Developing information transparency between sales and operations

Abstract. This thesis studies the information transparency in the sales and order-delivery process of the case company, focusing on the information flow between sales and other functions. The aim of the study is to identify the challenges related to information transparency in the order-delivery process of the case company and to find out how transparency can be improved, what the implementation of improvements requires and how the effects would be reflected in the order-delivery process. By developing the transparency of information and modifying the process accordingly, the aim is to facilitate the flow of information between different business functions, ensure the quality of information and shorten the process lead time. The thesis was done in cooperation with a company operating in the manufacturing industry and utilizing Engineer-to-Order (ETO) production strategy. The main research method used in the study is a qualitative case study, for which data was collected from project-related meetings with case-company, e-mail discussions and by arranging semi-structured interviews for representatives of key business functions in the order-delivery process. Based on the data collected from the case company and the results of the interviews, challenges related to information transparency were identified. Comparing these challenges with the findings from the literature, the aim was to create a solution by proposing to increase the features of the information systems already in use by the case company and to modify the order-delivery process accordingly. With small changes to the information systems and practices within the order-delivery process, it is possible to shorten response times and improve collaboration between different units. These changes increase the efficiency of entire order-delivery process and by shortening the average process lead time, they increase the case company’s profit margin. Typically for a qualitative case study, the results of the study cannot be directly generalized to other companies, as organizational structures, used information systems, operating environments, and order-delivery processes may differ significantly even for companies manufacturing similar products. However, some of the challenges related to information systems identified in the study are more common, so some of the related development proposals can be modified to be suitable for other organizations.Tiedon läpinäkyvyyden kehittäminen myynnin ja muiden toimintojen välillä. Tiivistelmä. Tämä työ tutkii tilaus-toimitusprosessissa kulkevan tiedon läpinäkyvyyttä case-yrityksessä keskittyen myynnin ja muiden toimintojen väliseen tiedonkulkuun. Työn tavoitteena on tunnistaa tiedon läpinäkyvyyteen liittyvät haasteet case-yrityksen tilaus-toimitusprosessista ja selvittää, kuinka läpinäkyvyyttä voidaan parantaa, mitä parannuksien toteutus vaatii ja miten vaikutukset näkyisivät tilaus-toimitusprosessissa. Kehittämällä tiedon läpinäkyvyyttä ja muokkaamalla prosessia sen mukaiseksi, pyritään helpottamaan yksiköiden välistä tiedonkulkua, varmistamaan liikkuvan tiedon laatu ja nopeuttamaan prosessien läpimenoaikaa näiltä osin. Työ on tehty yhteistyössä valmistavassa teollisuudessa toimivan Engineer-to-Order (ETO) -tuotantostrategiaa hyödyntävän yrityksen kanssa. Päätutkimusmenetelmänä työssä käytetään laadullista tapaustutkimusta, jota varten case-yrityksestä on kerätty dataa projektiin liittyvistä palavereista ja sähköpostikeskusteluista sekä järjestämällä tilaus-toimitusprosessin keskeisten liiketoimintayksiköiden edustajille puolistrukturoidut haastattelut. Case-yrityksestä tutkimusta varten kerätyn datan ja haastattelujen tulosten perusteella tunnistettiin tiedon läpinäkyvyyteen liittyvät haasteet. Perehtymällä näihin kipukohtiin pyrittiin luomaan ratkaisu ehdottamalla jo case-yrityksen käytössä olevien tietojärjestelmien ominaisuuksien lisäämistä ja tilaus-toimitusprosessin muokkaamista näiden mukaan. Pienillä muutoksilla tilaus-toimitusprosessissa hyödynnettyihin tietojärjestelmiin ja toimintatapoihin on mahdollista nopeuttaa vasteaikoja ja parantaa yhteistyötä eri yksiköiden välillä. Nämä tehostavat koko tilaus-toimitusprosessia ja lyhentämällä keskimääräistä prosessin läpimenoaikaa, ne mahdollistavat case-yritykselle paremman voittomarginaalin. Laadulliselle tapaustutkimukselle tyypillisesti tutkimuksen tuloksen eivät ole suoraan yleistettävissä muihin yrityksiin, sillä organisaatiorakenteet, käytetyt tietojärjestelmät, toimintaympäristöt ja tilaus-toimitusprosessit saattavat erota merkittävästi jopa vastaavia tuotteita valmistavilla yrityksillä. Osa tutkimuksessa tunnistetuista tietojärjestelmiin liittyvistä haasteista on yleisiä, jolloin myös osa näihin liittyvistä kehitysehdotuksista on muokattavissa muihinkin organisaatioihin

Using force covariance to derive effective stochastic interactions in dissipative particle dynamics

There exist methods for determining effective conservative interactions in coarse grained particle based mesoscopic simulations. The resulting models can be used to capture thermal equilibrium behavior, but in the model system we study do not correctly represent transport properties. In this article we suggest the use of force covariance to determine the full functional form of dissipative and stochastic interactions. We show that a combination of the radial distribution function and a force covariance function can be used to determine all interactions in dissipative particle dynamics. Furthermore we use the method to test if the effective interactions in dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) can be adjusted to produce a force covariance consistent with a projection of a microscopic Lennard-Jones simulation. The results indicate that the DPD ansatz may not be consistent with the underlying microscopic dynamics. We discuss how this result relates to theoretical studies reported in the literature.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Chapter 04: Ecological resilience, climate change and the Great Barrier Reef

The vulnerability assessments in this volume frequently refer to the resilience of various ecosystem elements in the face of climate change. This chapter provides an introduction to the concept of ecological resilience, and its application as part of a management response to climate change threats. As defined in the glossary, resilience refers to the capacity of a system to absorb shocks, resist dramatic changes in condition, and maintain or recover key functions and processes, without undergoing “phase shifts” to a qualitatively different state. For example, people who are physically and mentally fit and strong will have good prospect of recovery from disease, injury or trauma: they are resilient.This is Chapter 4 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

Microbial risk assessment of drinking water based on hydrodynamic modelling of pathogen concentrations in source water

Norovirus contamination of drinking water sources is an important cause of waterborne disease outbreaks. Knowledge on pathogen concentrations in source water is needed to assess the ability of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) to provide safe drinking water. However, pathogen enumeration in source water samples is often not sufficient to describe the source water quality. In this study, the norovirus concentrations were characterised at the contamination source, i.e. in sewage discharges. Then, the transport of norovirus within the water source (the river Gota alv in Sweden) under different loading conditions was simulated using a hydrodynamic model. Based on the estimated concentrations in source water, the required reduction of norovirus at the DWTP was calculated using quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). The required reduction was compared with the estimated treatment performance at the DWTP. The average estimated concentration in source water varied between 4.8 x 10(2) and 7.5 x 10(3) genome equivalents L-1; and the average required reduction by treatment was between 7.6 and 8.8 Log(10). The treatment performance at the DWTP was estimated to be adequate to deal with all tested loading conditions, but was heavily dependent on chlorine disinfection, with the risk of poor reduction by conventional treatment and slow sand filtration. To our knowledge, this is the first article to employ discharge-based QMRA, combined with hydrodynamic modelling, in the context of drinking water. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Green's functions for parabolic systems of second order in time-varying domains

We construct Green's functions for divergence form, second order parabolic systems in non-smooth time-varying domains whose boundaries are locally represented as graph of functions that are Lipschitz continuous in the spatial variables and 1/2-H\"older continuous in the time variable, under the assumption that weak solutions of the system satisfy an interior H\"older continuity estimate. We also derive global pointwise estimates for Green's function in such time-varying domains under the assumption that weak solutions of the system vanishing on a portion of the boundary satisfy a certain local boundedness estimate and a local H\"older continuity estimate. In particular, our results apply to complex perturbations of a single real equation.Comment: 25 pages, 0 figur

A prospective study of asthma incidence and its predictors: the RHINE study.

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional LinkThe objective of this longitudinal study was to estimate the incidence rate of asthma, and to compare the incidence between subjects with or without baseline reporting of certain respiratory symptoms. A follow-up of the random population samples in the European Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Estonia was conducted in 1999-2001, in a population aged 30-54 yrs at follow-up (n=14,731). Asthma was defined as reporting either asthma or physician-diagnosed asthma, and a reported year when asthma symptoms were first noticed. Incidence rates, incidence rate ratios and hazard ratios were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. The incidence rate of asthma was 2.2 cases per 1,000 person-yrs. The incidence was higher among females (2.9 cases.1,000 person-yrs(-1)) than among males (1.5 cases.1,000 person-yrs(-1)). When subjects with baseline reporting of wheezing were excluded, the incidence rate decreased to 1.7 cases.1,000 person-yrs(-1), with a further decrease to 1.5 cases.1,000 person-yrs(-1) after exclusion of subjects with wheezing, nocturnal dyspnoea, chest tightness and cough. There was a strong association between onset of asthma and wheezing at baseline. In this prospective, population-based study, the incidence rate of asthma in the whole population sample ranged 1.5-2.2.1,000 person-yrs(-1), with a higher incidence range among females. The incidence was dependent on the extent to which subjects with respiratory symptoms were excluded from follow-up. Hence, for comparability between studies, the exclusion criteria in the follow-up population must be stated

A review of implant provision for hypodontia patients within a Scottish referral centre

Background: Implant treatment to replace congenitally missing teeth often involves multidisciplinary input in a secondary care environment. High quality patient care requires an in-depth knowledge of treatment requirements. Aim: This service review aimed to determine treatment needs, efficiency of service and outcomes achieved in hypodontia patients. It also aimed to determine any specific difficulties encountered in service provision, and suggest methods to overcome these. Methods: Hypodontia patients in the Unit of Periodontics of the Scottish referral centre under consideration, who had implant placement and fixed restoration, or review completed over a 31 month period, were included. A standardised data collection form was developed and completed with reference to the patient's clinical record. Information was collected with regard to: the indication for implant treatment and its extent; the need for, complexity and duration of orthodontic treatment; the need for bone grafting and the techniques employed and indicators of implant success. Conclusion: Implant survival and success rates were high for those patients reviewed. Incidence of biological complications compared very favourably with the literature

A bridge between a lonely soul and the surrounding world: A study on existential consequences of being closely related to a person with aphasia

This study illuminates existential consequences of being closely related to a person suffering from aphasia. Seventeen close relatives were interviewed and their narratives were interpreted with inspiration from Ricoeur, Levinas, Husserl, Winnicot, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The emerging interpretations resulted in four themes that illuminate a life characterized by lost freedom, staying, a new form of relationship, and growing strong together with others. An overarching theme suggests that a life together with an aphasic person means being used as a bridge between the aphasic person and the surrounding world. Moreover, it illuminates that a close relative to a person with aphasia is a person who does not leave, despite a heavy burden of lonely responsibility. It is concluded that community services need to fulfill their responsibility of providing support to informal caregivers as suggested by the Swedish lawmakers

Quantum Fluctuations around the Electroweak Sphaleron

We present an analysis of the quantum fluctuations around the electroweak sphaleron and calculate the associated determinant which gives the 1--loop correction to the sphaleron transition rate. The calculation differs in various technical aspects from a previous analysis by Carson et al. so that it can be considered as independent. The numerical results differ also -- by several orders of magnitude -- from those of this previous analysis; we find that the sphaleron transition rate is much less suppressed than found previously.Comment: DO-TH-93/19 39 pages, 5 figures (available on request as Postscript files or via Fax or mail), LaTeX, no macros neede