In 2005, Outokumpu began to implement its system of continuous improvement, OK> 1, at Avesta Jernverk. OK> 1 has not generated sufficient results on plant KPI:s. The purpose of this study is to identify the understanding,  participation and commitment regarding to OK> 1, and to suggest some actions to make OK> 1 more successful with emphasis on these three aspects. The thesis shall also determine whether there are any differences in the attitude towards OK>1 between Blue Collars and White Collars.The study consisted of a survey, and interviews. The output from these methods were processed and analyzed and finally resulted in a SWOT ? analysis and suggested actions for improving the understanding, participation and commitment towards OK>1.

Long transport of products is an environmental issue discussed to an increasing extent. The consumers are increasingly aware of how far our comestibles really have been transported. The increasing levels of environmental emissions are something that concerns people. The question is nevertheless delicate and many choose to ignore it. This is no longer an option.

ABB Surge Arrestors in Ludvika have for a long time had a problem to keep the moisture at a steady state in the production of their ZnO-powder, that is used to produce varistors.Some black-box models of the spray drying process have been designed and evaluated to find a solution for the problem. After evaluating the collected data it has been found that variations in the supply voltage causes control difficulties for the operator. A cascade control system was designed, consisting of three PI control loops designed with lambda tuning. The disturbance in the supply voltagewas used as a feed forward in the control system.At the end of the project the control system was installed, and tests were made to verify the functionality of the regulator. It was shown that most of the variations in the moisture of the powder could be eliminated using small resources, through purchase of a process controller and four power meters.

Due to increasing product availability and higher demands on fast deliveries, the competition between companies is growing. To be able to satisfy the customers? requests an efficient logistics system with short throughput time is required. By using tools associated with Lean production companies are able to make great improvements in their manufacturing systems and reduce lead times to satisfy customer demands.There are two classifications associated with manufacturing, high variety and low volume (HVLV) and low volume and high variety (LVHV). The general belief is that the concept of Lean production is difficult to implement in a production environment with high variety and low volume due to the concept being adapted to mass production.

Detta examensarbete behandlar affärssystem (även kallade ERP-system) och implementering av dessa. ERP betyder Enterprise Resource Planning och innebär ett integrerat system som innefattar hela företagets verksamhet.Att införa ett affärssystem i en organisation är en stor investering och ofta en komplicerad uppgift, det är därför bra om tidigare erfarenheter från liknande implementationer kan utnyttjas. I mitt arbete har jag undersökt vilka faktorer en organisation bör beakta för att erhålla en lyckad implementering. Arbetet har bedrivits i form av en fallstudie där jag genom intervjuer med projektdeltagare har studerat den implementation som Volvo Lastvagnar Komponenter AB i Skövde nyligen har genomfört av affärssystemet SAP R/3.Resultatet av undersökningen kan sammanfattas i tre övergripande områden; planering, utbildning och resurser. Dessa områden är alla viktiga att beakta i samband med en implementering av ett affärssystem för att implementeringen skall nå ett, för företaget, lyckat resultat..

This thesis aspires to construct a routing optimization method customized for Volvo Powerstrain?s manufacturing plant in Skövde, Sweden. In order to enforce Volvo?s own understanding and control of there own organization, as well as optimize the utilization of the in-house tow trains, the BRO methodology where created. The methodology where created from observations of the currents working environment, analysis of order data as well as a comparison with two similar producing factories.

An automatic milking (AM) system should be combined with some form of controlled cow traffic to minimize the time spend on fetching cows to milking and to increase the milking frequency. By restricting the hours spent on pasture per day you optimise the AM system use during pasture period. A reason for this is becuase cows do not return to the stable for milking during night which cause that the milking unit stands empty those hours. In organic production it is required that the cows should be able to graze a certain amount of daily dry matter (DM) intake on the pasture. In the county of Dalarna where the farm is located the yield of the pasture is about 3000 kg DM per grazing season and hectar.This means that the pasture area should be 14,25 hectare to 57 milking cows.

This reports goal is the give BSR AB more information that's useful towards their customers in marketing of their products.It involves tests of different air filters designed for cars and 3D-modelling of Opti-Flow systems. The three models thats being tested is SAAB (93SS), VAG (1.8T) and Volvo (S60). To every brand there are three different models. A orginal- , sport- and an open cone air filter (Opti-Flow).The results indicate that the open Opti-Flow filter has better performance compared to the other cased filters. The sport filters for SAAB and Volvo has better performance then the original filter.

The hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepis Henry) is a fast growing tree species and was introduced in Sweden for about 50 years ago. The high growth and expected resistance to diseases are probably the main reasons of introducing the tree species into the Swedish forests. The purpose of this thesis was to document the production of hybrid larch planted in the Snogeholm landscape laboratory and to compare the production in the pure hybrid larch stand with the mixture together with pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). The data collection in Snogeholm since the establishment has been carried out by the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU). The fieldwork for the thesis was carried out in 3 stands, containing hybrid larch, pedunculate oak and a mixture of hybrid larch and pedunculate oak, in order to be able to compare the total stand production of the areas. The results show that the total production of hybrid larch in the mixed stand only is 35 % compared with the total production of hybrid larch in the pure stand. Therefore, the hypothesis that the total production of hybrid larch is equal to the planted mixture with pedunculate oak was rejected. The other hypothesis that the total production of a 2 hectare large stand containing a mixture of hybrid larch and pedunculate oak would be greater than the total production of two pure stands of 1 hectare containing hybrid larch and oak each was also rejected. In the studied case the total production was 45 % greater if hybrid larch and pedunculate oak was planted in pure stands. The results from the case-study only indicate that the total production of hybrid larch and oak under the investigated conditions can be higher when planting the two species in pure stands compared with a mixture of the two species.

This thesis considers the development of the software for an, newly developed, embedded real-time control system, based on a Periferal Interface Controller (PIC). The control system is developed to be used for several different applications. In this thesis work, software for two different applications are developed. The first task is a time controlled system, while the other task is implementation of aPI-/PID-controller. A user interface is also developed and implemented.The time controlled system is an automatic horse feeder, which is used for feeding horses at certain predefined points in time.

AbstractLean production has become one common concept within industries to make the work more effective and to meet today?s hard competition. A challenge for Chinese production is the threat from new low cost countries. It will become very difficult to succeed to produce to a lower cost than these countries; this led to that Chinese companies must develop new strategies, according to Lee and Zhou (2000). This will put China in front of new challenges and new strategies can be needed to retain their strong competitive advantages.

Volvo Construction Equipment is one of the worlds largest manufacturer of heavymachinery. In Braås, Sweden, they develop and manufacture articulated haulers inseveral sizes. The biggest, the A40, is capable of loading almost 40 metric tonnes.These haulers have a bogie to distribute the forces of the load evenly onto the two axlesand there wheels. The bogie is constructed using a rigid balance beam on each side ofthe frame connecting the axles or an independent solution using hydropneumatics.An analysis has been made in order to establish the forces created during corneringand through the theory, an estimation of the extensive tyre wear and extra fuelconsumption has been made. All due to the effects of the tyres not being inline with thecornering radius.

Titel: Investeringsuppföljningar ? En fallstudie på Volvo Construction Equipment i BraåsSeminariedatum: 2011-06-01Ämne/kurs: 2FE13E:3Författare: Aleksandar Stamenkovic och Donald BergströmHandledare: Anders JerrelingExaminator: Fredrik KarlssonNyckelord: Post-audits, Capital Budgeting, Investments, Performance Evaluations, ROI, RI, AARRSyfte: Syftet med detta ämnesfördjupande arbete är att förklara de problem som uppstår när avsaknad av investeringsuppföljning föreligger, samt att förklara för hur rutiner av uppföljningar kan organiseras.Metod: Valet föll på att göra en kvalitativ fallstudie gällande Volvo Construction Equipment i Braås. Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts med fyra stycken respondenter på anläggningen. Detta ämnesfördjupande arbete har utförts enligt en deduktiv metod och en diskussion förs angående arbetets validitet och reliabilitet.Teori: Den teoretiska referensramen behandlar relevant teori gällande investeringar och uppföljning, vidare behandlas även kortfattat de metoder som används för att bedöma investeringars lönsamhet på Volvo Construction Equipment i Braås.Empiri: Det empiriska avsnittet redovisar data från de semistrukturerade intervjuerna som fördes med personal på anläggningen i Braås. Dessa bestod av ekonomichefen, controllern samt två projektledare.Slutsats: Resultaten som presenteras behandlar komplexiteten med att följa upp investeringar enligt dess faktiska kassaflöden och förkastar därmed en sådan uppföljning för Volvo Construction Equipment i Bråas.

Under sex månader våren 2007 har ett samarbete mellan Volvo Lastvagnar och två studenter från KTH, inriktning Integrerad produktutveckling vid institutionen för maskinkonstruktion, pågått i form av ett examensarbete på 20 poäng.Dagens AC-system i Volvos lastbilar avger 20-40 g/år av köldmediet R134a som är en kraftfull växthusgas. Detta sker främst genom diffusion via slangar och tätningsmaterial. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att ta fram förslag på tekniska lösningar på ett nytt AC-system. Eventuella idéer från befintliga värmepumpar och kylsystem skall studeras för att minska eller eliminera utsläppen helt. Fokus har lagts på själva köldmediekretsen och de ingående komponenterna för att därigenom ta fram koncept där systemet är så kompakt och lätt som möjligt.Arbetet delades upp i fyra olika faser: Förstudie, konceptstudie, utvecklingsfas och rapportfas.

The trend in milk production is similar in Sweden and across the world; the farms are getting fewer but increasingly bigger. The costs for hiring workers are increasing, which results in more cows per animal keeper. Sensors can then be a great tool for keeping track of animals which need special attention. With a reported decreasing fertility, sensors that can detect oestrus even at low levels can be especially helpful in bigger herds to pinpoint the cows that may be in oestrus. The number of farms with dairy cows that install AMS, Automatic Milking Systems, are increasing, and that also increases the need for sensors to control milk quality and composition when there is no visual control of the milk by a milker before milking starts.For the sensor data to be useful you have to have software designed to analyze and interpret the data to get relevant information that the farmer can use.