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.

In Shop! Daniel Svensson is studying the Public Consume Conversation during the 90´s. Focus is based on two local papers in the Swedish town Norrköping and the Public Media Conversation, which these two represent. What kind of discourses has been dominating this conversation, that is the most important question in Shop! To answer this, Daniel Svensson uses the Critical Discourse Analysis, by Norman Fairclough, as an analytic tool. This method provides him with the possibility to connect the micro level of text with the macro level of the society. But this demands theories of the contemporary society at a macro level.

Nowadays naval units are participating in international missions, where new and in many cases tougher conditions will affect their propulsion. This essay deals with some of the now developed nanostructure coatings and gives a presentation of how the coatings could function on some exposed parts of the naval powertrain. The essay investigates the possibility that the coatings can be used as a protective layer that will reduce or prevent wear on selected parts of the naval powertrains. As a basis for the essay, nanotechnology is described, as well as different reasons that wear occurs and application techniques for coatings The conclusion is that nanostructured coatings can be applied and provide a much better result on hardness and wear resistance as of naval powertrains compared to micro-structural coatings, both for manufacturing and renovation. The essay presents a few examples of the military utility of the nanostructure coatings as well as suggestions for further research..

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".

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.

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.

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..

This study has investigated the possibilities of implementing lean in a division of a hospital in Stockholm. The goal was to reduce the lead time for the patient to get his diagnose by implementing lean in the two production flows of this division. In order to accomplish it, a complete map over the value stream has been done. With the help of the value stream map and lean theory a list over the processes in contradiction with lean has been made. Finally propositions to implement lean and by this way reduce the lead times in this stream have been made out.

The environmental assessment system Miljöbyggnad is a Swedish system initiated by Bygga-Bo-Dialogen to assess buildings with regards to three main areas; ?Energy?, ?Indoor climate? and ?Materials?. A building can obtain three different classifications depending on how well it manages to meet the demands. GOLD is the highest classification and is followed by SILVER and BRONZE. The majority of the measures needed to comply with the demands are done during the design phase.

The Swedish building contractor JMRegion Öst would like to to investigatethe possibilities of developing andstreamlining the production of singlefamilyhouses. JM are producing singlefamilyhouses with prefabricated framesat a rate of about two houses per week.During construction, the different tasksare performed by JM?s own productionstaff but also by varioussubcontractors.When examining the schedules of recentlyproduced projects, it appears that allthe houses are more or less completedeight weeks before the customer moves into the house. During those eight weeksseveral operations are conducted such asinspections, installation of appliancesand cleaning procedures. The inspectionperiod constitutes between 25 and 35% ofthe complete construction period.By conducting interviews, it has beendiscovered that this final phase is anessential security buffer for delays anderrors that often occur.

The purpose of this master?s thesis was to find problems that occur in the production line at Atlas Copco Rocktec Division, in order to decrease the costs of defect in quality. When the problems were distinguished, the authors ought to choose the problem with the highest improvement potential. One request from the constituent at Atlas Copco Rocktec Division was to connect the improvement to the document The Way We Produce. The document provides information and values about Atlas Copco and consists of 10 principles to be able to reach their vision.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the design and function of an engine production management?s control system and its intended function, and to contrast it with the present management control systems in use on an operational level. Interviews conducted with employees from all levels of the engine production are the main source of this study?s empirical foundation. Information has also been gathered from relevant written material such as annual reports, internal documents etc.

Bakgrund: I takt med att konsumenters preferenser har förändrats, har företag fått överge massproduktion till förmån för produktionssystem som bättre avspeglar konsumenternas ökade krav på flexibilitet. Ett sätt för att överbrygga denna utmaning är att implementera lean production. Även om detta sätt att producera på har tydliga fördelar för dagens företag, verkar lean production även kunna medföra problem i avseende på att kombinera med den befintliga, i många fall, traditionella styrningen i företaget. En del av styrningen som verkar vara speciellt svår att kombinera med implementeringen av lean production rör mätningen av produktionen. Vid en närmare granskning visar det sig att det råder vissa motsättningar mellan traditionell mätning och lean production som kan påverka företagets beslutsfattande negativt.

Induction motors, often referred to as the workhorse of the industry, play an important role in production today. Therefore, it's important to diagnose any faulty induction motor prior to failure to avoid costly and time consuming production stops.This thesis compares methods for diagnosing induction motors in operation, MCSA, Park's vector approach and the standard method used by Swedish industries today. By simulating broken rotor bars and short-circuit in one of the windings, each method is tested and the results are compared using matlab.The results need further verification due to uncertainties of the condition of the test motor, even though the experiment gives a hint of the different advantages of each method. A combination of the methods should be able to tell if the motor needs further examination..