Developing the Product Return Process of a Service Center With Lean Methods

Today lean-philosophy has gathered a lot of popularity and interest in many industries. This customer-oriented philosophy helps to understand customer’s value creation which can be used to improve efficiency. A comprehensive study of lean and lean-methods in service industry were created in this research. In theoretical part lean-philosophy is studied in different levels which will help to understand its diversity. To support lean, this research also presents basic concepts of process management. Lastly theoretical part presents a development model to support process development in systematical way. The empirical part of the study was performed by performing experimental measurements during the service center’s product return process and by analyzing this data. Measurements were used to map out factors that have a negative influence on the process flow. Several development propositions were discussed to remove these factors. Problems mainly occur due to challenges in controlling customers and due to the lack of responsibility and continuous improvement on operational level. Development propositions concern such factors as change in service center’s physical environment, standardization of work tasks and training. These factors will remove waste in the product return process and support the idea of continuous improvement.

Managing innovation in oil and gas companies: A proposed framework for the management of innovation at Ecopetrol S.A.

Actually, the term innovation seems to be one of the most used in any kind of business practices. However, in order to get value from it, companies need to define a systematic and structured way to manage innovation. This process can be difficult and very risky since it is associated with the development of firm´s capabilities which involves human and technical challenges according to the context of a firm. Additionally, it seems not to exist a magic formula to manage innovation and what may work in a company may not work in another, even though in the same type of industry. In this sense, the purpose of this research is to identify how the oil and gas companies can manage innovation and what are the main elements, their interrelations and structure, required for managing innovation effectively in this critical sector for the world economy. The study follows a holistic single case study in a National Oil Company (NOC) of a developing country to explore how innovation performs in the industry, what are the main elements regarding innovation management and their interactions according to the nature of the industry. Contributory literature and qualitative data from the case study company (with the use of non-standardized interviews) is collected and analyzed. The research confirms the relevance and importance of the definition and implementation of an innovation framework in order to ensure the generation of value and organize as well as guide the efforts in innovation done by a firm. In this way based on the theoretical background, research´s findings, and in the company´s innovation environment and conditions, a framework for managing innovation at the case study company is suggested. This study is one of the few, if not only one, that has reviewed the way as oil and gas companies manage innovation and its practical implementation in a company from a developing country. Both researchers and practitioners will get a photograph of understanding innovation management in the oil and gas industry and its growing necessity in the business world. Some issues have been highlighted, so that future study can be focused in those directions. In fact, even though research on innovation management has significantly grown, there are still many issues that need to be addressed to get insight about managing innovation in various contexts and industries. Studies are mostly performed in the context of large firms and in developed countries, so then research in the context of developing countries is still almost an untouched area, especially in the oil and gas industry. Finally, from the research it seems crucial to explore the effect of some innovation-related variables such as: open innovation in third world economies and in state-own companies; the impact of mergers and acquisitions in innovation performance in oil and gas companies; value measurement in the first stages of the innovation process; and, development of innovation capabilities in companies from developing nations.

Lean Duplex -terästen hitsaus

Viime vuosien aikana tapahtunut nikkelin hinnan nouseminen on vaikuttanut austeniittis-ferriittisten ruostumattomien terästen, ns. duplex -terästen kehittämiseen. Niukkaseosteisemmissa lean duplex -teräksissä seostetun nikkelin määrää on vähennetty ja sitä on korvattu typellä ja mangaanilla. Nämä muutokset ko. terästen seostuksessa aiheuttavat haasteita hitsaukselle, erityisesti austeniitti-ferriitti -suhteen säilyttämisessä, sekä sitä kautta iskusitkeyden ja korroosio-ominaisuuksien säilyttämiselle. Suurempi typen osuus myös lisää teräksen hitsisulan viskositeettia, mikä heikentää juuripalkojen hitsauksessa tunkeumaa. Tässsä diplomityössä on tutkittu keinoja helpottaa paksujen (yli 20 mm) lean duplex -teräslevyjen hitsausta käytännön näkökulmasta, sekä parantaa hitsattujen levyjen iskusitkeyttä. Hitsauskokeilla löydettiin hitsausta helpottavia menetelmiä ja kokeista saatiin karsimalla valikoitua hitsausarvot, joilla pystytään hitsaamaan painelaitedirektiivin mukaisesti hyväksyttäviä hitsejä lean duplex -laatuihin LDX2101 ja UR2202.

Performance management through innovation capability in SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are assuredly important to maintain strong economic growth. How to manage and maintain SMEs’ performance is a sizable challenge, and requires an understanding of the drivers of performance. Innovation capability has been suggested to be one of these key drivers. In order to manage innovation capability– performance relationship, it has to be measured. SMEs may have distinct characteristics that separate them being just smaller versions of large firms. Performance measurement and management of innovation capability is challenging, because SMEs usually have some drawbacks compared to large firms. Thus, it is unclear whether theories developed to understand large firms apply to SMEs. This research contributes to the existing discussion on performance management through innovation capability in the SME context. First, it aims at increasing understanding of the role of innovation capability in performance management. Second, it aims at clarifying the role of performance measurement in developing innovation capability. Thus, the main objective of the research is to study how to manage performance through measuring and managing innovation capability. The thesis is based on five research articles that follow a positivist approach. From a methodological point of view, quantitative and complementing conceptual methods of data collection are utilized. This research indicates that the performance management and measurement play a significant role in innovation capability in SMEs. This research makes three main contributions. First, it gives empirical evidence on the connection between innovation capability and SME performance. Second, it illustrates the connection between performance measurement and innovation capability. Thirdly, it clarifies how to measure the relationship between innovation capability and performance.

The Russian National Innovation System - an International Perspective

Russia inherited a large research and development (R&D) sector from the Soviet times, and has retained a substantial R&D sector today, compared with other emerging economies. However, Russia is falling behind in all indicators measuring innovative output in comparison with most developed countries. Russia’s innovation performance is disappointing, despite the available stock of human capital and overall investment in R&D. The communist legacy still influences the main actors of the innovation system. The federal state is still the most important funding source for R&D. Private companies are not investing in innovative activities, preferring to “import” innovations embedded in foreign technologies. Universities are outsiders in the innovation system, only a few universities carry out research activities. Nowadays, Russia is a resource-depended country. The economy depends on energy and metals for growth. The Russian economy faces the challenge of diversification and should embrace innovation, and shift to a knowledge economy to remain competitive in the long run. Therefore, Russia has to tackle the challenge of developing an efficient innovation system with its huge potential in science expertise and engineering know-how.

Waste Management in Commercial Activity: State-of-the-Art and the Potential Innovation in the Urban Areas of Hanoi, Vietnam

As the rapid development of the society as well as the lifestyle, the generation of commercial waste is getting more complicated to control. The situation of packaging waste and food waste – the main fractions of commercial waste in different countries in Europe and Asia is analyzed in order to evaluate and suggest necessary improvements for the existing waste management system in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. From all waste generation sources of the city, a total amount of approximately 4000 tons of mixed waste is transported to the composting facility and the disposal site, which emits a huge amount of 1,6Mt of GHG emission to the environment. Recycling activity is taking place spontaneously by the informal pickers, leads to the difficulty in managing the whole system and uncertainty of the overall data. With a relative calculation, resulting in only approximately 0,17Mt CO2 equivalent emission, incinerator is suggested to be the solution of the problem with overloaded landfill and raising energy demand within the inhabitants.

Open innovation model for a large company in the ICT industry: Case Ericsson LMF

Open innovation paradigm states that the boundaries of the firm have become permeable, allowing knowledge to flow inwards and outwards to accelerate internal innovations and take unused knowledge to the external environment; respectively. The successful implementation of open innovation practices in firms like Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Xerox, among others; suggest that it is a sustainable trend which could provide basis for achieving competitive advantage. However, implementing open innovation could be a complex process which involves several domains of management; and whose term, classification, and practices have not totally been agreed upon. Thus, with many possible ways to address open innovation, the following research question was formulated: How could Ericsson LMF assess which open innovation mode to select depending on the attributes of the project at hand? The research followed the constructive research approach which has the following steps: find a practical relevant problem, obtain general understanding of the topic, innovate the solution, demonstrate the solution works, show theoretical contributions, and examine the scope of applicability of the solution. The research involved three phases of data collection and analysis: Extensive literature review of open innovation, strategy, business model, innovation, and knowledge management; direct observation of the environment of the case company through participative observation; and semi-structured interviews based of six cases involving multiple and heterogeneous open innovation initiatives. Results from the cases suggest that the selection of modes depend on multiple reasons, with a stronger influence of factors related to strategy, business models, and resources gaps. Based on these and others factors found in the literature review and observations; it was possible to construct a model that supports approaching open innovation. The model integrates perspectives from multiple domains of the literature review, observations inside the case company, and factors from the six open innovation cases. It provides steps, guidelines, and tools to approach open innovation and assess the selection of modes. Measuring the impact of open innovation could take years; thus, implementing and testing entirely the model was not possible due time limitation. Nevertheless, it was possible to validate the core elements of the model with empirical data gathered from the cases. In addition to constructing the model, this research contributed to the literature by increasing the understanding of open innovation, providing suggestions to the case company, and proposing future steps.

The early activities of front end of innovation in oem companies using a new fei platform as a framework for renewal

The main goal of this study is to create a seamless chain of actions and more detailed structure to the front end of innovation to be able to increase the front end performance and finally to influence the renewal of companies. The main goal is achieved through by the new concept of an integrated model of early activities of FEI leading to a discovery of new elements of opportunities and the identification of new business and growth areas. The procedure offers one possible solution to a dynamic strategy formation process in innovation development cycle. In this study the front end of innovation is positioned between a strategy reviews and a concept creation with needed procedures, tools, and frameworks. The starting point of the study is that the origins of innovation are not well enough understood. The study focuses attention on the early activities of FEI. These first activities are conceptualized in order to find out successful innovation initiatives and strategic renewal agendas. A seamless chain of activities resulting in faster and more precise identification of opportunities and growth areas available on markets and inside companies is needed. Three case studies were conducted in order to study company views on available theory doctrine and to identify the first practical experiences and procedures in the beginning of the front end of innovation. Successful innovation requires focus on renewal in both internal and external directions and they should be carefully balanced for best results. Instead of inside-out mode of actions the studied companies have a strong outside-in thinking mode and they mainly co-develop their innovation initiatives in close proximity with customers i.e. successful companies are an integral part of customers business and success. Companies have tailor-made innovation processes combined their way of working linked to their business goals, and priorities of actual needs of transformation. The result of this study is a new modular FEI platform which can be configured by companies against their actual business needs and drivers. This platform includes new elements of FEI documenting an architecture presenting how the system components work together. The system is a conceptual approach from theories of emergent strategy formation, opportunity identification and creation, interpretation-analysis-experimentation triad and the present FEI theories. The platform includes new features compared to actual models of FEI. It allows managers to better understand the importance of FEI in the whole innovation development stage and FEI as a phase and procedure to discover and implement emergent strategy. An adaptable company rethinks and redirects strategy proactively from time to time. Different parts of the business model are changed to remove identified obstacles for growth and renewal which gives them avenues to find right reforms for renewal.

Lean Six Sigma in a Manufacturing Lead Time Improvement Project

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the use of Lean Six Sigma methodology in a manufacturing lead time improvement project. Moreover, the goal is to develop working solutions for the target company to improve its manufacturing lead time. The theoretical background is achieved through exploring the literature of Six Sigma, Lean and Lean Six Sigma. The development will be done in collaboration with the related stakeholders, by following the Lean Six Sigma improvement process DMAIC and by analyzing the process data from the target company. The focus of this research is in demonstrating how to use Lean Six Sigma improvement process DMAIC in practice, rather than in comparing Lean Six Sigma to other improvement methodologies. In order to validate the manufacturing system’s current state, improvement potential and solutions, statistical tools such as linear regression analysis were used. This ensured that all the decisions were as heavily based on actual data as possible. As a result of this research, a set of solutions were developed and implemented in the target company. These solutions included batch size reduction, bottleneck shift, first-in first-out queuing and shifting a data entry task from production planners to line workers. With the use of these solutions, the target company was able to reduce its manufacturing lead time by over one third.

Lean toimenpiteiden implementointi PK-yrityksessä

Yritykset ympäri maailmaa ovat saavuttaneet Leanin avulla hyviä tuloksia ja parantaneet kilpailukykyään. Lean on kokonaisvaltainen filosofia, jossa käytetään konkreettisia työkaluja kehittämisen tukena. Implementonnin onnistuminen edellyttää koko organisaation sitoutumista muutoksiin ja uusiin toimintamalleihin. Meconet yhtio pyrkii maailman luokan toimittajaksi ja haluaa edistää toiminnan kehittämistä leanin periaatteiden mukaisesti hyödyntämällä kokonaisvaltaisia Lean työkaluja. Meconet Oy:n Vantaan tehtaalla oli keväällä 2013 tavoitteena edistää jatkuvaa kehittymistä Kaizenin avulla. Lisäksi tavoitteena oli ryhtyä järjestelmällisesti seuraamaan suorituskykyä mittareiden avulla ja lisätä visuaalisuutta. Meconet Oy:n Vantaan tehtaalla muodostettiin toimintamalli päivittäiseen suorituskyvyn seurantaan, toteutetttiin useita kehitysprojekteja Kaizen periaatteiden mukaisesti ja lisättiin visuaalisia elementtejä tiedonkulun parantamiseksi.

Balancing the quotation process by LEAN methods

This thesis studies the possibility to use lean tools and methods in a quotation process which is carried out in an office environment. The aim of the study was to find out and test the relevant lean tools and methods which can help to balance and standardize the quotation process, and reduce the variance in quotation lead times and in quality. Seminal works, researches and guide books related to the topic were used as the basis for the theory development. Based on the literature review and the case company’s own lean experience, the applicable lean tools and methods were selected to be tested by a sales support team. Leveling production, by product categorization and value stream mapping, was a key method to be used to balance the quotation process. 5S method was started concurrently for standardizing the work. Results of the testing period showed that lean tools and methods are applicable in office process and selected tools and methods helped to balance and standardize the quotation process. Case company’s sales support team decided to implement new lean based quotation process model.