i förbättringsarbetet. Tidigare forskning visar att medarbetare som är delaktiga i beslut är också mer engagerade i arbetet.Metodkritik ? Resultatet speglar enbart subjektiva bedömningar och de studerade variablerna bygger på respondenternas uppfattningar.

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 essay is an analysis of the theatrical and dramatic aspects to a playtext. Based on the production and manuscript Rhubarb by Maria Blom.With the essay I intend to answer the following questions: What happens to the manuscript Rhubarb during the transformation from being a dramatic text to becoming a theatrical text? What are the similarities and differences between reading a manuscript and watching the performance of a play?The essay is based on literature, two interviews with Maria Blom and the manuscript to Rhubarb by Maria Blom. Besides two versions of the script I also had the opportunity to watch videotaped material from the original production. And I compared the original cast of Rhubarb with twoamateurproductions of the play..

This thesis deals with the concept of soft balancing, traditionally defined as the diplomatic means of restraining a dominant state's ability to exercise its military power. As the dominant power in today's unipolar system, the United States, and other states? behaviour towards it, is the focus of analysis. The aim of this thesis is to explore the possibilities of developing the concept of soft balancing so as to include strategies to restrain also the political and economic capabilities of a dominant power. The thesis also considers the possibilities of soft balancing that small states ? to a large extent overlooked in existing theories on the subject - can possess.As a state with policies that aim to reduce the U.S.

Abstract Title: Veckorevyn.com. A study from power relations in the world of blogs Author: Klara Sigfridsson Department for Media and Cultural Studies, Malmö Högskola Tutor: Kristoffer Gansing This is a report that aims to research upon Fairclough´s Critical discourse analysis to emphasise the power relationship between professional bloggers and former amateur bloggers at the fashion-entertainment web page Veckorevyn.com. Professional bloggers as they appear in the research object and their power within the Media seem to be a subject that is very relevant these days. This paper will look at different factors that make professional bloggers popular and as an example on their responsibility as a role model. However, amateur bloggers do have an importance in this discussion as they are more and more competing with the professionals.

This degree project aims to evaluate alternative methods to the unanaesthetized castration of piglets. Castration of piglets is performed to prevent the development of boar taint. Boar taint can cause great financial losses for the pig manufacturer. Unanaesthetized castration of piglets is not regarded to be satisfactory from an animal welfare perspective and the procedure will for that reason be outlawed in the near future.Several alternative methods are used in countries all over the world with promising result. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if this methods could be applied in Swedish pig production.A literature study has been combined with interviews; field studies, questionnaires and a small study on male pig production.To be applicable to and applied in Swedish pig production the alternative method must be financially accepted by the manufacturers but also accepted from an animal welfare perspective.Castration is the only way to guarantee a meat free of boar taint.

Most of the clothes sold in Europe today are produced in developing countries where the production costs are lower. The exploitation of the developing countries has led to that the inferior working conditions in these countries have attracted attention from media and NGOs. Globalisation makes company activities more transparent and the absence of transnational laws calls for alternative regulations. Many companies in Europe has since mid 1990s developed codes of conduct to satisfy the demands of external and internal stakeholders. EU also brought Corporate Social Responsibility to it?s agenda in the beginning of the 2000s and subsequently signals of approaching laws were given.

Algal bloom is a naturally occurring phenomenon and occurs in all waters around the world but in recent years, algal bloom in the Baltic Sea has become more massive and more widely spread. When an algal bloom negative effects on the seawater quality, it may have an impact on tourism in the Baltic Sea. The aim of this thesis is to study, through a survey based on a production function approach, whether an environmental change as algal blooms, influenced the Gotland tourist accommodation industry and their "production of attractive overnight? in the summer of 2005. The results show that algal blooms did not have a great impact on companies ?production of attractive accommodations".

I Sverige används det idag cirka 5,4% förnybara drivmedel inom transportsektorn, att jämföra med under 0,5% år 2000. Av de ickefossila drivmedlen är el något som ofta benämns som en permanent och realistisk framtida lösning. Visionen ?Stockholm ? Elbilsstad 2030? drivs av Stockholms Stad i samarbete med Fortum AB i syfte att ersätta den fossilbränsleslukande fordonsflottan.I den här studien undersöks de tekniska förutsättningarna och de eventuella vinsterna av ett storskaligt införande av elbilar. Studien har gjorts genom en modellering där parametrar som elbilens prestanda, elpris, bilens inköpspris och totala utsläpp använts.

Most of the clothes sold in Europe today are produced in developing countries where the production costs are lower. The exploitation of the developing countries has led to that the inferior working conditions in these countries have attracted attention from media and NGOs. Globalisation makes company activities more transparent and the absence of transnational laws calls for alternative regulations. Many companies in Europe has since mid 1990s developed codes of conduct to satisfy the demands of external and internal stakeholders. EU also brought Corporate Social Responsibility to it?s agenda in the beginning of the 2000s and subsequently signals of approaching laws were given.

Because of the increasing trends in energy consumption and increased environmental awareness, greater focus has been placed on improvement and development of renewable energy sources. An already proven and accepted method is biogas production from anaerobic digestion at municipal wastewater treatment plants.In the waste water treatment process solid material and dissolved pollutants are separated from the water, forming a sludge. The sludge is separated from the process and stabilized during anaerobic digestion or aerobic aeration. Most often, mesophilic anaerobic digestion is used. Because of degradation by microorganisms, biogas with a high content of methane is formed during the digestion.

Today there is a limited demand for quality certified cereal in Sweden. The demand can in the future increase and become a requirement for the entire market. Since the first of January 2005, grain producers in Sweden are food producers and traceability is important for the food industry. It is possible for grain producers to certify the productions under the certification IP SIGILL. The purpose of this essay is to explore why some grain producers continue to be certified while other producers end the IP SIGILL certification.

The actual project presents the development of a testing rig for a steam engine. A short overviewabout the development of steam engines is presented, until arriving to the development of thepresent engine, which will require to be tested in different ways.The testing rig studied on this project (based on a Lanchester engine) will be used to testdifferent materials and layouts for the group Piston-Cylinder.The engine is a high performance steam power engine, which is going to have a highpower/dimensions ratio, what will lead to require high performance components and materials.An introduction to the testing rig is presented, and the entire design project is done in order toreplace the disappeared documentation of the current testing rig, built on the 1970?s. Also somemodifications done in the original testing rig are presented, as well as some detected problemsand their possible solutions..

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..