The project was performed in collaboration with Husqvarna, one of the world?s leading manufacturer in the market of electric outdoor products. The report is a thesis work of a bachelor mechanical engineer program, in the field product development and design.The project is a study of the development opportunities within drive belt for a gear driven gearbox to one of Husqvarnas petrol powered hedge trimmers. A big part of the project was also to find combinations of materials for all components in the gearbox, to reduce weight and maintain or improve the performance of the system. Belt drive was of interest to investigate as an alternative solution to the current design that can reduce wear on the system at a performance test performed in the company before the product is released to market.

The change in course recently taken by the Swedish Armed Forces results in an increased use of equipment, and thereby increased requirements of preventive maintenance. This paper aims to examine the current responsibilities for preventive maintenance in an army unit. The intended effect of this examination is to disclose possible flaws, and to help make routines for preventive maintenance more effective.The questions asked in this paper are;Who, in an army unit, is responsible for the routine maintenance?When is this responsibility valid?What demands does the technical service have on responsibilities for the routine maintenance?How are these demands met?How ought to be responsible for the routine maintenance?To answer these questions the author has chosen to use a descriptive method to show the current facts. A theorizing method is chosen to, from described facts, clarify the demands of the technical service on routine maintenance.

DefinitionerInitial public offering (IPO)Den första försäljningen av ett företags aktier på den publika marknaden.AvnoteringHändelsen då ett börsbolags aktie tas bort från marknaden.Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)Ett omfattande och för ämnet väl undersökt amerikanskt regelverk.Private Equity (PE)Aktiekapital som inte är börsnoterat, investerare som investerar direkt i privata bolag eller köper ut publika bolag från börsen.International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS)Internationella regler som styr rapporteringen av olika typer av transaktioner och händelser.Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)Förvärv och sammanslagningar av bolag.Definitioner hämtade från http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary/.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

Today´s roofing of dwelling houses is a very time consuming procedure, which includes a lot of different steps on the construction site. Not only does it cost a lot of money, but often do problems with rot and mold occur in the attics of houses today. The use of prefabricated modules has seen a great breakthrough in the field of construction of dwelling houses; at least when it comes to foundations and walls, where this type of approach makes the construction process way more efficient. What no one previous has succeeded to develop is a corresponding system for roofs that meets the demands of a dwelling house. Accordingly the goal of PlusTak has been to come up with a proper module system for roofing of dwelling houses, where the roofing is completed to meet the demands of the Scandinavian market. During the project a lot of effort has been put into customer contacts and the usability of the product, as well in the manufacturing process as on the construction site. This development has gone hand in hand with several practical tests and tryouts.

Detta examensarbete har syftat till att utveckla ett verktyg för att utvärdera en IT-avdelnings möjligheter till effektivisering genom att implementera Lean på IT Service Management. Verktyget har utvecklats i samarbete med Tina Eriksson på uppdrag av management och IT-management konsultbolaget Connecta AB. Connecta AB har som syfte att använda verktyget för framtida affärer. För att verktyget ska vara användbart och uppfylla Connectas krav så har fyra mål satts upp. Verktyget ska vara trovärdigt, resurseffektivt, användarvänligt samt underlätta för fortsatt arbete och implementering av Lean på IT Service Management.

Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) is a form of product take-back regulation that requires the producers to manage their products at the end of life. By internalising the products? entire life cycle costs into the market price the ultimate objective of such regulations is to reduce the environmental burden from the products. This Master´s thesis seeks to examine if the total life cycle cost of a product actually is borne by the producer, and if not, predict who will then take this cost. This is done by analysing the market for take-back activities in three different categories of products; electrical and electronic equipment, cars and wind power stations.

The aim with this study is to see how social workers apprehend the law, support and service for persons with certain functional impairments (LSS) and the application. We interviewed six social workers in six different municipalities to get a distribution between small and big municipalities. In the study we have used a qualitative method with half structured interview questions, since we wanted to get a comprehension for the social workers apprehensions. We have used a communication theory and a role theory in the study. The result showed that the social workers consider that the LSS is important, but that there are a few difficulties in the application.

Almost every day newspapers cover companies and brands in crisis. This should worry companies as negative publicity has been shown to have a great influence on consumer perceptions on brands. In addition, brand crises have been shown to be contagious, meaning that they also affect consumers? views on other similar brands. This study aims to investigate spill-over effects of one brand crisis to another within a product category.

The thesis concerns itself with studying the effects private brands has on the consumer?s impulse buying in the grocery industry, as in degree of unplanned spending and the selection process between manufacturer brands and private brands when such a purchase is performed. The study?s methodology is characterised by a qualitative approach, whereby the study acknowledges the inductive approach towards the empirical setting even though the Mehrabian-Russell model along with motivational theories serve as highlighters of relevant aspects in the empirical field. The study concludes that both the utilitarian and the hedonic consumer decide what to buy before entering the store, whereby a low degree of needs arise in the store.

This paper works as an assignment from the Video On Demand Company Headweb, who wanted aninterface analysis of their own and their competitors VOD services. The purpose is to help Headwebwith their own interface by studying theirs and others interfaces and make an analysis on how theyfunction, how they look and how good the usability is with every service, with hope to findsomething that could make the VOD service of Headweb better.I have also studied how the interfaces of the VOD services look on different platforms, to see howthey are designed as a whole. This has been an expert analysis where I have studied the differentVOD-services by myself, without any external users.To find advantages and disadvantages with the services and their platforms, I have used differenttheories, models and design patterns to frame areas such as filmsearch, categorization, registrationand navigation. I have compared the VOD services with each other and drew conclusions for eacharea to see how the interfaces differ between the services, but also between platforms.My analysis has shown that all VOD services in this project have a very unique interface, eventhough they all have the same goal, to allow the user to control their viewing of film. They usevarious functions and structure and use their own page names and categorizations.

Product development cycles become shorter and shorter. The time from idea to market has become an important competitive factor. Despite this, methods used for making the product development process faster are surrounded with uncertainty about their efficiency. The purpose of the thesis is to describe the pros and cons of ?best practice? methods for shortening lead times and how these methods effect the lead times in research and development.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att utifrån den kundnära personalens perspektiv undersöka och analysera vilka behov de har för att kunna ge god service till företagets kunder samt att ta reda på hur den interna marknadsföringen kan formas för att utgöra ett stöd åt den kundnära personalen. Vår frågeställning är; Vad uppfattar kundnära personal som centralt i den interna marknadsföringen för att den ska fungera som ett stöd i deras dagliga arbete med att tillhandahålla kunder en god service? Vi har kommit fram till att det finns ett behov i att utveckla strategier inom IM utifrån den kundnära personalens perspektiv. Vi menar att de behöver få ett antal grundförutsättningar uppnådda inom IM för att de ska kunna ge god kundupplevd service. Dessa har vi funnit vara; en stödjande ledningsstil, intern kommunikation via IM, handlingsfrihet och handlingsmöjlighet samt utbildning och tekniskt stöd.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera fyra kvinnors syn på tid, struktur och kreativitet på servicedesignbyrån Transformator design. Genom intervjuer och deltagande observation undersöker jag hur tid, struktur och kreativitet samspelar för mina informanter, och hur de använder tiden. Slutsatsen av denna studie är i korthet att kontrollen av tid är viktig för upplevelsen av tid. Strukturer, synliga och osynliga, är centrala för att se och förstå tiden och upprätthålla kontrollen av tid. Informanternas strävan är att skapa fylld tid, som är värdefull tid, och genom kontroll av tiden skapa en positiv känsla av att ha tid.

Gain IT Architecture & Solutions AB (refereras till som Gain IT) är ett litetHuskvarnabaserat IT-företag. De är verksamma inom de tre affärsområdenaprodukt, konsult och service. Inom produktområdet sker försäljning avprogramvaror och deras egenutvecklade webbapplikationer. På konsultsidanerbjuder Gain IT bl.a. utveckling av webbapplikationer.