Reframing the relationship between service design and operations: a service engineering approach

The significance of services as business and human activities has increased dramatically throughout the world in the last three decades. Becoming a more and more competitive and efficient service provider while still being able to provide unique value opportunities for customers requires new knowledge and ideas. Part of this knowledge is created and utilized in daily activities in every service organization, but not all of it, and therefore an emerging phenomenon in the service context is information awareness. Terms like big data and Internet of things are not only modern buzz-words but they are also describing urgent requirements for a new type of competences and solutions. When the amount of information increases and the systems processing information become more efficient and intelligent, it is the human understanding and objectives that may get separated from the automated processes and technological innovations. This is an important challenge and the core driver for this dissertation: What kind of information is created, possessed and utilized in the service context, and even more importantly, what information exists but is not acknowledged or used? In this dissertation the focus is on the relationship between service design and service operations. Reframing this relationship refers to viewing the service system from the architectural perspective. The selected perspective allows analysing the relationship between design activities and operational activities as an information system while maintaining the tight connection to existing service research contributions and approaches. This type of an innovative approach is supported by research methodology that relies on design science theory. The methodological process supports the construction of a new design artifact based on existing theoretical knowledge, creation of new innovations and testing the design artifact components in real service contexts. The relationship between design and operations is analysed in the health care and social care service systems. The existing contributions in service research tend to abstract services and service systems as value creation, working or interactive systems. This dissertation adds an important information processing system perspective to the research. The main contribution focuses on the following argument: Only part of the service information system is automated and computerized, whereas a significant part of information processing is embedded in human activities, communication and ad-hoc reactions. The results indicate that the relationship between service design and service operations is more complex and dynamic than the existing scientific and managerial models tend to view it. Both activities create, utilize, mix and share information, making service information management a necessary but relatively unknown managerial task. On the architectural level, service system -specific elements seem to disappear, but access to more general information elements and processes can be found. While this dissertation focuses on conceptual-level design artifact construction, the results provide also very practical implications for service providers. Personal, visual and hidden activities of service, and more importantly all changes that take place in any service system have also an information dimension. Making this information dimension visual and prioritizing the processed information based on service dimensions is likely to provide new opportunities to increase activities and provide a new type of service potential for customers.

State of Logistics and Operations Management in Finnish and Swedish Companies – Survey Research Findings

In this research we are examining what is the status of logistics and operations management in Finnish and Swedish companies. Empirical data is based on the web based questionnaire, which was completed in the end of 2007 and early 2008. Our examination consists of roughly 30 answers from largest manufacturing (highest representation in our sample), trade and logistics/distribution companies. Generally it could be argued that these companies operate in complex environment, where number of products, raw materials/components and suppliers is high. However, usually companies rely on small amount of suppliers per raw material/component (highest frequency is 2), and this was especially the case among Swedish companies, and among those companies, which favoured overseas sourcing. Sample consisted of companies which mostly are operating in an international environment, and are quite often multinationals. Our survey findings reveal that companies in general have taken logistics and information technology as part of their strategy process; utilization of performance measures as well as system implementations have followed the strategy decisions. In the transportation mode side we identify that road transports dominate all transport flow classes (inbound, internal and outbound), followed by sea and air. Surprisingly small amount of companies use railways, but in general we could argue that Swedish companies prefer this mode over Finnish counterparts. With respect of operations outsourcing, we found that more traditional areas of logistics outsourcing are driving factors in company's performance measurement priority. In contrary to previous research, our results indicate that the scope of outsourcing is not that wide in logistics/operations management area, and companies are not planning to outsource more in the near future. Some support is found for more international operations and increased outsourcing activity. From the increased time pressure of companies, we find evidence that local as well as overseas customers expect deliveries within days or weeks, but suppliers usually supply within weeks or months. So, basically this leads into considerable inventory holding. Interestingly local and overseas sourcing strategy does not have that great influence on lead time performance of these particular sourcing areas - local strategy is anyway considerably better in responding on market changes due to shorter supply lead times. In the end of our research work we have completed correlation analysis concerning items asked with Likert scale. Our analysis shows that seeing logistics more like a process rather than function, applying time based management, favouring partnerships and measuring logistics within different performance dimensions results on preferred features and performance found in logistics literature.

Reporting of Green Supply Chain Management and Industrial Symbiosis

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the reporting of operations related to green supply chain management and industrial symbiosis has evolved in UPM, Fortum and Kemira within the last ten years. The focus is on the improved operations, which are studied based on annual reports of these companies. The study provides a deeper understanding of the nature of green supply chain management and industrial symbiosis as well as the possibilites that their combination offers. The research is part of the DemaNET research project The study indicates that the environmental regulations and reporting standards have forced the studied companies to report their operations related to green supply chain management and industrial symbiosis more in detail during the last ten years. The operations related to green supply chain management in the studied companies are more common compared to operations related to industrial symbiosis. Often these two operations were also partially integrated, indicating a hybrid model. Even though firms often used hybrid models they still focused mainly on greening the internal operations rather than finding alternative ways for symbiosis outside the organization. The integration of green supply chain management and industrial symbiosis is most likely to occur when mutually beneficial relationships align the interests of all parties, thus resulting in the co-creation of value. The findings suggest that identifying mutual benefits and the flow of by-products are the ones that companies should give more attention to.

Model-based testing of software systems : functionality and performance

Software is a key component in many of our devices and products that we use every day. Most customers demand not only that their devices should function as expected but also that the software should be of high quality, reliable, fault tolerant, efficient, etc. In short, it is not enough that a calculator gives the correct result of a calculation, we want the result instantly, in the right form, with minimal use of battery, etc. One of the key aspects for succeeding in today's industry is delivering high quality. In most software development projects, high-quality software is achieved by rigorous testing and good quality assurance practices. However, today, customers are asking for these high quality software products at an ever-increasing pace. This leaves the companies with less time for development. Software testing is an expensive activity, because it requires much manual work. Testing, debugging, and verification are estimated to consume 50 to 75 per cent of the total development cost of complex software projects. Further, the most expensive software defects are those which have to be fixed after the product is released. One of the main challenges in software development is reducing the associated cost and time of software testing without sacrificing the quality of the developed software. It is often not enough to only demonstrate that a piece of software is functioning correctly. Usually, many other aspects of the software, such as performance, security, scalability, usability, etc., need also to be verified. Testing these aspects of the software is traditionally referred to as nonfunctional testing. One of the major challenges with non-functional testing is that it is usually carried out at the end of the software development process when most of the functionality is implemented. This is due to the fact that non-functional aspects, such as performance or security, apply to the software as a whole. In this thesis, we study the use of model-based testing. We present approaches to automatically generate tests from behavioral models for solving some of these challenges. We show that model-based testing is not only applicable to functional testing but also to non-functional testing. In its simplest form, performance testing is performed by executing multiple test sequences at once while observing the software in terms of responsiveness and stability, rather than the output. The main contribution of the thesis is a coherent model-based testing approach for testing functional and performance related issues in software systems. We show how we go from system models, expressed in the Unified Modeling Language, to test cases and back to models again. The system requirements are traced throughout the entire testing process. Requirements traceability facilitates finding faults in the design and implementation of the software. In the research field of model-based testing, many new proposed approaches suffer from poor or the lack of tool support. Therefore, the second contribution of this thesis is proper tool support for the proposed approach that is integrated with leading industry tools. We o er independent tools, tools that are integrated with other industry leading tools, and complete tool-chains when necessary. Many model-based testing approaches proposed by the research community suffer from poor empirical validation in an industrial context. In order to demonstrate the applicability of our proposed approach, we apply our research to several systems, including industrial ones.

Power Consumption in Carbon Capture and Storage Systems (CCS) and Possibilities to Reduce Power Consumption with Variable Speed Drives

The aim of this master´s thesis is to study which processes increase the auxiliary power consumption in carbon capture and storage processes and if it is possible to reduce the auxiliary power consumption with variable speed drives. Also the cost of carbon capture and storage is studied. Data about auxiliary power consumption in carbon capture is gathered from various studies and estimates made by various research centres. Based on these studies a view is presented how the power auxiliary power consumption is divided between different processes in carbon capture processes. In a literary study, the operation of three basic carbon capture systems is described. Also different methods to transport carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide storage options are described in this section. At the end of the thesis processes that consume most of the auxiliary power are defined and possibilities to reduce the auxiliary power consumption are evaluated. Cost of carbon capture, transport and storage are also evaluated at this point and in the case that the carbon capture and storage systems are fully deployed. According to the results, it can be estimated what are the processes are where variable speed drives can be used and what kind of cost and power consumption reduction could be achieved. Results also show how large a project carbon capture and storage is if it is fully deployed.

Real-Time Simulation of Mobile and Industrial Machines Using the Multibody Simulation Approach

This thesis introduces a real-time simulation environment based on the multibody simulation approach. The environment consists of components that are used in conventional product development, including computer aided drawing, visualization, dynamic simulation and finite element software architecture, data transfer and haptics. These components are combined to perform as a coupled system on one platform. The environment is used to simulate mobile and industrial machines at different stages of a product life time. Consequently, the demands of the simulated scenarios vary. In this thesis, a real-time simulation environment based on the multibody approach is used to study a reel mechanism of a paper machine and a gantry crane. These case systems are used to demonstrate the usability of the real-time simulation environment for fault detection purposes and in the context of a training simulator. In order to describe the dynamical performance of a mobile or industrial machine, the nonlinear equations of motion must be defined. In this thesis, the dynamical behaviour of machines is modelled using the multibody simulation approach. A multibody system may consist of rigid and flexible bodies which are joined using kinematic joint constraints while force components are used to describe the actuators. The strength of multibody dynamics relies upon its ability to describe nonlinearities arising from wearing of the components, friction, large rotations or contact forces in a systematic manner. For this reason, the interfaces between subsystems such as mechanics, hydraulics and control systems of the mechatronic machine can be defined and analyzed in a straightforward manner.

The relationship between b2b branding and industrial buying in the digital era: evidence from Finnish gas industry

The aim of this study is to understand the importance of b2b brands in different phases of the industrial buying process in the digital era. The research problem is approached by examining a b2b supplier brand in the context of gas supplier selection. The data was collected by interviewing individuals from ten different companies. The findings contribute to previous theory by showing that as industrial buying behaviour is eventually individual behaviour, brands can influence decision making. The relevance of a brand depends on individual’s personality and preferences. Digital media cannot be ignored in managing brand image as buyers are present in the online environment. The results reveal that traditional personal selling is, nevertheless, in a key role in brand image building and is a source of added value. The salesperson influences buyers’ perceived associations of a brand and gives the brand a face.

Cold hardiness research on agricultural and horticultural crops in Finland

Selostus: Pelto- ja puutarhakasvien kylmänkestävyystutkimus Suomessa

Interfacing Health Care Information Systems Design and Implementation

Terveydenhuollossa käytetään nykyisin informaatioteknologian (IT) mahdollisuuksia parantamaan hoidon laatua, vähentämään hoitoon liittyviä kuluja sekä yksinkertaistamaan ja selkeyttämään laakareiden työnkulkua. Tietojärjestelmät, jotka edustavat jokaisen IT-ratkaisun ydintä, täytyy kehittää täyttämään lukuisia vaatimuksia, ja yksi niistä on kyky integroitua saumattomasti toisten tietojärjestelmien kanssa. Järjestelmäintegraatio on kuitenkin yhä haastava tehtävä, vaikka sita varten on kehitetty useita standardeja. Tässä työssä kuvataan vastakehitetyn lääketieteellisen tietojärjestelmän liittymäratkaisu. Työssä pohditaan vaatimuksia, jotka tällaiselle sovellukselle asetetaan, ja myös tapa, jolla vaatimukset toteutuvat on esitetty. Liittymaratkaisu on jaettu kahteen osaan, tietojärjestelmaliittymään ja "liittymakoneeseen" (interfacing engine). Edellinen on käsittää perustoiminnallisuuden, jota tarvitaan vastaanottamaan ja lähettämään tietoa toisiin järjestelmiin, kun taas jälkimmäinen tarjoaa tuen tuotantoympäristössa käytettäville standardeille. Molempien osien suunnitelu on esitelty perusteellisesti tässä työssä. Ongelma ratkaistiin modulaarisen ja geneerisen suunnittelun avulla. Tämä lähestymistapa osoitetaan työssä kestäväksi ja joustavaksi ratkaisuksi, jota voidaan käyttää tarkastelemaan laajaa valikoimaa liittymäratkaisulle asetettuja vaatimuksia. Lisaksi osoitetaan kuinka tehty ratkaisu voidaan joustavuutensa ansiosta helposti mukauttaa vaatimuksiin, joita ei ole etukäteen tunnistettu, ja siten saavutetaan perusta myös tulevaisuuden tarpeille

Optimizing last mile delivery using public transport with multiagent based control

The majority of research work carried out in the field of Operations-Research uses methods and algorithms to optimize the pick-up and delivery problem. Most studies aim to solve the vehicle routing problem, to accommodate optimum delivery orders, vehicles etc. This paper focuses on green logistics approach, where existing Public Transport infrastructure capability of a city is used for the delivery of small and medium sized packaged goods thus, helping improve the situation of urban congestion and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. It carried out a study to investigate the feasibility of the proposed multi-agent based simulation model, for efficiency of cost, time and energy consumption. Multimodal Dijkstra Shortest Path algorithm and Nested Monte Carlo Search have been employed for a two-phase algorithmic approach used for generation of time based cost matrix. The quality of the tour is dependent on the efficiency of the search algorithm implemented for plan generation and route planning. The results reveal a definite advantage of using Public Transportation over existing delivery approaches in terms of energy efficiency.

Product management in global sales operations

Työn tavoitteena oli määrittää myyntikonfiguraattorissa käytettävän tuotemallin yleinen rakenne. Ensin selvitettiin tuotemallin luomista ja konseptin suunnittelua kirjallisuuden ja asiantuntijoiden haastattelujen avulla. Asiantuntijoiden haastattelut toteutettiin vapaamuotoisesti kysymyslistaa apuna käyttäen. Tämän lisäksi työssä pohditaan sähköisen liiketoiminnan roolia sekä myyntikonfiguraattorin tulevaisuuden näkymiä. Diplomityössä käsitellään tuotemallia yleisellä tasolla. Toinen näkökulma käsittelee tuotemallia tietoteknisissä sovelluksissa käytettyjen menetelmien pohjalta. Tuotemallin muodostaminen aloitettiin asiakkaalle näkyvästä osasta eli myyntikonfiguraattorin ulkoasusta. Seuraava ongelma oli standardoida tuotetta ja tarjousta kuvaavat dokumentit globaalisti. Tähän ratkaisuun päädyttiin haastattelujen sekä asiantuntijoiden kokoontumisien pohjalta. Loppuosa diplomityöstä käsittelee myyntikonfiguraattorin asemaa kohdeyrityksen sähköisessä liiketoiminnassa sekä esittelee erään näkemyksen myyntikonfiguraattorin yhteenliittymästä asiakashallinta- ja tuotetiedonhallinta järjestelmiin. Diplomityössä saavutettiin asetetut tavoiteet: Myyntikonfigurattori yhtenäistää kohdeyrityksen hinnoittelua globaalisti, nopeuttaa tarjouksentekoprosessia, helpottaa uuden tuotteen lanseerausta ja standardoi tuotemallin globaalisti. Myyntikonfiguraattorin integrointi muihin tietojärjestelmiin tehostaa myynnin toimintoja. Haasteeksi jää loppukäyttäjien kannustaminen tehokkaaseen käyttöön sekä ylläpidon toteuttaminen. Ilman käyttäjiä ja heidän innostustaan voi projekti menettää johdon luottamuksen.