The manufacturing industry is currently in a short-term downturn while the competition is increasing. The result of this is that companies must find new ways to bring out their products. Traditional competitive strategies, such as low pricing, is not sufficient today as the customer is inquiring something more than just a good product. Higher demands are presented on an accurate, well functional, communication between customer and companies, as this has become an important strategic factor in achieving long-term profitability.The aim of this independent project was to analyze and evaluate the communication process between a company and its sales companies.In order to illustrate this process, a case study was carried out at Alfa Laval, their sales companies and employees at their distribution center in Tumba. In order to see the differences in attitudes between the management, the sales companies and the employees regarding communication and involvement a gap analysis were used.The theoretical part of the study considers theories about business mission, communication, involvement, quality and creating value.The result showed that a smaller gap exists between the sales companies and the management while a slightly larger one exists between the employees and the management.

Studien syftar till att; genom en fallstudie på ett utvalt företag, analysera och skapa förståelse kring prissättningsförmåga och prissättningsarbete som konkurrensfördel i tjänsteföretag. Trots studiens fokus på ett enskilt fall och en specifik situation är förhoppningen att studiens slutsatser i någon utsträckning även ska vara av generellt intresse för andra tjänsteföretag. Ramen för studien utgörs av en abduktiv och explorativ ansats, inom vilken undersökningsdesign och metoder för datainsamling och tolkning har bestämts. Företaget SJ har studerats genom en fallstudie. Som metoder för insamling av data har främst kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer använts.

This thesis paper discusses the results of a survey which was conducted to investigate the potential usefulness of mobile apps in the maintenance department at Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB. The paper contains four sections, a theory section, a method section , a section that explains the functionality of the app, and finally a results section where the results and conclusions of the survey are discussed. The theory section explains and discusses relevant terminology used in the computer science field and in the maintenance industry. The theoretical model used in this paper is also discussed. The methods section gives a stepwise description of the project and a description of platform and software used.

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.

This thesis paper discusses the results of a survey which was conducted to investigate the potential usefulness of mobile apps in the maintenance department at Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB. The paper contains four sections, a theory section, a method section , a section that explains the functionality of the app, and finally a results section where the results and conclusions of the survey are discussed. The theory section explains and discusses relevant terminology used in the computer science field and in the maintenance industry. The theoretical model used in this paper is also discussed. The methods section gives a stepwise description of the project and a description of platform and software used.

Mobile Arts have a technical platform for handling maps and community-featured Points of Interest in cellular phones, where the users themselves can share locations with other users either in groups or public. Development of the platform regarding network communication has been included in this paper. The work evaluates different feasible business models regarding packaging the platform as a commercial application and also faces issues users have when using the product. Even if users found maps and POI interesting and cool in cellulars, the technical difficulties and lack of product focus during beta testing, were present. Therefore, the writers recommendation is more development of the platform and using a business model where Mobile Arts deliver to existing communities.

Data retrieved from airborne laser scanning represents a new source of forest data. Today, the technology has matured so that it can function in an operational environment. The aim of this study was to compile areas of application of laserdata in forestry. Moreover to analyze costs and accessibility of laserdata. The goal was to provide private forest owners information to support assessments of possible benefits of laserdata.

Because society?s demand for quality, efficiency at low cost is constantly increasing, companies are increasingly choosing to invest new methods to achieve these points. Those who manage to find ways to improve their processes are often the companies that have the greatest chance of becoming a winning player in the market. BIM is a new method that can reduce the internal costs while increasing communications between different parties. However there is disagreement about what BIM is and its purpose.

The essay studies Romania and the Roma in the country as a minority from an Europeanization perspective.The aim of the essay is to study EU´s impact on Romania in general through Europeanization and to illustrate this Europeanization by studying the situation of the Roma in particular.The paper focuses on Romania´s Europeanization process and the Roma as a minority. It looks at how these mechanisms have affected Romania´s efforts to prohibit discrimination and to promote Roma´s rights.Heather Grabbes´s Europeanization mechanism; models, money, gate ?keeping, benchmarking and monitoring, advice and twinning is the framework for the essay. Besides this Claudio Radaelli´s definition is used because it is broad enough to cover different areasThe conclusion is that Europeanization has affected Romania in its adaption to EU membership. Romania has been affected by a top-down Europeanization process.Regarding the Roma the conclusion is that the mechanisms have pushed Romania to focus more on the Roma.

The foundation for this thesis lies in whether or not, and how, the body representation in printed commercials, specific products directed to the body (shampoo, body lotion etc.), has changed during the last fifty years. Four years have been chosen because of the changes in society that we believe might have had an impact. The commercials that have been picked out are the ones that best represent the general view of the body. We have found that the changes when it comes to body presentation has followed the social development to a certain degree, but it is difficult to say how much the society has had an affect on the body ideal in advertising. Representations of the male body is something that has escalated since the early 70?s, fifteen years earlier few commercials was made with male models, and the few there were, never showed more than the face.

This thesis examines the Swedish labour market with a focus on the immigrant part off the population. There are big differences between the immigrant and particular non-European immigrant part off the population and native Swedes. In the first part off this thesis I will show that immigrants in Sweden have a higher rate of unemployment, lower rate off employment, lower wage incomes, higher risk off unemployment and are overrepresented in low skilled, low status jobs. Even when controlling for different factors such as education level, knowledge in the Swedish language, age etc. a big gap remains.

I detta arbete studeras möjligheten att förbättra en metod för analys av biologiska sekvenser. En på senare tid populär metod för sekvensanalys är baserad på Hidden Markov models (HMM). HMM har haft stora framgångar i att modellera biologisk data, såsom proteinfamiljer, men används även inom bland annat taligenkänning. Existerande problem med HMM är bland annat långa träningstider och oförmåga att finna globala lösningsoptima.En metod för att försöka effektivisera träningsfasen hos en HMM presenteras och utvärderas. Denna är avsedd för att undersöka om modeller som på förhand kan initieras med hjälp av förkunskap i problemdomänen får lika bra klassificeringsförmåga som modeller som tränas på konventionellt sätt.Metoden tillämpas på två proteinfamiljer av relativt olika karaktär.

This paper refer to examine how the employees at the socialoffices in Skåne feel. Our purpose was to bring light over the healthaspect on the basis of these questions at issue: - To examine the employees experience of their own health at the socialoffice. - To examine different factors that affect the health at the place of work. - To examine if the experience of meaningfulness affects the health. In our work we have chosen questionnaires and then we have connected our results to two models that we found relevant to the investigation.

New technologies and new consumer behaviors are having a large impact on mediacompanies. The biggest change is in the behavior of the younger demographic whereold platforms like television are abandoned for new online platforms. In this newworld, media companies and organizations need new tools and business models tostay competitive. One such tool is Design Thinking, a term used to describe a cognitivedesign-specific set of activities used during a design process. It has been popularizedin commercial areas and there the term is used to describe an applicable workflowused to promote the skills required to use Design Thinking.

In this thesis we focus on the issue of crowdfunding and especially how a project relates to and embraces its community. While a lot of related research focus on what makes people give, our research instead delve into whether a creator looks upon the sponsors as something more than just a financial resource. To manage this task we used a triangular perspective consisting of a case study, a questionnaire and a netnographic study. The goal was to gain the perspectives of creators, crowdfunding platforms and sponsors on how the communication between the community and the project works and can be improved.       The three crowdfunding platforms we reviewed (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Rockethub) all had fairly similar models on how to attract sponsors and make them involved in the project, while the questionnaire and netnographic study demonstrated how a community could contribute in different ways.