Lead time analysis and reduction at Alfa Laval DC Lund

Alfa Laval DC Lund is both a spare part manufacturer and distributer. The spare parts that Alfa Laval DC Lund supplies are used for the heat transfer business unit of Alfa Laval. Sometimes orders need to be produced fast as customers may have breakdowns in production and sometime orders arrive months earlier than customers want to receive delivery as scheduled services occur at the customer. Problem A problem today is that the time it takes Alfa Laval DC Lund to produce and send an order to a customer is perceived as too long. It is not known where in the process the majority of time is spent as well as what can be done to reduce it. Purpose The purpose is to perform a thorough analysis of the lead time for manufacturing orders from that the customer order arrives at Alfa Laval DC Lund to the customers receive delivery. Objective A solution that will reduce lead time for manufacturing orders should be created and implemented. Deliverables The project should deliver savings/profit of 5000 euro per year and/or a process improvement of 25%. Methodology The research has had a systems approach which was helpful to provide a holistic perspective. A combination of a case study and action research has been used to build a thorough understanding of the business before trying to improve it. Data has been gathered through interviews, observations, literature studies and from measuring processes and extracting data from the ERP system’s database. During the research, emphasis has been on ensuring that reliable and valid data has been used. Results The production lead time data in Movex was adjusted to better fit the actual production lead time. The result was a decrease in lead time which could be seen directly after implementation. Conclusion The benefits of the implemented solution will be a 30% decrease in internal lead time when material is available from start and a 10% decrease in internal lead time when material is not available from start. This will in turn generate a total of approximately 14 000 euro per year in savings from less tied up capital and profits from earlier revenue. The analysis has also yielded information that Alfa Laval DC Lund can use to start new projects with the purpose to reduce lead time and/or improve their business. It has been concluded that human interference with as well as wrong data in the ERP system drives lead times. The research also demonstrates the importance of working with the ERP system and using its features in a correct way instead of working beside and overriding it

Fern genomes elucidate land plant evolution and cyanobacterial symbioses

Li F-W, Brouwer P, Carretero-Paulet L, et al. Fern genomes elucidate land plant evolution and cyanobacterial symbioses. NATURE PLANTS. 2018;4(7):460-472

Butiker i fjällen : Grundläggande kommersiell servicei Vilhelmina kommuns glesbygd

This work concerns the basic commercial service structure in the sparsely populated areas of Vilhelmina municipality in northern Sweden. It describes the municipal planning strategies developed to maintain the existing service structure. To properly evaluate the planning strategies used, it describes the geographical distribution of basic commercial services in the municipality’s sparsely populated areas and how accessible these services are to residents. It describes the municipality’s comprehensive plan regarding the sections concerning the availability of basic commercial services. It contains an interview where civil servants in Vilhelmina municipality elucidates on the reasons behind the adoption of these goals and strategies. The study reveals that the municipality is characterized by large geographical distances and an influential tourism industry in its western areas, which are currently undergoing a period of intensive exploitation, with periods of high demand for services. These characteristics affects the basic commercial service of the municipality by ensuring that it’s much stronger in the sparsely populated areas of the western half than the eastern half of the municipality, outside the boundaries of its principal city. Due to this the municipality has developed a comprehensive plan that encourages decentralized development of basic commercial services in rural areas. The plan describes how they’ve established “core areas”, where the current amount of available service will be preserved through the controlled development of assembled built environments and the strengthening of the public service infrastructure. The municipality hopes that these planning structures will lead to a long-term sustainable rural development, which will foster a strong basic commercial service structure in its sparsely populated areas

Butiker i fjällen : Grundläggande kommersiell servicei Vilhelmina kommuns glesbygd

This work concerns the basic commercial service structure in the sparsely populated areas of Vilhelmina municipality in northern Sweden. It describes the municipal planning strategies developed to maintain the existing service structure. To properly evaluate the planning strategies used, it describes the geographical distribution of basic commercial services in the municipality’s sparsely populated areas and how accessible these services are to residents. It describes the municipality’s comprehensive plan regarding the sections concerning the availability of basic commercial services. It contains an interview where civil servants in Vilhelmina municipality elucidates on the reasons behind the adoption of these goals and strategies. The study reveals that the municipality is characterized by large geographical distances and an influential tourism industry in its western areas, which are currently undergoing a period of intensive exploitation, with periods of high demand for services. These characteristics affects the basic commercial service of the municipality by ensuring that it’s much stronger in the sparsely populated areas of the western half than the eastern half of the municipality, outside the boundaries of its principal city. Due to this the municipality has developed a comprehensive plan that encourages decentralized development of basic commercial services in rural areas. The plan describes how they’ve established “core areas”, where the current amount of available service will be preserved through the controlled development of assembled built environments and the strengthening of the public service infrastructure. The municipality hopes that these planning structures will lead to a long-term sustainable rural development, which will foster a strong basic commercial service structure in its sparsely populated areas

Butiker i fjällen : Grundläggande kommersiell servicei Vilhelmina kommuns glesbygd

This work concerns the basic commercial service structure in the sparsely populated areas of Vilhelmina municipality in northern Sweden. It describes the municipal planning strategies developed to maintain the existing service structure. To properly evaluate the planning strategies used, it describes the geographical distribution of basic commercial services in the municipality’s sparsely populated areas and how accessible these services are to residents. It describes the municipality’s comprehensive plan regarding the sections concerning the availability of basic commercial services. It contains an interview where civil servants in Vilhelmina municipality elucidates on the reasons behind the adoption of these goals and strategies. The study reveals that the municipality is characterized by large geographical distances and an influential tourism industry in its western areas, which are currently undergoing a period of intensive exploitation, with periods of high demand for services. These characteristics affects the basic commercial service of the municipality by ensuring that it’s much stronger in the sparsely populated areas of the western half than the eastern half of the municipality, outside the boundaries of its principal city. Due to this the municipality has developed a comprehensive plan that encourages decentralized development of basic commercial services in rural areas. The plan describes how they’ve established “core areas”, where the current amount of available service will be preserved through the controlled development of assembled built environments and the strengthening of the public service infrastructure. The municipality hopes that these planning structures will lead to a long-term sustainable rural development, which will foster a strong basic commercial service structure in its sparsely populated areas

Ifrågasatta konsekvenser : En diskursanalys av sociala konflikter mellan Samebyar och gruvbolag i miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar

For a long time, the indigenous Sami of northern Sweden have had little influence within planning processes. This problem have in recent years been highlighted both in legal terms and through practices for developing Impact Assessments (IA), and has led to increasing conflict between reindeer herders and mining corporations. This thesis uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the IA documents for three mining concessions within Sami Reindeer Herding Communities (samebyar). The discourse analysis found that there were some differences in methodology and language between the documents, especially relating to if the assessments evaluated impacts to reindeer husbandry using a quantitative or a qualitative approach. The documents would also tend to downplay the impacts of the mines on reindeer husbandry, while highlighting the benefits of the mines for the local economy, and dispute the concerns of the affected reindeer herders. The thesis concludes by stating that an increased awareness of positionality among IA authors would be beneficial to promote transparency when indigenous or other vulnerable stakeholders are likely to be negatively affected.Den samiska ursprungsbefolkningen i norra Sverige har under lång tid haft enbart lite inflytande inom planprocessen. Detta problem har under senare år belysts både i lagliga kretsar och genom metoder för att framställa miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar (MKB), och har lett till en ökad mängd konflikter mellan renskötare och gruvbolag. Denna uppsats använder kritisk diskursanalys för att undersöka MKB:na för tre gruvkoncessioner i samebyars renskötselområden. Resultaten pekade på att det fanns vissa skillnader i metodik och språk mellan dokumenten, särskilt när det gällde om bedömningarna utvärderade konsekvenserna på rennäringen genom en kvantitativ eller ett kvalitativ vetenskaplig metod. MKB:na tenderade även att tona ned gruvornas inverkan på renskötseln, samtidigt som de lyfte fram gruvornas fördelar för den lokala ekonomin, och ifrågasatte de berörda renskötarnas bekymran. Avslutningsvis konstateras att en ökad medvetenhet bland MKB-författare om hur deras subjektiva tillhörighet kan påverka deras bedömningar skulle vara fördelaktigt för att öka transparensen när ursprungsinvånare eller andra berörda sannolikt kommer att påverkas negativt

Ifrågasatta konsekvenser : En diskursanalys av sociala konflikter mellan Samebyar och gruvbolag i miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar

For a long time, the indigenous Sami of northern Sweden have had little influence within planning processes. This problem have in recent years been highlighted both in legal terms and through practices for developing Impact Assessments (IA), and has led to increasing conflict between reindeer herders and mining corporations. This thesis uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the IA documents for three mining concessions within Sami Reindeer Herding Communities (samebyar). The discourse analysis found that there were some differences in methodology and language between the documents, especially relating to if the assessments evaluated impacts to reindeer husbandry using a quantitative or a qualitative approach. The documents would also tend to downplay the impacts of the mines on reindeer husbandry, while highlighting the benefits of the mines for the local economy, and dispute the concerns of the affected reindeer herders. The thesis concludes by stating that an increased awareness of positionality among IA authors would be beneficial to promote transparency when indigenous or other vulnerable stakeholders are likely to be negatively affected.Den samiska ursprungsbefolkningen i norra Sverige har under lång tid haft enbart lite inflytande inom planprocessen. Detta problem har under senare år belysts både i lagliga kretsar och genom metoder för att framställa miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar (MKB), och har lett till en ökad mängd konflikter mellan renskötare och gruvbolag. Denna uppsats använder kritisk diskursanalys för att undersöka MKB:na för tre gruvkoncessioner i samebyars renskötselområden. Resultaten pekade på att det fanns vissa skillnader i metodik och språk mellan dokumenten, särskilt när det gällde om bedömningarna utvärderade konsekvenserna på rennäringen genom en kvantitativ eller ett kvalitativ vetenskaplig metod. MKB:na tenderade även att tona ned gruvornas inverkan på renskötseln, samtidigt som de lyfte fram gruvornas fördelar för den lokala ekonomin, och ifrågasatte de berörda renskötarnas bekymran. Avslutningsvis konstateras att en ökad medvetenhet bland MKB-författare om hur deras subjektiva tillhörighet kan påverka deras bedömningar skulle vara fördelaktigt för att öka transparensen när ursprungsinvånare eller andra berörda sannolikt kommer att påverkas negativt

Förödande bränder i svenska städer och deras inverkan på stadsstrukturen

This thesis describes the historical development of the urban structure of three Swedish cities, which have each suffered from a large fire at some point during the 19th century. Using a collection of historical maps, as well as contemporary geographical data, this work aims to assess the impact these fires had on the built-up urban structure at the time immediately after they occurred, as well as their impact upon the urban structure of the contemporary city. The urban structure is composed of three primary elements, which are the streets, buildings, and land-use plots, which over time changes at differing rates. In order to determine whether the fire had an impact on the ordinary rate of change to the city, historical maps of the three Swedish cities are used, depicting them as they were before and shortly after the fire occurred. The pre- and post-fire maps are used to produce composite maps detailing the amount of change which occurred in the time period before and after the fire. The maps depicting the cities after the fire are then in turn overlaid with modern geodata of the contemporary cities, in order to determine whether the fire could be considered to have had a significant impact on the development of the present urban structures. The comparison of the maps of the case-cities shows that a significant amount of change occurred between their pre- and post-fire states, and that the post-fire structure closely aligns to the present urban structure. In each of the cities then, the urban fire could be considered an important component to the historical development of their urban structures

Let us discuss online hate speech! : How an interactive product can engage youngsters regarding online hate speech on social media.

Det finns många fördelar med sociala medier men likväl flera baksidor. Baksidorna inom denna kontext inkluderar kränkningar, trakasserier och hot. Näthat som begrepp är dessutom svårdefinierat, vilket gör ämnet än mer relevant att diskutera. För att lyfta diskussionen kring näthat på sociala medier ämnar detta projekt utforma en prototyp till en interaktiv produkt för unga. Den interaktiva produkten ska fungera i undervisningen på högstadie- och gymnasienivå som ett engagerande verktyg gällande näthat. Syftet med projektet är således att engagera unga gällande näthat på sociala medier. För att skapa en prototyp till en interaktiv produkt som engagerar unga gällande näthat på sociala medier ansåg vi experter och potentiella användare relevanta att undersöka. Projektet genomfördes därför med en kvalitativ forskningsansats genom enskilda intervjuer samt fokusgrupper. De enskilda intervjuerna genomfördes med experter inom området näthat och fokusgrupper med potentiella användare, i åldersspannet 13–19 år. Resultatet från undersökningen analyserades utifrån projektets teoretiska ramverk i form av motstrategier på sociala medier, interaktionsdesign och serious games. Därefter lyfte vi fram de teman som var extra framträdande och av störst relevans för projektet. Det empiriska materialet användes således för att identifiera de krav och behov den interaktiva produkten bör uppfylla. Projektet visar att den interaktiva produkten bör kunna användas regelbundet och vara av spelkaraktär. Vi identifierade tre framträdande kategorier som extra viktiga att inkludera i vår prototyp; motstrategier, definitionen av näthat samt genus. Utefter resultatet från projektet skapade vi en prototyp till ett interaktivt spel i form av en mobilapplikation med integrerad diskussion i klassrummet.There are many benefits with social media but nevertheless several downsides. The downsides within this context includes violations, harassment and threats. Online hate speech as a concept is difficult to define, which makes the question even more relevant to discuss. In order to highlight the discussion about online hate speech on social media, this project will design a prototype for an interactive product adapted for youngsters. The interactive product shall work as an engaging complement when teaching youngsters about online hate speech. To create an interactive product who engage youngsters regarding online hate speech on social media we deemed experts and potential users as relevant to examine. The project therefore implemented a qualitative research approach through individual interviews and focus groups. The individual interviews were implemented with experts within the field of online hate speech and the focus groups with potential users, 13–19-year-olds. The results of the examination were analyzed based on the project’s theoretical framework, in the form of counter-strategies on social media, interaction design and serious games. The most prominent themes and the ones of the highest relevance for the project were subsequently highlighted. The empirical material was used to identify the requirements and needs that the interactive product should meet. The project shows that the interactive product should be able to be used regularly and be of game character. Three prominent categories were identified as extra important to include in our prototype; counter strategies, the definition of online hate speech and gender issues. Following the results from the project, a prototype was created for an interactive game in the form of a mobile application with integrated discussion in the classroom