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.

This thesis serves to examine how manufacturing SMEs consider outsourcing. Furthermore, we aim to identify the main characteristics and patterns for these types of companies that can explain their rationale in such a decision. The chosen method for this thesis is abduction and selected research approach is multiple case studies. Seven case studies have been conducted at EAB AB, Esbe AB, Hörle Automatic AB, Pelly Industri AB, SGV Industrier AB, Swede-Wheel AB and Wulkan AB. Our findings have illustrated that although traditional outsourcing theory provides a good platform for explaining the rationale behind outsourcing decisions in SMEs, we have identified additional considerations that SMEs, operating as 2, 3 or 4-tier suppliers towards OEM-corporations, make.

Scania grundades år 1891 och idag spänner sig verksamheten över hundramarknader. Tillverkningen består av tunga lastbilar, bussar samt industriochmarinmotorer, fokus ligger på segmentet tunga transporter. Scania harfortsatt att visa goda intäkter även under perioder av stagnation påmarknaden. Det har gjort Scania till ett attraktivt förvärvsobjekt för andrabolag i samma bransch. Volvo har gjort två försök till förvärv av Scania ochMAN har gjort ett.Volvo gjorde två försök till förvärv först år 1979 och sedan igen år 1999men hindrades då av EU-kommissionen eftersom företagen tillsammansskulle dominera den nordiska marknaden.

Within today?s organizations there is continual development work to increase efficiency and the power to compete at the market. Production development with focus on continual improvements constitutes an important part of the daily work within a lot of organizations today.The purpose of this study is to contribute to a part of the development process that Volvo Penta factory in Vara has in mind. A description of the current situation was compiled by mapping the internal runnings and material flow throughout the factory. A new suggestion for a layout and a comparison with the current situation will assist with creating a factual basis for the development of a new goods reception.A study was made where the volumes and the quantity of the daily arrival goods were settled.

Volvo Personvagnar AB Motor (VCE) är ett bilindustriföretag som ingår i Fordkoncernen. Företaget ligger på ett flertal platser i Sverige, bland annat i Skövde. Vid produktionsenheten i Skövde, som går under namnet SKep är den huvudsakliga sysselsättningen bearbetning och montering av bensin- och dieselmotorer till personbilar. Inom företaget drivs, med hjälp av företagshälsovården, några arbetsmiljöutbildningar för chefer, arbetsledare och skyddsombud. Detta examensarbete kom att beröra arbetsmiljöarbete kopplat till utbildning av chefer och arbetsledare inom detta område.

This is a graduate work at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, The Department of Urban and Rural Development, Ultuna. The purpose of this paper has been to find out and describe principles for designing parks that offers good recreational and aesthetical values and require little amount of carbon dioxide emissions during their maintenance. The purpose has also been to see if it's possible to use city wastewater in some extent to assure the plants water supply and to find other means to make it less necessary to use purified water for watering. Recently made studies as well as older ones show how important green areas are in dense city structures both from a health and a climate perspective. Trees and other plants adsorbs different forms of air pollution and can also lower the temperature in the surrounding area through their transpiration.

Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att få en klar bild av hur företag kommunicerar en varumärkesidentitet till en kulturellt annorlunda marknad. Metod: Vår uppsats har en explorativ ansats baserad på kvalitativa empiriska data inhämtade med hjälp av telefonintervjuer. Företagen vars varumärken vi undersökt är Tele2, Delovoj Peterburg, RFSU, ALAX, Volvo och Svenska Institutet. Slutsatser: Vi har funnit att företag besitter stor kunskap om den aktuella kulturen. De använder sig dock i huvudsak av standardiseringsstrategier.

This thesis is based on a market survey sent to the passive members of Södra skogsägarna within the scope of practice of Vimmerby. A member of Södra skogsägarna is considered passive if the member not has delivered timber to the association during the past five years. The purpose of this thesis was to obtain as much information as possible about the forest owners, to be able to interpret why the member did not choose to deliver their timber to the association. The survey was worked out in close collaboration with Södra skogsägarna to answer this question. The responses indicate that economic returns are important to the individual landowner. The price of timber is most important in a timber business and the majority of forest owners want to have a personal meeting if you can choose how you wish to be contacted by the inspector.

In this thesis a transport system is sought after thatif realised in the city of Uppsala could provide bothwell-being to all its inhabitants and sustainability,here jointly refered to as liveability. It is found thatthe car dominated transport system that is inoperation today provides two fundamental values,namely accessibility in both time and space, whichsets it apart from other transport solutions. Thesetwo values are of immense importance for theliveability in our modern world. On the other handthe car dominated system decreases the liveabilityof Uppsala in several different ways. Some of theseproblems, it is argued, could be solved within thecar system, through the adoption of moreenvironmentally friendly cars etc., but otherproblems are inherent in the car system and willremain no matter what changes are made.

The challenges facing low voltage grids are rising as an increasing number of domestic houses transition from fossil fueled heating to electricity based heating. Several environmental goals and visions have the same transition from fossil based power to electricity based power in mind for the transportation sector. One of the most important tools for this transformation is widely regarded to be the electric vehicle. With the demands of the electric vehicle pressuring the power grid, several questions arise regarding the growth of the electric vehicle market and what repercussions it may have on the grid. This paper focuses on a typical low voltage grid in southern Sweden and what effects a growing electric vehicle market may have on it. Through computer-assisted simulations based on several future scenarios regarding the EV market, this paper finds that few modifications and reinforcements are needed on this particular grid within the next 10 to 15 years.

Under början av 1990-talet inledde Volvo Personvagnar i Olofström en process där övervakning av robotiserad MIG/MAG-svetsning var i fokus. Det ledde fram till ett forskningsprojekt som resulterade i att Stefan Adolfsson, Lunds tekniska högskola/Blekinge tekniska högskola, 1998 presenterade avhandlingen Automatic Quality Monitoring in GMA Welding using Signal Processing Methods [5]. I den presenterades ett SPRT-baserat övervakningskoncept för övervakning av MIG/MAG-svetsning med kort- och spraybåge. För att få fram ett kostnadseffektivt övervakningssystem uppkom tanken att använda vanliga PC-datorer som plattform. De erbjuder hög beräkningskapacitet till förhållandevis låg kostnad.

Volvo Wheel Loaders är en av världens ledande tillverkare av hjullastare. Examensarbetet är utfört på huvudfabriken, som ligger i Arvika. Bakgrunden till projektet är att det finns en vilja från ledningen att införa statistisk processtyrning (SPS) i produktionen. Viljan kommer av krav i kvalitetssystemet och att framtida investeringar i automatiserad häftsvetsning kommer att kräva större precision i produktionen. Examensarbetets syfte var att inleda och underlätta ett införande av SPS.

The purpose of this study is to determine who visits the V Frölunda Library, Gothenbug,what magazines they read and why. The data presented in this thesis are collectedusing four methods: general observation and counting numbers of visitors, interviewswith 202 magazine readers, the completion of 1308 questiomaires regarding approximately350 maghes and interviews with more than 100 library visitors.The data indicates that men are significantly overrepresented among magazine readersas compared to the female visitors. These men are primarily from the white collar sectorof the community. This leads to a pronounced underrepresentation of the blue coIlarworkers. Young people visit the magazine room in the library at a rate about twice thatexpected from the population distribution.Women are primarily interested in magazines dealing with the home whereas men aremore interested in business, cars, boats and sports.

Studies show that product placement is becoming a more and more common method for companies to use when communicating with consumers. The results of this study can?t confirm nor deny that claim, but instead we offered the observation that as a communication method, product placement and TV-commercials are more similar than revealed at first glance.Cars of the brand Ford appeared in seven out of the 50 motion pictures that made up the sample material in this study. In several instances the values that were communicated regarding the brand matched, completely or in large parts, the values communicated about the Ford brand in Ford?s own commercials.This doesn?t hold true for all companies.

This report describes the development process of a pipe clamp used on exhaust system for cars. It is made based on the manufacturers desire to improve and make the clamp easier to manufacture and to reduce its price to their customers. This should be done either by manufacturing the clamp in one piece without an expensive and work intensive welding process, or by generating ideas of how to develop a brand new type of clamp. Investigating the market for similar products was done to eliminate intrusion of other manufacturers? patents but also to generate ideas.