This report describes the results of the project "Concept development of jet engine inspection plugs" carried out in the spring of 2008. The work was done at the department of product definition at the company Volvo Aero in Trollhättan. The objective of the work was to develop concepts for a "Volvo-unique" inspection plug. The work is part of Volvo Aero's focus on proprietary (self-developed) technologies. Inspection plugs can be found on virtually all aircraft engines and gas turbines.

This thesis aims to study brand change, which can be of interest since a brand during its lifetime can be expected to meet a lifecycle consisting of five phases; innovation, introduction, growth, maturity and recession. In order to avoid the recession phase and the sales decline that follows there is a need for a change of the brand.In order to study brand change, theoretical framework is compared to two real world cases that have gone through an active change.The conceptions of positioning, repositioning and revitalization are clarified. Positioning deals with how brands are located in customer?s minds as well as on the real market. Repositioning implies a change of the current position and is also often a move towards a new market segment.

During the last year there has been a globalization of trade. Because of the development ofmore sophisticated information's - and communication technology the boundaries and thephysical distance have been smeared out between company as well as countries. Furthermoreit generates that many companies have restructured to global value chains. Because of theincreased access the marketplace has become harder and more competitive than ever.Since the customers nowadays have more access to product information the consume patternsand behaviour has been changed. Through the increased knowledge the consumers requiresmore of the products.

Driveability analysis of terrain data offers an important technique for decision support for all kinds of movements in the terrain. The work described in this report uses a high resolution digital terrain model generated from the laser radar data and further processed by the Category Viewer program, and information from the Real Estate Map. Properties of features found in a filtering process are calculated and compared with a set of rules in a knowledge base to get a driveability cost. This cost is then visualized in a graphical user interface. An evaluation of what driveability is and what it is affected by is performed, and a general cost function is developed, which can be used even if not all relevant information is available.

The aim of this thesis is to study how public libraries in Sweden use alternative shelf arrangements that differ from the library?s original classification system, which in Swedish public libraries usually is the SAB-system. I sent out a survey to 169 public libraries, where I received 114 replies. 77 of these stated that they had some kind of alternative shelf arrangement, therefore these are the ones that are included in my study. I wanted to investigate in what way the libraries had changed their shelf arrangement and why this decision was made.

A literature review of contaminants; cadmium, methylmercury, dioxins, and PCB, for eleven different fish species (Greenland halibut, gilt headed bream, sea bass, wolffish, hoki, ocean perch, angler, Nile perch, pangasius, red snapper and tilapia) that were selected in concurrence with the National Food Administration. The result can be used by the National Food Administration to gain further knowledge about the different fish species to be able to continue to give advice to varied risk category and the public. The gilt headed bream and sea bass were the only fishes whose values for mercury exceeded the limit of 0,5 mg/kg (EU Reg. 1881/2006). In the angler, Nile perch and pangasius the mean value of mercury didn?t exceed the limit, however in some individuals the mercury content did exceed what is allowed.

One of the most distinguishing features for companies today is that they must have a close collaboration and keep up a good relationship with their suppliers. This is important for the companies chance of survival and for them to compete in their markets. This essay will discuss the subject of Scania?s long-term collaboration with their suppliers. The purpose of the essay in this case study is to analyze if a long-term cooperation with a supplier is of essence upon renegotiations of continued collaboration.

The background to this paper is the fact that many products are demonstrated to show the consumer value of the product. This is generally the fact when it comes to agricultural products, such as tractors. The growing number of models makes this even more import for the retailer to perform a demonstration that really catches the interest of a prospect customer. One problem is that these demonstrations are expensive and many small retailers have difficulties to afford demonstrations of every model. Together with Åhmans Traktorcentrum AB a market investigation was conducted. The company has its primary sales area in the region of Östergötland and north part of Småland. Åhmans Traktorcentrum AB is a John Deere dealer.

The purpose of the present quantitative study was to examine gender differences inperceived job satisfaction in two departments, with different work patterns, in a Swedishmanufacturing industry. The questionnaire contained 30 statements and five backgroundquestions. The questionnaire was designed in combination of Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS),Work demands, Social support, Control and Competence (ASK), Questionnaire forPsychological and Social factors at Work (QPS Nordic) and Minnesota SatisfactionQuestionnaire (MSQ). Job satisfaction was measured based on the categories influence atwork, leadership, employee influence, work requirements and the physical environment. Theresults of the present study showed an interaction of gender and department where the femaleindustrial workers, who worked with more monotonous and standardized work tasks, valuedall of the categories of job satisfaction the lowest, except for the category employee impact.The results are believed to depend on that the women in the department had greater demandsfor variety in the work..

Processen vid framtagandet av en ny produkt kallas New product development (NPD). Denna process innehåller 6 steg som ska hjälpa företaget vid utvecklingen av en ny produkt. Det andra steget i denna process är konceptutveckling. Utvecklingen av ett koncept är en lång process som innehåller 7 steg som ska hjälpa företaget utveckla koncept till olika produkter. Processen sträcker sig från upptäckt av marknadsmöjlighet till projektplanering.

iPhone belongs to the group smartphones. It is a type of mobile phones that has a richer interface and allows more advanced preformences, i.e surfing the Internet and handling e-mails. This report outlines the work to develop an iPhoneapplication from idea to released product. The project is a thesis which was commissioned by ICA AB (a major Swedish grocery chain). The report includes how the work has been carried out in practice and theory.

Näringsliv och offentlig sektor står inför ständiga utmaningar att förändra och effektivisera sin verksamhet. Idag ses information som en verklig produktionsfaktor och åtkomst till lämplig informationen ses som en nödvändighet för uppnå effektivitet och produktivitet i de individuella aktiviteterna (Oehlmann, Thoben & Weber, 1997). Med hjälp av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner på produktionsgolvet har tillverkande industrier hittat en effektiv metod för att minska variationerna, öka kvaliteten, förbättra kommunikationen, minimera kostnaderna och snabbare få ut produkterna på marknaden, den s.k. Time-to-market (Coetzee, 2004).Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om Informationslogistik genom införandet av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner kan påverka effektiviteten och kvaliteten i ett företag vilket använder sig av elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner.En fallföretagsstudie har genomförts på HMS Industrial Networks AB, en världsledande leverantör av fältbuss-teknologi för automationsutrustning. De har utvecklat ett IT-system för att hantera elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner vilket de använder fullt ut i sin tillverkning.Mer praktiskt har uppsatsens arbete handlat om att undersöka hur de anställda upplever att det påverkat deras effektivitet i det dagliga arbetet, såväl som kvaliteten i arbetet, informationen och på produkterna.Intervjuer med användare från dokumentationsteamet och produktionsmedarbetarna har gjorts och resultatet visar att användandet av PRIS och elektroniska arbetsinstruktioner har gett en rad effekter i verksamheten, både för dem vilka administrerar och hanterar produktionsunderlagen såväl som för de berörda användarna på produktionsgolvet och i övriga delar i organisationen.Resultatet visar att Informationslogistik i allra högsta grad kan påverka effektiviteten och kvaliteten i ett företag.

The aim of this study was to investigate how a workplace should be formed to promote health according to the employees. The study was made in IKEA handla hemma in Älmhult, Sweden. The aim of the study was to find out why people experience health at their workplace environment, from a salutogenetic point of view. The study is based on 12 strategically selected interviews and where analysed according to Grounded Theory. This resulted in a model where the core category was ?The prevailing spirit of the organisation? and the five main categories was ?That the organisation creates favourable conditions to promote health?, ?That there is a god atmosphere amongst the colleagues and the bosses?, ?The personal point of view about health?, ?The relationship to goals and responsibility? and ?The personal point of view about their surroundings?.

This report will examine various solar energy technologies in order to decide if they could be applied in the Royal Seaport. The Royal Seaport is a Swedish urban district under development in Stockholm, with the goal of becoming a sustainable district. Two main techniques, solar collectors and solar cells, including sub-categories, are addressed in this report. Another sub-category, a hybrid system, will also be mentioned. The main difference between solar collectors and solar cells is the type of energy produced by the system.

The purpose of this study was to examine gender depiction in picture books in preschools. Our experience is that many picture books contain old-fashioned gender stereotypes. During the analysing process, we used the following theories: Yvonne Hirdman?s theory about the stereotypic gender contract and Lev Vygotskij?s theory about experiences increasing our ability to fantasize. We read through 154 picture books in two preschools and categorized them into two categories: normative and non-normative books.