Process Evaluation and Business Process Reengineering in Forest Industry

Pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää millaisia muutoksia uusi SAP-pohjainen järjestelmä aiheuttaa metsäteollisuusyrityksen hankinta-prosesseissa ja ostajien työssä. Tilannetta tarkasteltiin myös liiketoiminta-prosessien uudistamisprojektina. Tutkimus oli kvalitatiivinen case-tutkimus, jonka lähteinä olivat haastattelut ja prosessikuvaukset. Hankintaprosessit on pyritty standardisoimaan ja kuvaamaan tarkasti, koska järjestelmä on tarkoitus ottaa vähitellen käyttöön yrityksen kaikissa toimipisteissä. Teoriaosassa käsiteltiin globaalia hankintaa, erilaisia tilauksia, sähköistä liiketoimintaa ja uudistettujen liiketoimintaprosessien käyttöönottoa sekä siihen liittyviä haasteita. Yritys pyrkii kehittämään hankintatoimintaansa ja hyödyntämään kokonsa tuomia mittakaavaetuja, uusi järjestelmä on merkittävä osa tätä kehitystyötä. Haastattelujen perusteella uusi järjestelmä on toivottu ja siihen kohdistuu paljon odotuksia. Järjestelmän käyttöönotto tulee olemaanhaastava tehtävä, koska järjestelmän käyttäjiä on paljon ja loppukäyttäjät tekevät entistä enemmän tapahtumia järjestelmään tilausaloitteiden ja kotiinkutsujenmuodossa. Tehdasostajien roolissa tapahtuu muutoksia, rutiinitilaamisen vähentyessä he toimivat tietoa molempiin suuntiin jakavina linkkeinä keskitetyn hankinta-organisaation ja tehtaan välissä.

Project controlling and risk management in German machine and plant engineering industry

Tutkielman tavoitteena on määritellä projektikontrolloinnin ja - riskijohtamisen roolit ja toiminnot saksalaisissa kone- ja tehdassuunnitteluteollisuusyrityksissä. Tämä on kvalitatiivinen tutkielma, jossa käytetään voimakkaasti kuvailevia metodeita. Materiaali tutkimuksen empiiriseen osaan kerättiin kyselykaavakkeen avulla. Kyselykaavakkeiden tulokset käsiteltiin Microsoft Office Access- ohjelmalla ja analysoitiin Microsoft Office Excel- ohjelmalla ja Pivot table- työkalun avulla. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että asianmukaisessa projektikontrollointi- ja riskijohtamismetodien käytössä ja käyttötiheydessä esiintyy puutteita saksalaisissa kone- ja tehdassuunnitteluteollisuusyrityksissä. Tehostamalla ja keskittymällä enemmän projektikontrollointi- ja riskijohtamismetodeihin ja prosesseihin sekä projektien että yritysten suorituskyky paranisi.

Assessing Strategic IT Investments of Forest Industry by Means of the Real Options Approach, Case: Stora Enso

Tutkimuksen päämääränä oli tutkia miten reaalioptiomenetelmä soveltuu metsäteollisuuden strategisten informaatioteknologiainvestointien arvioimiseen. Tässä tutkimuksessa muodostettiin mukautettu reaalioptiosovelluskehys, esiteltyjen reaalioptiosovelluskehyksien perusteella. Valitut investointiehdotukset arvioitiin muodostetun sovelluskehyksen avulla. Tutkimus oli luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen. Pääasiallisia tiedonlähteitä olivat lehtiartikkelit, GDSS -istunnot ja haastattelut. Tutkimuksen tuloksena selvisi, että reaalioptiomenetelmä sopii metsäteollisuudenstrategisten informaatioteknologiainvestointien arvioimiseen. On kuitenkin huomioitava, että investoinnin suunnitteluprosessin kypsyysaste vaikuttaa reaalioptiomenetelmän soveltamiseen. Tutkimuksessa arvioidut investoinnit ovat investoinnin suunnitteluvaiheen varhaisessa vaiheessa.

Value added logistics in supply and demand chain. Smile. Part 2. eBusiness in a service business. Case: A maintenance and operations network in forest industry

VVALOSADE is a research project of professor Anita Lukka's VALORE research team in the Lappeenranta University of Technology. The VALOSADE includes the ELO technology program of Tekes. SMILE is one of four subprojects of the VALOSADE. The SMILE study focuses on the case of the company network that is composed of small and micro-sized mechanical maintenance service providers and forest industry as large-scale customers. The basic principle of the SMILE study is the communication and ebusiness in supply and demand networks. The aim of the study is to develop ebusiness strategy, ebusiness model and e-processes among the SME local service providers, and onthe other hand, between the local service provider network and the forest industry customers in a maintenance and operations service business. A literature review, interviews and benchmarking are used as research methods in this qualitative case study. The first SMILE report, 'Ebusiness between Global Company and Its Local SME Supplier Network', concentrated on creating background for the SMILE study by studying general trends of ebusiness in supply chains and networks of different industries. This second phase of the study concentrates on case network background, such as business relationships, information systems and business objectives; core processes in maintenance and operations service network; development needs in communication among the network participants; and ICT solutions to respond needs in changing environment. In the theory part of the report, different ebusiness models and frameworks are introduced. Those models and frameworks are compared to empirical case data. From that analysis of the empirical data, therecommendations for the development of the network information system are derived. In process industry such as the forest industry, it is crucial to achieve a high level of operational efficiency and reliability, which sets up great requirements for maintenance and operations. Therefore, partnerships or strategic alliances are needed between the network participants. In partnerships and alliances, deep communication is important, and therefore the information systems in the network also are critical. Communication, coordination and collaboration will increase in the case network in the future, because network resources must be optimised to improve competitive capability of the forest industry customers and theefficiency of their service providers. At present, ebusiness systems are not usual in this maintenance network. A network information system among the forest industry customers and their local service providers actually is the only genuinenetwork information system in this total network. However, the utilisation of that system has been quite insignificant. The current system does not add value enough either to the customers or to the local service providers. At present, thenetwork information system is the infomediary that share static information forthe network partners. The network information system should be the transaction intermediary, which integrates internal processes of the network companies; the network information system, which provides common standardised processes for thelocal service providers; and the infomediary, which share static and dynamic information on right time, on right partner, on right costs, on right format and on right quality. This study provides recommendations how to develop this system in the future to add value to the network companies. Ebusiness scenarios, vision, objectives, strategies, application architecture, ebusiness model, core processes and development strategy must be considered when the network information system will be developed in the next development step. The core processes in the case network are demand/capacity management, customer/supplier relationship management, service delivery management, knowledge management and cash flow management. Most benefits from ebusiness solutions come from the electrifying of operational level processes, such as service delivery management and cash flow management.

The value of future opportunities: comparison of information technology firms and forest companies

There are several alternatives for valuing the future opportunities of firms. The traditional appraisal methods for single projects such as net present value, internalrate of return and payback rules have been criticized in recent years. It has been said that they do not take into account all growth opportunities of firms. At the company level, business valuation is traditionally based on financial and market information. Yield estimates, net worth values and market values of shares are commonly used. Naturally, all valuation methods have their own strengths and shortcomings. In the background of most estimation rules there is the idea that the future of the firms is quite clear and predictable. However, in recent times the business environment of most companies has changed to a more unpredictable direction and the effects of uncertainty have increased. There has been a growing interest in estimating the risks and values of future possibilities. The aim of the current paper is to describe the difference between the value of futureopportunities in information technology firms and forest companies, and also toanalyse the backgrounds for the observed gap.

Choice of Optimal MembraneProcesses for Economical Treatment of Paper Machine Clear Filtrate

In this thesis membrane filtration of paper machnie clear filtrate was studied. The aim of the study was to find membrane processes which are able to produce economically water of sufficient purity from paper machine white water or its saveall clarified fractions for reuse in the paper machnie short circulation. Factors affecting membrane fouling in this application were also studied. The thesis gives an overview af experiments done on a laboratory and a pilot scale with several different membranes and membrane modules. The results were judged by the obtained flux, the fouling tendency and the permeate quality assessed with various chemical analyses. It was shown that membrane modules which used a turbulence promotor of some kind gave the highest fluexes. However, the results showed that the greater the reduction in the concentration polarisation layer caused by increased turbulence in the module, the smaller the reductions in measured substances. Out of the micro-, ultra- and nanofiltration membranes tested, only nanofiltration memebranes produced permeate whose quality was very close to that of the chemically treated raw water used as fresh water in most paper mills today and which should thus be well suited for reuse as shower water both in the wire and press section. It was also shown that a one stage nanofiltration process was more effective than processes in which micro- or ultrafiltration was used as pretreatment for nanofiltration. It was generally observed that acidic pH, high organic matter content, the presence of multivalent ions, hydrophobic membrane material and high membrane cutoff increased the fouling tendency of the membranes.

Numerical and ExperimentalModelling of Gas Flow and Heat Transfer in the Air Gap of An Electric Machine

This work deals with the cooling of high-speed electric machines, such as motors and generators, through an air gap. It consists of numerical and experimental modelling of gas flow and heat transfer in an annular channel. Velocity and temperature profiles are modelled in the air gap of a high-speed testmachine. Local and mean heat transfer coefficients and total friction coefficients are attained for a smooth rotor-stator combination at a large velocity range. The aim is to solve the heat transfer numerically and experimentally. The FINFLO software, developed at Helsinki University of Technology, has been used in the flow solution, and the commercial IGG and Field view programs for the grid generation and post processing. The annular channel is discretized as a sector mesh. Calculation is performed with constant mass flow rate on six rotational speeds. The effect of turbulence is calculated using three turbulence models. The friction coefficient and velocity factor are attained via total friction power. The first part of experimental section consists of finding the proper sensors and calibrating them in a straight pipe. After preliminary tests, a RdF-sensor is glued on the walls of stator and rotor surfaces. Telemetry is needed to be able to measure the heat transfer coefficients at the rotor. The mean heat transfer coefficients are measured in a test machine on four cooling air mass flow rates at a wide Couette Reynolds number range. The calculated values concerning the friction and heat transfer coefficients are compared with measured and semi-empirical data. Heat is transferred from the hotter stator and rotor surfaces to the coolerair flow in the air gap, not from the rotor to the stator via the air gap, althought the stator temperature is lower than the rotor temperature. The calculatedfriction coefficients fits well with the semi-empirical equations and precedingmeasurements. On constant mass flow rate the rotor heat transfer coefficient attains a saturation point at a higher rotational speed, while the heat transfer coefficient of the stator grows uniformly. The magnitudes of the heat transfer coefficients are almost constant with different turbulence models. The calibrationof sensors in a straight pipe is only an advisory step in the selection process. Telemetry is tested in the pipe conditions and compared to the same measurements with a plain sensor. The magnitudes of the measured data and the data from the semi-empirical equation are higher for the heat transfer coefficients than thenumerical data considered on the velocity range. Friction and heat transfer coefficients are presented in a large velocity range in the report. The goals are reached acceptably using numerical and experimental research. The next challenge is to achieve results for grooved stator-rotor combinations. The work contains also results for an air gap with a grooved stator with 36 slots. The velocity field by the numerical method does not match in every respect the estimated flow mode. The absence of secondary Taylor vortices is evident when using time averagednumerical simulation.

Torque vibration model of axial-flux surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous machine

In order that the radius and thus ununiform structure of the teeth and otherelectrical and magnetic parts of the machine may be taken into consideration the calculation of an axial flux permanent magnet machine is, conventionally, doneby means of 3D FEM-methods. This calculation procedure, however, requires a lotof time and computer recourses. This study proves that also analytical methods can be applied to perform the calculation successfully. The procedure of the analytical calculation can be summarized into following steps: first the magnet is divided into slices, which makes the calculation for each section individually, and then the parts are submitted to calculation of the final results. It is obvious that using this method can save a lot of designing and calculating time. Thecalculation program is designed to model the magnetic and electrical circuits of surface mounted axial flux permanent magnet synchronous machines in such a way, that it takes into account possible magnetic saturation of the iron parts. Theresult of the calculation is the torque of the motor including the vibrations. The motor geometry and the materials and either the torque or pole angle are defined and the motor can be fed with an arbitrary shape and amplitude of three-phase currents. There are no limits for the size and number of the pole pairs nor for many other factors. The calculation steps and the number of different sections of the magnet are selectable, but the calculation time is strongly depending on this. The results are compared to the measurements of real prototypes. The permanent magnet creates part of the flux in the magnetic circuit. The form and amplitude of the flux density in the air-gap depends on the geometry and material of the magnetic circuit, on the length of the air-gap and remanence flux density of the magnet. Slotting is taken into account by using the Carter factor in the slot opening area. The calculation is simple and fast if the shape of the magnetis a square and has no skew in relation to the stator slots. With a more complicated magnet shape the calculation has to be done in several sections. It is clear that according to the increasing number of sections also the result will become more accurate. In a radial flux motor all sections of the magnets create force with a same radius. In the case of an axial flux motor, each radial section creates force with a different radius and the torque is the sum of these. The magnetic circuit of the motor, consisting of the stator iron, rotor iron, air-gap, magnet and the slot, is modelled with a reluctance net, which considers the saturation of the iron. This means, that several iterations, in which the permeability is updated, has to be done in order to get final results. The motor torque is calculated using the instantaneous linkage flux and stator currents. Flux linkage is called the part of the flux that is created by the permanent magnets and the stator currents passing through the coils in stator teeth. The angle between this flux and the phase currents define the torque created by the magnetic circuit. Due to the winding structure of the stator and in order to limit the leakage flux the slot openings of the stator are normally not made of ferromagnetic material even though, in some cases, semimagnetic slot wedges are used. In the slot opening faces the flux enters the iron almost normally (tangentially with respect to the rotor flux) creating tangential forces in the rotor. This phenomenon iscalled cogging. The flux in the slot opening area on the different sides of theopening and in the different slot openings is not equal and so these forces do not compensate each other. In the calculation it is assumed that the flux entering the left side of the opening is the component left from the geometrical centre of the slot. This torque component together with the torque component calculated using the Lorenz force make the total torque of the motor. It is easy to assume that when all the magnet edges, where the derivative component of the magnet flux density is at its highest, enter the slot openings at the same time, this will have as a result a considerable cogging torque. To reduce the cogging torquethe magnet edges can be shaped so that they are not parallel to the stator slots, which is the common way to solve the problem. In doing so, the edge may be spread along the whole slot pitch and thus also the high derivative component willbe spread to occur equally along the rotation. Besides forming the magnets theymay also be placed somewhat asymmetric on the rotor surface. The asymmetric distribution can be made in many different ways. All the magnets may have a different deflection of the symmetrical centre point or they can be for example shiftedin pairs. There are some factors that limit the deflection. The first is that the magnets cannot overlap. The magnet shape and the relative width compared to the pole define the deflection in this case. The other factor is that a shifting of the poles limits the maximum torque of the motor. If the edges of adjacent magnets are very close to each other the leakage flux from one pole to the other increases reducing thus the air-gap magnetization. The asymmetric model needs some assumptions and simplifications in order to limit the size of the model and calculation time. The reluctance net is made for symmetric distribution. If the magnets are distributed asymmetrically the flux in the different pole pairs will not be exactly the same. Therefore, the assumption that the flux flows from the edges of the model to the next pole pairs, in the calculation model from one edgeto the other, is not correct. If it were wished for that this fact should be considered in multi-pole pair machines, this would mean that all the poles, in other words the whole machine, should be modelled in reluctance net. The error resulting from this wrong assumption is, nevertheless, irrelevant.

Modelling bird species richness with neural networks for forest landscape management in NE Spain

Para preservar la biodiversidad de los ecosistemas forestales de la Europa mediterránea en escenarios actuales y futuros de cambio global mediante una gestión forestal sostenible es necesario determinar cómo influye el medio ambiente y las propias características de los bosques sobre la biodiversidad que éstos albergan. Con este propósito, se analizó la influencia de diferentes factores ambientales y de estructura y composición del bosque sobre la riqueza de aves forestales a escala 1 × 1 km en Cataluña (NE de España). Se construyeron modelos univariantes y multivariantes de redes neuronales para respectivamente explorar la respuesta individual a las variables y obtener un modelo parsimonioso (ecológicamente interpretable) y preciso. La superficie de bosque (con una fracción de cabida cubierta superior a 5%), la fracción de cabida cubierta media, la temperatura anual y la precipitación estival medias fueron los mejores predictores de la riqueza de aves forestales. La red neuronal multivariante obtenida tuvo una buena capacidad de generalización salvo en las localidades con una mayor riqueza. Además, los bosques con diferentes grados de apertura del dosel arbóreo, más maduros y más diversos en cuanto a su composición de especies arbóreas se asociaron de forma positiva con una mayor riqueza de aves forestales. Finalmente, se proporcionan directrices de gestión para la planificación forestal que permitan promover la diversidad ornítica en esta región de la Europa mediterránea.

Stable isotopes in arid and semi-arid forest systems

El empleo de isótopos estables en el ámbito de la ecología forestal ha ido creciendo progresivamente en las últimas dos décadas. Cabe esperar que esta tendencia se mantenga en el futuro, ya que éstos aportan una visión integradora de cómo las plantas, hoy y en el pasado, han interaccionado con el medio así como con otros organismos. Su implementación es particularmente relevante en climas secos debido a la fuerte limitación de recursos que en ellos acontece. Tras una breve introducción sobre las bases teóricas de los isótopos estables en fisiología vegetal, esta revisión destaca, sobre diferentes escalas espaciales y temporales, los últimos avances en ecología forestal empleando esta metodología y con un énfasis especial en los sistemas áridos y semiáridos.

The importance of sonographer experience and machine quality with regards to the role of musculoskeletal ultrasound in routine care of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

OBJECTIVES: Regarding recent progress, musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) will probably soon be integrated in standard care of patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, in daily care, quality of US machines and level of experience of sonographers are varied. We conducted a study to assess reproducibility and feasibility of an US scoring for RA, including US devices of different quality and rheumatologist with various levels of expertise in US as it would be in daily care. METHODS: The Swiss Sonography in Arthritis and Rheumatism (SONAR) group has developed a semi-quantitative score using OMERACT criteria for synovitis and erosion in RA. The score was taught to 108 rheumatologists trained in US. One year after the last workshop, 19 rheumatologists participated in the study. Scans were performed on 6 US machines ranging from low to high quality, each with a different patient. Weighted kappa was calculated for each pair of readers. RESULTS: Overall, the agreement was fair to moderate. Quality of device, experience of the sonographers and practice of the score before the study improved substantially the agreement. Agreement assessed on higher quality machine, among sonographers with good experience in US increased to substantial (median kappa for B-mode and Doppler: 0.64 and 0.41 for erosion). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated feasibility and reproducibility of the Swiss US SONAR score for RA. Our results confirmed importance of the quality of US machine and the training of sonographers for the implementation of US scoring in the routine daily care of RA.

Correlated genetic effects on reproduction define a domestication syndrome in a forest tree.

Compared to natural selection, domestication implies a dramatic change in traits linked to fitness. A number of traits conferring fitness in the wild might be detrimental under domestication, and domesticated species typically differ from their ancestors in a set of traits known as the domestication syndrome. Specifically, trade-offs between growth and reproduction are well established across the tree of life. According to allocation theory, selection for growth rate is expected to indirectly alter life-history reproductive traits, diverting resources from reproduction to growth. Here we tested this hypothesis by examining the genetic change and correlated responses of reproductive traits as a result of selection for timber yield in the tree Pinus pinaster. Phenotypic selection was carried out in a natural population, and progenies from selected trees were compared with those of control trees in a common garden experiment. According to expectations, we detected a genetic change in important life-history traits due to selection. Specifically, threshold sizes for reproduction were much higher and reproductive investment relative to size significantly lower in the selected progenies just after a single artificial selection event. Our study helps to define the domestication syndrome in exploited forest trees and shows that changes affecting developmental pathways are relevant in domestication processes of long-lived plants.

Preferred Spatial Frequencies for Human Face Processing Are Associated with Optimal Class Discrimination in the Machine

Psychophysical studies suggest that humans preferentially use a narrow band of low spatial frequencies for face recognition. Here we asked whether artificial face recognition systems have an improved recognition performance at the same spatial frequencies as humans. To this end, we estimated recognition performance over a large database of face images by computing three discriminability measures: Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis, Non-Parametric Discriminant Analysis, and Mutual Information. In order to address frequency dependence, discriminabilities were measured as a function of (filtered) image size. All three measures revealed a maximum at the same image sizes, where the spatial frequency content corresponds to the psychophysical found frequencies. Our results therefore support the notion that the critical band of spatial frequencies for face recognition in humans and machines follows from inherent properties of face images, and that the use of these frequencies is associated with optimal face recognition performance.