Production requires the input of capital and labour. Hence, economic growth can be assumed to follow from increased levels of these two factors. Policies aimed at increasing production may consequently successfully be focused on facilitating the accumulation of capital and labour. However, even when an economy has managed to reach the same quantities of input factors as a more prosperous neighbour, the level of the production might still differ. The explanation of this lies in what economists refers to as expression embracing the characteristics of the input factors and the conditions in which they operate.In this thesis a calculation of Total factor productivity is carried out, using existing data on the Swedish FA-regions between 1990 and 2005 and the method the economist Robert Solow in the 1950?s.

The aim of this study was to quantify the productivity and the costs of different harvesting systems (teams), containing harvesters equipped with accumulating harvester heads and forwarders, in first commercial thinnings were an integrated harvest of pulpwood and energy wood were performed. In the beginning the plan was to study and measure 20 sites before and after harvest. Due to storms during the summer of 2010, complete data could only be obtained from 8 of these 20 sites. Seven of these sites were privately owned and one was owned by UPM, all of the sites had been pre-commercially thinned. The mean stem density before harvest was 2578 stems per ha and the mean stem volume was 0.074 m3solid over bark.On average 1518 stems/ha was harvested.

This is a result of a diploma work in construction engineering. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the nature of the productivity in a given project and how the Skanska productivity tools were used in this project.Interviews were held among workers and management to get some answers on what affected the work and its productivity. The result of the thesis showed that the productivity tools as propulsion analysis and ?goal cards?, were not used to a wide extent in this project. Furthermore there was almost no feedback for the one who made the calculation and the offer for the project, which might affect the results on projects negatively in the future.Within the project there was a lot of waiting time which affected the productivity.

If Swedish companies are to compete with companies in low-cost countries they have to achieve a more efficient production. The purpose of Total Productivity Maintenance (TPM) is to increase the company's profitability by increasing the productivity. TPM is a method that involves all employees and aims to prevent failures in order to increase the availability of existing equipment.The aim of this paper is to evaluate the implementation process of TPM and give recommendations for the further implementation process. The conclusion and the analysis are based on a case study done at a production department at ABB Cewe-Controls facilities in Nyköping. The case study consists mainly of qualitative data from participation observations, surveys and interviews.Commitment of the management is a key factor in the implementation process of TPM.

The purpose of this study is from a case study develop a model that aims to cost effectively improve productivity in a manufacturing production process. The study highlights the importance of having knowledge about customer needs and using a holistic process perspective when improving productivity to identify the relations between the process stations and by this find problems that cause waste and losses in productivity. Tools and methods used to make production more efficient such as single minute exchange of die, spaghetti diagram, 5s and master production schedule is presented an applied in the model to see how these effect costs, productivity etc.Maintenance effects on quality and productivity in a manufacturing company will as well be covered in this thesis. The results and conclusions finally reveals how the process improvement tools, maintenance and production planning for example effects each other and why it is important to establish an attitude in the company where continuous process improvement should be emphasized..

Profit in first commercial thinnings of today is hard to achieve. This is because of prevailing pulpwood prices and because of high costs of logging and transport. To reduce these costs higher productivity is advocated. One way to increase the productivity is the use of multi-tree handling harvester heads. The aim of this study was to calculate logging and transport costs in first thinnings, where multi-tree handling has been used.

This paper analyzes the Swedish labor market during the interwar and early postwar period within the framework of modern labor market theory. The development of unemployment during this period - according to the commonly cited source of labor union reports - represents a conundrum for research. The unemployment rate rose after the initial diverse shock of 1921 and stayed at a permanently higher level for the rest of the interwar period. This development was reversed after World War Two when the unemployment rate decreased and stayed permanently low for the rest of the postwar period until the oil price chock of the 1970s.In a first step the available sources of unemployment statistics is investigated and compared. The general conclusion is that the labor union reports overestimate the level of economy wide unemployment while being a reasonably good indicator of movements in the rate.

The past and ongoing structural change in Swedish agriculture has led to an increasing number of large-scale farms. The biological factors associated with large-scale farming operations may cause increasing variability, risk and reduced yields due to sub-optimal timing and management of field operations. The theory of economies of scale suggests that largescale production may benefit from lower costs due to scale efficiencies. Thus, large-scale farms may face cost reductions in terms of long term inputs factors, e.g. agricultural machinery.

The Swedish parliament has decided that Sweden should increase its usage of renewable fuel sources to a level of 50% of the total energy consumption in Sweden by the year 2020. One way to reach that goal may be to increase the usage of stumps as a bio-fuel. In Sweden stump harvesting is possible on about 5-10% of the total harvested area and thus contribute with 1,3 - 2,6 TWh per year. An increase stump harvest doesn't come without its drawbacks for the environment. When harvesting stumps a tracked excavator is used to pry the stumps from the ground and then cut the stumps into smaller pieces.

This exam report contains studies about how the weather affects the construction site from a planning and productivity perspective. In 1960?s the contractors started to build during the winter, since then the demands to obtain a good construction has been higher on both the contractor and then promoter.In this report you will see how the different actors at the construction site handle the weather problems. By several interviews of the actors at the construction site there have been opinions about the weather situation which has been collected. To get a wide perspective of the problem, field studies from four different construction sites been made.Weather statistics over Halmstad is a mayor part of this report.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the productivity effects of multiple tree handling in thinnings. Other important elements have been to investigate in which extent multi-tree handling is used in stands with different stem volumes and the impact of collecting partially delimbed fuelwood assortments has on harvesting performance. The study is based on data from thinnings in Sydved and contractors' operating activities. Collection and compilation of operating schedules, number of stems and surveyed volumes from several contractors and a large number of executed orders underlying the results. Multiple tree handling is used to a much greater extent at lower average stem volumes. Prediction models for productivity of the multiple-tree handling harvesters in the study differ from the productivity models for single-tree handling. In the model developed in this study productivity is not as dependent of stem volume as reference models.

Productivity of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) was studied on 12 sites in coastal areas of northern Sweden. On each site, sample plots were placed in adjacent Norway spruce and Scots pine stands with similar ages in between. Basal area, tree height, Site Index, volume production, simulated maximum mean annual increment (MAImax) and tree vitality were compared for the two species. Average basal area at the time of measurement was 30.4% larger for Scots pine stands than for Norway spruce stands. The difference between the two species in basal area increment during the last 10 years was related to stand age.

Total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are two methods used for measuring organic pollutants in wastewater. Both methods are widely used but the COD method results in production of hazardous wastes, including mercury.The purpose of this study was to validate the method TOC that will replace COD and find a factor to convert TOC to COD. In this study 26 samples were analyzed from four sewage treatment plant in the municipality of Enköping.The results show that the COD method could be replaced by the TOC method.The factor for COD/TOC was between 3.1 - 3.3. Both methods will be used in parallel until 2013 when it will be forbidden to use the COD analysis..

This paper describes a factor analysis applied at the data of the European Union structural indicators. These are the official indicators for wealth and economic development in the European Union with main use to evaluate the outcomes of the year 2000 Lisbon goals for making the European Union the world?s strongest economy by 2010. The purpose of the data is to serve for comparing and ?learning by doing?-policies, but have, due to size and format, so far been hard to use for a good compare between member countries.

Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality.