Cost-Benefit Analysis of Sequential Warning Lights in Nighttime Work Zone Tapers, TPF-5(081), 2011

Improving safety at nighttime work zones is important because of the extra visibility concerns. The deployment of sequential lights is an innovative method for improving driver recognition of lane closures and work zone tapers. Sequential lights are wireless warning lights that flash in a sequence to clearly delineate the taper at work zones. The effectiveness of sequential lights was investigated using controlled field studies. Traffic parameters were collected at the same field site with and without the deployment of sequential lights. Three surrogate performance measures were used to determine the impact of sequential lights on safety. These measures were the speeds of approaching vehicles, the number of late taper merges and the locations where vehicles merged into open lane from the closed lane. In addition, an economic analysis was conducted to monetize the benefits and costs of deploying sequential lights at nighttime work zones. The results of this study indicates that sequential warning lights had a net positive effect in reducing the speeds of approaching vehicles, enhancing driver compliance, and preventing passenger cars, trucks and vehicles at rural work zones from late taper merges. Statistically significant decreases of 2.21 mph mean speed and 1 mph 85% speed resulted with sequential lights. The shift in the cumulative speed distributions to the left (i.e. speed decrease) was also found to be statistically significant using the Mann-Whitney and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. But a statistically significant increase of 0.91 mph in the speed standard deviation also resulted with sequential lights. With sequential lights, the percentage of vehicles that merged earlier increased from 53.49% to 65.36%. A benefit-cost ratio of around 5 or 10 resulted from this analysis of Missouri nighttime work zones and historical crash data. The two different benefitcost ratios reflect two different ways of computing labor costs.

MEPDG Work Plan Task No. 7: Existing Pavement Input Information for the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, 2009

The objective of this study is to systematically evaluate the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) existing Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) with respect to the input information required for Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) rehabilitation analysis and design. To accomplish this objective, all of available PMIS data for interstate and primary roads in Iowa were retrieved from the Iowa DOT PMIS. The retrieved data were evaluated with respect to the input requirements and outputs for the latest version of the MEPDG software (version 1.0). The input parameters that are required for MEPDG HMA rehabilitation design, but currently unavailable in the Iowa DOT PMIS were identified. The differences in the specific measurement metrics used and their units for some of the pavement performance measures between the Iowa DOT PMIS and MEPDG were identified and discussed. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that the Iowa DOT PMIS should be updated, if possible, to include the identified parameters that are currently unavailable, but are required for MEPDG rehabilitation design. Similarly, the measurement units of distress survey results in the Iowa DOT PMIS should be revised to correspond to those of MEPDG performance predictions. *******************Large File**************************

Effectiveness of Work Zone Intelligent Transportation Systems, TPF-5(081), 2013

In the last decade, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have increasingly been deployed in work zones by state departments of transportation. Also known as smart work zone systems they improve traffic operations and safety by providing real-time information to travelers, monitoring traffic conditions, and managing incidents. Although there have been numerous ITS deployments in work zones, a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of these deployments does not exist. To justify the continued development and implementation of smart work zone systems, this study developed a framework to determine ITS effectiveness for specific work zone projects. The framework recommends using one or more of five performance measures: diversion rate, delay time, queue length, crash frequency, and speed. The monetary benefits and costs of ITS deployment in a work zone can then be computed using the performance measure values. Such ITS computations include additional considerations that are typically not present in standard benefit-cost computations. The proposed framework will allow for consistency in performance measures across different ITS studies thus allowing for comparisons across studies or for meta analysis. In addition, guidance on the circumstances under which ITS deployment is recommended for a work zone is provided. The framework was illustrated using two case studies: one urban work zone on I-70 and one rural work zone on I-44, in Missouri. The goals of the two ITS deployments were different – the I-70 ITS deployment was targeted at improving mobility whereas the I-44 deployment was targeted at improving safety. For the I-70 site, only permanent ITS equipment that was already in place was used for the project and no temporary ITS equipment was deployed. The permanent DMS equipment serves multiple purposes, and it is arguable whether that cost should be attributed to the work zone project. The data collection effort for the I-70 site was very significant as portable surveillance captured the actual diversion flows to alternative routes. The benefit-cost ratio for the I-70 site was 2.1 to 1 if adjusted equipment costs were included and 6.9 to 1 without equipment costs. The safety-focused I-44 ITS deployment had an estimated benefit-cost ratio of 3.2 to 1.

Development of Benchmark Data for the Iowa Department of Transportation Construction Offices, HR-381, 1996

This report describes the development of performance measures for the Iowa DOT Construction Offices. The offices are responsible for administering all transportation construction projects for the Iowa DOT. In conjunction with a steering team composed of representatives of the Construction Offices, the research team developed a list of eight key processes and a set of measures for each. Two kinds of data were gathered: baseline data and benchmark data. Baseline data is used to characterize current performance. Benchmark data is gathered to find organizations that have excellent performance records for one or more key functions. This report discusses the methodology used and the results obtained. The data obtained represents the first set of data points. Subsequent years will establish trends for each of the measures, showing improvement or lack of it.

Implementation of Benchmark Project Recommendations for Iowa DOT Offices of Construction, Addendum to HR-381, 1996

This report describes the continuation of the development of performance measures for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Offices of Construction. Those offices are responsible for administering transportation construction projects for the Iowa DOT. Researchers worked closely with the Benchmark Steering Team which was formed during Phase I of this project and is composed of representatives of the Offices of Construction. The research team conducted a second survey of Offices of Construction personnel, interviewed numerous members of the Offices and continued to work to improve the eight key processes identified during Phase I of this research. The eight key processes include Inspection of Work, Resolution of Technical Issues, Documentation of Work Progress and Pay Quantities, Employee Training and Development, Continuous Feedback for Improved Contract Documents, Provide Safe Traffic Control, External/Public Communication, and Providing Pre-Letting Information. Three to four measurements were specified for each key process. Many of these measurements required opinion surveys of employees, contractors, and others. During Phase II, researchers concentrated on conducting surveys, interviewing respondents to improve future surveys, and facilitating Benchmark Steering Team monthly meetings. Much effort was placed on using the information collected during the first year's research to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Offices of Construction. The results from Process Improvement Teams that studied Traffic Control and Resolution of Technical Issues were used to improve operations.

Behavioural queueing : cellular automata and a laboratory experiment

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions les aspects comportementaux d'agents qui interagissent dans des systèmes de files d'attente à l'aide de modèles de simulation et de méthodologies expérimentales. Chaque période les clients doivent choisir un prestataire de servivce. L'objectif est d'analyser l'impact des décisions des clients et des prestataires sur la formation des files d'attente. Dans un premier cas nous considérons des clients ayant un certain degré d'aversion au risque. Sur la base de leur perception de l'attente moyenne et de la variabilité de cette attente, ils forment une estimation de la limite supérieure de l'attente chez chacun des prestataires. Chaque période, ils choisissent le prestataire pour lequel cette estimation est la plus basse. Nos résultats indiquent qu'il n'y a pas de relation monotone entre le degré d'aversion au risque et la performance globale. En effet, une population de clients ayant un degré d'aversion au risque intermédiaire encoure généralement une attente moyenne plus élevée qu'une population d'agents indifférents au risque ou très averses au risque. Ensuite, nous incorporons les décisions des prestataires en leur permettant d'ajuster leur capacité de service sur la base de leur perception de la fréquence moyenne d'arrivées. Les résultats montrent que le comportement des clients et les décisions des prestataires présentent une forte "dépendance au sentier". En outre, nous montrons que les décisions des prestataires font converger l'attente moyenne pondérée vers l'attente de référence du marché. Finalement, une expérience de laboratoire dans laquelle des sujets jouent le rôle de prestataire de service nous a permis de conclure que les délais d'installation et de démantèlement de capacité affectent de manière significative la performance et les décisions des sujets. En particulier, les décisions du prestataire, sont influencées par ses commandes en carnet, sa capacité de service actuellement disponible et les décisions d'ajustement de capacité qu'il a prises, mais pas encore implémentées. - Queuing is a fact of life that we witness daily. We all have had the experience of waiting in line for some reason and we also know that it is an annoying situation. As the adage says "time is money"; this is perhaps the best way of stating what queuing problems mean for customers. Human beings are not very tolerant, but they are even less so when having to wait in line for service. Banks, roads, post offices and restaurants are just some examples where people must wait for service. Studies of queuing phenomena have typically addressed the optimisation of performance measures (e.g. average waiting time, queue length and server utilisation rates) and the analysis of equilibrium solutions. The individual behaviour of the agents involved in queueing systems and their decision making process have received little attention. Although this work has been useful to improve the efficiency of many queueing systems, or to design new processes in social and physical systems, it has only provided us with a limited ability to explain the behaviour observed in many real queues. In this dissertation we differ from this traditional research by analysing how the agents involved in the system make decisions instead of focusing on optimising performance measures or analysing an equilibrium solution. This dissertation builds on and extends the framework proposed by van Ackere and Larsen (2004) and van Ackere et al. (2010). We focus on studying behavioural aspects in queueing systems and incorporate this still underdeveloped framework into the operations management field. In the first chapter of this thesis we provide a general introduction to the area, as well as an overview of the results. In Chapters 2 and 3, we use Cellular Automata (CA) to model service systems where captive interacting customers must decide each period which facility to join for service. They base this decision on their expectations of sojourn times. Each period, customers use new information (their most recent experience and that of their best performing neighbour) to form expectations of sojourn time at the different facilities. Customers update their expectations using an adaptive expectations process to combine their memory and their new information. We label "conservative" those customers who give more weight to their memory than to the xiv Summary new information. In contrast, when they give more weight to new information, we call them "reactive". In Chapter 2, we consider customers with different degree of risk-aversion who take into account uncertainty. They choose which facility to join based on an estimated upper-bound of the sojourn time which they compute using their perceptions of the average sojourn time and the level of uncertainty. We assume the same exogenous service capacity for all facilities, which remains constant throughout. We first analyse the collective behaviour generated by the customers' decisions. We show that the system achieves low weighted average sojourn times when the collective behaviour results in neighbourhoods of customers loyal to a facility and the customers are approximately equally split among all facilities. The lowest weighted average sojourn time is achieved when exactly the same number of customers patronises each facility, implying that they do not wish to switch facility. In this case, the system has achieved the Nash equilibrium. We show that there is a non-monotonic relationship between the degree of risk-aversion and system performance. Customers with an intermediate degree of riskaversion typically achieve higher sojourn times; in particular they rarely achieve the Nash equilibrium. Risk-neutral customers have the highest probability of achieving the Nash Equilibrium. Chapter 3 considers a service system similar to the previous one but with risk-neutral customers, and relaxes the assumption of exogenous service rates. In this sense, we model a queueing system with endogenous service rates by enabling managers to adjust the service capacity of the facilities. We assume that managers do so based on their perceptions of the arrival rates and use the same principle of adaptive expectations to model these perceptions. We consider service systems in which the managers' decisions take time to be implemented. Managers are characterised by a profile which is determined by the speed at which they update their perceptions, the speed at which they take decisions, and how coherent they are when accounting for their previous decisions still to be implemented when taking their next decision. We find that the managers' decisions exhibit a strong path-dependence: owing to the initial conditions of the model, the facilities of managers with identical profiles can evolve completely differently. In some cases the system becomes "locked-in" into a monopoly or duopoly situation. The competition between managers causes the weighted average sojourn time of the system to converge to the exogenous benchmark value which they use to estimate their desired capacity. Concerning the managers' profile, we found that the more conservative Summary xv a manager is regarding new information, the larger the market share his facility achieves. Additionally, the faster he takes decisions, the higher the probability that he achieves a monopoly position. In Chapter 4 we consider a one-server queueing system with non-captive customers. We carry out an experiment aimed at analysing the way human subjects, taking on the role of the manager, take decisions in a laboratory regarding the capacity of a service facility. We adapt the model proposed by van Ackere et al (2010). This model relaxes the assumption of a captive market and allows current customers to decide whether or not to use the facility. Additionally the facility also has potential customers who currently do not patronise it, but might consider doing so in the future. We identify three groups of subjects whose decisions cause similar behavioural patterns. These groups are labelled: gradual investors, lumpy investors, and random investor. Using an autocorrelation analysis of the subjects' decisions, we illustrate that these decisions are positively correlated to the decisions taken one period early. Subsequently we formulate a heuristic to model the decision rule considered by subjects in the laboratory. We found that this decision rule fits very well for those subjects who gradually adjust capacity, but it does not capture the behaviour of the subjects of the other two groups. In Chapter 5 we summarise the results and provide suggestions for further work. Our main contribution is the use of simulation and experimental methodologies to explain the collective behaviour generated by customers' and managers' decisions in queueing systems as well as the analysis of the individual behaviour of these agents. In this way, we differ from the typical literature related to queueing systems which focuses on optimising performance measures and the analysis of equilibrium solutions. Our work can be seen as a first step towards understanding the interaction between customer behaviour and the capacity adjustment process in queueing systems. This framework is still in its early stages and accordingly there is a large potential for further work that spans several research topics. Interesting extensions to this work include incorporating other characteristics of queueing systems which affect the customers' experience (e.g. balking, reneging and jockeying); providing customers and managers with additional information to take their decisions (e.g. service price, quality, customers' profile); analysing different decision rules and studying other characteristics which determine the profile of customers and managers.

Evaluation of Deicing Materials and Corrosion Reducing Treatments for Deicing Salts, TR-471, 2007

Effective winter maintenance makes use of freezing-point-depressant chemicals (also known as ice-control products) to prevent the formation of the bond between snow and ice and the highway pavement. In performing such winter maintenance, the selection of appropriate ice-control products for the bond prevention task involves consideration of a number of factors, as indicated in Nixon and Williams (2001). The factors are in essence performance measurements of the ice-control products, and as such can be easily incorporated into a specification document to allow for selection of the best ice-control products for a given agency to use in its winter maintenance activities. Once performance measures for de-icing or anti-icing chemicals have been specified, this allows the creation of a quality control program for the acceptance of those chemicals. This study presents a series of performance measurement tests for ice-control products, and discusses the role that they can play in such a quality control program. Some tests are simple and rapid enough that they can be performed on every load of icecontrol products received, while for others, a sampling technique must be used. An appropriate sampling technique is presented. Further, each test is categorized as to whether it should be applied to every load of ice-control products or on a sampling basis. The study includes a detailed literature review that considers the performance of ice-control products in three areas: temperature related performance, product consistency, and negative side effects. The negative side effects are further broken down into three areas, namely operational side effects (such as chemical slipperiness), environmental side effects, and infrastructural side effects (such as corrosion of vehicles and damage to concrete). The review indicated that in the area of side effects the field performance of ice-control products is currently so difficult to model in the laboratory that no particular specification tests can be recommended at this time. A study of the impact of ice-control products on concrete was performed by Professor Wang of Iowa State University as a sub-contract to this study, and has been presented to the Iowa Highway Research Board prior to this report.

Sistema de indicadores para la gestión sostenible de un destino turístico: aplicación a la Costa Brava centro

Strategic management is based upon a performance measurement system that allows gearing decision making towards accomplishing the established objectives.In a changing economic situation, the measurement of the effects of tourism is fundamental in order to know the efficiency and sustainability of that industry and of the territory in which takes place its activity. We propose a performance measurement system for the sustainable management of a tourism destination, so it will support the adoption of public policies and their follow-up, and as an instrument that will promote the responsible participation of the stakeholders with stakes in the destination. In accordance with the guidelines of the Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism, we design a system based on the identification of the axes over which hinges the success of the management of tourism destinations, taking into account the long-term sustainability of this activity. We position the performance measurement system, and especially the balanced scorecard, as a support tool for the strategic planning of destinations. To the extent that this is possible, the performance measures are selected and structured according to the patterns of the balanced scorecard. Finally, we apply the conceptual model to the central Costa Brava

Container Handling Equipment Monitoring System, case: Steveco Oy

Container Handling Equipment Monitoring System (CHEMS) is a system developed by Savcor One Oy. CHEMS measures important information for container ports performance and produces performance indicators. The aim of this thesis was to clarify performance measurement contents to Savcor and to develop, as an example, performance measures to Steveco Oy's container operations. The theoretical part of the thesis clarifies performance measurement and which of its components are important to container port. Performance measurement and measures are presented from the operational level's point of view, in which CHEMS is planned to aim. The theory of development process of performance measures is introduced at the end of the theoretical part. To make sure that performance measures are efficiently used, Steveco Oy's performance measures are developed in cooperation with the users. The measurement in operational level is continuous and the results must be reacted asquickly as possible. CHEMS is very suitable to continuous measurement and to produce real time-measures of container operations which are hard to get any otherway.

Palveluhankintojen analysointi ja mittaaminen, case Stora Enso Saimaa Services Oy

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli luoda Stora Enso Saimaa Services Oy:lle palveluhankintojen suorituskyvyn mittaristo Balanced Scorecardin avulla. Yrityksen palveluhankintakentän kirjavuuden vuoksi työ rajattiin koskemaan vain Etelä-Karjalan Yrityksiltä (= EKY) ostettavia kunnossapitopalveluja. Mittariston muodostamisen lähtökohtana oli hankintatoimen strateginen tavoite, kokonaiskustannusten alentaminen. Tämä tavoite konkretisoituu parhaiten hankintojen elinkaarikustannusten minimoimisena. Työssä käytettiin kvalitatiivista tutkimusmenetelmää. Tutkimuskohdetta analysoitiin tapaustutkimusmenetelmällä. Aineisto kerättiin sisäisille asiakkaille suunnatulla puolistrukturoidulla haastatteluilla, ostajien ajankäytönseurantakyselyllä sekä osallistuvalla havainnoinnilla. Haastatteluja tehtiin 10 ja kyselyjä 6. Palveluhankintojen elinkaarikustannusten ja mittaamisen osalta on tehty tutkimuksia hyvin vähän. EKY-palveluhankintoihin onnistuttiin kuitenkin luomaan tasapainotettu mittaristo palvelujen erityispiirteet huomioiden. EKY-elinkaarikustannusanalysoinnissa keskityttiin palveluhankintojen keskeisiin kustannuskomponentteihin kuten transaktiokustannusteoriaan, hintojen määräytymiseen ja huonon laadun kustannuksiin. Näiden pohjalta kriittisiksi palveluhankintojen menestystekijöiksi nousivat mm. ostajien ajankäytön suuntaaminen strategisiin työtehtäviin, hintojen hallinta sekä toimittajien laadun arviointi. Nämä tekijät muotoiltiin EKY-palveluhankintojen tuloskorttiin ja niihin valittiin hankintatoimen mittausmalleista sopivat suorituskyvyn mittarit. Mittarit jaettiin EKY-palveluhankintoihin määriteltyihin neljään näkökulmaan Balanced Scorecard -prosessin mukaisesti.

Hankintaprosessin suorituskyvyn mittaaminen

Tutkimuksen päätavoite oli kehittää teollisuusyrityksen hankintaprosessille kattavat suorituskykymittarit ja sillä pyrittiin vastaamaan kysymykseenMiten ERP -järjestelmän käyttäminen informaation lähteenä vaikuttaa hankintaprosessin suorituskyvyn mittaamiseen? Teoriaosassa paneuduttiin suorituskyvyn mittaamisen, hankintaprosessin suorituskyvyn mittaamisen sekä ERP -järjestelmän käsitteisiin ja keskeisiin ilmiöihin. Empiirisessä osassa keskityttiin kehittämään Paroc Groupin hankintaprosessille suorituskyvyn mittareita. Tavoitteeseen pyrittiin vastaamaan luomalla kolme raporttia Paroc Groupin hankintaprosessin mittaamiseen. Varastonimikkeiden kustannusseurantaraportissa seurataan kustannusten muutoksia varastokulutuksen perusteella, varastoraportissa varastontehokasta käyttöä ja toimittajaraportissa toimittajien laskutusta. Tutkittaessa ERP -järjestelmän ja hankintaprosessin suorituskyvyn mittaamisen yhteyttä ilmeni, että ERP -järjestelmä tarjoaa erittäin paljon tarkkaa ja aina samanmuotoista dataa. Toisaalta saatavan datan yksipuolisuus rajoittaa mittareiden valintaa. Mittaamisen nopeutta järjestelmä joiltain osilta lisää, toisilta ei. Tiedon saanti on kuitenkin aina säännöllistä.

Myymäläketjun hankintatoiminnan mittarit, Case Tiimari Oyj

Työn tavoitteena oli kehittää yritykselle selkeä ja toimiva hankintatoiminnan suorituskykymittaristo, jonka avulla tietojärjestelmien tuottama tietosaadaan hyötykäyttöön. Tavoitteena oli myös selvittää yrityksen hankintatoiminnan nykytila. Selvitys auttoi sopivien mittareiden valinnassa. Teoriaosassa käsiteltiin suorituskyvyn mittaamista hankintatoiminnassa, mittariston suunnittelua ja käyttöönoton vaiheita sekä erilaisia malliratkaisuja hankintatoiminnan suorituskyvyn mittaamiselle. Empiirisessä osassa perehdyttiin yrityksen hankintatoiminnan nykytilaan sekä rakennettiin teorian, nykytila-analyysin ja hankintahenkilökunnan näkemysten pohjalta suorituskykymittaristo yrityksen osto-osastolle. Hankintatoiminnan nykytilanteen arvioinnissa korostuivat parhaillaan tapahtuvat suuret muutokset. Suorituskykymittaristo laadittiin siten, että se kattaa tärkeimmät osa-alueet myymäläketjun hankintatoiminnassa. Työn tuloksena kehitetty mittaristo koostuu toimittaja-, valikoima-, materiaalivirta- sekä varastomittareista.

ASIANTUNTIJAORGANISAATION TOIMINNAN TEHOSTAMINEN

Jatkuvasti muuttuva työympäristö vaatii organisaatiolta kykyä muuntua nopeasti vastaamaan tehokkaasti uusiin haasteisiin. Organisaation on tärkeää tuntea kriittiset menestystekijänsä ja pystyä mittaamaan suorituskykyään. Tämän vuoksi asiantuntijaorganisaatioiden suorituskykyyn on alettu kiinnittää entistä enemmän huomiota. Mittareiden käyttö asiantuntijatyön suorituskyvyn mittaamisessa ei ole kovinkaan yleistä johtuen tehtävän työn erityispiirteistä. Asiantuntijatyössä älyllisellä pääomalla, kuten esimerkiksi henkilöstön tiedoilla ja osaamisella, on merkittävä rooli organisaation toimintaan. Tämä asettaa omat erityisvaatimuksensa suorituskyvyn mittaamiselle, toiminnan ohjaamiselle ja erityisesti motivoinnille. Tutkielmassa pyrittiin löytämään tutkimuksen kohteena olleen yrityksen kehittämisen tärkeät toiminta-alueet henkilöstölle suunnatun kyselyn avulla. On erittäin tärkeää, että henkilöstö kokee mittauksen ja tehostamistoimenpiteet omaa työtä tukeviksi asioiksi. Tutkimuksen tuloksena löytyivät selkeästi kehittämistä vaativat osa-alueet. Haastava jatkotoimenpide on määritellä sopivat suorituskykymittarit älylliseen pääomaan liittyville kriittisille menestystekijöille.

Oston ja ostovaraston raportoinnin ja mittariston kehittäminen toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän pohjalta

Työn tavoitteena oli kehittää Stora Enson Varkauden tehtaiden oston ja osto-varastojen raportointia ja toiminnan mittaamista toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän käyttöönottoprojektin yhteydessä. Työssä selvitettiin suorituskykymittareiden merkitystä yrityksen toiminnalle ja mittareista muodostettavalta mittaus-järjestelmältä vaadittavia ominaisuuksia. Lisäksi kartoitettiin materiaali-toimintojen yhteyttä koko yrityksen toimintaan. Työ painottuu SAP R/3:n materiaalihallinnon raporttien kartoittamiseen. Lisäksi työssä käsitellään Varenso Oy:n johtamisjärjestelmästä, Latukoneesta, saatavia mittareita. Mittariston kehittämisprosessi sisälsi käytössä olevien mittareiden arvioinnin, uusien mittareiden kartoittamisen sekä mittareiden karsinnan ja valinnan. Valituille mittareille luotiin raportointipohjat, joiden avulla niitä jatkossa seurataan. SAP R/3:n materiaalihallinnon raportointimahdollisuudet ovat laajat, mutta ne eivät kuitenkaan vielä kata kaikkia oston ja ostovarastojen raportointitarpeita. Mittaamisen ja raportoinnin kehittäminen edelleen vaatii SAP R/3:n raportointiominaisuuksien laajempaa käyttöönottoa tai muiden työkalujen hyödyntämistä raportoinnin tukena.

Six Sigman soveltamisedellytysten ja -apuvälineiden luominen

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli luoda soveltamisedellytyksiä ja -apuvälineitä Six Sigma -parannusprojektien läpiviennille Perlos Oyj Connectorsin meistoprosessissa. Työn teoriaosassa käsitellään Six Sigman perusteoriaa, organisointia ja soveltamista sekä suorituskykymittariston ja tiedonkeruumenetelmien luomista. Kirjallisuuden tarjoaman teorian jälkeen työssä tutustuttiin meistoprosessiin ja Perloksen tapaan soveltaa Six Sigmaa prosessien parantamiseen. Tämän perusteella kehitettiin tiedonkeruu-, dokumentointi- ynnä muita apuvälineitä parantamisprojektien tueksi. Lopuksi koekäytettiin luotuja välineitä meistoon tehdyn osittaisen Six Sigma -projektin yhteydessä. Luotettavan tiedon saaminen prosesseista on perusedellytys Six Sigma -projektien läpiviennille. Menetelmän kouluttaminen työntekijöille on myös tärkeää. Erilaiset dokumentointi- ja laskentakaavakkeet toimivat projektien läpiviennin ja seurannan tukena. Työssä luotuja tiedonkeruu-, koulutus-, dokumentointi- ynnä muita apuvälineitä voidaan käyttää jatkossa apuna Perloksella tehtävissä Six Sigma -projekteissa. Mittaristoa ja tiedonkeruuta tulee kehittää edelleen, jotta prosessien toimintaa voidaan analysoida tehokkaasti. Työn lopussa on ajatuksia Six Sigman käytöstä sekä tiedonkeruujärjestelmien jatkokehityksestä.