Aspects on Process Engineering in the Finnish Pulp and Paper Industry : Thesis for the Degree of Licentiate in Science of Technology

Process development will be largely driven by the main equipment suppliers. The reason for this development is their ambition to supply complete plants or process systems instead of single pieces of equipment. The pulp and paper companies' interest lies in product development, as their main goal is to create winning brands and effective brand management. Design engineering companies will find their niche in detail engineering based on approved process solutions. Their development work will focus on increasing the efficiency of engineering work. Process design is a content-producing profession, which requires certain special characteristics: creativity, carefulness, the ability to work as a member of a design team according to time schedules and fluency in oral as well as written presentation. In the future, process engineers will increasingly need knowledge of chemistry as well as information and automation technology. Process engineering tools are developing rapidly. At the moment, these tools are good enough for static sizing and balancing, but dynamic simulation tools are not yet good enough for the complicated chemical reactions of pulp and paper chemistry. Dynamic simulation and virtual mill models are used as tools for training the operators. Computational fluid dynamics will certainlygain ground in process design.

Conflict-based Method for Conceptual Process Synthesis

The changing business environment demands that chemical industrial processes be designed such that they enable the attainment of multi-objective requirements and the enhancement of innovativedesign activities. The requirements and key issues for conceptual process synthesis have changed and are no longer those of conventional process design; there is an increased emphasis on innovative research to develop new concepts, novel techniques and processes. A central issue, how to enhance the creativity of the design process, requires further research into methodologies. The thesis presentsa conflict-based methodology for conceptual process synthesis. The motivation of the work is to support decision-making in design and synthesis and to enhance the creativity of design activities. It deals with the multi-objective requirements and combinatorially complex nature of process synthesis. The work is carriedout based on a new concept and design paradigm adapted from Theory of InventiveProblem Solving methodology (TRIZ). TRIZ is claimed to be a `systematic creativity' framework thanks to its knowledge based and evolutionary-directed nature. The conflict concept, when applied to process synthesis, throws new lights on design problems and activities. The conflict model is proposed as a way of describing design problems and handling design information. The design tasks are represented as groups of conflicts and conflict table is built as the design tool. The general design paradigm is formulated to handle conflicts in both the early and detailed design stages. The methodology developed reflects the conflict nature of process design and synthesis. The method is implemented and verified through case studies of distillation system design, reactor/separator network design and waste minimization. Handling the various levels of conflicts evolve possible design alternatives in a systematic procedure which consists of establishing an efficient and compact solution space for the detailed design stage. The approach also provides the information to bridge the gap between the application of qualitative knowledge in the early stage and quantitative techniques in the detailed design stage. Enhancement of creativity is realized through the better understanding of the design problems gained from the conflict concept and in the improvement in engineering design practice via the systematic nature of the approach.

Competitor Information andCompetitive Knowledge Management in a Large Industrial Organization

Thisthesis supplements the systematic approach to competitive intelligence and competitor analysis by introducing an information-processing perspective on management of the competitive environment and competitors therein. The cognitive questions connected to the intelligence process and also the means that organizational actors use in sharing information are discussed. The ultimate aim has been to deepen knowledge of the different intraorganizational processes that are used in acorporate organization to manage and exploit the vast amount of competitor information that is received from the environment. Competitor information and competitive knowledge management is examined as a process, where organizational actorsidentify and perceive the competitive environment by using cognitive simplification, make interpretations resulting in learning and finally utilize competitor information and competitive knowledge in their work processes. The sharing of competitive information and competitive knowledge is facilitated by intraorganizational networks that evolve as a means of developing a shared, organizational level knowledge structure and ensuring that the right information is in the right place at the right time. This thesis approaches competitor information and competitive knowledge management both theoretically and empirically. Based on the conceptual framework developed by theoretical elaboration, further understanding of the studied phenomena is sought by an empirical study. The empirical research was carried out in a multinationally operating forest industry company. This thesis makes some preliminary suggestions of improving the competitive intelligence process. It is concluded that managing competitor information and competitive knowledge is not simply a question of managing information flow or improving sophistication of competitor analysis, but the crucial question to be solved is rather, how to improve the cognitive capabilities connected to identifying and making interpretations of the competitive environment and how to increase learning. It is claimed that competitive intelligence can not be treated like an organizational function or assigned solely to a specialized intelligence unit.

Mobile Communications within the European Union: The Role of Location in the Evolution and Forecasting of the Diffusion Process

In the European Union, the importance of mobile communications was realized early on. The process of mobile communications becoming ubiquitous has taken time, as the innovation of mobile communications diffused into the society. The aim of this study is to find out how the evolution and spatial patterns of the diffusion of mobile communications within the European Union could be taken into account in forecasting the diffusion process. There is relatively lot of research of innovation diffusion on the individual (micro) andthe country (macro) level, if compared to the territorial level. Territorial orspatial diffusion refers either to the intra-country or inter-country diffusionof an innovation. In both settings, the dif- fusion of a technological innovation has gained scarce attention. This study adds knowledge of the diffusion between countries, focusing especially on the role of location in this process. The main findings of the study are the following: The penetration rates of the European Union member countries have become more even in the period of observation, from the year 1981 to 2000. The common digital GSM system seems to have hastened this process. As to the role of location in the diffusion process, neighboring countries have had similar diffusion processes. They can be grouped into three, the Nordic countries, the central and southern European countries, and the remote southern European countries. The neighborhood effect is also domi- nating in thegravity model which is used for modeling the adoption timing of the countries. The subsequent diffusion within a country, measured by the logistic model in Finland, is af- fected positively by its economic situation, and it seems to level off at some 92 %. Considering the launch of future mobile communications systemsusing a common standard should implicate an equal development between the countries. The launching time should be carefully selected as the diffusion is probably delayed in economic downturns. The location of a country, measured by distance, can be used in forecasting the adoption and diffusion. Fi- nally, the result of penetration rates becoming more even implies that in a relatively homoge- nous set of countries, such as the European Union member countries, the estimated final pene- tration of a single country can be used for approximating the penetration of the others. The estimated eventual penetration of Finland, some 92 %, should thus also be the eventual level for all the European Union countries and for the European Union as a whole.

Breaking up the writing process: how wikis can support understanding the composition and revision strategies of young writers

Understanding how best to support immature writers in the development of their understanding of the writing process is an important concern for researchers and teachers. Social technologies have become key features of leisure and work place writing, yet knowledge about how to design educational settings that take full advantage of the affordances of web 2.0 technologies to support early writing is scarce. This paper presents a small scale study that investigated how writing in a wiki environment might facilitate and support students’ use of composition and revision strategies. Our findings show that wiki can enlarge young writers’ experience of the process of composition and revision both through their own efforts and by observing the process in others. In this study students employed a wide range of types of revisions both surface and text based changes. These revisions took place during the process of composition as well as at the end. It is argued here that writing in a wiki not only provides young writers with experience of a mode of composition prevalent in the contemporary work environment, but breaks up the process of writing in a way that may support students’ understanding of the processes of composition and revision.

Analysing knowledge building: usages, achievements and limits of forums at university

This paper aims to explore asynchronous communication in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Thirty virtual forums are analysed in both a quantitative and a qualitative way. Quantitatively, the number of messages written, message threads and original and answer messages are counted. Qualitatively, the content of the notes is analysed, cataloguing these into two different levels: on the one hand, as a set of knowledge building process categories, and on the other hand, following the scaffolds that Knowledge Forum offers. The results show that both an exchange of information and a collaborative work take place. Nevertheless, the construction of knowledge is superficial.

Evaluation of the Development of Metacognitive Knowledge Supported by the KnowCat System

The aim of this study was to examine the development of the metacognitive knowledge of a group of higher education students who participated actively in an experiment based on a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning environment called KnowCat. Eighteen university students participated in a 12-month learning project during which the KnowCat learning environment was used to support scaffolding process among equals during problem-solving tasks. After using KnowCat, the students were interviewed over their work in this shared workspace. Qualitative analysis revealed that the educational application of KnowCat can favour and improve the development of metacognitive knowledge.

Points to consider for prioritizing clinical genetic testing services: a European consensus process oriented at accountability for reasonableness.

Given the cost constraints of the European health-care systems, criteria are needed to decide which genetic services to fund from the public budgets, if not all can be covered. To ensure that high-priority services are available equitably within and across the European countries, a shared set of prioritization criteria would be desirable. A decision process following the accountability for reasonableness framework was undertaken, including a multidisciplinary EuroGentest/PPPC-ESHG workshop to develop shared prioritization criteria. Resources are currently too limited to fund all the beneficial genetic testing services available in the next decade. Ethically and economically reflected prioritization criteria are needed. Prioritization should be based on considerations of medical benefit, health need and costs. Medical benefit includes evidence of benefit in terms of clinical benefit, benefit of information for important life decisions, benefit for other people apart from the person tested and the patient-specific likelihood of being affected by the condition tested for. It may be subject to a finite time window. Health need includes the severity of the condition tested for and its progression at the time of testing. Further discussion and better evidence is needed before clearly defined recommendations can be made or a prioritization algorithm proposed. To our knowledge, this is the first time a clinical society has initiated a decision process about health-care prioritization on a European level, following the principles of accountability for reasonableness. We provide points to consider to stimulate this debate across the EU and to serve as a reference for improving patient management.

A Technology Intelligence Process for a High Technology Company

Tämä diplomityö määrittelee teknologiaseurantaprosessin, jolla korkean teknologian yritys voi ohjata toimintaansa. Korkean teknologian yrityksille on olennaista seurata teknologian kehitystä. Tällaiset yritykset tarvitsevat hyvin määritellyn järjestelmän, jolla ne voivat seurata ja ennustaa teknologista kehitystä.Työssä esitetään, että teknologiaseuranta ja kilpailuseuranta (competitive intelligence) ovat business intelligencen osa-alueita, jotka täydentävät ja tukevat toisiaan. Tärkeä havainto on, että business intelligence -prosessi on ennen kaikkea organisaation oppimisprosessi. Tästä seuraa, että minkä tahansa BI-prosessin tulisi perustua niihin prosesseihin, joiden avulla organisaatiot oppivat. Työssä esitetään myös, miten business intelligence, tietojohtaminen (knowledge management) ja organisaatioiden oppiminen liittyvät toisiinsa.Teknologiaseuranta on elintärkeä toiminto korkean teknologian yritykselle; sitä tarvitaan monella strategisen johtamisen osa-alueella, ainakin teknologia-, markkinointi- ja henkilöstöjohtamisessa. Teknologiaseurannan havaitaan myös olevan korkean teknologian yritykselle erittäin tärkeä ydinosaamisalue, jota ei voi kokonaan ulkoistaa.Työssä esitellään teknologiaseurantaprosessi, joka perustuu yleiselle business intelligence -prosessille ja siitä johdetulle kilpailuseurantaprosessille. Työssä myös esitetään ehdotus siitä, kuinka teknologiaseuranta voitaisiin järjestää korkean teknologian yrityksessä. Esitetty ratkaisu perustuu Community of practice -käsitteeseen. Community of practice on vapaaehtoisuuteen perustuva tiimi, jonka jäseniä yhdistää kiinnostus johonkin asiaan ja oppimishalu. Esimerkkiyrityksessä on tunnistettu selkeä tarve yhtenäiseen ja koordinoituun teknologiaseurantaan. Työssä esitetään alustava teknologiaseurantaprosessi esimerkkiyritykselle ja tunnistetaan teknologiaseurantaprosessin asiakkaat ja tekijät.

Enterprise Portal as a Knowledge Management Tool in a Global Forest Products Company

Tietojohtaminen on osoittautunut nykypäivänä organisaatioiden yhdeksi suurimmaksi haasteeksi. Haasteena ei vain ole se tiedon määrä mitä tulisi hallita, vaan pikemminkin tiedonhallinta toimii yritykselle kilpailuetuna globaalissa yritysmaailmassa. Tämän työn tavoitteena on tutkia yritysportaalin soveltuvuutta tiedonhallintaan globaalissa metsäteollisuusyrityksessä. Lisäksi tavoitteena on selvittää portaalin sovittamista kullekin käyttäjäryhmälle case yrityksessä. Työn teoriaosassa on käsitelty tiedonhallinnan monimuotoisuutta ja vaikeutta kuvata sitä yksiselitteisesti. Lisäksi käyttäjäryhmien ja käyttäjäprofiilien määrittämiseen vaikuttavia seikkoja on selvitetty tässä osassa. Empiirinen osa käsittelee case-yritystä ja sen suhdetta tiedonhallintaan sekä tämän kaltaisen tiedonhallinnan työvälineen käyttöön. Työstä saatujen tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta yritysportaalin soveltuvan hyvin tiedonhallintaan monimutkaisessakin yrityksessä. Portaali muuttaa yrityksen liiketoimintaprosesseja läpinäkyvämmiksi, kun bisneskriittistä tietoa tarjotaan yhdessä paikassa.

Integrating Group Support Systems to innovation process of a forest company

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of Group Support Systems (GSS) to overall efficiency of innovation process. Overall efficiency was found to be a sum of meeting efficiency, product effectiveness, and learning efficiency. These components were studied in various working situations common in early stages of innovation process. In the empirical part of this study, the suitability of GSS at the forest company was assessed. The basics for this study were idea generation meetings held at LUT and results from the surveys done after the sessions. This data combined with the interviews and theoretical background was used to analyze suitability of this technology to organizational culture at the company. The results of this study are divided to theory and case level. On theory level GSS was found to be a potentially valuable tool for innovation managers, especially at the first stages of the process. On case level, GSS was found to be a suitable tool at Stora Enso for further utilization. A five step implementation proposal was built to illustrate what would be the next stages of GSS implementation, if technology was chosen for further implementation.

Supplier process development

Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on parantaa Timberjackin ja Timberjackin toimittajien välistä yhteistyötä ja saattaa Timberjackin toimintatavat toimittajien tietoisuuteen. Aiheen laajuuden vuoksi yksittäisten aihepiirien syvällinen tutkiminen jäi vähäiseksi. Monet globaalit yhtiöt ovat nykyisin ottaneet selkeäksi strategiakseen toimintojensa ulkoistamisen ja tällöin yhtiölle itselleen jää ainoastaan lopputuotteiden kokoonpanon työvaiheet. Tämä tarkoittaa, että ulkoisilta toimittajilta ostetaan entistä enemmän komponentteja ja tuotekokonaisuuksia. Toisaalta taas harvalla toimittajalla on vielä tarvittavaa tieto-taitoa tai resursseja vastata päämiehen lisääntyviin tarpeisiin. Tämä on syy miksi suuret maailmanluokan yhtiöt panostavat nykyisin huomattavia voimavaroja toimittajaketjun kehittämiseen. Diplomityön ensimmäisessä osiossa paneudutaan teoria-asioihin, jotka tulee olla tiedossa kehitettäessä yhteistyötä toimittajien kanssa. Toisessa osassa tutkitaan Timberjackin toimintatapoja, tuotantomallia ja nykyisiä toimittajia. Nämä tiedot ovat välttämättömiä, kun luodaan kokonaiskuvaa toimittajaprosessista ja kun kehitetään uusia työkaluja helpottamaan toimittajien ja Timberjackin välistä yhteistyötä. Työn tuloksena Timberjackilla on nyt toimittajakäsikirja, joka sisältää tietoja, jotka toimittajien tulee huomioida toimiessaan Timberjackin kanssa ja myös ohjeita siitä, kuinka toimittajat voivat kehittää omia prosessejaan.

Projektisapuolten vaatimukset kolmannen sukupolven matkaviestinverkon rakentamisprojektin knowledge management -järjestelmälle

Projektin johtaminen informaatioaikakaudella merkitsee, yhä useammassa tapauksessa, virtuaalisen verkoston tietämyksen hallitsemista ja johtamista. Kolmannen sukupolven matkaviestinverkon rakentaminen on virtuaaliverkostoa hyväkseen käyttävä projekti, joka koostuu lukuisista osapuolista.Matkaviestinverkkoprojektien laajentuminen ja kilpailun kiristyminen alalla ovat nostaneet knowledge management -järjestelmien kysyntää. Kysyntä kohdistuu voimakkaimmin järjestelmiin, joiden avulla matkaviestinverkkotoimitusprojektin kaikki toiminnot pystytään käsittelemään yhdessä järjestelmässä. Tämän tutkimuksen pääasiallisena tavoitteena on ollut selvittää keskeisimmät vaatimukset kolmannen sukupolven matkaviestinverkon rakentamisprojektin knowledge management ?järjestelmälle. Tutkimus toteutettiin kirjallisuuden ja avoimien teemahaastattelujen avulla, käyttäen kvalitatiivisiä tutkimusmenetelmiä.Haastattelut osoittivat, että tärkeimmät vaatimukset kolmannen sukupolven matkaviestinverkkoja rakentavan projektiorganisaation knowledge management -järjestelmälle ovat: 1. Knowledge management -järjestelmän tulee toimia keskitettynä tietovarastona.2. Projektissa käsiteltävään tietoon on pystyttävä porautumaan vähintään prosessi- ja paikkatietoon pohjautuvista näkökulmista. 3. Pääsyn knowledge management -järjestelmään tulee olla mahdollista kaikille projektin osapuolille.4. Pääsyn knowledge management -järjestelmään tulee olla mahdollista mistä tahansa ja mihin kellonaikaan tahansa.5. Knowledge management -järjestelmän käyttöliittymän tulee olla mahdollisimman yksinkertainen. Järjestelmän tulee olla yhteydessä organisaatioiden muihin järjestelmiin.

The Strategic Intent and Launching of a Knowledge Management Tool in a Complex Organisation, case Stora Enso Consumer Boards

Informaatiotulva ja organisaation monimutkaisuus luoneet tarpeen tietämyksen hallinnalle. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tunnistaa muutostarpeet, jotka portaalin käyttöönotto tietämyksenhallintatyökaluna luo. Tutkimuksessa verrataan myös uusia työkaluja olemassa oleviin sekä arvioidaan organisaation kykyä siirtää tietämystä virtuaalisesti. Kirjallisuutta vastaavanlaisista projekteista ei ole ollut saatavilla, sillä käyttöönotettava teknologia on melko uutta. Samaa teknologiaa on käytössä hieman eri alueella, kuin tässä projektissa on tavoitteena. Tutkimus on tapaustutkimus, jonka pääasialliset lähteet ovat erilaisissa kokouksissa tuotettuja dokumentteja. Tutkija on osallistunut aktiivisesti projektityöhön, joten osa taustatiedoista perustuu tutkijan huomioihin sekä vielä keskusteluihin. Teoriaosassa käsitellään tietämyksen jakamista tietämyksen hallinnan ja virtuaalisuuden näkökulmasta. Muutoksen hallintaa on käsitelty lyhyesti tietämyksenhallintatyökalun käyttöönotossa. Tutkimus liittyy Stora Enso Consumer Boardsin tietämyksen hallintaprojektiin.

Repetitive Deliberate Fires: Critical Review of the Situation and Proposal of a Follow-Up Process and Systematic Analysis

Deliberate fires appear to be borderless and timeless events creating a serious security problem. There have been many attempts to develop approaches to tackle this problem, but unfortunately acting effectively against deliberate fires has proven a complex challenge. This article reviews the current situation relating to deliberate fires: what do we know, how serious is the situation, how is it being dealt with, and what challenges are faced when developing a systematic and global methodology to tackle the issues? The repetitive nature of some types of deliberate fires will also be discussed. Finally, drawing on the reality of repetition within deliberate fires and encouraged by successes obtained in previous repetitive crimes (such as property crimes or drug trafficking), we will argue that the use of the intelligence process cycle as a framework to allow a follow-up and systematic analysis of fire events is a relevant approach. This is the first article of a series of three articles. This first part is introducing the context and discussing the background issues in order to provide a better underpinning knowledge to managers and policy makers planning on tackling this issue. The second part will present a methodology developed to detect and identify repetitive fire events from a set of data, and the third part will discuss the analyses of these data to produce intelligence.