The Volvo Trucks plant in Umeå is a highy complex manufacturing facility where the same production line handles a variety of different models. This require flexible and agile processes with high quality standards. This thesis studies the flow of material through a production line and how Volvo can use their existing manufacturing monitoring system to optimize the flow of materials.The goal with the thesis is to identify eventual problems with the flow of materials and to deliver a few proposals on how the production line can improve its productivity. The theory of LEAN, Just-In-Time and Supply Chain Management serves as the scientific reference to this project. By analyzing the flow of material, performing interviews and observing the processes a few problems are identified.

Allteftersom marknaden för massa ? och pappersindustrin växer, samtidigt som världen blir allt mer globaliserad, ökar den internationella konkurrensen inom industrin. Svenska företag drivs till att konkurrera med internationella företag, som ofta har mer gynnsamma förutsättningar vad det gäller råvaror och arbetskraft. För att bedriva framgångsrika verksamheter under dessa förutsättningar krävs effektiva relationer till kunder och leverantörer då företag konkurrerar som en del i en försörjningskedja. Möjligheten att bedriva en konkurrenskraftig försörjningskedja förutsätts av effektiva processer och arbetsrutiner inom respektive företag och det finns därmed stora fördelar i att se över hur processer och flöden inom företaget leds och fungerar.

Allteftersom marknaden för massa – och pappersindustrin växer, samtidigt som världen blir allt mer globaliserad, ökar den internationella konkurrensen inom industrin. Svenska företag drivs till att konkurrera med internationella företag, som ofta har mer gynnsamma förutsättningar vad det gäller råvaror och arbetskraft. För att bedriva framgångsrika verksamheter under dessa förutsättningar krävs effektiva relationer till kunder och leverantörer då företag konkurrerar som en del i en försörjningskedja. Möjligheten att bedriva en konkurrenskraftig försörjningskedja förutsätts av effektiva processer och arbetsrutiner inom respektive företag och det finns därmed stora fördelar i att se över hur processer och flöden inom företaget leds och fungerar. Planeringen av leveranser och lastning är processer hos Smurfit Kappa Kraftliner som i dagsläget är förenad med en del problem som leder till ineffektivitet samt fel vid lastning av produkter.

In this master thesis, which is made in a qualitative manner, we have as purpose to investigate the nurses' estimation of the hospital welfare officer. We find it interesting to take a closer look at their opinion, because of our earlier, bachelor thesis, based on the same subject, only then in the welfare officer´s perspective on themselves. We have interviewed ten nurses and our questions at issue were the following four: Where in the hospital´s hierarchy do the nurses place the welfare officer? In what way do the nurses look at themselves and on the fact that they are leagally authorized? How do the nurses define the welfare officer´s occupational sphere and his part of the medical care? Which opinion do the nurses have on the co-operation with the hospital welfare officer? The primary information, together with two maintheories and a collection of litterature on the subject have helped us to answer the four questions of issue. We have found that the results we see, in some ways are compareable to our first investigation.

When studying the voting behaviour of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) concerning the Services Directive within the EU, what patterns can be observed? With a starting point in previous findings about voting behaviour, this study analyses the results of the given Roll-call votes in the European Parliament in regards to the Services Directive. Here I focus on the division of votes within and between the member states and the parliamentary political groups; with the aim to identify patterns that might show clash of opinion concerning this issue. I found that ideology seems to play a role in the MEPs voting behaviour. Parties on the far left reach the highest level of cohesion and together with the party on the far right, they voted against the Directive, but due to different reasons.

This thesis deals with the cultural efforts of the Swedish labour movement during the periodof 1917-1939. It aims to examine the similarities and differences between social democratsand communists in their approach towards culture.My theoretical guidelines are the dialectic and materialistic view on history as set forth byKarl Marx and Friedrich Engels.I have examined some important individuals in the cultural debate within the Swedish labourmovement, such as Ture Nerman and Arthur Engberg, and I also briefly outline the debate inthe Soviet Union from the classics of Lenin and Stalin.I have found that the social democrats were mainly concerned with a democratic distributionof the existing bourgeois culture rather than working for the creation of a new proletarianculture; the communists on the other hand made considerable efforts to benefit the workers'own culture based on class struggle, but failed to threaten the social democratic ideologicalhegemony among the Swedish working class..

This thesis studies how the Swedish government articulates social exclusion within the spring budget of 2007. Through a discourse theoretical approach, inspired by Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the empirical findings are reconstructed through the nodal point of labour and two chains of equivalence, based upon the duality between employment and unemployment. By viewing social exclusion as a phenomenon concerning discourse, identity and politics, this duality forms the basis of a deconstructive and hegemonic analysis.I argue that the term social exclusion is a powerful and flexible political concept in that it obscures ideological assumptions and objectives as well as draws attention away from alternative social concepts. Throughout the thesis social exclusion is stressed as a social category constituting the relation between individual and society. Hence I argue that it is of vital importance that the values underlying its usage are made explicit and that social exclusion as a floating signifier is made an object of academic analysis..

The idea to create authentic learning situations where students are highly integrated made me want to try to develop a new method in the course Restaurant and Catering B MAKU 1208 (another field practicing cuisine). In my quest to do just the practical part as rewarding, stimulating and efficient as possible for the student, I planned for a training model with   focus on group interaction.The implementation of the model for learning was to strengthen students confidence both in themselves and in each other, stimulated to greater cooperation and it has also provided an incentive to the student's own development but not least, a growing self-confidence for many students. Several have also had an increased sense of knowing something, to have something to contribute and that their labour input actually was needed. While highlighting that further education to seek knowledge strengthens the individual's skills and consolidates and increases deeper knowledge in the professional field.In conclusion, training should be done in both individual and group basis for optimal learning process..

Denna rapport beskriver ett projekt utfört på Bjurab Sweden AB i Halmstad. Syftet med projektetär att finna och åtgärda de faktorer som sänker tillförlitligheten i affärssystemets saldo, samtskapa bättre kontroll över olika artiklars placering på olika lagerplatser. Anledningen till att företagetvill genomföra detta projekt är att deras inköpsarbete idag blir lidande av att saldot i affärssystemetinte stämmer. Detta i kombination med att de har dålig kontroll på var materialet ärplacerat leder till att de lägger mycket tid på att leta efter material, och att inköp ibland sker såsent att produktionen tvingas stanna upp på grund av materialbrist.Arbetet inleddes med kartläggningar av informations- och materialflödet, och insamling av historiskdata från affärssystemet. Detta kompletterades sedan med intervjuer med de berörda i företaget.Genom detta upplägg studerades situationen först på lite avstånd med syftet att hålla objektivitetenhög, och i den efterföljande intervjun tilläts sedan objektiviteten sjunka något för attkunna komma riktigt nära det undersökta.

Vida Skog is supplying the whole Vida Ltd?s mills with wood raw material. This study aims to evaluate Vida Skog?s contractors and the relatively new contractorportal and to identify measures that are important for the contractors? skills. The purpose with the portal is to facilitate co-operation between contractors and buyers by streamlining the logistics of the whole wood supply process.The study was conducted in the form of a questionnaire.Most of the respondents were positive to the portal.

The purpose of this report is to survey Swedex AB?s production costs and to gather all info into a manageable calculation tool. This was made by time and motion studies, interviews of the personnel. All factors were gathered into an Excel chart.The calculation was made according to an additional-charge-method that was considered to satisfy Swedex AB?s goal.

AbstractThis report has been developed in cooperation with Peab Region Bostad Göteborg, mentor at Krook& Tjäder (through Chalmers), and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology. The report is the result of a research of a building project, constructed by Peab. The report is investigating and it means to identify and evaluate qualities in the dwelling and its surroundings. Its purpose is to evaluate how the residents in a chosen housing cooperative enjoy living there. It shall, with help of chosen quality aspects, identify what expectations the residents had before moving in, how they experience the dwelling and its surroundings today, and what hopes they have for the future planning of the area.

Arbetets syfte var att undersöka intentionen och förväntade effekter av den nyasjöarbetskonventionen som nu ska implementeras vad gäller bemanningsnivåer ochvilotider på svenska fartyg. Genom att först genomföra en litteraturstudie lades grundenför arbetet. Med anledning av att konventionen inte var implementerad genomfördes enkvalitativ intervjustudie mot tre sakkunniga representanter från svensk sjöfartsnäring föratt utreda vad konventionens verkliga intention var. Därefter genomfördes en kvalitativintervjustudie mot fyra aktörer i den svenska sjöfartsnäringen för att utreda vad dessaförväntade sig för effekter av konventionen, gällande bemanningsnivåer och vilotider.Resultatet av undersökningarna visade på att konventionens intention är att höja deninternationella standarden vad gäller just bemanningsnivåer och vilotider till en nivåsom liknar den svenska relativt höga nivån. Vad gäller förväntade effekter avkonventionen tror de svenska aktörerna att den svenska sjöfartsbranschen kommer att seganska små förändringar om några alls..

This bachelor thesis aimed to explore, in a qualitative manner, the relationship and the interaction between the hospital welfare officer and the rest of the nursing staff. We chose this subject because we wanted to explain the phenomena of being a medical outsider in the nursing team. Our questions at issue were the following three: How does the hospital welfare officer define his occupational sphere and how do the rest of the nursing staff define it, according to the welfare officer himself? Is the welfare officer's relation to his own professional role and to the rest of the nursing staff affected by where his office is placed - secluded from or within the clinic? How does the welfare officer himself value his profession in relation to the rest of the nursing crew? To answer these questions we interviewed eight welfare officers, placed in two different hospitals. We used three different theories to explain the primary information.

According to a decision of the European Commission, measures are to be taken to reduce the use of energy in the EU. The goal is to reduce it by 20 % compared to the current use. This shall be done to the year 2020 (European Commission, 2011). One industry that use large amounts of energy is the construction of buildings which account for almost a third of the energy use (Brogren, 2012). The major part of the energy that is used in the construction industry is not used when the buildings are built, but rather during the rest of their subsequent lifetime.