Date                   May 28, 2009Level                  Bachelor thesis in Business Administration/Information TechnologyAuthors             Jennie Andersson, Niklas Fridell, Visar HoxhaTutor                  Marie MörndalDepartment    HSTTitle                    ERP-solutions in small to medium sized enterprises ? possibilities and problemsSummary          ERP-solutions have penetrated the market for SME: s, offering the same advantages larger enterprises have enjoyed for years. For a significantly cheaper price, SME: s can nowadays acquire ERP-solutions and become more effective and increase their profit.  The authors have examined five SME: s in both the production and service company segment and have come to the conclusion that an ERP-solution would indeed benefit these companies in many levels but also induce certain obstacles the examined companies must overcome, both financial and organizational.Purpose            The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how SME: s can become more efficient and developed and increase their profit by implementing an ERP-solution. Further, the purpose is to discuss which conditions that exists for the examined SME: s in order to implement an ERP-solution.Method            The thesis consists of a qualitative research where the authors have interviewed either the owner or employees at management level by using semi-structured interviews.

A persistent problem in the construction industry is its low margins of profit. It is often difficult to earn money due to low efficiency and high costs. Logistics on the construction site answers for a large amount of these costs and it is therefore of interest to find new, more efficient logistic solutions. The purpose of this thesis is to compare two different logistic systems and further to evaluate which one that is the most efficient and profitable. A comparison is made between the traditional logistic systems used for years and a new logistic system developed by an industry association called BEAst.

Seabased Industry AB develops system for extracting electrical energy from ocean waves with a Wave Energy Converter (WEC). The components is bought from subcontractors and then assembled into wave energy converters, buoys and marine substations by Seabased. In the future Seabased will produce more of the components themselves to reduce costs and to have better control over tolerances. The production line will also include the painting of the WECs and substations, which is performed in a painting line.The purpose of this thesis work is to study what is required to build a painting line, regarding the types of stations, transporting types and the space needed. This will result in layouts for the painting line.To receive the necessary information about production theory and corrosion and surface treatment, literature concerning this area has been studied.

This thesis examines how knowledge management professionals use trust as a component in the creation of knowledge management systems, and what methods they use for building trust.Adopting a grounded theory approach, interviews with 8 knowledge management professionals active in different industries served as the base for an analysis that identified trust to be the single most important common factor in the data. The concept of trust used by the informants was identified as relating to the knowledge management system itself, rather than other users, employees or groups in an organisation.Building trust, the KM-professionals mainly focused on three methods: simple solutions, system superiority, and implementation security. Using these methods, the KM-professionals seek to ensure system trust by creating opportunities for users to obtain positive experiences of using the system, and thereby generate a foundation for a trust-based relationship between the user and the system..

This project was led on behalf of Bombardier Transportation in Västerås, Sweden, incollaboration with KTH Stockholm and EPFL Lausanne. This project is connected to thedevelopment of a new and simplified tilt system for rail vehicles.Growing competition from other means of transportation has forced railway companiesthroughout the world to search for increased performances.Travelling time is the mostobvious performance indicator that may be improved by introducing high-speed trains.They require very large curve radii and long transitions curves not to impairridecomfort, another performance indicator. Building new tracks adapted to high speedtrains is very costly and can only be justified where the passenger base is large.Trains with the capability to tilt the carbodies inwards the curve is a more cost efficientalternative. The tilt inwards reduces thelateral force felt by the passengers allowing thetrain to pass curves at enhanced speed with maintained ride comfort but increases thefrequency ofmotion sickness.The benefits of tilting trains are improved speed capability in curves and enhancedpassengers comfort, but at higher buying and maintenance cost. As the conventionaltrains increase their speed in curves, the performance advantage of tilting trains isreduced while their prize is still kept significantly higher and constant.

The most predominant method for forest harvesting in Sweden is the cut-to-length method based on two-machines, a harvester that fells trees and cut them in a predefined length, and a forwarder which transports logs to a landing area for further transport to a processing facility. New machine solutions have to be much gentler to the ground than today?s machines. To be able to develop a forestry machine that preserves the terrain requires a proper understanding of the interaction between tire and soil.The goal of the project is to contribute to the existing knowledge of forest machine tire-soil interaction and to develop a tire-soil model that enables dynamic simulations of forest machines operating in rough terrain. The modeling has especially been focused on the interaction between tires and soft ground.A comparison of theoretical data of different WES-based terrain interaction models and a comparison test data from a full scale field test is presented.

The gas turbines in the Swedish secondary reserve are reaching the end of their technical lifetime, hence alternative solutions need to be considered. One of the solutions thought to have the greatest potential is the use of so called consumptionreduction. By entering contracts with large consumers, agreements are made to reduce consumption in the event of major disturbances in the power system and thus being used as a secondary reserve. This thesis investigates the feasibility of consumption reduction as part of the secondary reserve. This has been achieved by developing a requirement specification for the disturbance reserve and by studying the technical and economic potential for consumption reduction among a range of consumers.The technical potential for consumption reduction that fulfils the requirements for participating in the secondary reserve are on average 750 MW in SE 3 and 98 MW in SE 4.

This report present a working model for simulation of what happens to colors displayed on screens when they are observed through optical filters. The results of the model can be used to visually, on one screen, simulate another screen with an applied optical filter. The model can also produce CIE color difference values for the simulated screen colors. The model is data driven and requires spectral measurements for at least the screen to be simulated and the physical filters that will be used. The model is divided into three separate modules or steps where each of the modules can be easily replaced by alternative implementations or solutions.

Examensarbetet sammanfattar de mekanismer som binder kapital i den speciella miljö som råder i företagets gasturbintillverkning. De pågående verksamhetsutvecklande åtgärderna recenseras ur ett kapitalbindningsperspektiv och rekommendationer inför det fortsatta kapitalbindningsarbetet hos företaget presenteras. Rapporten visar även hur gängse mätmetoder och nyckeltal behöver anpassas för de långa ledtiderna och den höga grad av kundanpassning som företagets produkter kännetecknas av..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how investments are justified in the Swedish data center industry, with a focus on cooling equipment. This is achieved through semi-structured interviews with 20 different interviewees. These interviewees represent different facets of the industry and facilitate an understanding of which factors, such as: investment costs, operating costs, reliability, environmental impact and the influence of external and internal actors, come into play and to which degree they impact the investment decision-making process. The results show that primarily low operating cost in the form of low energy consumption is the driving factor when it comes to the procurement of new equipment. A lower environmental impact is a positive side-effect of lower energy consumption.

Abstract The overall aim of this paper is to examine the impact of ideologies and norms on a legal system. Against a background of a description of the hierarchy of norms in Swedish labour law and in European Union law, respectively, the paper aims to specifically demonstrate the problems caused by the different hierarchies of norms when implementing EU directives in Swedish labor law. The research question examines how the trade unions? right to industrial action towards an undertaker providing transnational services by posting of workers, is affected by the implementation of the Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. The paper answers the question under what conditions the Swedish trade unions have the right to take industrial action in situations of posting of workers. Through the study of sources of law and adhering to traditional jurisprudence, this paper investigates the legislation regarding trade unions? rights to take industrial action in situations of posting of workers. In addition to the jurisprudential research, a glance at the history of ideologies is provided.

This thesis describes a further development of an existing prototype named Automatic pin bone remover. The further development was requested from the Swedish consulting firm ATM AB. The request of automatic pin bone removers is high and has the potential to be a worldwide leading product.The goal with the thesis work is to further develop an existing prototype. In order to achieve the goal a pre-study of the prototype had to be made in order to define a customer demand specification. The thesis work is then continued by a function analysis which differs from a conservative one.

The aim of this study is to clarify the Swedish government?s purpose of participating in theEuropean Union Emission Trading Scheme. Taking as its departure point state-centricinternational political economy this study presents three plausible hypotheses on what thepurpose might be. Either it is to promote consumers interests, or to promote the Swedishnational climate goal ?Reduced impact on climate?, or to promote the profit of Swedishcompanies.

In Sweden and in the rest of the world we face the problem how to create a sustainable development. At the same time the Swedish million program, a housing program made in the 1960:s and 1970:s, is facing a renewal due to lack of maintenance during many years. An attempt to join these two interests has been made in the residential area of Gårdsten north of Gothenburg. This paper is a case study to review the project and its approach to the sustainability concept. The purpose is to spread knowledge about the problems that can arise. By studying documentation about the reconstruction I have analyzed the approach that has been used. The housing company?s starting point was user participation and an intention to make the changes visible.

This final project discusses renewal and upgrading of the area of Prim. It is discussed how this industrial area can be an attractive neighborhood with a varied range of services and commercial trade. Prim is located 2km north-east of the center of Barcelona. The area boarders to a deep railway valley that historically has separated Prim from its neighboring districts. At present there is almost no housing, services or commercial trade within the area and the industry is discontinued or the existing industrial buildings are derelict.