The late 90s and the early 2000s was a period with relative extensive research and innovation in the area of manual fire extinguishing methods and equipment for the fire service. New equipment such as the cutting extinguisher and extinguishing spears allowed to conduct offensive attacks from the exterior of a building, reducing the exposure of fire fighters to fire and smoke and their associated risks in general. This led to the development of new firefighting tactics, as for example the Quadrant Model of the Dutch fire service, which extends the “traditional” offensive interior attack and defensive exterior attack by the offensive exterior attack and defensive interior attack.Recently the research focus has furthermore increasingly shifted to environmental aspects, such as the water consumption and effect of additives (i.e., foam) on humans and the environment. Extinguishing with smaller amounts of water is beneficial for the environment, reduces water damage and lowers the burden on the water delivery system.ConclusionIn conclusion, the systems most relevant to be further tested in a fire situation in a small house or dwelling are the cutting extinguisher and the extinguishing spear.These systems are different in operation but have both shown to be promising with regard to fulfilling the different objectives of the overall project. Being relatively easy to utilize with the right training during internal extinguishing efforts executed from the outside of the building, and being only water based to minimize contamination, due to lower water consumption, of the surrounding areas give these systems advantages over conventional equipment.Especially if the systems are used in combination with an IR camera to locate the fire, the extinguishing efforts can be started early and effectively, and the water amount needed to control the fire may be reduced. The need for firefighters with breathing apparatus is reduced as well, hence reducing the smoke exposure to firefighters.The fact that the fire service also recognizes the potential of using these systems early in the extinguishing efforts, and is working on implementing them, prompts the need for scientific backup.

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

With the increase in food consumption, new ideas, and technologies began to be developed. Inaddition, the developments generated by Industry 4.0 technologies have started to be applied tothe entire manufacturing sector and the indoor farming industry, which is currently trending.Many studies and articles have been prepared on this subject, and the main goal of each study isto produce quality products and to ensure continuity in production to cover the nonendingincrease in demand.

This paper discusses how simulation technology, which is one of the industry 4.0 technologies,can be used in the production system development of the indoor farming industry. According tomany researchers, the biggest obstacle for the vertical farming industry is start-up cost, andsimulation technologies can be the solution for this since it allows future production systems tobe analyzed without any investment. To have a clear vision of how these technologies can beadapted in the indoor farming industry, this paper will find the answers to these questions, RQ1:How can simulation facilitate production system development and Industry 4.0 projects withinthe indoor farming industry? RQ2: What are the benefits and challenges when using simulationas a tool for production system development within the indoor farming industry? To reach thegoal of this paper, the case study method was used, and an indoor farming company was selectedto get more realistic data about the vertical farming system. BlueRedGold AB is a start-upcompany in the indoor farming industry, and it has a huge growth potential since they aim totransform its current production lines to be fully automated. Many articles and studies were usedto approach the solution of the research questions from a more technical and academic point ofview, and the analysis of these articles was carried out with the structured literature review method.

After conducting this research, answers have been obtained for the research questions. Theauthors' solution to the layout issue, one of the case company's main challenges as indicated inthis study, was developed after extensive simulation model testing. As highlighted in this paper,it has been stated by many researchers, there are several simulation approaches to follow.However, the authors have developed a simulation modeling approach to be followed in theindoor vertical farming industry to overcome the complexity of these systems as well as thesimulation program complexity. In addition, several challenges and benefits have beenhighlighted in this paper such as the lack of ready models of the equipment used in indoorfarming which requires a knowledge of a programing language to overcome. Finally, despitechallenges, simulation technology can provide an applicable solution for production systemproblems of vertical farming companies/organizations to obtain continuous improvementphilosophy which is the main principle of Lean thinking. The generated simulation model in thisthesis project was successfully implemented, demonstrating how this technology might be aneffective solution for complex production systems as in the indoor farming sector. 

Nuclear power has been an important part of the electricity generatingin Sweden in almost half a century. However, the use of nuclear powerraises many complex issues such as economy, accident risks, andradioactive waste management and storage. Nuclear power has thereforebeen debated intensively in Sweden as in many other countries since the1970s. Several countries have changed their nuclear policy and starteddecommissioning programs following the nuclear accident in Fukushimaback in 2011. Citizens' support for nuclear power has declined worldwidein last few years, including in Sweden. This study aims to investigatethe perception of nuclear power among engineering students and showsthat the majority of engineering students, who generally are positivetowards technology, have been affected by their surrounding and areagainst nuclear power. Engineering students in general, both supportersand opponents of nuclear power, agree that Sweden should gradually phaseout nuclear power and replace it by renewable energy sources.

In today’s dynamic business environment, a key challenge for all companies is to make adaptive adjustments to their manufacturing strategy. This study demonstrates the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy in hydro-power case company to evaluate the level of sustainable competitive advantage and also to further analyze how business strategies are aligned with manufacturing strategies. This research is based on new holistic analytical evaluation of manufacturing strategy index, sense and respond, and sustainable competitive advantage models. These models help to describe, evaluate, and optimize resource allocation to meet the performance requirements in dynamic decision making. Furthermore, these models evaluate operational competitiveness for manufacturing strategies according to the multi-criteria priority. The results show that the adjustments of competitive priorities in manufacturing strategies by implementing the proposed holistic analytical models are helpful in strategically managing business operations. The discussion derives the most critical attributes in business operations while alignment of resource allocation with competitive priorities help to strategically focus those attributes. In conclusion, we argue that resource allocation and manufacturing strategies have become the most important capabilities in a business environment where companies focus to get a sustainable competitive advantage.

The paper describes the effect of forming business networks and collaborations for the purpose of developing an Integrated Product-Service Offering (IPSO) using the Product/Service Systems (PSS). The research method is an in-depth case study of a joint venture formed by four companies developing a new technology for chemical extraction from water sludge waste within the pulp and paper industry.Combining literature from PSS, network theories and collaborative product development, this paper puts forward the benefits for SMEs to collaborate in business networks and produce IPSOs when introducing a new technology in an emerging market. The case study shows that working towards the new market would not have been possible if each party acted individually or maintained their traditional buyer-supplieroperator roles, and that IPSOs can reduce the business risk.

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.

A vanguard project is the firm’s entrepreneurial vehicle for exploring opportunities, creating new products, services or markets. This type of projects requires flexibility and innovation to thrive. In this regard, a creative approach to project management is proposed for the successful execution of such projects. This creative approach is summarized in a framework that consists of two main components – flexible planning and creative climate.

The Central Services project, a vanguard in telecommunications, was used to benchmark the creative project management framework to the current project management methodology of the IT department of TIWS. Results show that there is a gap between the framework and the status quo. Moreover, the Central Services project is not efficiently and effectively managed, therefore, resulting to project delays which consequentially lead to negative company revenues. This reality strengthens the proposition that vanguard projects should be managed differently; hence, the birth of creative project management.

One of major concerns in gas turbine industry is to reduce emissions.  Tow kind of approaches could be identified in the industry to reduce emissions, namely Primary Emission Reduction approach and Secondary Emission Reduction approach. The primary approach concerns emission prevention in combustion, while secondary approach is all about emission cleanup before releasing to the atmosphere.

Combustion flame temperature highly influences on emissions specially NOx formation.  NOx emission is lower when the combustor operates close to lean flammability limit. Incorporating catalyst to combustor is one of methods to extend flammability limit.  Heat and Power Division at KTH-Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has developed a test facility to test performances of catalyst in combustion.

The combustion test facility available at Heat & Power Davison at KTH, consists of high pressure air compressor and air flow control system, air preheating unit and control system, fuel flow control system, combustor unit, and exhaust gas analyzer system. But lack of proper user interface to control and monitor the operation of the test facility through a computer work station was a major concern from experimenters.

The purpose of the thesis work is to design and construction of supervisory control and data acquisition system for the full scale catalytic combustion test facility.  Labview 2012 is used as the main platform for implementing data acquisition and control system for the test facility. Thermocouples, pressure transducer signals, air flow meter signal are connected to Keithley 2701 data acquisition system and then connected to the computer. Fuel flow controllers are directly connected to the computer via serial port. Air flow control actuator signal is given through ADAM digital to analogue converter.

Developed GUI is more convenient for users in terms of easy control of air flow, fuel flow and gas sampling probe systems, and monitoring of temperature, pressure measurements and exhaust gas species systems. And also GUI provides web interface to select correct conversion factor, and also to view live data recording. The developed GUI can be accessed through online to monitor the operation. 

Denna rapport behandlar examensarbete utfört för industridesignföretaget Cate & Nelson Design. Företaget ligger i Eskilstuna och jobbar i huvudsakligen med möbeldesign och inredningsprodukter. Projektgruppensuppgift har varit att ta fram en ny möbel för företaget och arbetet har omfattat utveckling av hela produkten från idé till prototyp.

Forecasting procedures have found applications in a wide variety of areas within finance and have further shown to be one of the most challenging areas of finance. Having an immense variety of economic data, stakeholders aim to understand the current and future state of the market. Since it is hard for a human to make sense out of large amounts of data, different modeling techniques have been applied to extract useful information from financial databases, where machine learning techniques are among the most recent modeling techniques. Binary classifiers such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) have to some extent been used for this purpose where extensions of the algorithm have been developed with increased prediction performance as the main goal. The objective of this study has been to develop a process for improving the performance when predicting the sign of return of financial time series with soft margin classifiers.

An analysis regarding the algorithms is presented in this study followed by a description of the methodology that has been utilized. The developed process containing some of the presented soft margin classifiers, and other aspects of kernel methods such as Multiple Kernel Learning have shown pleasant results over the long term, in which the capability of capturing different market conditions have been shown to improve with the incorporation of different models and kernels, instead of only a single one. However, the results are mostly congruent with earlier studies in this field. Furthermore, two research questions have been answered where the complexity regarding the kernel functions that are used by the SVM have been studied and the robustness of the process as a whole. Complexity refers to achieving more complex feature maps through combining kernels by either adding, multiplying or functionally transforming them. It is not concluded that an increased complexity leads to a consistent improvement, however, the combined kernel function is superior during some of the periods of the time series used in this thesis for the individual models. The robustness has been investigated for different signal-to-noise ratio where it has been observed that windows with previously poor performance are more exposed to noise impact.

This study provides an analysis of the benefits of adding solar PV and batteries to industries, both examing the grid-connected and off-grid cases.The electricity demand of 28 companies in Falkenberg, Sweden, whose industries require high voltages for electricity, were studied. We examined the extent to which these companies can depend on energy generated from photovoltaic cells and stored in batteries, as well as the impact of peak loads and the possibility of eliminating peaks when operating off-grid.The data for each of these cases were analyzed for companies to determine the energy that can be generated from photovoltaic cells on-site, and then take advantage of this energy directly and store the surplus in batteries to reduce dependence on the grid or reduce this dependence to a minimum, and study the role of the battery. We obtained interesting results and reliable systems during this study, as we noticed the effect of changing working hours in these companies in proportion to the times of energy production during the period of daily solar radiation.By studying the main load models in these companies and using the results and data analysis, it was noted that batteries can be a reliable solution, in which the energy generated from solar cells is used directly and the excess electricity is stored in the batteries later, and we noted the possibility of operating the entire system off-grid, which was found realistic if the company would have been located in Egypt. .

In many corporations, sustainability has become an important activity to focuson, with the aim of preparing corporations for the future. Foresight, a newerfield, is increasingly becoming an important activity of corporations, with thepurpose of surviving long-term. These motives make companies’ involvement with corporate sustainability and with corporate foresight fundamental. However, because foresight is a recent field, it implies processes that are less mastered by professionals than sustainability.

Since the motives of corporate sustainability and corporate foresight are similar, the purpose of this thesis is therefore to understand if corporate sustainability can contribute to corporate foresight implementation. Specifically, the purpose of this thesis is to identify which corporate sustainability (CS) activities can be integrated to which corporate foresight (CF) activities, to facilitate and foster foresight.

Consequently, the contributions of the research consist in extending the knowledge about sustainability as a foresight activity and in proposing suggestions to incorporate sustainability to foresight activities.

This study reviews several CS frameworks and several CF frameworks, provides a deeper understanding of the underlying processes needed for the implementation of CS and CF, and identifies the similarities. The study specifically builds on the Maturity Model of Corporate Foresight from the book Corporate Foresight – Towards a Maturity Model for the Future Orientation of a Firm from Rohrbeck (2010). Based on the theoretical findings, qualitative interviews of sustainability professionals are carried out. Those interviews are meant to test the theoretical findings.

The research provides knowledge on the management of corporate foresightby providing insights on foresight practices that benefit from incorporating sustainability practices. The conclusion of the paper consists in a model thatpresents explicit ways in which corporate sustainability contributes tocorporate foresight. In fact, it is shown that corporate sustainability fosters strong internal and external networks and creates a corporate culture favourable to change. Internal and external networks facilitate cross-functional collaboration and communication; and employees favourable to change are more open to new ideas; both being key for foresight implementation. Thus, Corporate Sustainability supports Corporate Foresight because it sets up a favourable corporate culture, and because it paves the way for appropriate work processes (internal and external collaboration for instance).

The ability to make tax deductions on travel expenses have been present in Sweden since the late 1920s. The main purpose of the state subsidy has been to improve the mobility in the label market. However, in recent years there has been a heated debate as to if the subsidy is truly socio-economically sustainable or not. The favoritism of car users has also made the matter a question of ecological sustainability.

The aim of this essay is to analyse and provide general knowledge of the swedish system of deductible travel expenses. The text is divided into four major parts:

• A litterature review presenting the history of the subsidy, previous research, and the current political debate.
• A questionnaire survey where the general public’s opinion of tax-deductible travel expenses is examined. 
• A discussion of possible adjustments of the different parameters of the system, where the most optimal ammendment is chosen
• An analysis of 3 different scenarios; keeping the current system, using the ammended system obtained in the calibration, and removing the system.

From the results we could conclude that an ammended system would be noticeably more socio-economically viable and ecologically sustainable, compared with the current system. However, a complete removal of the system would be the most optimal. In addition, the questionnaire surveys results shows that the public is mostly positive to travel deductions. However, it was apparent that the views of many could shift completely, when presenting facts.

Function as a Service is a new addition to cloud services that allow a user to execute code in form of a function, in the cloud. All underlying complexity is handled by the cloud provider and the user only pay per use. Cloud services have been growing significantly over the past years and many companies want to take advantages of the benefits of the cloud. The cloud services deliver computing resources as a service over a network connection, often by the Internet. To use the benefit of the cloud, one can not just move an application to the cloud and think that it will solve itself. First of all, an application needs to be optimized to be able to take advantages of the cloud. Therefore, together with Tieto, a microservice architecture have been the main architectural pattern when Function as a Service has been evaluated. A major problem with applications, both application built with a monolithic and microservice architecture, is to handle great amounts of information flows. An application may have scaling issues when an information flow becomes too large.

A person using Function as a Service does not have to buy, rent or maintain their own servers. However, Function as a Service has a certain memory and runtime restrictions, so an entire application cannot be applied to a Function as a Service. This thesis examines the possibility of using Function as a Service in different architectural environments and estimating the cost of it. Function as a Service is a new addition to cloud services, so cloud providers are also compared and evaluated in terms of the Function as a Service functionality. Function as a Service has been tested directly on various

cloud platforms and even developed and executed locally, encapsulated in containers. The results show that Function as a Service is a good complement to an application architecture. The results also show that Function as a Service is highly flexible and cost-effective, and it is advantageous compared to physical servers and Virtual Machines. Depending on how a function is built, the developer can lower the cost even more by choosing the cloud supplier that fits best for their use. With the flexibility of Function as a Service, applications can handle greater information flow without bottlenecks in the infrastructure and therefore, becomes more efficient and cost-effective. 

The occupational environment in preschool is becoming increasingly important. Occupational injury statistics show an increased incidence of illness among employees in education, health and care. Before action can be taken to improve the working environment, a careful assessment must be made and an action plan created. To include all possible components requires a comprehensive approach. Mapping of the physical work in Hudiksvall Municipality at all preschools provides a means by which to get an overall picture of risk areas within the preschool staff work environment.

The aim of this work is to describe how the risk assessment model was developed and used with the ambition that it can be used in other municipalities. The model has been tested in Hudiksvall, on two occasions, in 2005 and 2010. The findings from the survey in 2010 are reported here and a comparison with 2005 is made.

The risk assessment model is based on a survey with open questions for preschool staff combined with observation and assessment of ergonomics and safety engineer of 11 risk areas within the physical environment of the pre-school.

The results of the survey give a clear picture of current health risks and can be used as a basis for the development of pre-school activities as well as improved maintenance of the municipal buildings. The results have also been communicated to the individual pre-schools to demonstrate their particular areas of risk.

The combination of survey and professional assessment of several risk areas has been shown to enable a quick identification of possible causes of illness among pre-school staff. To report both positive and negative environmental factors has been an advantage. The clear method of reporting has facilitated decision-making on what if any actions to take. There is a continuing need to develop this and other instruments for the work environment survey of schools, health and social care.

I dagens affärssamhälle är utbytet av vanliga visitkort i papper enormt. Det är utan tvekan det ledande sättet för människor som träffas första gången att utbyta information i en affärsrelation. Det finns brister gällande uppföljning och hantering av vanliga visitkort och projektgruppen började då fundera på alternativ till pappersvisitkorten.

I dagens samhälle flyttas alltmer teknik till mobiltelefoner. En mobiltelefon kan idag användas till allt från att göra bankärenden till att läsa tidningen på nätet, vilket för 15 år sedan skulle låta helt orimligt. Det dyker dagligen upp nya mobilapplikationer som ska underlätta och effektivisera vardagen på något sätt och marknaden är enorm. På denna snabbt växande marknad har projektgruppen valt att ta fram ett koncept som de kallar Meetia.

Meetia är i huvudsak en mobilapplikation framtagen för att trådlöst utbyta digitala visitkort och förenkla bokning av möten genom att synka användarnas kalendrar. Applikationen har även funktioner som låter användaren enkelt och snabbt skapa nya visitkort direkt i telefonen.

Projektgruppen har även tagit fram en kompletterande hemsida till mobilapplikationen där användare har möjlighet att lagra och hantera de digitala visitkort som mottagits, för att sedan genom smarta sökfunktioner enkelt hitta de visitkort man söker.

Meetia kommer vara ett optimalt verktyg för att skapa nya kontakter då hela vägen från första kontakt till möte eller lagring av visitkort enkelt sköts med konceptet Meetia. Meetia kommer framför allt inrikta sig mot mässor där visitkort är vanligt förekommande och mängder affärskontakter skapas. För att nå ut till de stora mässorna i Sverige kommer applikationen finnas med mässfunktioner.

Vinnova

Ett forskningsprojekt som bland annat innebar arbete tillsammans med ett designteam bestående av kvinnor (yrkesaktiva inom industrin) för att utforma modeller för framtidens industriarbete – både organisation och arbetsplatser. Projektet pågick 2008-2011 med finansiering från AFA (2,7 milj. kr), FAS (2,4 milj. kr) samt EUs regionala utvecklingsfond. I projektet medverkade även Jan Johansson, Bo Johansson och Kjell Rask. Doktorander: Åsa Wikberg-Nilsson (Industriell design) och Stina Johansson (IPM).

En studie av företagande, ledarskap och genus i hästbranschen. Projektet pågick 2009-2011 med finansiering från Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning (2,5 milj kr). I projektet medverkade Lena Abrahamsson, Mats Westerberg och doktorand Lena Forsberg.

This study is made to understand the opportunities and challenges SMEs have to adopt GHG calculation tools. Adoption of GHG calculation tools are common by large organizations and have proven as a consequence to lower their GHG emissions, motivate their employees and establish sustainability goals. Even thou a large amount of large organizations have adopted GHG calculation tools, this is very rare in SMEs. Using the theoretical framework called Rogers diffusion of innovation theory and a survey, the factors behind why or why not SMEs have adopted GHG calculation tools were studied. The results showed that only 9% of SMEs have adopted GHG calculation tools and the reason for this is lack of resources, competence and data. The analysis showed that the characteristics of an organization that affects this the most are leadership, education and regulations. In order to overcome the challenges, organizations should prioritize to have a leadership that motivates employees to engage in sustainability actions. Organizations should enable skill development in the field of sustainability to increase the competence. This would enable more organization to adopt GHG calculation tools and most likely lower their GHG emissions. 

In order to produce x-ray mirrors the Thin Film Physics group at IFM grows Cr/Sc multilayers, with a typical thickness of the individual layers in the range 5-20 Å, and with as many periods as possible (a few hundred).

The quality of the multilayer interfaces is crucial for their performance as mirrors. For thick layers poly-crystalline multilayers form with an interface quality that is too poor for the use as x-ray mirrors. For thinner layers, however, amorphous layers are formed with a much better quality of the interface.

The goal of this project was to understand the formation of amorphous multilayers. Unfortunately it is impossible with the present day's theoretical tools to determine the structure of amorph interfaces. It is also impossible to calculate the interface structure for elements with large mismatch in size.

So we have to construct interface models that are both simple and based on physical arguments.

An experiment for estimating Moho depth is carried out based on satellite altimetryand topographic information using the Vening Meinesz–Moritz gravimetric isostatichypothesis. In order to investigate the possibility and quality of satellite altimetry in Mohodetermination, the DNSC08GRA global marine gravity field model and the DTM2006 globaltopography model are used to obtain a global Moho depth model over the oceans with aresolution of 1 x 1 degree. The numerical results show that the estimated Bouguer gravity disturbancevaries from 86 to 767 mGal, with a global average of 747 mGal, and the estimatedMoho depth varies from 3 to 39 km with a global average of 19 km. Comparing the Bouguergravity disturbance estimated from satellite altimetry and that derived by the gravimetricsatellite-only model GOGRA04S shows that the two models agree to 13 mGal in root meansquare (RMS). Similarly, the estimated Moho depths from satellite altimetry andGOGRA04S agree to 0.69 km in RMS. It is also concluded that possible mean dynamictopography in the marine gravity model does not significantly affect the Moho determination.

Project managers typically work under constant and strict time, money and quality pressures which can, alongside other factors, lead to professional ethics within the project environment taking a backseat. This paper provides an overview on ethics; project management and ethics within project management with focus on the conventional vs. alternative deliberations taking place in this field of study. Fixed codes of ethics; rationalist-derived standards which are imposed on the field vs. Aristotelian (and other accounts of) virtue ethics are covered. The paper also provides an account of the epistemological shift that has been deemed necessary due to the existential disruptions being caused by the rising rates of failure in projects across multiple industries under the conventional metalanguage: from a natural sciences perspective toward a more existentially-derived phenomenological attitude in the hopes of coming to a better theoretical and practical understanding of project management. The paper finally utilizes a phenomenological analysis methodology after interviewing seven experienced project managers working in different fields while summarizing the two splits present throughout the paper in a Dreyfusian-helped Coeckelberghian framework: with the ultimate aim of seeing how the phenomena of ethics are being experienced from within the project management practitioner world.

This study explores the application of Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) to enhance the efficiency of an industrial paint shop by identifying and optimizing production bottlenecks. The primary aim is to reduce energy consumption and improve throughput by analysing the operations of the paint shop and their interactions. DES models were constructed using actual production data, including inter-arrival times of parts and process times. The relatively recent and promising SCORE (Simulation-based COnstraint Removal) method was employed to identify and rank bottlenecks, systematically addressing constraints to enhance system performance. Machine learning was applied in the form of meta-modelling techniques which were utilized to create predictive models where permutation feature importance (a technique to assess the impact of each feature by randomly shuffling its values and observing the effect on model performance) was employed to identify key factors affecting production, and SHapley Additive exPlanations  (SHAP, which quantifies the contribution of each feature to the model's predictions) provided insights into how these features influence model predictions. The results indicate that optimizing the processing times at critical stations can significantly improve throughput and energy efficiency. The findings of both the SCORE methods and the predictive models align and underscore the potential of combining DES with machine learning and meta-modelling to achieve substantial improvements in industrial process efficiency and sustainability.

The definition of environmental sustainability has emerged strongly in the past decades. Industrial organizations worldwide have gone through a number of changes to take their social responsibilities and maintain sustainability by, among other things, replacing the conventional energy-based applications by renewable energy-based solutions. A so-called hybrid power system for electrification, consisting of wind turbines and solar panels, was developed by Vertical Wind AB to be installed on rooftops of residential buildings. The present thesis project analyzed the willingness of the large real estate companies in Uppsala region to adopt the new concept for electrification and conducted a market research on the new developed wind turbines, by Vertical Wind AB, in addition to solar- and wind resources in the target locations. It turned out that the willingness of having such a power system for electrification was high but not extremely high as expected and the hybrid power system was perceived as any other product or investment on the market where profitability is the vital decision parameter while the environmental aspect was slightly considered.

This study is part of a worldwide debate on inclusive innovation systems in developing

countries and particularly on the co-evolutionary processes taking place, seen from the

perspective of a public university. The increasing literature that discusses how innovation

systems and development can foster more inclusive and sustainable societies has

inspired this thesis work. Thus, the main problem handled in the research concerns the

question how socially sensitive research practices and policies at a public university in

Bolivia can be stimulated within emerging innovation system dynamics. In that vein,

empirical knowledge is developed at the Universidad Mayor de San SimoÅLn (UMSS),

Cochabamba as a contribution to experience-based learning in the field. Analysis are

nourished by a dialogue with the work of prominent Latin American scholars and

practitioners around the idea of a developmental university and the democratization

of knowledge. The reader will be able to recognize a recursive transit between theory

and practice, where a number of relevant concepts are contextualized and connected

in order to enable keys of critical interpretation and paths of practices amplification

for social inclusion purposes established. The study shows how, based on a previous

experience, new competences and capacities for the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT)

at UMSS were produced, in this case transforming itself into a University Innovation

Centre. Main lessons gained in that experience came from two pilot cluster development

(food and leather sectors) and a multidisciplinary researchers network (UMSS

Innovation Team) where insights found can improve future collaborative relations between

university and society for inclusive innovation processes within the Bolivian

context.

The concept of National Innovation Systems (NIS) has been widely adopted in developing countries, particularly in Latin American countries, for the last two decades. The concept is used mainly as an ex-ante framework to organize and increase the dynamics of those institutions linked to science, technology and innovation, for catching-up processes of development. In the particular case of Bolivia, and after several decades of social and economic crisis, the promise of a national innovation system reconciles a framework for collaboration between the university, the government and the socio-productive sectors. Dynamics of collaboration generated within NIS can be a useful tool for the pursuit of inclusive development ambitions.

This thesis is focused on inclusive innovation processes and the generation of co-evolutionary processes between university, government and socio-productive sectors. This is the result of 8 years of participatory action research influenced by Mode 2 knowledge-production and Technoscientific approaches.

The study explores the policy paths the Bolivian government has followed in the last three decades in order to organize science, technology and innovation. It reveals that Bolivia has an emerging national innovation system, where its demand-pulled innovation model presents an inclusive approach. Innovation policy efforts in Bolivia are led by the Vice-Ministry of Science and Technology (VCyT). Moreover, NIS involves relational and collaborative approaches between institutions, which imply structural and organizational challenges, particularly for public universities, as they concentrate most of the research capabilities in the country. These universities are challenged to participate in NIS within contexts of weak demanding sectors. 

This research focuses on the early empirical approaches and transformations at Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) in Cochabamba. The aim to strengthen internal innovation capabilities of the university and enhance the relevance of research activities in society by supporting socio-economic development in the framework of innovation systems is led by the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT) at UMSS. UTT has become a recognized innovation facilitator unit, inside and outside the university, by proposing pro-active initiatives to support emerging innovation systems. Because of its complexity, the study focuses particularly on cluster development promoted by UTT. Open clusters are based on linking mechanisms between the university research capabilities, the socio-productive actors and government. Cluster development has shown to be a practical mechanism for the university to meet the demanding sector (government and socio-productive actors) and to develop trust-based inclusive innovation processes. The experiences from cluster activities have inspired the development of new research policies at UMSS, with a strong orientation to foster research activities towards an increased focus on socio-economic development. The experiences gained at UMSS are discussed and presented as a “developmental university” approach.

Inclusive innovation processes with co-evolutionary approaches seem to constitute an alternative path supporting achievement of inclusive development ambitions in Bolivia. 

The circular economy (CE) has been identified as a catalyst in sustainable development and economic growth that has the potential to move society from the traditional linear model of resource consumption in the form of take-make-waste to an innovative circular model in the form of reduce-reuse-recycle.

Transitioning from the linear economy to the CE requires changes in four areas: material and product design, business models, global reverse networks and enabling business environments. This study considers the financing needs of CE companies as a result of business model changes.

Through the case studies of Ragn-Sellsföretagen AB and Inrego AB, analysed with secondary data from ING Bank and primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with the case companies, this research sheds more light on the financing needs of circular economy companies and how they are financed.

Findings from this research suggest that the financing needs of circular economy companies depend on the value proposition of the company. In accordance with the pecking order of capital structure, all financing needs of the companies studied are financed from internal sources, particularly retained earnings before external debt financing is accessed. Findings indicate the willingness of banks to finance circular economy companies.

The results of this research suggest that the circular economy companies studied do not need financial support from the government or its agencies to succeed even though favourable laws are welcomed. They report that their long-term success depends on their ability to remain innovative in their business models, aligning with Schumpeter’s creative destruction model.

This report is the result from a project funded by ELFORSK done by STRI. Theproject is studying the effects the introduction of so called “prosumers”(customers with own production) and electrical vehicles will have on differenttypes of networks. Four different cases are studied: covering urban and ruralareas with different types of customers.In the urban areas the power through the transformer will be the limitingfactor. The major impact in the cases studied is from the introduction ofproduction from photovoltaics at the customer-side of the meter. This willresult in an introduction of surplus due to production which in one case led toan increase of the absolute power through the transformer with more than30%, which resulted in transformer overloading.In the rural areas the voltage drop or rise will be the limiting factor. The casesstudied had already high voltage drops even in the base cases. In the casestudies it was seen that the voltage drop could be slightly reduced whenintroducing more local production, but the production also led to that voltagerise could appear. As a result the interval of the voltage variations wasincreased, which in turn leads to difficulties with designing the network suchthat neither overvoltage nor undervoltage occurs.Introducing control algorithms had a very positive effect on reducing the netproduction from the photovoltaics. Using both hard and soft curtailment madeit possible to remove all overcurrents or overvoltages. Using hard curtailment,where all production is turned off during overcurrent or overvoltage, leadshowever to a large reduction in energy from renewable energy sources.Therefore soft curtailment should as much as possible be used.The control algorithms studied for reducing the net consumption had a morelimited effect and even resulted in an increase of the maximum netconsumption. When trying to reduce the net consumption during an overload,the reason of the overload could only be moved in time and not removed as inthe case of reducing the net production. And since often the period duringwhich the power exceeds the limit is longer than the number of hours possibleto move the energy, sometimes moving the energy had an adverse effect.The model used for controlling the net consumption needs furtherdevelopment, but it is still possible to draw the conclusion that this type ofcontrol offers only limited possibilities for mitigating overload or undervoltage.The effects of introducing prosumers and more electrical vehicles as defined inthe selected cases did not show any alarming results in this study. However,studies to learn more about the possible consequences of changes atcustomer-side are important to be able to handle the impact of such changeson the network.Further future studies needed: database with load and production data;improved control algorithms; demonstration project; experience from othercountries and studies on reactive power compensation.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a worldwide economic effect, and it seems to have produced a challenging economic climate for startups to work in. Thus, the aim of this degree project is to investigate how startups survived the financial and organizational crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and what was the role of their employees during the crisis. The objective is to look at how early-stage startups in Greece are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, whether they can utilize crisis management models, and how the crisis encourages creative destruction. Schumpeterian innovation theory has been merged with crisis management theories to achieve this goal. The thesis employs a qualitative methodology and uses a multiple case study design where cases are the individual startups interviewed. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a top-management representative of each company. 

The results indicate that the startups under discussion are experiencing significant changes. At the beginning of the crisis, they faced a threatening disengagement and demotivation of their employees, which they managed to overcome by focusing on their wellbeing, coaching them, and guiding them through the crisis. The Caplanian model was utilized to analyze their approach. Based on the companies’ core competencies, they are actively pivoting to emerging business models and new markets. These companies are discovering new possibilities and innovating in a number of areas, following both the Schumpeterian evolutionary theories of creative destruction and creative accumulation. Overall, the findings suggest that in responding to the crisis, startups modified and strengthened their strategies. The shift in customer purchasing behavior was a major reason why businesses needed to develop their strategies. The modified consumer behavior was the outcome of actions taken by the Greek government and the Public Health Agency to avoid the spread of the virus such as social distancing, travel bans, and closed borders.

The ability to adaptively control manufacturing equipment, both in local and distributed environments, is becoming increasingly more important for many manufacturing companies.

One important reason for this is that manufacturing companies are facing increasing levels of changes, variations and uncertainty, caused by both internal and external factors, which can negatively impact their performance. Frequently changing consumer requirements and market demands usually lead to variations in manufacturing quantities, product design and shorter product life-cycles. Variations in manufacturing capability and functionality, such as equipment breakdowns, missing/worn/broken tools and delays, also contribute to a high level of uncertainty. The result is unpredictable manufacturing system performance, with an increased number of unforeseen events occurring in these systems. Events which are difficult for traditional planning and control systems to satisfactorily manage.

For manufacturing scenarios such as these, the use of real-time manufacturing information and intelligence is necessary to enable manufacturing activities to be performed according to actual manufacturing conditions and requirements, and not according to a pre-determined process plan. Therefore, there is a need for an event-driven control approach to facilitate adaptive decision-making and dynamic control capabilities.

Another reason driving the move for adaptive control of manufacturing equipment is the trend of increasing globalization, which forces manufacturing industry to focus on more cost-effective manufacturing systems and collaboration within global supply chains and manufacturing networks. Cloud Manufacturing is evolving as a new manufacturing paradigm to match this trend, enabling the mutually advantageous sharing of resources, knowledge and information between distributed companies and manufacturing units. One of the crucial objectives for Cloud Manufacturing is the coordinated planning, control and execution of discrete manufacturing operations in collaborative and networked environments. Therefore, there is also a need that such an event-driven control approach supports the control of distributed manufacturing equipment.

The aim of this research study is to define and verify a novel and comprehensive method for adaptive control of manufacturing equipment in cloud environments.

The presented research follows the Design Science Research methodology. From a review of research literature, problems regarding adaptive manufacturing equipment control have been identified. A control approach, building on a structure of event-driven Manufacturing Feature Function Blocks, supported by an Information Framework, has been formulated. The Function Block structure is constructed to generate real-time control instructions, triggered by events from the manufacturing environment. The Information Framework uses the concept of Ontologies and The Semantic Web to enable description and matching of manufacturing resource capabilities and manufacturing task requests in distributed environments, e.g. within Cloud Manufacturing. The suggested control approach has been designed and instantiated, implemented as prototype systems for both local and distributed manufacturing scenarios, in both real and virtual applications. In these systems, event-driven Assembly Feature Function Blocks for adaptive control of robotic assembly tasks have been used to demonstrate the applicability of the control approach. The utility and performance of these prototype systems have been tested, verified and evaluated for different assembly scenarios.

The proposed control approach has many promising characteristics for use within both local and distributed environments, such as cloud environments. The biggest advantage compared to traditional control is that the required control is created at run-time according to actual manufacturing conditions.

The biggest obstacle for being applicable to its full extent is manufacturing equipment controlled by proprietary control systems, with native control languages. To take the full advantage of the IEC Function Block control approach, controllers which can interface, interpret and execute these Function Blocks directly, are necessary.

There is an on-going paradigm shift in manufacturing, in which modern manufacturing industry is changing towards global manufacturing networks and supply chains. This will lead to the flexible usage of different globally distributed, scalable and sustainable, service-oriented manufacturing systems and resources. Combining recently emerged technologies, such as Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Semantic Web, service-oriented technologies, virtualisation and advanced high-performance computing technologies, with advanced manufacturing models and information technologies, Cloud Manufacturing is a new manufacturing paradigm built on resource sharing, supporting and driving this change.

It is envisioned that companies in all sectors of manufacturing will be able to package their resources and know-hows in the Cloud, making them conveniently available for others through pay-as-you-go, which is also timely and economically attractive. Resources, e.g. manufacturing software tools, applications, knowledge and fabrication capabilities and equipment, will then be made accessible to presumptive consumers on a worldwide basis.

Cloud Manufacturing has been in focus for a great deal of research interest and suggested applications during recent years, by both industrial and academic communities. After surveying a vast array of available publications, this paper presents an up-to-date literature review together with identified outstanding research issues, and future trends and directions within Cloud Manufacturing.

The ability to adaptively control manufacturing equipment in cloud environments is becoming increasingly more important. Industry 4.0, supported by Cyber Physical Systems and the concept of on-demand, scalable and pay-for-usage resource-sharing in cloud environments offers many promises regarding effective and flexible manufacturing. For implementing the concept of manufacturing services in a cloud environment, a cloud control approach for the sharing and control of networked manufacturing resources is required. This paper presents a cloud service-based control approach which has a product perspective and builds on the combination of event-driven IEC 61499 Function Blocks and product manufacturing features. Distributed control is realised through the use of a networked control structure of such Function Blocks as decision modules, enabling an adaptive run-time behaviour. The control approach has been developed and implemented as prototype systems for both local and distributed manufacturing scenarios, in both real and virtual applications. An application scenario is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the control approach. In this scenario, Assembly Feature-Function Blocks for adaptive control of robotic assembly tasks have been used.

The Master thesis explores the knowledge sharing that takes place during the requirement engineering phase of globally distributed information systems development. In recent years, due to globalization, information systems development activities have become increasingly distributed across different geographical locations. Requirement engineering is an important and knowledge intensive phase in the development of information systems. Requirement engineering is the process of identifying, analyzing, documenting, validating and managing the requirements of a system. Effective and efficient knowledge sharing during the requirement engineering is vital for the successful development of information systems. However, the global distribution of the stakeholders has affected knowledge sharing during requirement engineering in various ways making it more challenging.

Drawing on the theories of knowledge sharing within the field of information systems, this interpretive research study aims at exploring stakeholders’ perceptions about the challenges met during the knowledge sharing in requirement engineering phase of globally distributed information systems development projects. More specifically, this Master thesis explores the perceived challenges and generates a list of suggestions to overcome the challenges by conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews among the key stakeholders, both customers and business analysts.

The findings indicate that the knowledge sharing is influenced by challenges such as cultural differences, language barriers, communication issues, coordination issues arising from multiple stakeholders, time difference and difficulty in sharing tacit knowledge in the globally distributed settings. Participants’ suggestions for overcoming these challenges include cultural trainings, kick off meetings, language trainings, use of translator, face-to-face communication and interaction, video conferencing, scheduling important meetings in the common suitable timings, identification of the main stakeholders, having a mediator and making close observations with face-to-face interactions.

Keywords:  Information Systems, Information Systems Development, Requirement Engineering, Knowledge Sharing, Global Distribution, Outsourcing

Nowadays, new economic models advocating agility and innovation are emerging in the space sector, this is the “New Space”. New nanosatellites, micro-launchers and other new technologies make it easier to access and use space. For this reason, in December 2019, HEMERIA launched in partnership with CNES its first nanosatellite named Argos Neo on a Generic Economical and Light Satellite (ANGELS), currently in orbit and operational. ANGELS aims to validate the concept of a nanosatellite demonstrator of the platform's equipment and to validate the payload allowing satellite coverage for Argos beacons. Retrieving and analysing satellite telemetry is therefore essential. After studying ANGELS architecture, I developed new and more accurate Python scripts to analyse telemetry (including daily averages instead of monthly averages). Then, I validated and verified Python scripts results thanks to a comparison with current ANGELS activities reports. Finally, I compared Telemetry with the results of electrical and thermal prelaunch analyses (PDR and CDR reviews). Thus, the analysis between the pre-launch studies and Telemetry allowed to identify areas of improvements providing useful feedback for the new KINEIS constellation development.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role Business Intelligence (BI) can play in government and more specifically at the municipality level. The study aims to investigate how data collected from a municipality Contact Center can be leveraged with the help of a BI solution. The study focuses on the Contact Center at Järfälla Kommun (municipality) and investigates whether a BI implementation can help to realize more effective planning, resource allocation and improved services and e-services. Municipality Contact Centers are becoming an increasingly popular precedent providing municipal residents with a centralized service where they can make inquiries, provide information, lodge complaints or commend actions related to activities within the specific municipality. BI can turn raw data into concrete figures and reports, map patterns and trends and support effective decision making. It can also however be costly and difficult to integrate and face resistance due to perceived complexity. This paper aims to take such notions into consideration and investigate the feasibility of implementing such a solution in the context of a municipality Contact Center.

This paper identifies various benefits and drawbacks from literature which are then modeled into a SWOT framework. In addition, semi-structured interviews are utilized in this study and targeted at stakeholders knowledgeable in the Contact Center, BI, or both. Findings from the SWOT framework will be measured against the findings from the interviews and an analysis of correlations between the two sources will be investigated.

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.

Solution providers are transitioning from product-centric models to service-oriented solutions. This shift has led to the rise of Product-Service Systems (PSS), which offer a holistic approach by integrating physical products with associated services. However, the inherent complexity and collaborative nature of PSS development present a significant challenge: information gathering, analysis, and knowledge building. This is further amplified in the early stages of PSS development due to data challenges such as uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. This complicates informed decision-making, potentially leading to the risk of sub-optimal outcomes and impacting the success of final offerings.

This research proposes an AI-powered data analysis approach to address these data challenges and augment the decision-making process of PSS development. The focus is on supporting early-stage decision-making, as decisions made at this stage greatly impact the success of final solutions. The research investigates how data can be utilized and visualized to extract actionable insights, ultimately facilitating informed decision-making.

The presented research demonstrates that AI-powered data analysis effectively supports informed decision-making in early-stage PSS development. By extracting actionable insights from complex data, handling data limitations, and enabling informed strategic decisions, knowledge sharing, and collaboration are facilitated among stakeholders. Furthermore, integrating AI with visualization tools fosters knowledge building and a deeper understanding of system behavior, ultimately leading to more successful PSS solutions. The efficacy of AI-powered data analysis for handling diverse data types across application domains is demonstrated, potentially leading to benefits such as a deeper understanding of system behavior and proactive solution strategies. These advancements contribute to developing decision support systems specifically for PSS development.

Overall, this research demonstrates the efficacy of AI-powered data analysis in overcoming data challenges and empowering decision-makers in early-stage PSS development. This translates to more informed choices, leading to the creation of successful and efficient PSS solutions.

A data analysis method based on artificial neural networks aiming to support cause-and-effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates the effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing that the predictive capability of the created, clustered, a dataset is comparable to the original, unmodified, one. The proposed method is evaluated using coefficient-of-determination, root mean square error, average relative error, and mean square error. Data analysis approach with artificial neural networks is believed to significantly improve the comprehensibility of the evaluated cause-and-effect relationships studying PSS concepts in a cross-functional team and thereby assisting the difficult and resource-demanding negotiations process at the conceptual stage of the design.

Whale watching is considered a form of green tourism, but can affect marine ecosystems, impacting cetaceans’ behavior and potentially increasing acoustic pollution. A more sustainable whale-watching practice should employ a comprehensive approach involving all stakeholders, but whale-watching operators are rarely involved. We propose a method to assess whale–watching operators’ perceptions regarding the possible effects of their activity on marine fauna and preferred mitigation solutions, by means of online questionnaires and website communication strategies. Results from Canadian whale-watching operators show that they observe regulations regarding distance to whales but only partially perceive general vessels’ impacts on fauna. Three recognized whale-watching experts identify the need for continuous training targeted at operators, which should include the impacts on marine ecosystems. A continuous training framework is proposed that targets whale-watching operators in addition to tourists, and involves scientists in several steps of the approach. This study serves as a starting point to involve operators’ in order to advance towards a sustainable whale-watching tourism.

Flygplats logistik

Micro-Doppler effects are phenomena that occur because of micro-motion. A micro-motion is either a vibration, rotation, or acceleration which is small relative to the motion of the target. These effects can be used in order to characterize a target through their signature movement. These effects were captured using a Frequency Modulated Continous Wave (FMCW) radar on several targets with a distinct signature. The targets were a four-armed drone, a cyclist, and a pedestrian. Using conventional- and super-resolution algorithms allows the user to process the captured data. To best be able to determine these signatures, different algorithms were used, Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Smoothed Pseudo-Wigner-Ville Distribution (SPWVD), Pade Fourier approximation (PFA), and MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC). The comparison of the algorithms on the measured data was done in MATLAB where the best possible scenario was taken. From the comparison, it was noticed that in order to capture the most details, the MUSIC, PFA, STFT, and SPWVD performed the best with a decreasing order.

Epiroc Drilling Tools is a manufacturing company that produces tools for rock mining and excavation. The company adopted the principles and framework of Lean Product Development in their R&D department with few practices of an agile framework called Scrum. These agile practices are used in the pre-study phase or the knowledge value stream of their lean product development. Hence, this research is limited to the knowledge value stream within the R&D department.

The use of agile project management in manufacturing industry is unique and majority of the agile frameworks are specifically designed to suit the needs of software development companies. Several theories like Scrum, Lean, Kanban and DSDM were studied by the researchers to scrutinize the current framework of the department. The challenges and the similarities of the currently used framework with several other agile frameworks and the companies are discussed. Several qualitative research methods were adopted to know the viewpoints of the working employees in the department which are compared with other companies like Volvo Cars, ABB, LShift, EnergySoftware and from another division of Epiroc called Rocktec Automation who faced some similar challenges while practicing agile project management. After further research on the theories and comparison of the process, roles of the working employees and documentations within the knowledge value stream, DSDM had more similarities with the currently used framework than Scrum. This allowed to recommend ways that can fill the missing gaps using practices of DSDM without altering the existing working procedure in the knowledge value stream. This ensures that the improvement in the knowledge value stream remains continuous. On the contrary, a brief discussion is included on whether there is a need to be agile for manufacturing industries or is it just a changing trend in the field of project management.