The different aspects of each individual construction project such as the general conditions, design and economic restrictions as well as many more factors mean it is difficult to standardize building processes or plan in detail based on past experiences. As a result operational efficiency is often reduced, and unnecessary waste is generated. To make an organization more efficient and therefore reduce waste production everybody involved needs to appreciate and understand the improvements that can increase the organization?s efficiency. To investigate these improvements a time study was performed on two different construction sites, both of which involved buildings being constructed of prefabricated steel and concrete elements.

This study aims to evaluate the value relevance of Piotroski?s (2000) nine fundamental signals. In order to do this, the signals are tested on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm between the years 2003 and 2009. The hypotheses of the study are whether the signals are value relevant and if the value relevance has changed. To test this, a Chi-square test and a regression are used.

As a result of global competition, companies within the automotive industry are required to improve their production systems to achieve sustainable and competitive production. To attain operational excellence, companies have adopted concepts like lean and World Class Manufacturing (WCM).In order to deliver, companies need to increase the availability and reliability of production equipment. This demands focus on both operational and strategic maintenance, and efficient equipment acquisition and management. The main objective of this thesis is to identify processes and success factors that are necessary for improved maintenance performance. By conducting a case study and by performing a literature review, the following has been studied: 1) how companies within the automotive industry work with maintenance and maintenance strategies, 2) implementation of maintenance strategies, and 3) new acquisition and spare parts management for maintenance. The results show that basic maintenance concepts and related terms are well defined in the literature.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och klarlägga relationsmarknadsföring som ett verktyg i ett företag inom hemelektronikbranschen, samt ta reda på betydelsen av CRM, service management och relationsbildningar för företaget. Vi har valt att använda oss av det kvalitativa tillvägagångssättet där intervjuer med företagets anställda har gjorts. Studien är baserad utifrån ett abduktivt angreppssätt.Eftersom studien är kvalitativ har forskningsfrågorna inte kunnat besvaras med konkreta svar utan snarare bredare svar med djup som gett oss förståelse över hur relationsmarknadsföring, CRM, relationer och service management rent praktiskt går till väga. Studien har visat att det förekommer relationer mellan säljare och kund i hemelektronikföretaget men att det inte ses som något direkt marknadsföringsverktyg. Studien har visat att de teoretiska begreppen använts praktisk sätt men inte i de teoretiska termerna.

Natural disasters are becoming more common due to climate change and it is important to adapt the society and its infrastructure to withstand events such as extreme rainfall. Precipitation is an important climatic factor affecting the transport and annually generates the cost of millions in damages, over the past 40 years heavy rain has increased and will continue to increase in the future. The extreme rainfall that occurred in Kramfors municipality in September 2013 led to flooding and destroyed several roads, including highway 90, which recently both had been rebuilt and given a new stretch of road. Extreme rainfall had also occurred in the municipality earlier.  The aim of the thesis was to examine how the Swedish Transport Administration handles new knowledge gained after natural disasters and how this is used in the planning of new roads.

Syftet med studien var att ta reda på om ungdomar vet skillnaden mellan public service och kommersiella kanaler. Vi ville även ta reda på vad det är som skiljer public service och kommersiella kanaler åt i medvetandet hos ungdomarna, som speglas ireceptionen av olika typer av serier?I studien har vi tillämpat kvalitativ metod i form av receptionsforskning, där intervjuer och observationer har utförts.Resultatet av studien visar att 20 av 25 respondenter tillhörde kategorierna: respondent medveten samt respondent något medveten. Resultaten visar att ungdomar är medvetna om vad skillnaden mellan public service och kommersiella kanaler är. De diskuterar ledigt och öppet kring de olika kanalernas programutbud.

I den här uppsatsen kommer fenomenet god service att studeras utifrån snabbmatsrestauranger. Frågeställningen som uppsatsen behandlar är: hur får företag servicemotvillig personal att leverera god service? Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva hur företag inom snabbmatsbranschen arbetar för att motivera och utbilda oerfaren personal för att kunna leverera god service. Då uppsatsen skapat ett nytt empirisk begrepp började studierna ute på fältet. Fältarbetet bestod av observationer samt intervjuer med både restaurangchefer och frontlinepersonal på snabbmatsrestauranger.

The different aspects of each individual construction project such as the general conditions, design and economic restrictions as well as many more factors mean it is difficult to standardize building processes or plan in detail based on past experiences. As a result operational efficiency is often reduced, and unnecessary waste is generated. To make an organization more efficient and therefore reduce waste production everybody involved needs to appreciate and understand the improvements that can increase the organization?s efficiency. To investigate these improvements a time study was performed on two different construction sites, both of which involved buildings being constructed of prefabricated steel and concrete elements.

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.

Tjänstesektorn utgör ungefär 80 % av Sveriges BNP, men har länge präglats av lägre produktivitet än tillverkningssektorn. Detta skulle kunna förändras genom konceptet lean som innebär effektivisering av flöden och syftar till att erbjuda kunden exakt vad den vill ha med hjälp av mindre insatser i form av personal, utrustning, tid, utrymme och aktiviteter. Nyttan med lean inom produktionssektorn är bevisad och effektiviteten förmodas öka två till tre gånger efter en implementering inom dessa företag. Konceptet hävdas även vara användbart inom tjänstesektorn och andra kontexter, men det råder fortfarande tvivel om effekten konceptet har på prestationer och lönsamhet i tjänsteorganisationer. Avsaknaden av sådana bevis har påverkat konceptets spridning utanför produktionsindustrin.

In order to continue to be competitive in the current industrial climate, producers must increase efficiency at their plants. Several Swedish companies choose to utilise the principles of Lean production. Tour & Andersson AB (TA) has elected to create their own model using Toyota?s productions system which has been named TAPS (Tour & Andersson Production System). Following two years of working with TAPS the company has decided to introduce Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). Most of the work carried out in the maintenance department today is in form of repairs to already faulty equipment.

De tankar om förbättringsprocesser som tillslut har blivit konceptet Lean härstammar ifrån ?The Toyota Production System? där Kiiro Toyodas vision att alla delar av en bil skall levereras precis ?i rätt tid? står i fokus. Delarna som arbetarna behöver skall alltså vara tillgängliga precis när de behöver dem varken förr eller senare. Det tog tid innan hans vision blev realitet men ett decennium efter hans död använder hela Toyota koncernen sig utav hans idéer över hela världen. Man kan se systemutveckling som en form av produktutveckling.

Studien är genomförd inom ramen för ett större pågående longitudinellt forskningsprojekt om teamarbete inom Lean Production i fordonsindustrin. Syftet är att studera sambanden mellan arbetets utformning, samspel inom team och samspelets betydelse för teamets proaktiva beteende. Resultatet  baserades på en tidigare genomförd enkätundersökning (N=352) och chefernas bedömning av teamets proaktiva beteende. Korrelationsanalyser visade att starkast signifikanta samband fanns det mellan arbetets komplexitet i inte standardiserade arbetsuppgifter i team och chefernas skattning av teamens proaktiva beteende. Multipel Regression visade signifikant samband mellan chefernas bedömning av teamens proaktiva beteende och teamens kognitiva process att skapa samsyn om arbetet med arbetets komplexitet i inte standardiserade arbetsuppgifter i team.

Quality Assurance in Service Procurement --- Total Quality and Total Quality Management refer to popular management philosophies in organizations these days. The purchasing department has an important part in the strive for organizational quality as several studies show corporate spend is significant and increasing. In this master thesis I study the actions companies take to ensure quality in service procurement. I argue that managing quality when sourcing services is particularly tricky, because of the special characteristics that belong to services. The purpose of the study is to examine whether different actions are taken to ensure the quality of different kinds of services.

Volvo Penta has been producing boat engines since 1907 and are world leading in this seg­ment. They have today an extended range and also sell industrial power stations. Quality, safe­ty and environmental care are three core values for Volvo and together they strive to give their customers the right product with the right quality.Volvo has developed a production system named Volvo Production System, VPS, and one of the pillars is continuous improvements. Within this pillar you can find value stream map­ping, which is used to analyze the value stream through the process. This tool gives a wide perspective and helps to keep focus on the entire process instead of just parts of it.Volvo Penta in Vara has earlier done value stream mapping but without good results since they didn?t take set-up times and imbalances in account.