Integration of Economics into Life Cycle Assessment in the Finnish Pulp and Paper Industry

Taloudellisen laskennan yhdistäminen elinkaariarviointiin (LCA) on alkanut kiinnostaa eri teollisuuden aloja maailmanlaajuisesti viime aikoina. Useat LCA-tietokoneohjelmat sisältävät kustannuslaskentaominaisuuksia ja yksittäiset projektit ovat yhdistäneet ympäristö- ja talouslaskentamenetelmiä. Tässä projektissa tutkitaan näiden yhdistelmien soveltuvuutta suomalaiselle sellu- ja paperiteollisuudelle, sekä kustannuslaskentaominaisuuden lisäämistä KCL:n LCA-ohjelmaan, KCL-ECO 3.0:aan. Kaikki tutkimuksen aikana löytyneet menetelmät, jotka yhdistävät LCA:n ja taloudellista laskentaa, on esitelty tässä työssä. Monet näistä käyttävät elinkaarikustannusarviointia (LCCA). Periaatteessa elinkaari määritellään eri tavalla LCCA:ssa ja LCA:ssa, mikä luo haasteita näiden menetelmien yhdistämiselle. Sopiva elinkaari tulee määritellä laskennan tavoitteiden mukaisesti. Työssä esitellään suositusmenetelmä, joka lähtee suomalaisen sellu- ja paperiteollisuuden erikoispiirteistä. Perusvaatimuksena on yhteensopivuus tavanomaisesti paperin LCA:ssa käytetyn elinkaaren kanssa. Menetelmän yhdistäminen KCL-ECO 3.0:aan on käsitelty yksityiskohtaisesti.

Life cycle costs in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems with drive

Energy consumption and energy efficiency have become an issue. Energy consumption is rising all over the world and because of that, and the climate change, energy is becoming more and more expensive. Buildings are major consumers of energy, and inside the buildings the major consumers are heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. They usually run at constant speed without efficient control. In most cases HVAC equipment is also oversized. Traditionally heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems have been sized to meet conditions that rarely occur. The theory part in this thesis represents the basics of life cycle costs and calculations for the whole life cycle of a system. It also represents HVAC systems, equipment, systems controls and ways to save energy in these systems. The empirical part of this thesis represents life cycle cost calculations for HVAC systems. With these calculations it is possible to compute costs for the whole life cycle for the wanted variables. Life cycle costs make it possible to compare which variable causes most of the costs from the whole life point of view. Life cycle costs were studied through two real life cases which were focused on two different kinds of HVAC systems. In both of these cases the renovations were already made, so that the comparison between the old and the new, now existing system would be easier. The study indicates that energy can be saved in HVAC systems by using variable speed drive as a control method.

Partner Criteria and Life Cycle Impacts: Case UPM

The study examines partner selection criteria and the life cycle impacts on them. The target is to define the relevant criteria that should be applied in case of a partnership. In this context partnership means strategic supplier relationship. It is also examined how these criteria change on the different stages of the product and business life cycle. The empirical part is a description of developing Criteria selection tool in the case company. The study is conducted as a qualitative research using constructive and action research methodologies. The Criteria selection tool is a MS Excel workbook, giving the relevant set of supplier criteria depending on the business case. The most essential criteria, the tool will suggest for partner suppliers, are related to strategic fit, development potential and collaborative aspects. On the early stages of the life cycles the criteria related to research and development and growth potential are significant. On the late stages of the life cycles cost reduction potential becomes very important.

Production Cycle Optimization: Defining the Market Potential for a New Planning Tool

An optimization tool has been developed to help companies to optimize their production cycles and thus improve their overall supply chain management processes. The application combines the functionality that traditional APS (Advanced Planning System) and ARP (Automatic Replenishment Program) systems provide into one optimization run. A qualitative study was organized to investigate opportunities to expand the product’s market base. Twelve personal interviews were conducted and the results were collected in industry specific production planning analyses. Five process industries were analyzed to identify the product’s suitability to each industry sector and the most important product development areas. Based on the research the paper and the plastic film industries remain the most potential industry sectors at this point. To be successful in other industry sectors some product enhancements would be required, including capabilities to optimize multiple sequential and parallel production cycles, handle sequencing of complex finishing operations and to include master planning capabilities to support overall supply chain optimization. In product sales and marketing processes the key to success is to find and reach the people who are involved directly with the problems that the optimization tool can help to solve.

Role of oxidation-reduction cycle of iron in direct leaching of zinc concentrate

Direct leaching is an alternative to conventional roast-leach-electrowin (RLE) zinc production method. The basic reaction of direct leach method is the oxidation of sphalerite concentrate in acidic liquid by ferric iron. The reaction mechanism and kinetics, mass transfer and current modifications of zinc concentrate direct leaching process are considered. Particular attention is paid to the oxidation-reduction cycle of iron and its role in direct leaching of zinc concentrate, since it can be one of the limiting factors of the leaching process under certain conditions. The oxidation-reduction cycle of iron was experimentally studied with goal of gaining new knowledge for developing the direct leaching of zinc concentrate. In order to obtain this aim, ferrous iron oxidation experiments were carried out. Affect of such parameters as temperature, pressure, sulfuric acid concentration, ferrous iron and copper concentrations was studied. Based on the experimental results, mathematical model of the ferrous iron oxidation rate was developed. According to results obtained during the study, the reaction rate orders for ferrous iron concentration, oxygen concentration and copper concentration are 0.777, 0.652 and 0.0951 respectively. Values predicted by model were in good concordance with the experimental results. The reliability of estimated parameters was evaluated by MCMC analysis which showed good parameters reliability.

The Process of Greening Cycle as Method of Operative Environmental

The structural change of society from product-based business to service- and further to need-based business has caused the fact that work for environmental issues has spread from conventional factories and environmentally harmful production to concern services and offices as well. Almost every company has an office, so a relatively small environmental burden caused by an individual office grows remarkable already at the state level and globally even more. Motivation to work for environmental issues in an individual office could be challenging even without the fact that wasted environmental impacts bound also wasted costs. Besides cost savings, a concretely greener image of a company has its value in the B2Cas well as in the B2B-field. Consumers and clients are more and more conscious of environmental issues and demand concrete actions instead of speeches, good thoughts and meaningless certifications. Internal work for environmental issues at a strategy level is not sufficient, so operational environmental management is needed for changing old practices. This research is about the effects of operative environmental management on the greening process of an office-based business. The research is outlined to concern the operative work in the office including field sales. Target was to concretely lower the environmental impacts of Lyreco Finland and to find cost savings directly by changing the operative practices in the office and also indirectly by affecting the level of environmental knowledge of the personnel. During the greening process, the aim was also to create concrete arguments for marketing as well. The circle of greening process, which was especially created for this diploma work, was used as a method. The circle divides a year to themes and sections separated by factors of environmental impacts. Separation is based on Brett Wills’ thoughts of seven green wastes (Wills, Brett. The Green Intensions. 2009) and follows it uneasily. The circle aimed at ensuring evolutionary growth of knowledge instead of being revolutionary in the changing process. Committing personnel to the process from its start by asking ideas from them and giving them clear directions was an important part of the research of operative management. Because of working from distance, communication with personnel was operated by frequent training days and weekly greening notes via emails and intranet. Also availability for communication was an important task because of the telecommuting. Research results of this work show that operative environmental management in an officebased business today is mostly management of change. When the strategic environmental friendliness is taken into a concrete level, the most important individual factor is motivating the operating personnel. Research shows that evolutionary change is found being an efficient way to make a change. Also understanding one´s own impact on the environmental burden and on the whole greening process clearly motivates the personnel. Results show that in the operative realization of the greening process, clear directions of new working practices, being as concrete as possible, and committing personnel to follow them make the process more effective. The operative environmental management and the cycle of the greening process decrease the environmental burden and save costs. The concrete results could be used as believable arguments in marketing and therefore exploited in communication with interest groups. Commitment of the management is also one of the key factors of success in the greening process. In this research, changes in the business field by a company trade took the focus of the management away from the greening process and made the process more inefficient by decreasing the amount of training days. The circle of greening process will be used as a tool in the future, as well, and therefore it will help observe environmental impacts of a company and increase sustainable development. Commitment of management to the evolutionary environmental work helps the operating personnel lower environmental impacts, decrease costs and build a concretely greener image.

Customer relationship management through life cycle analysis, case professional service firm in B2B market

The objective of this master’s thesis was to study how customer relationships should be assessed and categorized in order to support customer relationship management (CRM) in the context of business-to-business (B2B) and professional services. This sophisticated and complex market is utilizing possibilities of CRM only rarely and even then the focus is often on technology. The theoretical part considered first CRM from the value chain point of view and then discussed the cyclical nature of relationships. The case study focused on B2B professional service firm. The data was collected from company databases and included the sample of 90 customers. The research was conducted in three phases first studying the age, then the service type of relationships and finally executing the cluster analysis. The data was analysed by statistical analysis program SAS Enterprise Guide. The results indicate that there are great differences between developments of customer relationships. While some relationships are dynamically growing and changing, most of customers are remaining constant. This implies expectations and requirements of customers are similarly divergent and relationships should be managed accordingly.

Generic Life Cycle Cost Model and Cost-effective Solutions

Life cycle costing (LCC) practices are spreading from military and construction sectors to wider area of industries. Suppliers as well as customers are demanding comprehensive cost knowledge that includes all relevant cost elements through the life cycle of products. The problem of total cost visibility is being acknowledged and the performance of suppliers is evaluated not just by low acquisition costs of their products, but by total value provided through the life time of their offerings. The main purpose of this thesis is to provide better understanding of product cost structure to the case company. Moreover, comprehensive theoretical body serves as a guideline or methodology for further LCC process. Research includes the constructive analysis of LCC related concepts and features as well as overview of life cycle support services in manufacturing industry. The case study aims to review the existing LCC practices within the case company and provide suggestions for improvements. It includes identification of most relevant life cycle cost elements, development of cost breakdown structure and generic cost model for data collection. Moreover, certain cost-effective suggestions are provided as well. This research should support decision making processes, assessment of economic viability of products, financial planning, sales and other processes within the case company.

Integration in project business : mechanisms for integrating customers and the project network during the life-cycle of industrial projects

This thesis focuses on integration in project business, i.e. how projectbased companies organize their product and process structures when they deliver industrial solutions to their customers. The customers that invest in these solutions run their businesses in different geographical, political and economical environments, which should be acknowledged by the supplier when providing solutions comprising of larger and more complex scopes than previously supplied to these customers. This means that the suppliers are increasing their supply range by taking over some of the activities in the value chain that have traditionally been handled by the customer. In order to be able to provide the functioning solutions, including more engineering hours, technical equipment and a wider project network, a change is needed in the mindset in order to be able to carry out and take the required responsibility that these new approaches bring. For the supplier it is important to be able to integrate technical products, systems and services, but the supplier also needs to have the capabilities to integrate the cross-functional organizations and departments in the project network, the knowledge and information between and within these organizations and departments, along with inputs from the customer into the product and process structures during the lifecycle of the project under development. Hence, the main objective of this thesis is to explore the challenges of integration that industrial projects meet, and based on that, to suggest a concept of how to manage integration in project business by making use of integration mechanisms. Integration is considered the essential process for accomplishing an industrial project, whereas the accomplishment of the industrial project is considered to be the result of the integration. The thesis consists of an extended summary and four papers, that are based on three studies in which integration mechanisms for value creation in industrial project networks and the management of integration in project business have been explored. The research is based on an inductive approach where in particular the design, commissioning and operations functions of industrial projects have been studied, addressing entire project life-cycles. The studies have been conducted in the shipbuilding and power generation industries where the scopes of supply consist of stand-alone equipment, equipment and engineering, and turnkey solutions. These industrial solutions include demanding efforts in engineering and organization. Addressing the calls for more studies on the evolving value chains of integrated solutions, mechanisms for inter- and intra-organizational integration and subsequent value creation in project networks have been explored. The research results in thirteen integration mechanisms and a typology for integration is proposed. Managing integration consists of integrating the project network (the supplier and the sub-suppliers) and the customer (the customer’s business purpose, operations environment and the end-user) into the project by making use of integration mechanisms. The findings bring new insight into research on industrial project business by proposing integration of technology and engineering related elements with elements related to customer oriented business performance in contemporary project environments. Thirteen mechanisms for combining products and the processes needed to deliver projects are described and categorized according to the impact that they have on the management of knowledge and information. These mechanisms directly relate to the performance of the supplier, and consequently to the functioning of the solution that the project provides. This thesis offers ways to promote integration of knowledge and information during the lifecycle of industrial projects, enhancing the development towards innovative solutions in project business.

Heavy Duty ilmarenkaiden hinnasto

kuv., 12 x 14 cm

Heavy Duty Speed Wagon

kuv., 10 x 23 cm

The holistic military capability life cycle model

Abstract - This paper reviews existing military capability models and the capability life cycle. It proposes a holistic capability life-cycle model (HCLCM) that combines capability systems with related capability models. ISO 15288 standard is used as a framework to construct the HCLCM. The HCLCM also shows how capability models and systems relate to each other throughout the capability life cycle. The main contribution of this paper is conceptual in nature. The model complements the existing, but still evolving, understanding of the military capability life cycle in a holistic and systemic way. The model also increases understanding and facilitates communication among various military capability stakeholders.