Mid Sweden University

The investigation was initiated because of the high workload of the sellers and, additionally, because the Tunadal sawmill has received low ratings in customer surveys. Thus,  two main approaches are adopted here,  the first being to investigate which of the three methods  of working, namely, market divided flow organization, function organizationand flow organization with collaboration, proves to be the most beneficial. The second is to investigate whether there is an available method to ease the daily work. A literature review has been made in order to determine more efficient ways for the sellers to work in the Tunadal sawmill. During the investigation, an in-depth investigation into the total quality management using a balanced scorecard as a management tool was conducted. To identify the current problems, interviews and workshops were conducted with the department members. A customer survey was sent to the customers in order to obtain some indication in relation to their opinions. The results showed that there are many unnecessary working operations such as control, duplication of work and problem solving. Communication between the various departments and individuals proved to sometimes be poor.  A major reason for the sellers’ problems regarding workload was due to the unavailability of goods on the discharge date. Many benefits are associated with the collaborative flow organization as this increases the holistic view and can assist in relation to communication. The function based method of working would, however, lead to greater isolation of the functions in the business. Very little work regarding identification of problems that occur in the processes exists and focus on working with improvements is limited. It would be advantageous to work with total quality management using the balanced scorecard as a management tool in the flow organization based on cooperation as this also promotes the holistic approach.

Keywords:Efficiency improvement, total quality management, balanced

In today's society, many IT organizations have strived to implement system development to improve and streamline information management in an effort to streamline the entire organization. The first step in system development is to identify the problems experienced by the company. This study focuses on studying delivery systems at IT companies in order to identify problems and quality shortcomings in that system. The delivery system is used daily by employees at the fall company. It was noted that several problems have arisen when the system is not automated. Employees have different problems that they want to avoid. For example, employees must enter manually to change what has been generated by the system. This leads to waste times and increases the risk of failure. Research in the areas of system development and process development stresses the importance of developing or improving IT processes to achieve the required quality. The study has been conducted by observing and interviewing employees who work with the delivery system. The results of this study present three major problems that the system has today. These are installation guide, system usability and requirement specification. The Installation Wizard is a document that consists of all modules to be installed at the customer for the version to be released along with other necessary information about the deliveries or modules. This document is not generated by the system today but is manually created by the employees. This requires a lot of manual work and time to check and make sure they have got them all. Regarding the second issue, the current system lacks some features that make usability very complex and that takes time to learn how it works. Finally, the company has no clear requirement management process, which means that the company delivers a module or service that does not meet its requirements and expectations. The study also represents solutions to address these issues.  

Today Delta Terminal AB rents a warehouse, the expenses of the warehouse are much higher than the income and therefore Delta Terminal Ab wants to relocate the warehouse to a different building that they own. The current warehouse is approximately 7900 𝑚2and the intended local is 6400𝑚2. Because of the differ-ence in size between the two warehouses, it is important that the products are placed so that the bearing surface is filled as much as possible without damag-ing the products. To reduce the driving distance in the warehouse the products are placed after a categorization technique called double ABC-analysis, where the delivery frequency is the main factor. To verify that the products fit in the warehouse calculations were made on the fill rate, a localization and product placement were also made based on the categorization. The information is taken from a literature review, scientific articles, previous studies, discussions with the staff at Delta Terminal AB and from each client who has a product in the warehouse. The study shows that the products Delta Terminal AB has in stock will not fit in the intended warehouse and that Delta Terminal AB needs at least 48 m2 to store leftover products.

I denna uppsats skriver jag om hur man skapar en intressant och spännande kontrast mellan olika material och mönster i min examensmöbel. Jag beskriver även kortfattat hur jag kom fram till just detta, samt varför jag valde de metoder jag använde mig av.

Jag valde mellan vanlig brun MDF-skiva, Valchromat (genomfärgad MDF-skiva) och en färg.

Flygplats logistik

Stovepipes, or also called silos, appear in many different organizations and sectors and contribute to problems when employees or managers tend to look more to their own, or the individual departments, objectives rather than to the organizations. The purpose of this study was to identify different communicative factors that promote stovepipes in order to further identify the most critical factor to disarm. A case study has been done at a selected company, with a stovepipe structure, in order to achieve the purpose of the study. The case study has included interviews and observations to identify different problem areas which then have been compared with three communicative factors identified in previous studies. The factor that had the most connections to the problem areas have been considered the most critical factor. The result of the study indicates that “A lack of understanding each other's work” is the most critical factor in stovepipe structures and that it can be prevented by following five recommendations: bring up positive collaboration continually, raise problems with each other instead of with others, identify different communication paths in and between the departments, implement a long-term model for preventing stovepipes and set up workshops between the involved departments. The conclusion of the study is that stovepipes create several undesirable effects in the organization but that the efforts to counter these problems do not have to be complicated. Following five small steps into a better collaboration and communication can be enough to be on your way to a better organizational structure.

When investigating the construction industry's lack of digitization, it is often explained that it is because of a conservative culture. The purpose of this study has been to problematize the labelling as conservative and to study a company in the industry to gain a deeper understanding of what other problems that may exist. Based on this, three research questions were identified which the study had as a goal to answer. These are: how the construction industry can be said to be conservative, how the conservatism is expressed, and what other barriers that exists that cannot be said to be derived from conservatism. The study has been conducted through a case study at Skanska Sverige AB with Region Hus Norr as a delimitation. Furthermore, it has been divided into two phases where semi-structural interviews and a document review have been used as the basis for a description of the current situation. The result shows that it is not a representative state of the construction industry to say that it is conservative, and during the case study no underlying expressions of conservatism was observed. On the other hand, there are several other areas that are considered as the reason for a slow development. The conclusions drawn is that the way the Swedish Public Procurement Act is conducted today is one of the reasons for this. An accelerated change process where some steps in the change management models are skipped is also seen as a reason. Furthermore, there are signs of that the current processes not always support efficient digitization, which indicates that the work in some cases only move from an analog to a digital state. Lastly, an indication of a stove pipe structure in the development area has been observed during the study, which can affect the efficiency and target improvement in a negative way.

When investigating the construction industry's lack of digitization, it is often explained that it is because of a conservative culture. The purpose of this study has been to problematize the labelling as conservative and to study a company in the industry to gain a deeper understanding of what other problems that may exist. Based on this, three research questions were identified which the study had as a goal to answer. These are: how the construction industry can be said to be conservative, how the conservatism is expressed, and what other barriers that exists that cannot be said to be derived from conservatism. The study has been conducted through a case study at Skanska Sverige AB with Region Hus Norr as a delimitation. Furthermore, it has been divided into two phases where semi-structural interviews and a document review have been used as the basis for a description of the current situation. The result shows that it is not a representative state of the construction industry to say that it is conservative, and during the case study no underlying expressions of conservatism was observed. On the other hand, there are several other areas that are considered as the reason for a slow development. The conclusions drawn is that the way the Swedish Public Procurement Act is conducted today is one of the reasons for this. An accelerated change process where some steps in the change management models are skipped is also seen as a reason. Furthermore, there are signs of that the current processes not always support efficient digitization, which indicates that the work in some cases only move from an analog to a digital state. Lastly, an indication of a stove pipe structure in the development area has been observed during the study, which can affect the efficiency and target improvement in a negative way.

This bachelor thesis explores the implementation of reverse logistics (OL) as a means to enhance sustainable practices within the e-commerce sector, with a specific focus on clothing e-commerce. The study begins by defining reverse logistics as the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption to meet customer requirements. To effectively utilise the reverse logistics companies utilize various strategies to encourage consumers to return their used or unwanted products in hope to reclaim the original value of the item(s). The successful implementation of reverse logistics necessitates a focus on transporting products from point B to point A. Given that most organisations rely on intermodal transport for deliveries, reverse logistics plays a pivotal role in maintaining an efficient supply chain. By conducting a literature review using databases such as Google Scholar, DIVA portal and Scopus this study used previous studies done in the same subject. Previous articles were studied to find the most common factors that hinder an efficient or improved reverse logistic process for clothing and accessories e-commerce companies. The factors that were found to be the most crucial were as following: 

Inventory, Handling, Product complexity, Return policy, Transport and distance. Why these findings are of interest is because by implementing strategies that targets the factors it may lead to a more efficient reverse logistics process which in turn will lead to increased customer satisfaction and revenue.  

Kubikenborg Aluminium AB, Kubal is Sweden's only producer of aluminum and faces different risks in their procurement process including price volatility and supply interruptions for their essential raw materials which are used in their production. Factors like policy changes and Covid-19 add great risks to negatively impact these risks. The study was conducted using different data collection- and analysis methods to identify and develop possible risk management strategies for Kubal, specifically for price volatility of raw materials. Historical purchase data was analyzed to identify patterns and trends in price changes. The study also explores sustainability strategies to create long-term sustainability and also strengthen the company brand. The study provides a deep and broad understanding of risk management in raw material procurement. It provides theoretical and practical examples by studying Kubal, the results of which can also be used for other companies in similar situations. The study's conclusion shows that Kubals current strategies are effective against supply disturbance and quality risks but not effective for dealing with price volatility. By Kubal implementing procurement strategies and contract strategies, they would have saved costs in situations like during the pandemic. There are many different factors that affect price volatility but political events, market situations and in this study the pandemic affected the price the most. The study provides the possibility for further research by studying other materials in other industries and companies.

The research aims to analyze the market structure of two companies in th forest industry (Holmen and SCA) with the assumption that thes companies compete at buying raw materials and selling products. Theproduct market in this study is the paper market under the assumption thatboth companies operate in a concentrated product market. The rawmatial market that one investigates in this study is the pulpwood marketunder the assumption that it is a duopsony. What this study has concludedis that Holmen and SCA buy pulpwood from lots of different self-managingforest owners. Each company creates a monthly pricelist where they decidethe bid price of pulpwood. The amount varies depending on the region. Bot SCA and Holmen chooses between two strategic decisions, either to bid highor to bid low. Through game theory, it has been clear that each company usesmixed strategies as they sometimes give high bids and sometimes give lowbids. The Nash equilibrium for mixed strategies have been calculatedmathematically and analyzed through the dynamics of game theory. As fore market concentration, the product market has been investigatedthrough the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Porter's five-force modelwas used to analyze the industry competition. The results showed that theproduct market is concentrated as the HHI tests gave High index scoresbetween 3100 and 1700. In addition, there existed a Nash equilibrium in amixed strategy that gave SCA expected payoff 1651 million SEK and Holmen1295 million SEK. The dynamic game theory showed that SCA and Holmen'sbidding follows a repeating trajectory and that the high/low bidding is dueto deviations from Nash equilibrium probability distribution. The Nashequilibrium situation prevails if the probability distribution at low biddingis 68.6 percent for SCA and 66,7 percent for Holmen. This providedindicators for a non-cooperative game. The conclusion is that if two players

Företag inom stålindustrin tacklas nuförtiden med en fluktuerande och oförutsägbar marknad. Detta resulterar i försiktiga åtgärder och svårigheter med att planera och uppnå långsiktiga mål. Ovissheten leder till att beslut ibland baseras på felaktiga prognoser. I höjden av denna fluktuerande marknad behövs vanligtvis förstärkning i och med att efterfrågan ökar. Detta leder till att företag ställs inför svåra beslut, att anställa ytterligare personal och/eller utöka lagerhållning. Denna marknad kan så småningom vända och detta leder till varsel av personal samt kontraktion av depåer för att hålla en viss vinstnivå, som det tidigare har hänt. Ett av alternativen som återstår i dagsläget är effektivisering av orderhanteringsprocessen för att reducera ledtider och klara av ökande efterfrågan. Lean är en välkänd metod för att effektivera flöden i processer. Företagets reservdelslager arbetar inte med Lean i dagsläget. Syftet med denna fallstudie är att undersöka med värdeflödesanalys(VSM) och diskret händelse simulation vilka kritiska punkter och flaskhalsar som existerar i reservdelslagret och målet är att sedan eliminera de med Lean som arbetssätt. Första steget bestod av att kartlägga orderhanteringsprocessen med en processpromenad och sedan analysera de olika aktiviteterna. Detta möjliggjorde en identifiering av flaskhalsar och kritiska punkter. Resultatet presenterar ett nuläge av företaget med en cykeltid på 224 sekunder/artikel och en ledtid på 1549 sekunder/order. En order har även ett genomsnitt på 6 artiklar varav fem ligger på hyllor och en på lagerautomat. Flödet har illustrerats i ett spagettidiagram. I koppling med teorin har ett par förbättringsförslag föreslagits som exempelvis en omstrukturering av artiklar på hyllor utifrån pareto(ABC)-analys. Detta ska reducera ledtiden. Flaskhalsarna som har identifierats är osynkroniserade arbetsrutiner och ineffektiva lagerstrukturer. Därmed har ett antal effektivare framtida lägen med reducerade ledtider föreslagits. Slutsatsen är att Lean principer som ”Jidoka”(ständiga förbättringar) och Just in time(lägre ledtider i princip) kan implementeras med olika lösningar som VMI, IT och automatisering. Fortsatta studier kan utvärdera varje lösning med DES och även jämföra olika kostnader i förhållande till nytta.

The transport that uses multiple modes of transportation called Intermodal transport. Due of the advantages of intermodal transport offers, the market for intermodal transport has become increasingly important. The benefits can be both environmentally and economically. This terminal is the destination where intermodal transport takes place. The purpose of a terminal is to combine two different modes of transport. This can lower the total cost of transportation and reduce environmental pollution. To get a successful intermodal terminals there are a few factors that should be considered. One of these factors is the primary services and incidental services terminus offer.

The purpose of this study is to examine the ancillary services that can be applied to an intermodal terminal in order to increase revenues and attractiveness of the facility. To answer the research questions I interviewed four different operators in intermodal terminals in Sweden. In addition there are also two interviews were carried out with the existing operator in Sundsvall intermodal terminal and the operator of the new intermodal terminal. The purpose of these two interviews was to see what the operators have the opportunity or plan and how it works in Sundsvall existing intermodal terminal in the present day. Literature studies that I used in this study have been covered by previous surveys, reports and books. The purpose of literary studies was to identify intermodal terminals and the new services that can be used on the terminal.

The results of this study gave a very good picture of these ancillary services that can be applied in Sundsvall new intermodal terminal to increase the terminal's revenues and attractiveness. Examples of these services, repair factories of trailers and containers, refueling station in connection with the intermodal terminal, cross-docking, by scrolling with the electric locomotives. Besides these services, there are other factors that should be taken into consideration in order to increase revenues and attractiveness of intermodal terminal. These are the technologies that are used in intermodal terminal, IT support, security and location of the intermodal terminal.

This report explores the implementation of AI techniques in the manufacturing process at Ovako, focusing on process optimization, individual traceability, and quality control. By integrating advanced AI models and techniques at various levels within the production process, Ovako can improve efficiency, reduce material consumption, and prevent production stops. For example, predictive maintenance can be applied to anticipate and prevent machine problems, while image recognition algorithms and optical character recognition enable individual traceability of each rod throughout the process. Furthermore, AI-based quality control can detect defects and deviations with high precision and speed, leading to reduced risk of faulty products and increased product quality. By carefully considering the role of the workforce, safety and ethical issues, and the benefits and challenges of AI implementation, Ovako can maximize the benefits of these techniques and enhance its competitiveness in the market.

The aim of this study was to study the Styrel concept as an approach to identify electricity users and prioritize them in the event of a power shortage on a power grid. The study has examined and investigated how the priorities of different electricity users go to, how the benefits of manual disconnection change according to the decision makers' different priorities and how interaction between different local networks affects total utility. The features of a community on a local area, also called objects, are divided into eight priority classes depending on the function of the objects. The area for this study has been decision management. The study has been conducted using results from previous studies and theories on decision analysis as the basis for constructing a simulator that simulates how the power of a power failure changes for a local area dependent on the extent of the electricity supply (capacity). The study's findings have shown that prioritization of electricity supply line with higher priority classes should be prioritized than an electricity supply line with lower priority classes. This is also the result of previous studies. On the other hand, the study has shown that the fixed asset for an electricity supply line with lower priority objects is higher than an electricity supply line with higher priority objects, but with less benefit, priority should be given to the electricity supply line of higher priority objects. This study has thus resulted in the fact that electricity supply lines should be prioritized after the benefit if a decision maker is aware of the extent of the deficiency. Current collaboration between local networks showed that this could be dependent on the factors: distance, risk profile of decision makers and change of benefit through collaboration.  

Costs related to inventory are usually a significant amount of the company’s total assets. Despite this, companies in general don’t pay a lot of interest in it, even if the benefits from effective inventory are obvious when it comes to less tied up capital, increased customer satisfaction and better working environment.

Permobil AB, Timrå is in an intense period when it comes to revenue and growth. The production unit is aiming for an increased output of 30 % in the next two years. To make this possible the company has to improve their way to distribute and handle material,The purpose of the study is to provide useful information and concrete proposals for action, so that the company can build a strategy for an effective and sustainable solution when it comes to inventory management.

Alternative methods for making forecasts are suggested, in order to reach a more nuanced perception of different articles, and how they should be managed. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used in order to give specially selected persons the chance to decide criteria for how the article should be valued. The criteria they agreed about were annual volume value, lead time, frequency rate and purchase price. The other method that was proposed was a two-dimensional model where annual volume value and frequency was the criteria that specified in which class an article should be placed. Both methods resulted in significant changes in comparison to the current solution.

For the spare part inventory different forecast methods were tested and compared with the current solution. It turned out that the current forecast method performed worse than both moving average and exponential smoothing with trend. The small sample of ten random articles is not big enough to reject the current solution, but still the result is a reason enough, for the company to control the quality of the forecasts.

Digital transformation has the potential to fundamentally change society. Digitalisation, through new technological solutions and advances, is expected to play a central role in ensuring future prosperity. Although the role of digitisation in society has been recognised, the public sector in Sweden is experiencing problems in realising the identified benefits, with the result that a large proportion of the projects being implemented exceed the set framework, constraints, and resources. The aim of this work has been to evaluate a digitisation project in the public sector through a qualitative case study and a goal-oriented framework. The case study has investigated which assumptions emerge in a digitisation project and how the realisation of benefits is affected by these. The evaluation carried out has shown that two different types of assumptions have occurred in the project, these have been formal and informal assumptions. The study has shown that assumptions create legitimacy and conditions for realisation within a digitisation project, while at the same time they create tensions within the project. The tensions show both enabling and constraining dimensions that have affected the project's implementation and benefit realisation positively and negatively. This study has identified a need to extend the work on assumptions in the LFA and has therefore proposed a model that illustrates the relationship of the two types to each other and to the project and its benefit realisation. The evaluation of the digitisation project has shown that the project team prioritised ensuring relevance and sustainability over feasibility, which created tensions in project implementation that negatively affected the realisation of benefits within the project. This study has shown that assumptions are often a "necessary evil" in relation to a project's impact capture, but are facilitated by good structure and clear leadership. 

With Industry 4.0, companies are faced with the challenge of managing an ever-increasing amount of data and re-evaluating and innovating their production planning methods. An important aspect of demand forecasting is the accuracy of forecasts compared to outcomes. Research has shown that more complex models perform better in demand forecasting, however, this research has focused on demand forecasting in the IT, finance and e-commerce sectors.

This thesis investigates the application of predictive modelling in demand forecasting in the context of production planning for a medium-sized manufacturing company. The study mainly compares the performance of two predictive models: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, with the aim of assessing its usefulness in improving the accuracy of demand forecasts. Based on historical sales data, this quantitative case study investigates how these models can improve operational efficiency that can be applied to production planning processes such as optimal inventory and production schedules. 

The study found that the LSTM model, through Automated Machine Learning (AutoML), was significantly better than the ARIMA model in terms of forecast accuracy. This was evidenced by lower Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values, indicating that LSTM's ability to capture long-term dependencies and adapt to non-linear patterns provides a more robust tool for demand forecasting in production planning.

This study contributes to the field of industrial engineering by demonstrating the practical benefits of integrating advanced predictive models into manufacturing companies' production planning processes. It highlights the potential of machine learning techniques to transform traditional production planning systems and thus provides insights into the strategic implementation of AI in industrial operations. Future research could explore and compare more models to get a broader picture of how different models perform against each other in terms of prediction errors.

A market change comes with challenges for the organisations which operate on that market, since they must adjust to the new market conditions, a new competitive situation and such. The purpose of this study was to examine which challenges organisations experience when they develop their business models. This was performed by doing a literature review as well as interviews with representatives from the electric market in Sweden. The result from the literature review showed that multiple concepts can be connected to form an encompassing view with the change as the catalyst. Four aspects regarding challenges could be developed based on previous research: (1) he organisation is not used to change management; (2) the organisation is used to change management; (3) management does not know how to start working with BMI; and (4) management knows how to start working with BMI. The result from the interviews showed that the literature was reflected in reality, since the informants described several concepts from the literature. The informants’ organisations could be placed in the aspects which had been developed and based on previous research suggestions of how to handle these challenges could be developed, some of which the informants had already applied (but not fully, yet).

In today’s society, businesses and organizations are facing increasing challenges to change and adapt to a digitizing world. In order to stay relevant in the market, businesses need to work constantly on developing and improving the efficiency of its various processes. This study is designed as a case study at MittSverige Vatten & Avfall which is a municipal corporation in Sundsvall municipality. Its goal is to be a leader in its sector by the year 2021. The study’s objective was to investigate if the digitization of information gathering could bring benefit to a company and its customers. The investigation has focused on the digitization of information gathering from the customer's water meter. The study's objective has been to identify and analyze how digitization impacts business processes and its financial condition with help from value stream mapping and a customer survey. The study was conducted with the support of written and web based literary sources. A survey as well as interviews was conducted. An investment analysis has been conducted to study and evaluate the benefits that the investment brings the customer and MittSverige Vatten & Avfall regarding cost. The study proved that the digitization of water meters would mean an improvement for both MittSverige Vatten & Avfall and its customers.

In today’s society, IT-Companies often have a hard time estimating changed requirements. This leads to that the clients’ confidence is negatively affected and is one of the main reasons why this has to be improved. The goal with this study was to find out what the most common problems regarding this issue are in IT-companies that works with agile software development. By analyzing one IT-company through a SWOT- and pareto-analysis the most common problems have been ascertained. The SWOT analysis have been created through interviews with selected employees to get a better understanding of the problems that the IT-company is facing. Furthermore was the pareto-analysis based on a survey that was sent out to many different employees to prioritize the problems. The reason why the survey was sent to different employees was to get a more objective input. The study showed that there was many different problems that needed attention. The most important problems was that the communication towards the client regarding requirements needed to be improved, better communication internally between different departments needed to be established, a method to quickly adapt and estimate change in requirements needed to be implemented and finally a method regarding witch key employees whom need to attend the planning of the program backlog. These problems have then been studied through interviews with other IT-companies and through a literature study. The conclusions that where drawn was that the client needs to be involved and updated through the whole project. Constant monitoring and communication regarding changed requirements needs to be processed and mediated. High standards needs to be set early towards the client in order to obtain as clear an image of the requirements as possible. Many different parties need to attend to the planning process for the program backlog before the start of the project. The client needs to be aware of that changed requirements will arise and that this will lead to that the first estimation may not necessarily be absolute. As long as the client is held up to date as well as participant through the whole project and problems are detected and mediated early, change in requirements should not be a huge problem. This is after all the purpose of being agile.

This is a qualitative study that uses structured interviews and observations as the methods for collecting data. The purpose of this study is to examine if caregivers in elderly care perform tasks at work that they do not have time for, and also how the caregivers manage communication with the caretaker's relatives. It is a well known problem that personnel working in care are overworked, which can lead to negative effects on the quality of the care that is given. The data collected from the interviews and a thematic analysis present the daily routines performed in connection to the visits at the caretakers. Process maps are created of these visits from the personnel. By breaking down the activities, technical indicators are presented that could suit each activity. It is vital that these technical indicators do not add workload to the caregivers. The results show that there are problems regarding communication between caregivers and the caretaker's relatives. Furthermore eight activities in the process were found that previous research has shown could be turned into technical indicators.

In today’s market all companies want to find advantages against its competitors. A common way to do that is to change quality management system. One of those methods is Lean where focus is to create value to the customer and minimize waste. However common changing quality management system is, the success rate is low. This study is a case study on a department in a company where the implementation of Lean and 5S has stopped. To discover why interviews with the personnel in the department is done. The questions are based on an article written by Almeida Marodin and Saurin [1] where they categorized 14 barriers to Lean implementation. Out of the interviews emerged that they did not feel any responsibility for working with Lean and that they had problems with keeping the momentum. To remedy this recommendations where given how the department can create an higher commitment and understanding for working with Lean through change management and Kotters eight step model.

Route optimization aims to optimize routes for vehicles withregards to resource usage. Especially when the vehicle needsto visit multiple customers on the route, a route optimizationtool is beneficiary. The purpose of this study is to comparehuman experience with a route optimization program. This isdone by comparing how a truck driver makes his routes to theroute a GIS-tool has calculated and then see which of theroutes was shorter, measured in kilometers. The data for thisstudy was gathered from a big shipping company. In order toachieve the purpose of this study 10 routes were analysed bya GIS program called ArcGIS. The algorithm used by ArcGISin route optimization is tabu search, this type of program wasused because it is based on heuristic methods that is muchfaster than exact methods. Expert systems are based onknowledge from experts that have been accumulated duringmany years of experience. Providing recommendations basedon probability reasoning instead of absolute answer. Thesekind of systems is often used in GIS programs to improveresults and calculation time. The aim of this study wasanalyze if a optimization program finds a better route than theexpert. This study shows an improvement of 60% of theanalyzed routes. To verify the results of this study anhypothesis test was made which gave a level of significanceby more than 85 %. The routes were optimized to a certainextent even before the study was done due to the driveralready being familiar with the routes in question. Because ofthis the results of this study were lower compared to othersimilar studies. Another reason may be that the coordinatesgiven to us did not always correspond perfectly with actuallocation of the stops.

Data has been recognized as an important resource in the public sector. As a result, the expectations regarding data and its potential use cases have increased. In Sweden, key stakeholders have emphasized the importance of data for data-driven purposes. However, the amount of data collected, stored and analyzed has dramatically increased, which from an organizational perspective presents new demands on how public organizations govern and control their data management. In this study, data governance in the public sector at the municipal level was investigated with the purpose of creating an overview of how data governance occurs within municipalities. The study was divided into two sections, the first phase consisted of interviews with a specific municipality, whereas the second phase consisted of a survey distributed to all 290 Swedish municipalities. The results show that the current approach to data governance presents several challenges in the municipal sector. The results also indicate that the municipal sector may potentially be more focused on information governance rather than data governance and that there may be a lack of knowledge about the distinction between data and information. The findings suggest that the municipal sector lacks the prerequisites for managing data as a valuable and strategic asset, which is a concern given the public sector’s ambitions for data to generate and enhance services for society.

Introduction: Sustainability issues are getting more and more attention. A common framework for working with sustainability is based on the three dimensions of social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. The goal of the sustainability model is to achieve a balance between the dimensions. Although sustainability models have been known for decades, companies find it difficult to strike a balance, as the economic dimension tends to set the agenda for the other two. Consequently, it seems easier to work with sustainability in theory than in practice. One reason for this may be that the companies have many stakeholders to consider. The digital infrastructure is making the market more and more global.

Problem discussion: The marketplace is changing, both for those who choose to apply the new technology as well as for those who choose to stand outside. New electronic solutions create new opportunities for both businesses and consumers. Sustainability aspects of the electronic B2C (Business to Consumer) commerce have been studied before, but there is a knowledge gap in the electronic B2B (Business to Business) commerce and especially in relation to sustainability. This is even though it is expected to increase more than B2C commerce on the internet.

Purpose: The purpose is to increase the understanding of the relationship between the export companies' electronic B2B commerce and their sustainability work based on the three dimensions; social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability.

Method: The qualitative study was conducted as a case study. The sample has been Swedish, exporting companies in Malaysia. Informants from each case company have been interviewed.

Results and conclusion: All the companies in the case study are actively working on sustainability issues inspired by the three dimensions of social, environmental and economic sustainability. The result shows that few Swedish exporting companies in Malaysia are working with electronic B2B commerce. This is mainly because traditional sales dominate. For the companies that have implemented electronic B2B commerce, there are contradictions, in particular, between the economic sustainability dimension and the social sustainability dimension.

In today's society, there is a technology that not everyone thinks about, namely Self-Service Technology (SST). Self-Service Technology is often in one's vicinity. Companies use this technology to satisfy their customers faster and more smoothly. This study was performed on Monitor's ERP System AB's Online help using a quantitative method. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the importance of the different dimensions of Self-Service Technology (SST) for customer satisfaction. To then generate new knowledge and suggestions for improvements to SST and web-based customer support systems. To conduct this study, an exploratory factor analysis was used on the 7 dimensions within Self-Service Technology and the dimension customer satisfaction. The results showed that the two dimensions functionality and convenience had the strongest connection to the dimension customer satisfaction. Therefore, businesses similar to Monitor's ERP System AB should focus on improving the functionality and convenience dimensions to achieve better customer satisfaction.

Mobile technology has developed rapidly in the recent years and considerably changed the way organizations work. Mobility can bring great benefits to the organizations of which they are at, by e.g. improving employee satisfaction and increase efficiency and productivity. Despite this the development of mobile solutions have grown much faster for individuals than for organizations, with a plethora of devices and applications. The slow enterprise adoption is partly due to the fact that companies need to take information security risks into account at the same time as IT systems need to be rebuilt and customized to accommodate the new mobile way of working. Employees, unlike most other technologies, largely drive mobile strategies at organizations. Organizations are not developing in a fast enough pace and many scientist are describing a research gap in organizations adoption of mobility. This study aims to examine how research in the area has been presented and how enterprise mobility is viewed and utilized. The study has been implemented through qualitative research with a interpretative and exploratory approach. A case study was conducted at two organizations, demonstrating the possibilities and obstacles of enterprise mobility, and also strengthened the existing definition of the field. Additionally the case study illustrated discrepancies in IT solutions and the adoption of enterprise mobility within two different industries. Both researchers and organizations have shown a great interest in exploring this area additionally. Further studies can be extended to include the effects of how companies have adapted to enterprise mobility.

This study aims to identify and examine the key success factors for companies in the financial sector that seek to use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their operations. Through a quantitative survey conducted among companies already utilizing or planning to use AI technology, the study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and requirements that companies face in effectively implementing and harnessing AI. 

The findings from the study will be utilized to develop advice and recommendations that can support companies in their endeavors to leverage AI technology. By providing insights and strategic guidance, the study can assist companies in planning and executing their own AI initiatives more successfully within the financial sector. 

A central research question addressed by the study is: What are the key success factors for companies seeking to use AI to enhance their operations in financial services? Through analyzing the survey responses, the study will contribute to the knowledge of how companies in the financial sector can benefit from AI and overcome potential obstacles. The overarching goal is to promote more efficient utilization of AI technology within financial services while ensuring companies' success and competitiveness in today's fast-paced and technology-driven business environment. 

The results indicate that companies in the financial sector recognize the significance of data accessibility and quality as critical success factors, according to the respondents. Furthermore, the findings reveal that ethical, social, and political considerations related to AI are of importance, but there exists a degree of disagreement among respondents regarding the importance of these issues. These conclusions, together with prior research in the field, can inform the development of strategies and actions that foster responsible and successful use of AI in financial services. 

Today, Sweden's ambition is to be the best in the world to use the possibilities of digitization, while at the same time aiming to be a leader in the work for sustainable development and Agenda 2030. The study aims to study whether there is a clear connection between how the theory of how one should work with digitization to achieve sustainability applies in the practical work at national and local level. Furthermore, one can use the result to identify how one should use digitization and plan for a more sustainable society.

The aim of the study is to be able to see what differences and / or similarities there are at the different strategic levels, where the study is limited to comparing Sundsvall's municipality with the rest of Sweden.

The parameters examined are supported by the theory that William Mitchell has written in his book "e-topia", which describes the connection between digitization and sustainability and answers the question of how to achieve sustainability with the help of digitization.

The report is based on a qualitative method, in which the result is gathered from two interviews and two policy documents, respectively, in order to be compared and discussed in the report's concluding discussion and conclusion part. The result shows that it is the human transformation that is of significant importance both at national and local level, but that there is no clear link to the sustainability work in the national digitization strategy. Instead of focusing on what abilities that are required to be able to use digital techniques or technologies, one should instead focus on how digitalization contributes to the sustainability work in order to eliminate unnecessary processes or steps.

The study aims to provide information on efficiency opportunities on SCA's northbound cassettes. It has been made by examining the capacity utilization rate on the northbound cassettes on SCA's vessels for a period of two weeks. The cargo loaded in the ports of Rotterdam and Sheerness consists of external cargo of varying shape. The cargo is shipped northbound to Holmsund and Sundsvall. Measurements have been made on the cargo to the final destinations Sundsvall, Holmsund and Finland. The measurements have been used in a mathematical optimization model created to optimize the loading of the cassettes. The model is based on placing boxes in a grid where the boxes that are placed representing the cargo and the grids representing the cassettes. The aim of the model is to reduce the number of cassettes and thereby increase the capacity utilization rate. The study resulted in an increase in capacity utilization rate for both area and volume to all destinations. The overall improvement for all cassettes examined resulted in an increase in the area capacity utilization rate by 9.02 percentage points and 5.72 percentage points for the volume capacity utilization rate. It also resulted in a decrease of 22 cassettes in total on the four voyages that were examined which indicate that there are opportunities to improve the capacity utilization rate. The study also shows that the model can be used as a basis for similar problems.

Most companies use ERP systems to automate and streamline their processes. Making a decision and choosing an ERP system is an important decision for the companies, which emphasises the importance of having a successful implementation process. As many companies go through unsuccessful implementations of ERP systems, there are clear challenges and difficulties with the implementation. This study is a qualitative interview study with the aim of investigating and analysing difficulties/challenges within the implementation process of ERP systems with a focus on the leadership perspective, within a medium-sized logistics company. Through semi-structured interviews with leaders and those responsible for the implementation, both increased knowledge of both challenges and success factors from a leadership perspective has been obtained. Through the collected data from the semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis, a number of challenges/difficulties were identified which are in line with previous research on critical success factors, including training, management support, commitment and communication. But some critial success factors where of more weight than others. 

As the population continues to grow, so does the demand for food and raw materials. In order to keep up to supply this increased demand, a development of the way in which food is produced today is required. With the help of robots, there is a future in agriculture where crops can be produced more efficiently. The purpose of this study is to investigate how autonomous agricultural robots can be used to make today's agriculture more efficient, and what technologies are available for this. This has been done by studying how robots that have been involved in previous research work. What they are used for and what benefit they have added has also been studied. Research literature was selected and analyzed. The analysis took place via a literature study in which a number of sub-questions were asked regarding the three perspectives area of use, technology and utility. This was done with the intention of being able to answer the study's formulated research questions. This resulted in a compilation and analysis of a number of articles' views on the problem based on the three perspectives. The conclusions that were drawn were that agricultural robots should primarily be used for harvesting various crops, weed control and data collection for control of soil and crops. It was also found that some form of manipulator, machine vision, sensors, navigation systems, measurement systems, analysis systems and algorithms for cooperation between robots, are used and are available in most types of agricultural robots regardless of area of use. The study showed that the use of agricultural robots in these areas and with the help of this technology, could streamline the agricultural sector by reducing labor costs, saving time, increasing production levels, reducing the amount of crops wasted and contributing to reduced use of chemicals.

With an increased availability of healthcare data and a rapid development of analysis techniques, artificial intelligence (AI) is currently contributing to a paradigm shift in healthcare. Areas that were previously considered only possible to be managed by human experts are now increasingly being managed with the help of AI. A large part of the research in this field points to the positive aspects that the introduction of AI in healthcare can bring. What is less often highlighted is the need for relevant data to ensure that the AI solutions generate results that promote equality. In order for this to happen, it is required, among other things, that the algorithms in the AI solutions are trained on neutral and objective data.

The aim of this study is to use an exploratory design to investigate existing knowledge about bias in AI tools for decision support among clinical, Swedish healthcare personnel. This has been done via interviews with representatives from Swedish healthcare who work with AI. In the interviews, the status of knowledge about how data is created, implemented and used in AI for decision support was examined. The awareness of how this affects the results obtained in the form of bias and what is done to counteract this was investigated. The analysis of the respondents' answers showed that there is an indirect image of knowledge regarding bias and its consequences, but that this is not discussed in the terms that the research uses. Various different actions are performed that prevent the emergence of bias. Distinctive about the result, however, was that the respondents in many cases did not describe the motive for these actions. Actions seem to be carried out but this without fully knowing to what benefit.

Business Intelligence-systems are well embedded in the daily work of managers in the organizations today. These systems have a significant impact on the management of big data as well as assisting managers in making decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how BI-systems affect decision making processes and the change of decision making in organizations and their activities, by looking into three aspects in Business intelligence (data quality, data analysis and the human factor). This study's approach consists of literature review and interviews with organizations who have implemented a BI-system in their activities. The results show that data quality does not have a direct impact on the use success of BI but is still an essential aspect when it comes to information management for decision making. Data analysis tools offers various of methods to help a decision maker in creating a decision basis for different types of decisions. BI-systems affects the decision-making process by making organizations think systematically in decision making in comparison with making decisions based on intuitions.

För att upprätthålla sin konkurrenskraft krävs det idag att ett fokus läggs på att ständigt förbättra sina processer inom organisationen. Detta faller sig logiskt, men att ta fram underlag för vilka förbättringsåtgärder som bör implementeras till processen kan vara svårt. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur value stream mapping (VSM) tillsammans med diskret händelsestyrd simulering (DES) kan användas inom lastningsprocesser hos hamnliggande logistikverksamheter för att kartlägga processen, identifiera flaskhalsar samt att undersöka det teoretiska utfallet vid implementation av potentiella förbättringsåtgärder. Svaret på detta genererades via en fallstudie på SCA Logistics där en lastningsprocess analyserades från ett av deras lager som start till slutet av processen när produkten är lastad på ett fartyg. Först skapades en VSM samt en DES-modell av nuläget. Nulägets VSM bidrog till en översikt över den aktuella processen och till att validera DES-modellen. Därefter med Lean-principer som grundpelare och med hjälp av intervjuer kunde tre förbättringsåtgärder identifieras. Dessa förbättringsåtgärder applicerades till DES-modellen en i taget för att undersöka hur de påverkar systemet. De två framstående förbättringsåtgärderna testades även ihop. Resultatet visade på att processen blev mer effektiv, i form av kortare ledtid, och två nya VSM togs fram för att bidra med ytterligare visualiserande information. Åtgärderna har andra spärrar i praktiken som inte visas via varken DES eller VSM såsom höga kostnader eller hinder i lagerförhållanden. Undersökningen ledde till den slutsatsen att VSM kan användas som komplement till DES för att bidra med ett teoretiskt underlag för huruvida en förbättringsåtgärd bör implementeras. Som rekommendation bör även en kostnadsnyttoanalys genomföras för att undersöka huruvida nyttan uppväger för kostnaden.

This work treats recommendations based on energy systems engineering. The focus is on what can be learned by different methods about the roles that demand-side energy efficiency should play in the energy system. In the first part of the thesis, two case studies of local energy planning demonstrate the role of demand-side energy efficiency: energy systems engineering suggests a design in which energy efficiency improvements are aligned with the whole technical energy system. One result of the case studies is that the energy consumers invest in fewer energy efficiency measures than recommended by the methodologies applied. This indicates that there are important aspects of demand-side energy efficiency that are ignored by the methodologies used. In this work, the cause of the difference between the recommended and observed investments is addressed by an investigation of the customer's transaction cost for the energy efficiency investment. The second part is an application of the viable system model and focuses on the role of energy efficiency activities at a public energy utility. A case study demonstrates that most energy efficiency activities were run to support energy sales and, hence, were totally entwined with the traditional business. This role observed is compared with that suggested by the demand-side management methodology. The comparison shows that demand-side management is not capable of handling important aspects of interrelations between energy efficiency activities and energy sales. The work provides a language for further discussion of the role of energy efficiency activities at energy utilities.

A sawmill is a complex manufacturing process, where several subprocesses are carried out sequentially. The production is often limited by bottlenecks, which can be defined as processes whose limited capacity reduces the capacity of the entire system. Identifying bottlenecks and finding ways to eliminate them is something that should be addressed if you want to increase efficiency. This is particularly important in the wood industry, which generally suffers from low profit margins. A discrete event simulation study was therefore carried out in the adjustment/sorting process at Tunadal's sawmill in Sundsvall, with the aim of investigating how simulation can be used to evaluate a current production flow within the sawmill industry. A conceptual model was formed where two dimensions were chosen to represent a large and small dimension respectively due to varying system constraints. To create a representative model of the real system, data is collected regarding working times, process times, buffer capacities, sorting data, speeds of conveyors, stop times and scrap proportions. Through this information, the conceptual model was then translated into a simulation model in the FACTS Analyzer software and was considered verified and validated after comparison against actual historical production and through face validation. Based on the existing system, three future scenarios were created and evaluated using a Welch t-test. The performance of the sorting plant's production is predicted to be positively affected in the three scenarios created. However, only the first scenario, which involves an improvement of the single-piece feeder, is proven through the Welch t-test to result in a significant difference in performance for both the large and small dimension. The result of the shifting bottleneck detection indicates a difference in where the primary bottlenecks are located for the large and small dimensions. What explains the largest bottlenecks in a sorting plant thus depends on which dimension is being processed, as the specific system constraints of the dimension result in a variation of the bottlenecks' locations

Development is currently being driven towards products that are linked to sustainability. Products with a positive imprint in sustainability are becoming increasingly valuable to consumers, which in turn creates increased value for producers and suppliers. The current pricing tools do not have room to consider the value of the sustainable properties of new products. This is something that the wood industry is following and is now facing the challenge of estimating the value of sustainable production. The study aims to estimate a value for environmentally/climate-friendly products in the wood industry from a customer perspective. This has been done by performing a conjoint analysis using PAPRIKA (Potentially All Pairwise Rankings of all possible Alternatives), to determine the relative importance of 6 product properties. The results of the study show that price is the most important property of wooden floor decking. The mean weight of the 6 attributes included in the study is; price (25,0%), aging (21,9%), maintenance intervals (16,9%), climate impact (16,9%), dimensional stability (10,2%) and biocides (9,1%). The conclusion of the results is if the purpose is to cover the majority of consumers, several different products with different properties should be produced. The results also indicate that the weight for sustainability attributes can increase if the consumer becomes more informed and gains a broader knowledge of the meaning of the properties.

På grund av en mindre befolkningsmängd, nya informationsflöden och ökad konkurrens om medarbetare med rätt kompetens står dagens IT-företag inför en ny utmaning; att attrahera och bibehålla medarbetare. Här kommer employer branding in i bilden, employer branding kan översättas till arbetsgivarmarknadsföring och är ett arbete som företag utför för att öka dess status på arbetsmarknaden. Studiens syfte är att granska ett fall inom employer branding för att identifera dess förbättringspotential, avgränsningen sträcker sig till att undersöka employer branding hos ett företag i IT-branschen. Studien består av en enkätundersökning baserat på employer value propsition (EVP), som kan översättas till medarbetarlöften och beskriver företagets utlovade förmåner för dess medarbetare. Frågeställningarna som studien ska besvara är vilka gap det finns mellan företagets ledning och medarbetare gällande uttalade medarbetarlöften, om företagets interna employer brand (bilden av företaget inifrån) korrelerar med extern employer brand (bilden av företaget utifrån) samt vilka utmaningar det finns kring företagets employer branding. För att analysera data från enkätundersökningen och därmed besvara studiens frågeställningar användes ett antal statistiska tester. Resultaten påvisade att företagets interna employer brand är god men intern och extern bild skiljer, vilket är den största utmaningen för företagets employer branding.

The Swedish public sector in general, and healthcare specifically, is struggling with large deficits: 19 of 21 regions have large negative results in 2019. The demands made by the citizens and their elected politicians that healthcare should offer effective, accessible, good and equal care are difficult to meet. However, when it comes to emergency care, Swedish healthcare scores high on international rankings. The difficulties and challenges today lie in ensuring good and equal care for the large groups of people with multiple illnesses, and patients who need long-term care from different healthcare providers. A complicated system has become even more complex.

Organizational research has shown conflicts between different ways of working to improve and change the organization and the methods that support the daily work of providing healthcare services. Furthermore, quality research shows that there are knowledge gaps to be filled when it comes to understanding how complex problems should be handled and what kind of knowledge could contribute. This also applies to the tensions and conflicts that can arise when knowledge from patients, other professions and fields of knowledge must be integrated with the knowledge that the professions (physicians, nursing) possess. Several public organizations have in recent years also adopted methods, tools and approaches from the design field. Especially user involvement (human-centric), collaboration and visualization. Design research often highlights the methods which are favorable for handling complexity.

The overall purpose of this thesis was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of how the quality development work in healthcare is expressed and how it is affected when different perspectives of knowledge are integrated - with a focus on improvement knowledge, professional knowledge and design thinking. Since the purpose of the licentiate thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of what happens when new knowledge to develop quality in healthcare emerges, the method is based on a qualitative approach. Three research questions were formulated and led to three studies. The first study, a literature review, showed that there is limited research in the area but that there are indications that user involvement in development work affects employees' attitudes and values. In study number two, a case study was set up using design methods and involving users. The results showed tensions between the improvement work and the daily clinical operations. This tension could primarily be attributed to the conflict between faster and slowerxviprocesses (doing and thinking), when moving between different practicing skills (design, improvement and professional). The last study aimed to understand more about the management's view of this, relatively new knowledge (design) in healthcare, in relation to the traditional way to work with improvement and change. The result stresses that there are potential conflicts between the different fields of knowledge. But the interviews were also interpreted as showing the synergy effects that can arise when different practitioners meet, and the results also show that different ways of thinking can challenge the traditional ways of handling improvement and change in the development of healthcare.

The thesis result overall strengthens the research that shows that design can add another dimension to traditional improvement work in healthcare. However, there is also frustration about something which is perceived as more abstract and reflective and which can sometimes be slower than what the solutions-oriented professions, who work under great time pressure and with scarce resources, are used to. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the problem that also has been described in previous research and which signals the (in)ability to both share new knowledge and to absorb it.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the integration of design knowledge into healthcare organisations’ development environments, and especially the management’s reasoning in relation to the healthcare organizations’ traditional culture for improving quality.

Method

The paper is based on a qualitative interview design with development managers based at three different development sites in Sweden, who have integrated design knowledge as a method for quality improvement and innovation in healthcare organizations. The interview transcript was analysed using a content analysis together with an interpretive approach.

Findings

The results show the potential conflicts that occur after combining different bodies of knowledge when improving healthcare quality. It also provides a deeper understanding of how design knowledge and competence can create synergetic effects when integrated with other bodies of knowledge. Furthermore, these findings could be interpreted as signs of how new ways of thinking are creating challenges in the traditional way to work with quality improvement in healthcare.

Practical Implications

The narratives from the managers’ experience of new knowledge integration for improving healthcare quality, could help us create readiness and knowledge about how we prevent and/or facilitate planning and implementing design projects in a healthcare context. But also, that design plays an important role for organizations' ability to both develop and radically meet the challenges of the future.

There are many organizations that choose to introduce Lean production in their operations, as these are the concepts that have made the greatest progress in terms of efficiency programs. Since Lean focuses on maximizing customer benefit and minimizing waste of resources in an organisation's business processes, it is often forgotten that the introduction also affects the staff. The purpose of the study is to investigate what effects on the working environment and health that employees in the private sector experience after an introduction of Lean production as a strategy within their organization. The aim of the study has been to answer how a Lean introduction affects the working environment and health. The study is based on Almondy's latest improvement work on the shrinkage process. With the help of an interview study and a general literature study, we have examined what effects a Lean introduction has on the work environment and health. The interview study was conducted at Almondy AB, which is a food producer based in Gothenburg. Searching the literature is done in article databases with keywords linked to the area. By means of a comparative analysis method, the result has been analyzed. There are studies that show that the effects vary depending on the point of view they have had and in which industry the survey was conducted. This means that the effects get a large spread and therefore it is difficult to give a general picture of the effects. The results of the interview study show a positive effect on the work environment as they describe that the physical moments in the process have decreased. The results of the literature study show that more studies are needed to be able to demonstrate the general effects that Lean has on the working environment. But the literature study suggests that there are both negative and positive effects on the work environment and health when introducing Lean. The conclusion suggests that Almondy has had a positive impact on their physical work environment since there has been a decrease in deviation reports. If someone wants to study further in the field, Lean production should be investigated in several industries and examine all aspects of a Lean introduction linked work environment and health.

Förändringstakten i hela samhället har blivit snabbare genom åren och det är framför allt tekniken som driver denna utveckling menar Olsson (2017). Organisationer ställs inför många utmaningar och förändringar inom verksamheten är nödvändiga för organisationens överlevnad. Många samhällsviktiga funktioner finns just inom offentlig sektorn som står inför utmaningar med minskad finansiering men ett växande behov hos många kommuninvånare (Häll, 2017). Av den anledningen är organisationer inom offentlig sektor tvungna till olika organisatoriska förändringar menar Piercy et al (2012). Offentliga organisationer präglas ofta av topp-down och centraliserade organ, reglerna och normerna och förändringsprocessen blir ganska trögrörlig (ibid.). Tidigare forskning beskriver både mänsklig faktor och kommunikationsproblem som avgörande faktor till misslyckade organisatoriska förändringar menar Johansson & Heide (2008) och för att lyckas med förändringen krävs det tydlig internkommunikation som ofta förbises i förändringsarbetet eftersom bristande och otydlig internkommunikation skapar negativa känslor inom organisationen vilket försvårar förändringsarbetet. Internkommunikation i förändringsprocessen belyses i tidigare forskning men det mesta belyser internkommunikation från ledarperspektiv. Det saknas mer forskning om förändringsledning ur ett medarbetarperspektiv kring internkommunikation för att se om den möter de anställdas behov och vad anställda anser vara viktigt när det gäller internkommunikation i förändringsprocessen Ruck & Welch (2012). För att bidra med ytterligare kunskap och ökad förståelse för den interna kommunikationen i förändringsprocessen har författaren använts sig av en blandning av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod från medarbetarperspektiv.Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelse och medvetenhet för hur den interna kommunikationen och ledarskapet upplevs fungera ur ett medarbetarperspektiv vid implementering av organisationsförändringar inom offentlig sektor samt vilka faktorer som är betydelsefulla för en lyckad kommunikation av en organisationsförändring. De forskningsfrågor som studien försöker svara på är:• Vilken påverkan har intern kommunikation på medarbetarnas inställning till organisatoriska förändringar i en lokal organisation inom offentlig sektor?• Hur viktig är interaktion mellan ledarskap och intern kommunikation vid implementering av organisationsförändring inom offentlig sektor från medarbetarperspektiv?Denna studie visar att internkommunikation har stor påverkan på medarbetarnas inställning till organisatoriska förändringar och att interaktion mellan ledarskap och internkommunikation är viktig från flera olika aspekter.Generellt kan slutsatsen dras att internkommunikation inom organisationen är otydlig, att förändringar inte kommuniceras vid samma tidpunkt till alla medarbetare vilket skapar utrymme för tolkningar, rykten och spekulationer, att internkommunikation är envägskommunikation som gör att medarbetare inte känner sig delaktiga eller inkluderade i vare sig förändringsprocessen eller beslutsfattande.Utifrån gjord studie har författaren kommit fram till att förändringsledningsprocessen är beroende av internkommunikation och ledarskap och om brister uppstår i någon av dessa två, påverkar det både organisationen samt hela förändringsprocessen. Om internkommunikation och/eller ledarskap brister, kommer detta att påverka förändringsprocessen på ett negativt sätt och konsekvenser kan komma att bli många.

SOS Alarm has had an increasingly number of urgent calls to the number 112. With that come high demands on errand handling within the company. To measure and follow the effects of national reception of urgent 112 calls is therefore an important priority for 2016. The Purpose of this study is to investigate if the call time is longer with a national operator with relationship to a local operator. That is achievable by studying the mean value of the call time for local and national reception of calls. The goal is by statistical analysis and hypothesis testing study if the operator’s localization and distance to the caller effects call time. The result shows that there is a statistical significant difference between mean value of call time for national and local reception, with national reception being longer. The lognormal distribution is non-linear, therefore the difference between the call times before the transformation is not being analyzed. The conclusion of this study is that that local knowledge has a significant influence on call time, where mean call time is longer for national reception. Provided that there is no difference in call time between the call types, it is further discussed in closing discussions.

Research in the area of public procurement has gained increasing attention with increasing interest in researching different evaluation methods for incoming tenders in procurement. The study analyzed the structure for procurement with a multi-criteria model for observation of changes in ranking and studied the importance of correct scoring. A sensitivity and robustness analysis were used as a tool to study the stability and the strength of a contracting entity's priorities. The purpose of this thesis was a study to determine if the ranking of tenders became more sensitive to the structure of the model or for each tender's evaluation, where it was found that the ability to correctly score points was more crucial than being critical of weights assigned to the criteria in the procurement, respectively. Relationship between price and quality turned out to be unknown to some extent, the connection could be determined after all tenders were submitted and accumulated points were available.

Digitization is shaping society, services that were previously handled analogically are now managed digitally. The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the increasing use of digital services. This has contributed to the digital divide between individuals who can access digital services and those who cannot. Reducing digital inequality is crucial for sustainable development in our digital society. A study on digital exclusion with the aim to investigate the significance of BankID for residents. Through analyzing scientific articles based on assumptions formulated through research in the field. The research question that the study seeks to answer is, "In what way does BankID risk becoming a socially excluding tool?”. Twelve interviews were conducted with respondents aged 65 or older. These interviews provided the basis for three different themes that were analyzed. The study reveals that older individuals strongly associate the use of BankID with their home environment for security reasons. This connection indicates their serious commitment to digital security but may potentially widen the digitalgap between older and younger generations. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the importance of finding a balance between security and inclusion to ensure that respondents do not miss out on digital opportunities. The results underscore the need to improve the userfriendliness and clarity of BankID to enhance digital competence and reduce digital exclusion.

Organizations go through a variety of different change processes during their life time, and many of these are necessary for the organizations to maintain their competitiveness. However, a large part of change efforts never achieve their goals and about 70 percent of all change efforts are considered to be unsuccessful. A reason for the high percentage of failures is the inability to deal with the challenges that often arises in connection with the change process. In order for the change effort to be successful it is therefore crucial to be prepared and knowing how to identify and handle the challenges and resistance that may arise during the change process.

The aim of the study has been to identify the challenges with extensive change efforts in software development organizations. Two extensive changes, (1) changing the software itself by making the software structure modular and (2) changing the software development process by adapting agile methods, at a software development department at Scania CV AB has been used as a case study.

An overall fear and resistance towards extensive changes was identified. In addition, four main challenges were identified with the first change; difficulties with the software development process, lack of vision and communication from management, fear and uncertainty, and lack of resources and tools. Two challenges were identified with the second change; that it was time consuming and lack of resources and tools.

The difficulties with the software development process showed that the major challenge with the modular software structure was maintaining it. However, the remaining challenges have previously been identified in several studies and could all be related to being causes of resistance.

Also, a comparison between the two changes were made to identify similarities and differences between them. This was made to further understand if the difference between the changes could be related to the challenges. The comparison indicates that a change effort with a clear vision, good communication and management involvement is less likely to encounter challenges.

Sustainability has become an increasingly relevant topic today where companies face societal pressure to contribute through sustainability efforts. The IT sector is rapidly changing with technological development, making research on sustainability strategies quickly outdated. Therefore, a qualitative case study was conducted on an IT consultancy firm. The aim of the study was to provide new insight into the interpretation of sustainability for an IT consultancy firm, as well as the driving forces and challenges associated with their sustainability strategy. To achieve this goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants selected through snowball sampling. The interviews were then analyzed using a thematic analysis approach, where the interviews were transcribed, transformed into codes, and finally sorted into themes. The results showed that the IT consulting firm worked with the following policies for its sustainability strategy: procurement, waste sorting, carbon-free transportation, sustainable working hours, gender equality, and sustainable consultants. Employees were central to the development and implementation of these policies. Another factor in the development of these policies was external forces such as new regulations. The policies are processed through the employees or the external force and then moved on to the management group, which consists of all office managers. The driving forces identified were a moral duty, a competitive advantage for employees and customers, financial benefits, and risk management. The attractiveness for the recruitment of new employees could be considered the most important driving force as the topic is so relevant among the new generation. The challenges identified were finding the right type of policy and the difficulty of measuring sustainability work, which supports previous research even though there are protocols for measuring sustainability work.