The purpose of this thesis was to describe what factors influence consumers? choice when buying probiotic products. Functional Foods have been predicted a bright future on the food market but so far the concept have not been embraced by the consumers. The reasons for this are many and not clearly understood. Positive health effects are what set a functional food product apart from traditional food stuffs of the same type.

This report summarizes a Bachelor Degree Project in Integrated Product Development, carried out during the fall 2007 till spring 2008 by three students at the Product Design Engineering Program at the University of Skövde. The project was performed in cooperation with Lundbergs Möbler AB in Tibro. Lundbergs wants to start selling furniture to the public eldercare. The purpose of this project was to adjust one of their chairs. The project layout was to first make a preliminary investigation where the market, competitors? assortment and the purchasing process are studied.

Nowadays, packaging design is seen as a competitive tool and its importance for corporations is becoming increasingly apparent. The rivalry within homogeneous markets puts high demands on differentiation and the ability to create something more than the product itself. With this fundamental question, the soft drink industry has been examined and a case study of the brand Coca-Cola has been performed. The aim is to investigate how packaging design is used as a tool for strengthening a brand and to explore which additional values this contributes. In addition, the study observes the most important factors in the development of packaging design.A theoretical work of reference, consisting primarily of theories related to branding, design development and visual identity, has been developed to support the study.

The project has been performed in collaboration with Thule Sweden AB, a global leader in developing safe, simple and elegant solutions for the transportation of various types of equipment. The company has developed a new T-track which is telescopically, they stand mount system to connect the roof box to the roof rack does not fit into this. Therefore, the company considered that it was necessary to have a new product that meets the requirements of the new roof rack. They wanted a new, smarter solution would be developed. The bulk of this essay has been to find a new concept to connect the roof box to the roof racks. The result is a saxkonstruktion that slides down the roof rack T-profile and protected out of a puck-like housing. The product is small, simple and elegant solution.

In autumn in 2010 the project group came in contact with the travel company Golf Joy in Halmstad. They had been briefed on the problems of their customers had when they travel with their golf bags and contacted Halmstad University for help in solving this problem. When we heard about this idea, we became curious and contacted the company. After a successful meeting, we took the problem with us to the school and began to brainstorm to see how we could solve the problem. The goal was to produce a stylish and functional travel golf bag with the cart and bag in one and launch it in the golf season in 2012.

Statistics indicate an increase in online shopping. This indication could result in the loss of safety factors for the customer, for example the possibility to physically examine the product, interact with professional store personnel and try the product before purchase ? factors which all could support the customer in her choice of company and product. The purpose of this study is to increase the theoretical knowledge regarding strategies in the area of trust-development between customers and companies. We have chosen to investigate what strategies web based companies apply and how they are perceived by their customers.

Background: Mass customization has been identified as a competitive business strategy by both companies and academics because of its ability to incorporate the voice of the customer into companies? products and services. Although mass customization may sound appealing, the strategic concept is still developing and firms adopting this business strategy face several challenges. Production concerns are of high relevance since mass customization implies a high level of customer involvement in the product design. Since the areas are closely linked it is reasonable to ask how a mass customization strategy affects production concerns.

This report looks at the possibility of designing a universal adapter for Flat Blade windshield wipers in cooperation with European Automotive Supplier AB.To understand and see if this is possible, a research and an extensive patent search where done. Then to add structure to the project a Ganttschematic were developed. To generate good and solid ideas, different methods for product development were looked upon.When a method was chosen and applied, a series of concepts emerged. Now the focus was to design and construct all the pieces. The desired manufacture procedures were looked upon as well as materials.

This project is about investigation and improvement of a V-plow for the company Swekip. A V- plow is used for snow removal but this product has been found to have deficiencies in its construction, breaking down and not living up to the desired objectives. This is because the product is ordered from a company in China where they have some problems with understanding the purpose of the plow.Initially the existing plow is investigated, all the shortcomings set out and examined, what is wrong and what needs improvement?When the solutions were done they were evaluated and examined that they actually live up to the desired requirements.This assignment is a pure construction project where the majority is implemented in CAD, where models are developed and FE analyses are carried out. But the project also includes a feasibility study, idea study and hydraulic design.The results are presented in the form of a CAD model and associated drawings that will serve as the manufacturing basis for the new V-plow.

This thesis was conducted at SverigeGrepen in Vänge-Körlinge, Uppsala, Sweden.SverigeGrepen is a family business that develops and manufactures a few different parts of different kinds of products. My task is to come up with a good idea that facilitates the coupling of trailers, i.e. from an idea to a fully functioning prototype. The product is intended for use by all customers for all kinds of trailers. The actual goal of the work is to develop a full prototype that you can install and use in the easiest way possible, a prototype that follows the specifications.

How can a vacuum cleaner motivate you to use it? From a sustainability perspective,the author asked the question of how such a solution would looklike? These where issues that the project tackled and devised solutions for. Theproject wanted to explore the physical modeling and a large part of the finalresult consisted of a full scale model. The project found that the problem ofvacuuming largely consisted of the problem of storage the product. The projectfound that the motivation for the job, therefore, could be resolved by a betterdesigned vacuum cleaner with a built-in hose, folding handles, which couldbe stored integrated within the vacuum cleaner.

I dagsläget är det svårt för företag att behålla en stark marknadsposition och utmaningen ligger dels i att regelbundet presentera nya produkter på marknaden och ständigt skapa nya innovationer. Genom att använda sig av Lean Product Development i produktutvecklingsprocessen kan företagen anta utmaningen. Det kan dock vara svårare för små och medelstora företag då de kan ha begränsade resurser. Syftet med denna studie var därför att ta fram en projektmodell för produktutvecklingsprojekt i små och medelstora företag. Studien bygger på kvalitativa forskningsmetoder där sekundärdata samlades in genom både bibliotekskatalogen vid Mittuniversitetet och sökningar i forskningsdatabaser på Internet.

Tile covered bathrooms require a wellexecuted waterproofing in order toprotect the underlying construction frommoisture. Länsforsakringar Uppsala paysannually out millions in insurance fordamages related to poor waterproofedbathrooms. In recent years, SP (SwedishNational Testing and Research Institute)investigated and researchedwaterproofing products, resulting ingreater shortcomings of product defectsthan expected.This report raises the problemsconcerning waterproofing and discusseswhy they occur. By studying productinstructions and insurance cases anddamage reports provided byLänsforsakringar, the most commonproblems concerning bathroomwaterproofing where concluded. Animportant part of the report was tofind out the actual cause to whywaterproofing damages occur.The results of the survey indicate thata common cause of water damage usuallyis related to poor productinstallations.

The research in this paper aims to producing a home version machine thatcan dry and make biological waste into compact pellets. This product ismade primarily for those who want to improve the environment and reducethe energy consuming process of separating the biological leftovers fromother waste in the large processing plants and save money due to reducedpickups of waste. Since there is no commercially available product thatdoes what we want to achieve we had to start from the beginning with boththe design and the mechanical aspects. The result is a machine, that fits inour homes, and in an easy and inexpensive way reduces the amount ofbiological waste that needs to be collected by the public wastetransportation system. This is done without reducing any of the energy inthe waste and it can still be used to compost or by large-scale plants that usethe waste to make electricity.

The retailing industry has an extremely high density of brands. In order to differentiate its offer, both retailers and suppliers, are constantly forced to come up with new ways to launch their products. A collaborative strategy between two brands is called co-branding, which means that both the private label and the supplier's brand are displayed on the new product packaging. Several studies have shown that a co-branding strategy is successful, but many operators are still reluctant to use co-branding in fear of long-term losses due to potentially damaged business relations. The objective of this study is to explain how the product- and brand related value for customers, retailers and suppliers is affected by co-branding between private labels and national brands.