AbstractLean production has become one common concept within industries to make the work more effective and to meet today?s hard competition. A challenge for Chinese production is the threat from new low cost countries. It will become very difficult to succeed to produce to a lower cost than these countries; this led to that Chinese companies must develop new strategies, according to Lee and Zhou (2000). This will put China in front of new challenges and new strategies can be needed to retain their strong competitive advantages.

Syfte:Syftet med vår uppsats är att kartlägga nötköttsbranschen med avsikten att vidare utreda de bakomliggande faktorerna till varför det, i butiker, skiljer så mycket i pris mellan svenskproducerat och utländsk importerat nötkött. Metod:I vår uppsats har vi utgått ifrån en deduktiv ansats, med vissa induktiva inslag. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod, där vi har insamlat material främst via intervjuer. Teoretiskt perspektiv:Vi har använt oss av teorier i form av de fem konkurrenskrafterna och Strategic Cost Management. De fem konkurrenskrafterna möjliggör en kartläggning av nötköttsbranschen och genom Strategic Cost Management har vi analyserat värdekedjan, vilket köttet passerar igenom från producenten till butikerna.

The purpose of this thesis was to create a strategic/tactical road access plan. This was done by designing an analytical method which gives the road manager a template to create long-term road access plans. The analytical method will help to identify and appraise roads to be upgraded and give information when it is time for building new roads. The study method involved developing an analytical method. The method was comprised of five main parts: the harvest plan, analysis of the road network, transport costs, quality and storage costs and finally, identification of investment alternatives.

The energy that the earth receives from the sun hourly has potential to cover a year?s energy demand in the world. Further, this type of energy is environmentally friendly, natural and free of cost. This report covers solar energy in an urban environment and consists of a case study of installations of photovoltaic cells in a part of the city of Stockholm. It is mainly the economic aspects that are covered but there is also a discussion about the practical consequences and the sustainability as a result of integration of solar energy in an urban environment. The aim of the study is to present results from economic calculations for utilization of solar energy in chosen buildings in Kungsholmen in Stockholm.

To regularly remove woody vegetation along the roadside of forest roads is an important part of the road maintenance, since the vegetation binds moisture in the road side and, thus, the removal makes the road drying faster with results in improved bearing capacity. Vegetation removal also makes it easier to upgrade the road by material recycling from the ditch and, moreover, the visibility along the road is maintained.The aim of the study was to evaluate what type of chain flail is the best and most cost-effective for removal of different kind of woody vegetation along forest roadsides.Time studies were made on two chain flails when removing woody vegetation in three different classes; easy-, middle- and heavy shrub removal. The studied flails were one light and rather simple flail named Optimal M160 and a heavier and more advanced flail named Slagkraft H210. The removal was made according to Holmen Skogs? specification and the quality of the cleaning was measured by objective belt inventory.The productivity was higher with the heavy flail within all cleaning classes.

The financial crisis in 2008, effected companies around the globe and forced them to change their operational strategies, in order to survive. Companies with international links needed to consider external effects and due to that adapt their strategies on a global level. Demands for goods and service were decreasing and companies could only manage the cost during a recession to not face bankruptcy. Organisations need to reconsider their optimal strategy as this will determine their future outcome when managing a crisis as the one in 2008. British Airways - Air Cargo is a global company with an international network which serves about 80 countries, with about 200 destinations.

The last decade has created an increasing pressure on companies to decrease their impact on the environment and to increase their effectiveness of recycling the company?s resources, especially for the steel industry. Companies have also started to realize the economic aspects of an effective internal reverse logistics. In the past the value of an effective internal reverse logistic was something that companies tend to underestimate and there are few academic studies done in this area. The purpose of this essay has been to identify key factors to create an effective in plant storage, transport, sorting and handling of returned steel. From these factors a generalized model for creating an effective return steel flow will be developed.

Forestry and reindeer husbandry are entitled to use the same land for their operations. For this reason, conflicts occasionally arise between them. Soil scarification is a forestry operation which has a negative effect on the occurrence of reindeer lichen. Reindeer lichens are of crucial importance to reindeers and reindeer husbandry, especially in the winter when reindeers primarily feed on different lichen species (Cladina spp. and Cetraria spp.).

Government regulations and customs duties restrict the import of trucks to some of the markets to which Scania tries to sell their trucks. The distribution problem due to these regulations is solved by the foreign assembly department, KD, at Scania. This means that competence is needed and costs are added not related to Scania's core operations.The aim of this master thesis has been to analyse and to evaluate alternative ways of managing the packing operations considering cost, quality and work organisation. To study and examine the work methods and operations of today and also to present methods measuring the operations effectiveness and productivity.We have used the system approach to maintain totality and to understand the component's relation to this totality. Field studies combined with studies of relevant literature and studies of other companies operations have given us the knowledge and the understanding of the packing operations needed.

This study concerns mapping and analysing two different Supply Chains at Setra Group. Setra Group is Sweden?s biggest producer of solid wood and is primarily owned by Sveaskog, Mellanskog and LRF. The Company consist of twelve sawmills, five planning mills and an organisation for distribution of building material. This study maps one chain for Swedish Glulam standard beam and one chain for solid pine flooring on export to Japan. The glulam chain is based on spruce as raw material and includes all actors between sawmill and the Swedish building material retailers.

In June 2006 the Swedish government decided that the use of energy in buildings should be reduced by 20 percent until 2020, compared to the level of energy used in 1995. To contribute to this goal, the real estate company ?Eskilstuna Kommunfastigheter AB?, set up own goals for their buildings. In 2009, the goal for schools was to have a maximum energy use of 118 kWh/m2year for heating and hot water.The school ?Hållsta skola?, just south of Eskilstuna, exceeds the limit since it used 270 kWh in 2008.

This Master?s Thesis aims to investigate and assess the methods used to decrease the discharge ofmetals, primarily copper, from the water purification plant at Assa Industries plating factory inEskilstuna.Literature studies of the purification methods precipitation, ion exchange, evaporation, reverseosmosis and electrolysis has been done to appraise the adequacy of the technique. Thesetechniques are commonly used for purification of industrial waste water.Assa has four plating lines: the Trumline, the big Zinkline, the new Zinkline and the Decorativeline. The new Zinkline is the most modern of the four lines and purification is done byrecirculation over an ion exchange unit. The demand for fresh water is thereby heavily reduced.The Trumline, the big Zinkline and the Decorative line all use older techniques.

Att använda datorer i matematikundervisningen kan huvudsakligen ha två olika syften. Antingen kan syftet vara att eleverna ska lära sig använda datorer och tekniska hjälpmedel (vilket ingår i flera av gymnasieskolans kursplaner) eller så används datorer och tekniska hjälpmedel som ett hjälpmedel i själva undervisningen så att eleverna kan lära sig matematiken på ett bättre sätt. Den senare aspekten har undersökts i detta arbete. Fem lärare har berättat hur de tar datorn till hjälp för att eleverna skall ta till sig matematiken på ett bättre och effektivare sätt och två olika användningssätt har här kunnat identifieras. Det första sättet är att läraren använder datorn som ett hjälpmedel vid genomgångar, då läraren använder datorn och eleverna tittar på en storbild och ser vad läraren gör, som en föredrags-hållare använder en overhead eller PowerPoint.

This study evaluates the retention of nitrogen and phosphorus in four newly constructed wetlands in the municipality of Falkenberg, Sweden. The four wetlands have been selected because they have been specifically constructed with the aim to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in farming areas. The process of selecting the specific wetlands has been done in collaboration with the county administration in Halland. Through field studies in collaboration with the landowners where the wetlands are sited, the areas that provide the wetlands with water were determined. The size of these drainage areas were determined in a GIS computer program. The type of land use within the drainage areas was also determined.

In an attempt to develop a more cost-efficient material for solar   energy applications, nano-particles of nickel oxide composite in a silikatmatris manufactured with solar gelmethod and studied structurally by electron microscopy. Furthermore, the thin film optical properties characterized by Variable. Angel Spectroscopic Ellipsometry. Sol gelfilms suitability as a selective absorber surface is also analyzed by optical modeling..