This thesis concerns implementation of Lean Administration within administrative support-processes. The thesis examines how tools of Lean can contribute to the standardizing of documents and the handling of documents in order to eliminate waste. In addition, quality assurance and higher efficiency are obtained while it is possible to reach a higher capacity for value-adding activities. The empirical findings are based on action research conducted at a trading company where the supporting handling of documents concerning initial samples was studied closely.

The background to this study can be traced to the increased global competition which has brought more companies to work with improvements to a larger extent. More companies have also decided to outsource parts of their operations to be able to focus on their core competencies. As an effect of this trend, different new actors have specialized in other areas than production. When there is no production to make more efficient, these companies have directed their work with improvements to other areas, such as the administration.

The purpose with this thesis is to; based on Lean Administration, give suggestions for a new handling system of documents concerning the support processes for initial samples. The result of this work culminates into a proposal which is presented as a template created in Excel. The template has been created during the work with the thesis and it is built with support from principles and tools from Lean Administration. The Excel template is made to replace current documents in the specific administrative process and by doing that, contribute to standardization and increased efficiency to the work with initial samples. The template also creates options to treat customers’ different needs and it also increases quality through a built-in fail proofing feature.

The template can be considered to be generalized and possible to implement at different companies working with initial samples. However, it may be required to change the graphical layout to company-specific needs.

Towards the end of the writing process thoughts about developing the Excel template to a total quality document was raised. This document could contain all information concerning quality for a specific article. This idea gives opportunity for further work.

Suggestions for further research within Lean Administration are given since there is still a lot to investigate within the field. The way the research was conducted, by viewing the work processes with Lean-glasses, can be generalized and applied to other areas than the processes concerning initial samples.

Studien syftar till att upptäcka svårigheter vid implementering av kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001:2015 på små företag. För att uppnå studiens syfte samlades teorier om kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001 och dess implementerings- och certifieringsprocess in. En fallstudie genomfördes på två analysenheter för att sedan jämföras mot det teoretiska ramverket och erhålla ett resultat. De mest bidragande faktorerna till icke-certifiering av ISO 9001 hos små företag visade sig vara tidsbrist, resursbrist samt kompetensbrist.

Identification of flawed assemblies and defective parts or products as early as possible is a daily struggle for manufacturing companies. With the ever-increasing complexity of assembly operations and manufacturing processes alongside the need for shorter cycle times and higher flexibility of productions, companies cannot afford to check for quality issues only at the end of the line. In-line quality inspection needs to be considered as a vital part of the process. This paper explores use of a real-time automated solution for detection of assembly defects through YOLOv8 (You Only Look Once) deep learning algorithm which is a class of convolutional neural networks (CNN). The use cases of the algorithm can be extended into detection of multiple objects within a single image to account for not only defects and missing parts in an assembly operation, but also quality assurance of the process both in manual and automatic cells. An analysis of YOLOv8 algorithm over an industrial case study for object detection shows the mean average precision (mAP) of the model on the test dataset and consequently its overall performance is extremely high. An implementation of this model would facilitate in-line quality inspection and streamline quality control tasks in complex assembly operations.

This master's thesis has been performed in cooperation with the company ROL Ergo which design and manufacture motor-driven rise- and sinkable desks. The company wants to expand their assortment by marketing motor-driven rise- and sinkable TVstands towards the public service. The stand shall be designed with the same technical solutions and principles as the company already applies. The mission was given out as a master thesis to Jönköping University. The authors has through a given requirement specification and own field studies on the market made the foundation for the development of the TV-stand. Through different well known working methods the work has been charted, planed in detail and supporting in decisions of greater and smaller concept selections.

The requirements and desiderates from potential costumers has accurately been worked thru to be fulfilled one at a time and they have also been supporting in decisions of technical and designable shaping. The constructions is build up with support from predetermined parts that was given from ROL Ergo and thru investigations in the ergonomic area, practical laboratory work, computing and discussions with the mentor on the company. A rough construction was developed as a base for the whole product and from that upcoming problems could be discussed and solved to supply the main part of the requirements and desires. After that piece by piece was designed in a detail construction phase to work together in the end as an overall solution. The result becomes a mobile motor-driven TV-stand that can take TVs up to 42". The stand is ergonomically suitable for both a sitting and standing audience. The TV-stand is designed to fit well in public services and is therefore styled discreet and sobered with few visible details.

Maintenance operations directly influence the performances of railway vehicles and play a crucial role in railway services to provide uninterrupted and high quality service to passengers. With the exception of preventive activities, the demand of spare parts for maintenance tasks is usually random; hence, the fast and secure management of the spare parts inventory is an important factor for the successful execution of the maintenance process. The purpose of this research is to extend the classical ABC analysis by developing a multi-criteria inventory classifi- cation approach for supporting the planning and designing of a maintenance system. Relevant classifi- cation criteria and control characteristics of maintenance spare parts are identified and selected and discussed in terms of their effects on maintenance operations, purchasing characteristics, positioning of materials, responsibility of control, and control principles.

Water is vital for all life on earth. But it can also be dangerous, even fatal, if it is polluted water. 60 percent of child mortality can directly be deduced to dirty water. Not only developing countries are affected, even in the western world epidemics are breaking out by partake or bathing in dirty/polluted water.

MIP, Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, is a biosensor technology that can provide faster and more reliable response than the current methods of water analysis. It is also cheaper and due to that more samples can be taken and analyzed. These three variables can reduce the number of patients due to polluted water are detected faster and appoint of necessary measures can be done faster.

This project searches for the design of an automated sample tool based on MIP techniques. The Concepts must express innovation, high quality and clarity. The instrument should be used both in laboratory and in the field.

The project has resulted in one concept. The concept is based on the one construction of internal components that is as low height as possible (20 centimeters) and is slightly wider than its depth (40 vs. 30 centimeters). MIP-and NIP containers are located by one of the short side and the battery is near the edge of the front side. The placement is designed to facilitate the loading and exchange.

The concept answers against all of the demands and two of three wishes.  Also the concept is designed after the further user. The further user has also been involved during the process of the concept design. The development of the concept start with the questions from the brainstorming “What will the user feel when they lay their eyes of the product/instrument and uses is?” The ides and thoughts were to ides sketches. They also used in the evaluation of the same sketches. The most exalting ides develop in to three concepts, and in evaluations, with help from further user, with kansei and discussions. The evaluation showed that one of the concepts was adaptable for further development.

The concept is smooth and has areas for hold. The user is self looking and searching for the optimal hold. The instrument has none parts that extend from the body and can damage the user. The instruments components that the user need to exchange is placed in a box that by automatic shouts out. The aces to this I controlled by a touch screen. One the touch screen is a hand scanner that is used to lock and unlock the instrument. With a window the process of the analyses is showed. That rice the reliability, lift the functions, give a high-tech and a hero feeling and are fun for the users.

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. Making drawings of the many ideas gave a concept of three concepts called existing clamp in one piece, existing clamp by several pieces and innovation solutions. Some of these ideas were investigated further and were 3D modelled in pro-engineer and necessary drawing files were made to be used in the manufacturing of several prototypes. One of the solutions resulted in a prototype that was manufactured by handmade tools and the results of the tests was very positive. The clamp was strong enough to join the pipes together very well without breaking. It was manufactured in one piece and formed in five steps without any welding operations instead of the seven steps, including welding, that is used on the clamp today. The prototype requires 25 % more material and most of it is scrap from the cutting operation.

AGES Hörle is an industrial company which machine and process metal products, mainly focused towards the automotive industry. The company itself, and the manufacturing industry as a whole, are working at maximum capacity due to the recent years upsurge in the worldwide economy. This has resulted in an increased amount of money being spent on investments within the manufacturing industry, which now is reaching all-time high levels. Many smaller companies however, have not yet had time to develop standardized routines to ensue during these investments, even though investments to increase their capacity being urgently needed. Furthermore, are difficulties being experienced when the profitability of an investment is to be calculated, since there are many factors that implicit affect an investment, which not always are apparent in the first place.

The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors influence the effectiveness of an investment, mainly focused on the manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the format of a standardized investment procedure is to be investigated and developed. By examination of already existing literature and theories, the factors which affect the efficiency of an industrial investment were discovered. A case study at AGES Hörle was performed to gain a deeper insight in how an investment procedure can be performed. The case study involved several different phases of information gathering, such as interviews, observation and examination of already existing investment procedures.

The result of this study concludes that companies which are to invest in their production, carefully should investigate what factors that will be affected by the proposed investment. This is since the factors which will be affected, may differ a lot between different investments. Furthermore, the study reveals that a company’s competition factors are majorly affected by the investments made in production. Lastly, it is concluded that an investment procedure ought to be standardized to the highest possible degree. Thus, reducing the risk of human error and minimizing the individual leeway, which otherwise might cause biased influence on the outcome of a planned investment.

During the 1970’s the interest for quality management and the concept of quality costs increased considerably. Business leaders noticed that there was a great potential for reducing costs of poor quality. Since up to 10-30% of a company’s total turnover may consist of poor quality costs some consider them as an unexploited goldmine. The reason for this is that a mapping of poor quality costs creates great opportunities to improve profitability without reducing quality.

This thesis has been carried out on the behalf of Draka Kabel in Nässjö. The company is a part of the Prysmian Group, which operates in the energy and telecom cables and systems industry. The purpose of the study has been to identify and analyze the quality costs incurred in connection with the complaint process, and to make suggestions for improvements.

The study began with a literature review of relevant theories in the field. This was made in order to create a solid foundation about common poor quality parameters, but also to gain knowledge about how measurements can be made. The mapping of poor quality costs was made through studies of secondary data and with the help of a relatively large number of interviews with various employees within the company. The complaint process was examined to find its strengths and weaknesses and each type of error was analyzed separately using its process scheme. This was done to obtain a cost but also to find the cause of the problem.

The mapping shows that Draka Kabel in the first three quarters of 2014 had a total of 439 customer complaints. For example defect products manufactured at Nässjö, defect cables that has been imported, wrong packing and raw material. The study shows that 1,3 % of the company’s order lines during the studied period resulted in customer complaints. This resulted in a cost of just over one million Swedish kronor.

The result shows that a large number of complaints are due to internal error. This must be seen as positive as the company themselves may affect and fix the problems. If the cause of the problem disappears so does the cost later in the chain. Draka Kabel should be able to reduce the cost of poor quality by implementing a better picking system at their stock department, which would largely eliminate the influence of the human factor. Currently there are a large number of unknown cases regarding defect raw material. The company should therefore improve their communication regarding raw materials in order to get a clearer picture of these costs. 

Company X is an organization that values quality highly. This company manufactures furniture with its base in Sweden. Within the Swedish industry, quality-related costs are estimated to account for 10-30 % of the turnover. The company is concerned about the high number of complaints that arise, which may be due to design flaws, supplier errors, and transportation damages. Among the types of complaints identified, the transportation damages account for approximately 20 % for company X. The purpose of this work is to contribute to the development of quality work at company X and reduce the quality-related costs associated with transportation-related complaints. To answer the purpose, the following questions are posed: 

• What are the root causes of complaints related to transportation? 
• What actions may be appropriate for the company to implement in order to reduce transportation-related complaints? 

The cornerstone model, belonging to offensive quality development, is used to address these questions. In addition to the presented theory, the case study method is used to answer the questions. 

The results indicate that the existing delivery concept to customers is considered a good concept. However, there are deviations from the conditions of the concept. Deviations lead to additional handling of products by drivers and assemblers, such as product rearrangement in the truck. Each rearrangement creates additional handling, which is deemed to increase the risk of product damage. Extra handling becomes a major cause of complaints. The second major cause identified is that a large number of defective products from production reach the customer, which is classified as transportation damage in the business system. 

Based on these root causes, two workshops are conducted with the aim of identifying multiple deviating conditions, reasons for the deviations, and eventually, the actions to address the deviations. The result of the research questions is the presentation of 36 root causes with associated action proposals. The suitability of the action proposals is verified by experts within the company, and an action list is developed based on a prioritization matrix. 

In conclusion, the work is found to fulfill its purpose. If the company follows the presented action list, it is expected that transportation damages will decrease, and the approach can be applied in future change efforts and even within other organizations experiencing similar issues. 

This report presents the performance and results of an analysis study conducted at a small company in the foundry business. The purpose of the study has been to prepare the company for a certification of the quality standard ISO 9001: 2015. The reason for the study is to create a foundation for a future quality management certification for a small company that wants to develop its business and expand its customer base. The study begins with a description of the problem, which involves an examination of the gap that exists between the company's current quality management system and the requirements of ISO 9001.

The collection of all essential information in the form of relevant theories and data has taken place through theory research and informative meetings with the company's management. The workflow is described to clarify what the process looked like. A description of the current situation is given to gain understanding of the starting point and to have as a basis for analysis of deficient functions and processes within the business.

In the analysis a comparison is made of the current situation with the requirements set in the ISO 9001 standard, and then proposals for measures to cover the analyzed gaps are presented. The results of the study give the company a thorough description of what measures are required to be able to accomplish an approved certification. The study provides suggestions for concrete measures such as which platform can be used to create a quality management system, which managing documents should be included, suggestions for quality goals and how these should be measured regularly. Descriptions of important core processes in the form of routines with associated templates have been produced to create continuity. With the help of these measures, a suggestion of a functioning management system was presented that is suitable for the smaller business.

The purpose of this final project work is to explore how tests are managed during the development of mechatronic products at a manufacturing company. This study aims to develop an information model and a process model that can be used in a PLM system.

The research method used is a case study at Husqvarna Group. The different test departments in the Huskvarna site are studied. For that, two rounds of semistructured interviews and document studies are conducted to collect primary and secondary data. For each round, six interviews are conducted with experienced employees and then, a verification meeting is held.

During the qualitative analysis, different keywords are highlighted and displayed in an activity and class diagram to represent the as-is test management process at the case company. Later, it is compared to the literature, and a proposal is made based on the results.

This bachelor thesis has been done in cooperation with IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult. It is about a mapping and comparison study of how different companies handle their cost of poor quality (COPQ) in their logistics processes. In this study, we have collaborated with Electrolux, Gekås and Rusta.

IKEA has a high COPQ, this means when poor quality occurs in their processes. This has attracted much attention in recent years and there is room for improvement. The part of the value chain chosen in this project is the logistics process.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to map IKEA´s logistics process, then compare IKEA´s way of working with other companies through a benchmarking study and finally come up with areas for improvement.

This gave the questions:

• How does IKEA's operate in their logistics process today and handle their cost of poor quality?
• How do our other partners operate and handle their logistics processes and cost of poor quality?
• What are the similarities and differences between the different companies?

To find out how IKEA operates in their logistics process today, it was decided to make a corporate visit to one of IKEA's CDC:s. Here, a questionnaire has been used to get the information that was needed. Later this questionnaire formed the basis for the survey that was used to gather information from our other partners.

To gather information from our partners, we have used benchmarking. This was done to see how our other partner organizations operate today and how they work accordingly to this study. The first step of the benchmarking, was to send out the survey to our partners. Later we followed up with personal interviews and visits. The collected data from the different companies formed the basis of the status report of them all.

In the analysis, IKEA has been compared to each of our different partners and a summary of the analysis has been made. With the analysis finished, it has been clear that IKEA has some problems in their logistic process and that the cost of poor quality can decrease. This gave us some areas that IKEA can make improvements in. After that conclusion, forklift damages and packaging design are two areas that IKEA can make big improvements in. 

Denna rapport innehåller information från ett examensprojekt för två studenter från Jönköping Tekniska Högskola förlagt på företaget Fläkt Woods AB i Jönköping. Syftet med projektet har varit att framta en generisk kravspecifikation innehållande kravsättning och verifieringsmetoder samt redovisning av vilka krav som har testats.

Metoden som använts är kvalitativa intervjuer av anställda verksamma inom utveckling av nya produkter. All denna information och input har bearbetats till en generisk kravspecifikation i ett Excel-format under förkortningen PRV (Product Requirement and Verification matrix). Projektet har haft stort fokus på att återkommande krav ska beskrivas i en form som ska kunna anpassas till så många av företagets produkter som möjligt. Detta har lett till att majoriteten av dessa återkommande krav har visats sig vara icke-funktionella och krav relaterat till lagar och direktiv. För att kunna få ett tydligt mål har följande frågeställningar ställts:

1. Hur tar man fram en generisk kravspecifikation och hur kan man använda den praktiskt? 
2. Hur kan en generisk struktur skapas för kraven? Både i hierarkiska form och formulering. 
3. Vilka krav skall den generiska kravspecifikationen behandla?

Resultatet har inte uppfyllt standarden ISO 29148 till fullo utan behöver vidare arbete men har gett en bra grund.

Begränsningar av projektet och dess resultat är att PRV:n är framställd för verksamhet inom ventilationsindustrin. Dock genom viss ombearbetning går det anpassa resultatet till vilken verksamhet som önskas.

This paper elaborates the 3T-approach to life consumption monitoring of solder joints in operating temperature environment without requiring simplification of operating loads. An overview of the 3T-approach is provided including assumptions made for a proposed realization in an avionic application. Associated implementation routines are highlighted and exemplified for a lead-free PBGA256 package with creep strain energy density (SEDcr) as damage metric. Factors that affect the prediction accuracy are investigated. A data resolution has been determined that delivers response surfaces that provide results comparable to 3-D finite-element (FE) simulations, while bearing two orders of magnitude higher computational efficiency. A stress-free temperature modification routine is proposed and proves to further mitigate accuracy problems.

Thermal cycling tests have been performed for a range of electronic components intended for avionic applications, assembled with SAC305, SN100C and SnPbAg solder alloys. Two temperature profiles have been used, the first ranging between −20 °C and +80 °C (TC1), and the second between −55 °C and +125 °C (TC2). High level of detail is provided for the solder alloy composition and the component package dimensions, and statistical analysis, partially supported by FE modeling, is reported. The test results confirm the feasibility of SAC305 as a replacement for SnPbAg under relatively benign thermomechanical loads. Furthermore, the test results serve as a starting point for estimation of damage accumulation in a critical solder joint in field conditions, with increased accuracy by avoiding data reduction. A computationally efficient method that was earlier introduced by the authors and tested on relatively mild temperature environments has been significantly improved to become applicable on extended temperature range, and it has been applied to a PBGA256 component with SAC305 solder in TC1 conditions. The method, which utilizes interpolated response surfaces generated by finite element modeling, extends the range of techniques that can be employed in the design phase to predict thermal fatigue of solder joints under field temperature conditions.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel computational method to evaluate damage accumulation in a solder joint of an electronic package, when exposed to operating temperature environment. A procedure to implement the method is suggested, and a discussion of the method and its possible applications is provided in the paper.

Design/methodology/approach – Methodologically, interpolated response surfaces based on specially designed finite element (FE) simulation runs, are employed to compute a damage metric at regular time intervals of an operating temperature profile. The developed method has been evaluated on a finite-element model of a lead-free PBGA256 package, and accumulated creep strain energy density has been chosen as damage metric.

Findings – The method has proven to be two orders of magnitude more computationally efficient compared to FE simulation. A general agreement within 3 percent has been found between the results predicted with the new method, and FE simulations when tested on a number of temperature profiles from an avionic application. The solder joint temperature ranges between +25 and +75°C.

Practical implications – The method can be implemented as part of reliability assessment of electronic packages in the design phase.

Originality/value – The method enables increased accuracy in thermal fatigue life prediction of solder joints. Combined with other failure mechanisms, it may contribute to the accuracy of reliability assessment of electronic packages.

Several studies have shown that quality defect costs make up a significant portion of a company's revenue, typically between 10 and 30 percent. Quality defect costs arise from defects in a company's products or processes. Unfortunately, a large portion of these costs disappears because companies typically only consider visible costs such as material costs.

The company in the study primarily bases its investment decisions on the potential time savings that can be achieved through investments in machinery. However, focusing only on time savings is insufficient because there are other costs that need to be considered to make a more complete calculation of the total benefits. This lack of information affects the company's investment decisions. Therefore, the company has requested work to clarify its quality defect costs and to develop a method that can be used to easily continue this work in the future.

The study has examined various methods such as production tours, semistructured interviews, and a case study. This was to enable a mapping of quality defects that occur in the company and to analyse and determine which factors are suitable for calculating quality defect costs.

After the work, three key factors have been identified as the most important in calculating quality defect costs: administrative work, scrap, and rework. These factors have been used as the basis for creating a general template that can be used by other companies. Organizations that understand the costs that arise from poor quality can utilize this template to improve their financial management. This can create opportunities to make more well-founded and wise investment decisions.

Sammanfattning

Den här rapporten är ett arbete utfört åt IDAB WAMAC International AB. Företaget är verksamt inom branschen för packsalsutrustning och är beläget i Eksjö.

Arbetet har gått ut på att ta fram konstruktionsprinciper för en ny strömtillriktare som ska klara av en produktionshastigt på 90 000tidningar/timma. En strömtillriktare är en enhet som sitter på, eller är integrerad i, en transportbana för tidningar och har till uppgift att centrera tidningsströmmen på banan efter olika moment i produktionen. De strömtillriktare som finns på marknaden i dag motsvarar inte fullt de krav och förväntningar som tryckerierna har med tanke på hur tidningen ska centreras och då helst när produktionshastigheten är hög.

Det finns två typer av strömtillriktare, oscillerande bladjogger och bandjogger. Den oscillerande bladjoggern fungerar på det sättet att den med hjälp av två blad knuffar tidningen så att den centreras på banan. Bladen utför då en oscillerande rörelse med hjälp av en excenter. Bandjoggern centrerar tidningen på det sättet att den har vertikala band som är kilformade mot varandra, dessa band vibrerar och centrerar då tidningen.

För att få reda på mer om vilka konkurrenterna är och vilka strömtillriktare de har genomfördes en konkurrentanalys. När denna analys var genomförd, med hjälp av bland annat branschorganisationen IFRA: s hemsida, så återfanns sex stycken huvudkonkurrenter. För att få reda på mer fördelar och brister med deras joggrar vände vi oss till olika tryckerier som dagligen använder sådan utrustning. Svaren som erhölls från tryckerierna var väldigt knapphändiga så analyser fick göras med hjälp av bilder och information som fanns på Internet samt patent och registreringsverket.

För att kunna utvärdera och motivera valen av joggerfunktion, studeras några av de grundläggande orsakerna till variation av slutresultatet som friktionen mellan tidningen och transportbandet och rörelsemängdens variation med produktionshastigheten.

IDAB WAMAC International AB:s SA-112 har ett bra resultat på centreringsarbetet vid en produktionshastighet på 40 000- 50 000tidninger/timma detta har fått vara en referens vid uträkning av styrande mekaniska delar. Detta ger klara motiveringar för valet av bandjogger framför bladjogger

I det resultat som har framkommit syns det tydligt att mycket arbete har lagts ner på att få tidningen så styv som möjligt, däremot har det varit svårt att dimensionera de axlar som ska utföra den oscillerande rörelsen på banden, då erfarenheten inom området har varit dålig och det har saknats referensexempel på hur de vertikala banden svarar på de stötar som det får.

En stor skillnad mellan den befintliga joggern (SA-112) och den vars konstruktionsprinciper som beskrivs i rapporten är att den tidigare är en enhet som byggs på en befintlig transportbana medan den senare har sin transportbana integrerad för bästa effekt av centreringsarbetet.

At today's manufacturers, reactive maintenance mostly takes place instead of prevention. At the same time, maintenance is seen as a necessary evil and many companies have no direct strategies or goals for maintenance. In today's maintenance, Industry 4.0 with digitalisation has begun research in and new methods and ideas are produced for more efficient maintenance. The purpose of this study is: To increase the knowledge of how manufacturers can understand and develop a strategy to achieve preventive maintenance and at the same time find essential elements for maintenance digitalisation.

Through a literature study, the existing research in prevention and digitalisation in maintenance was studied. To supplement, a single-case study was also conducted that included interviews from a manufacturing company that has reactive maintenance. Two focus groups were also conducted, one on the case company but also on another manufacturing company to compare the answers to the theory.

The study shows that there are several root causes that cause manufacturers to remain in reactive efforts in maintenance and it can be difficult to get out. This creates expensive costs for the manufacturer and stress for the maintenance operators. To get out and move towards more prevention, it is important to start with the basics, which is to have a strategy that has been jointly agreed within the organisation. Therefore, it is also important with training and choosing the right kind of maintenance depending on the machine and complexity. The last research question is more complex and it turned out that there are factors in digitalisation where manufacturing companies with reactive maintenance develop and use.

By understanding the causes and seeing elements to deal with preventive maintenance, manufacturers can practically use the study to achieve their maintenance goals. Regarding digitization, it is a step further and try to see if it is practical to implement at a company with reactive maintenance.

The study only covered information about a specific machine that is the base for generalisation within the case company factory plant. At the same time, the study focused only on the step between reactive and preventive maintenance in order to delimit the theoretical part.

The influence of the substrate technology, assembly method, and housing material on the thermal, thermo-mechanical and cost performance of a radar module for automotive applications has been studied to address the product reliability aspects during the design phase. Flip chip and wire bonding have been evaluated for Multi-Chip Module—Laminate/Deposition (MCM-L/D) and Multi-Chip Module—Deposition (MCM-D) substrate technologies used for electronic packaging solutions in a harsh environment. Solder ball and direct attachment have been investigated as second-level assembly. As a result of thermal and thermo-mechanical simulations and cost analysis, radar module designs combining MCM-D and MCM-L/D with wire bonding have been revealed, which are preferable for use in different temperature environments with respect to two performance criteria, the maximum junction temperature and the manufacturing cost. Simulation-based guidelines have been developed for designing radar modules used in automotive applications while satisfying temperature and stress constraints provided for the module.

This paper presents results of simulation-based design evaluation for thermal and thermo-mechanical performance and cost of packaging technology of a RF module for automotive application. Combination of thermal, thermo-mechanical and cost analysis within the multi-attribute decision making enabled design ranking and revealed two MCM-L/D and MCM-D designs with wire bonding assembly preferred for use in automotive applications for different temperature environments. Simulation-based design guidelines were developed for designing electronic modules exhibiting good thermal and thermo-mechanical performance. By application-based partitioning of the importance weights assigned to the reliability and cost criteria, the guidelines were extended to cover other application areas.

This paper presents results of simulation-based design evaluation for thermal and thermo-mechanical performance and cost of packaging technology of an RF module for automotive applications. A combination of thermal, thermo-mechanical and cost analysis within the multi-attribute decision making framework enabled design ranking and revealed two MCM-L/D (multi-chip module-laminate/deposition) and MCM-D (deposition) designs with the wire bonding assembly preferred for use in automotive applications for different temperature environments. Simulation-based design guidelines were developed for designing electronic modules exhibiting good thermal and thermo-mechanical performance. By application-based partitioning of the importance weights assigned to the reliability and cost criteria, the guidelines were extended to cover other application areas.

Numerical simulation techniques are used increasingly in the (re-)design of micro-electronics because of their time and cost saving potentials. The current paper describes the application of such techniques for analysing and improving the thermo-mechanical performance of an electronics assembly. An initial finite element model is implemented and its predictions are compared to measurements. Based on this comparison, the model is further refined by an improved assessment of the input to the model in the form of materials properties: the properties of the moulding compound, failure behaviour of the lead-compound interface and failure behaviour of the lead material itself. Finally an updated model is used to determine directions for improvement of the behaviour of the assembly design.

Quality insurance is an important part of a manufacturing company in order to achieve and maintain its competitiveness. To measure how the company’s processes are performing, it is necessary to have reliable measurement data. Reliability of measurement data is naturally a crucial and important factor for a company to deliver the right quality to its customers. Without confidence in the measurement data, there is a potential risk that the customers end up with defective products if the measurement results are misinterpreted.

This thesis project has been conducted at Volvo GTO in Skövde at the crankshaft manufacturing department. Volvo GTO wants to understand how well their manufacturing process of crankshaft performs by assigning a capability value. One of the requirements for obtaining a reliable capability value is that the measurement system is reliable. Volvo suspects that they do not have a reliable measuring system for measuring the roundness of bearing surfaces on a crankshaft.

To clearly identify the problems of the measurement system, several possible causes of errors were identified and then analyzed deeper. These possible causes have attempted to be disproved and the errors which couldn’t be disproven may be a possible cause of error.

The result of this thesis project shows that the company doesn’t meet the requirements to perform reliable measurements with such small tolerances. The main cause of the uncertainty in the measurement process is the external factors, such as the measuring environment. This report also includes recommendations on how the company can eliminate the measurement uncertainties to get a more reliable measurement process.

The project has been implemented in collaboration with Carl-Johan Lundberg on Deltagruppen Ltd in Jönköping. Problem introduction comes from Carl-Johan's own experience from the hotel sector. The problem that all hotels has is that they sell two products, i e. simple - and double rooms. Persons that travel in companies do not desire always to share bed.

Focus in the work is to develop a product that holds together two simple beds and forms double bed, concurrent that it goes that converters to two simple bed without needing to disassemble the product and be done invisible. A result with the work is a product that meets everyone the nonplussed requirements on function and cost.

Keywords:

 Cost-effectively

 Bed ring

 Link confiscating

 Single bed

 Double bed

 Assessment

The goal of this study was to investigate future controls of heating loads in a comfort laboratory. The laboratory room is used to simulate how the room comfort will change by using one or more cooling beams. External walls can be used to test different room sizes, and heat effects can be provided from the floor and one wall. The study was conducted according to a two-level factor design and the five factors used were floor heating, north wall, west wall, fan and facade wall. In a full two-level factor test plan, there are 32 tests for five factors that needed to be done. Instead of making 32 tests, the study continued with a fractional two-level factor design, which meant that only 16 tests were performed. The response variable for the tests was the so called "losses" which may be positive or negative and is a percentage of the floor effect. Via "losses" the average temperature of the measuring room could be 24.5 ˚C, which was the temperature chosen for this survey. Before the results for each test were taken, requirements for "steady state condition" were met. The requirements are taken from an ISO standard that the company uses, and it provides reliability of the results.

The analyzes when having "losses" as a response variable also pointed out the floor as the most influential factor. However, there were different results regarding the scheme on the other factors. It is due to different coding of the factors, and "losses" was used in the units % or watts. Some disturbances were detected in the results. One is that "losses" has a connection to the floor heating, which may be the reason it is most significant. The two levels of the floor heating did not match because "losses" changed the levels.

For the next two-level factor design experiment, it is recommended that the effect of the floor is constant because of its connection to "losses". The response variable can therefore be "losses". The constant on the floor heating can be changed when the factor plan is repeated several times to see how "losses" varies with different floor effects.

This thesis, conducted at the School of Engineering in Jönköping within the field of informatics, explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the work processes of IT managers in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). AI has significantly transformed the growth and success potential of SMEs in the IT sector by enabling customized business plans, models, and marketing strategies, thus providing competitive advantages through enhanced efficiency and productivity. The study emphasizes the opportunities AI brings for innovation and development of new business models, allowing entrepreneurs to introduce groundbreaking ideas and challenge established industries.

Despite the benefits, implementing AI poses considerable challenges, including substantial investments and associated risks such as leaks of confidential data. For IT managers in SMEs, AI plays a crucial role in enhancing growth and success by improving operational efficiency, productivity, and developing new products and services. However, the adoption of AI necessitates relevant expertise and continuous learning within organizations.

This qualitative study, through semi-structured interviews, investigates how AI affects the daily work processes of IT managers in SMEs. It integrates three theoretical models: Diffusion of Innovations (DOI), Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE), and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), to provide a comprehensive understanding of the internal and external factors influencing AI adoption. The findings indicate that AI positively impacts work efficiency, decision-making, and skill development, but also highlights the importance of ethical considerations and data security. The research contributes valuable insights for SMEs looking to integrate AI into their operations effectively.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, SMEs, IT, Tech, Innovation, Efficiency, Productivity, Data Security, Ethical Considerations

The project was carried out in cooperation with the department of product development IOS at IKEA. The work included improvements of a new existing product that Ikea soon will release on the market, Observatör, a wall bracket for flat screens. The product is supposed to fulfil the needs within this market for IKEA. However, since Ikea was not satisfied with it, our work was to carry out the improvements that were specified in the beginning of the project. Another task in the project was to develop a side-product that is supposed to be used together with Obeservatör for storage of DVD/decoders.

The project included labour as problem definition to final technical drawings and a prototype. In the project start information was gathered to understand the current market and its competition. The next step was to start solving the problem in a creative way through brainstorming and concept drawings. When the final concepts were chosen they were developed into final solutions with technical drawings.

The final result meets the main requirements that were stated in the beginning of the project. The wall bracket is now in two main parts that will make the assembly on the wall easier, the joints between the parts and the shafts works smother at the same time as the demands for tilt, rotation etc. works successfully. The final result is two user friendly products, Observatör and storage for DVD/decoders that have the same interface so the costumer easy can see that they are supposed to be used together.

Since the 1980s, companies have taken a larger interest in quality and it´s economic impact within the company. Having the knowledge that it´s not quality that costs money, but it´s rather the lack of quality. The work immerses itself in the field of cost of poor quality and the development of key performance indicators.

The thesis is performed at Bufab Holding in Värnamo. Bufab Holding is a trading company which mainly buys and sells C-parts. C-parts include fasteners, other small metal-, rubber- or plastic parts such as wires, springs and electronic fasteners.

The aim of this thesis was to make a survey of the cost of poor quality and to find key performance indicators (KPI) for cost of poor quality that can be continuously monitored. This work can serve as a basis for other companies within the Bufab group if the company believes that the content of the report can be used. With this aim two issues was created. What is the cost of poor quality that are linked to Bufabs complaints today, and where do they occur? Which key performance indicators can be created, which continuously can be monitored?

The work began with a literature study to gain a deeper understanding of the cost of poor quality and the creation of KPI´s. The literature led the writers of this thesis into the methods that were used. Through the data collection, document gathering and given interviews an understanding of the company´s current economic situation. On this basis the company´s claims and processes where analysed with the help of "Seven quality tools". With the help of the piece cost model cost barriers was prepared and the cost of poor quality was calculated. Furthermore KPI´s was created through Lars Sörqvists description of ratio.

The cost carriers differed depending on whether it was Bufab who caused the error, if it was a wrong product quality claim or if it was the supplier who caused the error. The cost of poor quality totaled of 4,7 Mkr. The pareto chart shows that the cause wrong product quality caused the highest costs. The costs of poor quality that where calculated mostly consisted of different labor costs. One of the KPI´s was based on labor cost and the other was based on total costs. Furthermore KPI´s where made of the number of complaints with the base of total number of order lines that have been sent.

The company can then use this result to show how good quality the company have when new contracts are negotiated. If the methodology and results are promising, this thesis can be a working model for more companies within the Bufab group.

Not all visible costs of poor quality was calculated in this thesis due a lack of time. The thesis also lacks entirely an assessment of the hidden costs of poor quality.

Quality Management is considered to be suitable as support for the integration of sustainability considerations in areas such as product development. The purpose of this paper is to review research in which Quality Management methods, tools or practices have been used in conjunction with sustainable development initiatives. We have identified four themes that synthesize the research on Quality Management and its support to approaches for sustainable development: (I) supporting sustainability through integration of management systems, (II) Quality Management as support to the implementation of Environmental Management Systems and to the management of sustainability, (III) supporting integration of sustainability considerations in daily work, and (IV) supporting stakeholder management and customer focus. By far the most research has been conducted within the first two themes. This paper also contributes with proposals for future research, such as the need to move beyond existing standards and management systems to enable more radical improvements, and the need for empirical evidence of the effect of integrated management systems on environmental performance. We also highlight the point that Quality Management practices and tools must be developed and adapted in order to support sustainability considerations. 

Since small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) represent a backbone for sustainable economicgrowth, the need for increasing the degree of automation in production plants is pushing today’sengineers to find customized and cost-efficient solutions. In the Industry 4.0 context, SMEswhich are aspiring towards quality, competitiveness and overall customer satisfaction requireto work with a systematic approach for implementing cyber physical systems (CPS) that arefunctioning autonomously and independently from human interaction. An essential area withinmanufacturing is represented by the maintenance of CNC machine’s tools that are directlyresponsible for achieving high-quality products. Since corrective maintenance is associatedwith uncertainty, unforeseen costs and increased downtime, the focus is diverted towardsuprising trends of preventive and predictive maintenance policies. The purpose of this thesis isto increase knowledge in the field of new maintenance practices in the context of Industry 4.0and to provide a framework for achieving customizable automated solutions adapted for theneeds and requirements of each individual SME. The work has used a guideline which isfollowing to transform the needs of SMEs into technical specifications which are used fordesigning and generating conceptual solutions whose effect is assessed from technical,economic, socio-environmental, operational and schedule perspective. For this matter, a casestudy has been conducted in a Swedish SME where there is a need for developing an automatedsolution for data collection in order to enable preventive and predictive maintenance. Forachieving this purpose and contribute to filling the gap in academic research on this matter, aframework for development and analysis of automated data collections is created based on thesystematic practices of concept development methodology to which a supplementary feasibilityanalysis is added for increasing the understanding of their impact. Furthermore, this frameworkis conceived to offer a long-term holistic view of the future changes resulted by theimplementation of automated solutions.

CAD-models of parts produced by injection moulding or die-casting are often complex making the task of automated geometrical idealisation for finite element analysis difficult. Conventional tools for geometric idealisation are not ideal for the task, as will be shown in the thesis. To address the idealisation problem, this thesis proposes a novel method of creating geometric idealisations of CAD-models for finite element analysis. Knowledge about the production and design processes is used to support the idealisations. The key idea is to simplify the idealisation problem by using the fact that die-cast and injection-moulded parts have a clearly defined tooling draft direction. It is primarily the mid-surfaces of the thin-walled geometry that are extracted for shell element meshing. The ideas have been tested by the creation of a CAD-integrated system that reads the construction history tree of the CAD-model and creates an idealised geometry in the same CAD-model automatically. It is also shown how the system can be used for idealising neutral format files by creating a virtual construction history tree in interaction with the user. The system is named CASTING (CAd Supported Tool for Idealisation of Geometry). The overall objective is to save time in the idealisation step, thereby freeing time for more creative work in the design process.

One important part of the manufacturing process of aerospace components is making inspections using Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI). This mandatory inspection represents a non-negligible part of the manufacturing and service cost. It is therefore important to make the geometry of the components suitable for inspection i.e. practicing Design for Inspection (DFI). This has been studied at an aerospace company with the aim of bringing DFI to the early stages of product development process. In this paper, a tool is proposed for the evaluation of inspectability in the early design stages. The tool is applied on CAD-models of the components automatically ranking the inspectability of design proposals using a novel inspectability index. Thus, inspectability can be considered together with other performance and manufacturing aspects forming a powerful decision support. The tool has been run and evaluated together with manufacturing staff at the aerospace company with promising results.

In recent years the computing power and meshing algorithms have developed to a state where FEA problems can often be solved directly using the solid geometry. However for complex geometry and complicated calculations there will for the foreseeable future be a need for geometrical idealizations.

To reduce the time spent on making geometrical idealizations in repetitive FEA, a CAD-integrated KBES (Knowledge Based Engineering System) has been developed. The KBES creates a surface idealization from a thin-walled solid by utilizing generic modelling knowledge and by registering information about the CAD-specific features which the designer uses to define the solid geometry. From this information a corresponding surface idealization is created in the same CAD-system. This allows an updated and parametric geometry idealization of the complete CAD-geometry to be created with a degree of automation directly in the CAD-system.

Primarily the mid-surfaces oriented in the tooling draft direction are created by evaluating the sketches which the features of the CAD-model are based on. The KBES also trims the created surfaces, thus facilitating the subsequent meshing.

The KBES has been developed in CATIA V5 (Dassault systemes). It contains rules defined in CATIA knowledgeware which trigger sequential routines written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). An industrial application example where the system is used to automatically create a surface idealization for a die-cast part is also presented.

Deterministic successive response surface optimization is a most efficient tool for improving machine components. A possible drawback might be that the optimal design proposal is non-robust. For instance, a constraint on the von Mises stress mightn be violated for small changes in the optimal values of the design parameters. This might be checked after the optimization by performing robustness analysis. Another approach would be to replace the deterministic constraint on the von Mises stress with a probabilistic reliability constraint. This is the scope of the following paper. A sequential linear programming approach for reliability based design optimization is developed and implemented. The design variables are assumed to be normally distributed, where the standard deviations of the design variables can be given as coefficients of variation. A deterministic LP-problem is derived by performing a Taylor expansion of the constraint at the most probable point (MPP). The MPP is found by solving the optimality conditions using Newton’s method and the LP-problem is solved by an interior point method. The approach is efficient and robust. This is demonstrated by performing reliability based shape optimization of a real knuckle component to a heavy truck.

Purpose – The demand for solar cells has increased, creating challenges for solar cell suppliers operating in a B2B context. Customers should be central to all companies, which is why it is important to examine their experience of service quality through the sales process of solar cell suppliers. Thus, the purpose of this study is: To identify improvement opportunities for solar cell suppliers’ sales process based on customers’ experiences from a service quality perspective. Based on the purpose, two research questions were formulated:

[1] What strengths and weaknesses do customers perceive that solar cell suppliers' salesprocess have from a service quality perspective?

[2] How can solar cell suppliers' sales process be improved from a service quality perspective?

Method – The study is a case study, where data was collected from a selected case company and ten of their business customers. To be able to map out the case company's sales process, a document study, and an open interview with employees at the case company were carried out. Based on the collected data, interview questions were created for ten of the case company's business customers. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the customers' experience of service quality through the sales process, whereupon suggestions for improvement could be identified.

Results – The identified strengths meant a high experience of service quality according to the customers. The strengths were professional treatment, effective communication, detailed planning, well-executed execution as well as detecting and resolution of problems. The shortcomings identified through the sales process resulted in an experience of low service quality according to the customers. The shortcomings were slow response, overworked staff, lack of project management, inadequate material delivery, delayed projects, visualization problems and deficiencies in detecting defects. The main improvement proposal is to create a plan with instructions for who is responsible for collecting and transferring information between involved parties.

Implications – By creating a plan for the collection and transferring of information, where it becomes clear who has responsibility between both internal and external parties, the service quality through solar cell suppliers' sales process can increase. Technology that creates a seamless service is an important part of the sales process, whereupon developed and efficient technology is important from a long-term perspective. For example, customers can be involved in solar cell suppliers' IT systems to be able to obtain information.

Limitations – The study is a single case study, which means that data was collected from only one company. In addition, only ten business customers have been interviewed to collect data. These aspects may indicate that the generalizability of the study can be questioned.

Key words – Customer satisfaction, customer value, selling process, service quality, solar cell supplier

This survey focuses primarily on the historical development of RBDO and the various classes of methods which emerged through the years. While reviews on contemporary RBDO methods have been done previously, they haven’t incorporated the basis on which such developments were possible in the first place — risk-based design and limit-state design. This study attempts to link the RBDO field with these methodologies for a more complete picture of the field of reliability and safety.

This article presents a maturity model that can be applied to support organizations in identifying their current state and guiding their further development with regard to lean, simulation and optimization. The paper identifies and describes different maturity levels and offers guidelines that explain how organizations can grow from lower to higher levels of maturity. In addition, it attempts to provide the starting point for organizations that have applied lean or are willing to implement it and which may also be considering taking decisions in a more efficient way via simulation and optimization. 

Abstract. As the AEC industry starts to adopt more digital technologies, there is a need for further investigationof the potential of the technologies and tools for quality assurance and review of documentation in the designstage. This research aims to investigate the use of parametric design for quality assurance of architectural plandrawings. The used method was Design science research methodology, where issues related to reviewing drawings was identified by interviewing five industry professionals. The research results are two scripts that areconsidered model artifacts on a proof-of-concept level. The conclusion of the research was that there is aninterest of automating processes related to quality assurance, such as reviewing drawings. Moreover, basicknowledge within visual programming is still required when developing and utilizing scripts like these.