NH90-helikopterin soveltuvuus Personnel Recovery –operaation suorittamiseen

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan Puolustusvoimien käyttämän NH90-kuljetushelikopterin soveltuvuutta Personnel Recovery -operaation CSAR-menetelmän kuljetusalustaksi. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, kuinka hyvin NH90-helikopteri vastaa Naton asettamiin vaatimuksiin taistelukentän etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaa suorittavalle kulje-tushelikopterille vertaamalla NH90-helikopterin laitteiden ja järjestelmien tuottamaa suorituskykyä Naton vaatimuksiin. Kyseessä on laadullinen tutkimus, jonka tutkimusstrategiana on käytetty tapaustutki-musta. Tutkielman lähdeaineiston rungon muodostavat kirjalliset lähteet, joita on tut-kittu käyttämällä aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysia. Tutkimuksen johtopäätökset on saatu vertailemalla eri alalukujen tuloksia keskenään. Lähdeaineistoista merkittävim-piä ovat Naton Personnel Recovery -toimintaa käsittelevät doktriinit sekä NH90-helikopteria ja sen ominaisuuksia käsittelevät valmistajan sekä Helikopteripataljoonan julkaisemat tekstit. Tärkeiden ominaisuuksien kohdalla tietoa on pyritty keräämään useammasta paikasta, ja näin parantamaan tutkielman luotettavuutta. Tutkimus osoittaa, että NH90-helikopteri soveltuu sodan ja kriisinaikaiseen etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaan hyvin. NH90-helikopterin suunnittelussa on pyritty ottamaan kat-tavasti huomioon nykyaikaisen sodankäynnin kuljetushelikoptereita vastaan asettamat uhkakuvat, jonka vuoksi se vastaa Naton asettamiin vaatimuksiin erinomaisesti. On kuitenkin huomioitava, että kyseessä on hyvin tuore helikopterityyppi, jonka todelli-nen käytännön testi karuissa olosuhteissa on vielä näkemättä. Tästä huolimatta voi-daan todeta, että NH90 on suunniteltu uhka-alueella toimivaksi monipuoliseksi ja muuntautumiskykyiseksi kuljetushelikopteriksi, jolla voidaan toteuttaa haastavia ope-raatioita vaikeissakin olosuhteissa. Vaikka tutkimus on hyvin teoreettinen, voidaan sen tuloksia pitää realistisina. Tutki-mus toimii hyvänä perustana etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaan liittyvissä asioissa, mutta aiheen laajuuden vuoksi jatkotutkimusta tarvitaan, jotta aiheeseen voidaan paneutua syvällisemmin, ja asiasta voidaan tehdä merkittäviä johtopäätöksiä.

Service Productization and Product Servitization in The Contract Manufacturing Company

The role of contract manufacturing and subcontracting has been seen in black and white in product and service point of view. It used to be seen either as a product or a service. In the thesis product-service system, offering combining products and services, was discussed. Theory was created from two perspectives; Service productization via Business Model generation and product servitization via New Service Development process. Target for the case study was to point out new ways of service thinking and ways for changing business environment in contract manufacturing, especially in customer satisfaction and profitability point of view. The case study is following the New Service Development process phases. First ideas were collected from literature and via sales management interviews. Service offering and tool for service requirement evaluation was created. Last financial results of example service scenarios were calculated. It is recommended to take service offering into internal use and further develop it into modular service model. It is also recommended to take created customer service requirement evaluation tool into use for capturing customer service needs but also for communicating those internally.

Wastewater Treatment and Deinking Sludge Utilization Possibilities for Energy and Material Recovery in the Leningrad Region

Operation of pulp and paper mills generates waste including wastewater treatment sludge and deinking sludge. Both sludge types are generated in large amounts and are mainly disposed of in landfills in the Leningrad Region resulting in environmental degradation. The thesis was aimed at seeking new sustainable ways of sludge utilization. Two paper mills operating in the Leningrad Region and landfilling their sludge were identified: “SCA Hygiene Products Russia” and “Knauf”. The former generates 150 t/day of deinking sludge, the latter – 145 t/day of secondary sludge. Chemical analyses of deinking sludge were performed to assess applicability of sludge in construction materials production processes. Higher heating value on dry basis of both sludge types was determined to evaluate energy potential of sludge generated in the Leningrad Region. Total energy output from sludge incineration was calculated. Deinking sludge could be utilized in the production process of “LSR-Cement” or “Slantsy Cement Plant Cesla” factories, and “Pobeda” and “Nikolsky” brick mills without exceeding current sludge management costs.

Industrial solution business – transition from product to solution offering

The business logic in the manufacturing industry has changed in the 21st century. In the current industrial market, manufacturers are driven to provide more comprehensive offerings that go beyond the traditional product-orientation by providing capacity and availability for their customers. From incidental merchandise, services have become the core of manufacturers’ offerings with long-lasting service agreements over the life-cycles of their products. This change is driven both by the need of providers to grow and gain competitive advantage and by increased customer demand caused by customers’ outsourcing trends. The three key drivers for manufacturers’ service strategies are outsourcing trends, saturation of the installed base, and commoditization in product markets. Thus, manufacturers focus on providing industrial solutions which are delivered through relational processes with customers by using solution-driven business models. In the management of marketing activities, this can be regarded as closer customer relationships, service-dominant business logic, and collaboration in solving customers’ problems. However, there are few studies on comprehensive conceptualizations of a solution offering that include different elements and their roles, especially in the context of capital goods industry. Also the transition process needs further studies in a real life context. This study explores the transition process of an industrial company from product to solution business and, as an aid to managing the solution business, explicates the structure and management of an industrial solution offering. There are two themes, the industrial transition process and industrial solution offering. Regarding the industrial transition process, the aim is to understand the supplier view on the process and its execution and to determine the challenges related to the transition process. The industrial solution offering is discussed by its elements and characteristics, as well as management. Furthermore, a special type of build-own-operate-transfer business model is presented and its suitability in the industrial context analyzed. The study includes findings achieved by qualitative methods and from four case companies. Based on the results, it is tentatively suggested that in the industrial solution business, the transition from product to solution business is not a linear project but an evolving process that varies according to customer needs, which suggests that companies need to possess an ability to develop new business models for different customer needs. The industrial solution offering is dynamic as it evolves in collaboration according to the prevailing and latent customer needs, which suggest restructuring of the organization from a product-centric to a customer-centric one. Furthermore, based on the findings, the concept of industrial solutions is defined as an ongoing relational process to satisfy a customer’s particular business or operational requirements, and the concept of industrial solution offering as an entity comprising the customized goods, services, collaboration, and finance needed to fulfill the industrial solution. Finally, the study offers several managerial implications for industrial managers involved in the transition and management of the solution business and its offering.

Improving the competitiveness of electrolytic Zinc process by chemical reaction engineering approach

This doctoral thesis describes the development work performed on the leachand purification sections in the electrolytic zinc plant in Kokkola to increase the efficiency in these two stages, and thus the competitiveness of the plant. Since metallic zinc is a typical bulk product, the improvement of the competitiveness of a plant was mostly an issue of decreasing unit costs. The problems in the leaching were low recovery of valuable metals from raw materials, and that the available technology offered complicated and expensive processes to overcome this problem. In the purification, the main problem was consumption of zinc powder - up to four to six times the stoichiometric demand. This reduced the capacity of the plant as this zinc is re-circulated through the electrolysis, which is the absolute bottleneck in a zinc plant. Low selectivity gave low-grade and low-value precipitates for further processing to metallic copper, cadmium, cobalt and nickel. Knowledge of the underlying chemistry was poor and process interruptions causing losses of zinc production were frequent. Studies on leaching comprised the kinetics of ferrite leaching and jarosite precipitation, as well as the stability of jarosite in acidic plant solutions. A breakthrough came with the finding that jarosite could precipitate under conditions where ferrite would leach satisfactorily. Based on this discovery, a one-step process for the treatment of ferrite was developed. In the plant, the new process almost doubled the recovery of zinc from ferrite in the same equipment as the two-step jarosite process was operated in at that time. In a later expansion of the plant, investment savings were substantial compared to other technologies available. In the solution purification, the key finding was that Co, Ni, and Cu formed specific arsenides in the “hot arsenic zinc dust” step. This was utilized for the development of a three-step purification stage based on fluidized bed technology in all three steps, i.e. removal of Cu, Co and Cd. Both precipitation rates and selectivity increased, which strongly decreased the zinc powder consumption through a substantially suppressed hydrogen gas evolution. Better selectivity improved the value of the precipitates: cadmium, which caused environmental problems in the copper smelter, was reduced from 1-3% reported normally down to 0.05 %, and a cobalt cake with 15 % Co was easily produced in laboratory experiments in the cobalt removal. The zinc powder consumption in the plant for a solution containing Cu, Co, Ni and Cd (1000, 25, 30 and 350 mg/l, respectively), was around 1.8 g/l; i.e. only 1.4 times the stoichiometric demand – or, about 60% saving in powder consumption. Two processes for direct leaching of the concentrate under atmospheric conditions were developed, one of which was implemented in the Kokkola zinc plant. Compared to the existing pressure leach technology, savings were obtained mostly in investment. The scientific basis for the most important processes and process improvements is given in the doctoral thesis. This includes mathematical modeling and thermodynamic evaluation of experimental results and hypotheses developed. Five of the processes developed in this research and development program were implemented in the plant and are still operated. Even though these processes were developed with the focus on the plant in Kokkola, they can also be implemented at low cost in most of the zinc plants globally, and have thus a great significance in the development of the electrolytic zinc process in general.

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

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

The contributions of netnography in new product development

Netnography has been studying in various aspects (e.g. definitions of netnography, application of netngoraphy, conducting procedure…) within different industrial contexts. Besides, there are many studies and researches about new product development in various perspectives, such as new product development models, management of new product development project, or interaction between customers and new product design, and so on. However, the connection and the interaction between netnography and new product development have not been studied recently. This opens opportunities for the writer to study and explore unrevealed issues regarding to applying netnography in new product development. In term of the relation between netnography and new product development, there are numerous of matters need to be explored; for instance, the process of applying netnography in order to benefit to new product development, the involvement degree of netnography in new product development process, or eliminating useless information from netnography so that only crucial data is utilized, and so on. In this thesis, writer focuses on exploring how netnography is applied in new product development process, and what benefits netnography can contribute to the succeed of the project. The aims of this study are to understand how netnography is conducted for new product development purpose, and to analyse the contributions of netnography in the new product development process. To do so, a case-study strategy will be conducted with triple case studies. The case studies are chosen bases on many different criteria in order to select the most relevant cases. Eventually, the writer selected three case studies, which are Sunless tanning product project (HYVE), Listerine (NetBase), and Nivea co-creation and netnography in black and white deodorant. The case study strategy applied in this thesis includes four steps e.g. case selection, data collection, case study analysis, and generating the research outcomes from the analysis. This study of the contributions of netnography in the new product development process may be useful for the readers in many ways. It offers the fundamental knowledge of netnography market research method and basic understanding of new product development process. Additionally, it emphasizes the differences between netnography and other market research methods in order to explain the reasons why many companies and market research agents recently utilized netnography in their market research projects. Furthermore, it highlights the contributions of netnography in the new product development process in order to indicate the importance of netnography in developing new product. Thus, the potential readers of the study can be students, marketers, researchers, product developers, or business managers.

Managing Customer Issues through a Support Channel Network

The importance of after-sales service or service in general can be seen and experienced by customers every day with industrial as well as other non-industrial services or products. This dissertation, drawing on theory and experience, focuses on practical engineering implications, specifically the management of customer issues in the after-sales phase in the mobile phone arena. The main objective of this doctoral dissertation is to investigate customer after-sales issue management, specifically regarding mobile phones. The case studies focus on issue resolution time and the issue of corrective actions. This dissertation consists of a main body and four peer-reviewed journal articles and one manuscript currently under review by a peer-reviewed journal. The main body of this dissertation examines the elements of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention with respect to corrective actions to address customer issues and issue resolution time through literature and empirical studies. The five independent works are case studies supporting the thesis research questions. This study examines four questions: 1) What are the factors affecting corrective actions for customers? 2) How can customer issue resolution time be controlled? 3) What are the factors affecting processes in the service chain? and 4) How can communication be measured in a service chain? In this work, both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods are used. The main body of the thesis reviews the literature regarding the elements that bridge the five case studies. The case studies of the articles and surveys lean more toward the methodology of critical positivism and then apply the interpretive approach in interpreting the results. The case study articles employ various statistical methods to analyze and to interpret the empirical and survey data. The statistical methods were used to create a model that is useful for significantly optimizing issue resolution time. Moreover, it was found that samples for verifying issues provided by the customer neither improve the perceived quality of corrective actions nor the perceived quality of issue resolution time. The term “service” in this work is limited to the technical services that are provided by product manufacturers and after-sales authorized service vendors. On the basis of this research work, it has been observed that corrective actions and issue resolution time are associated with customer satisfaction and hence, according to induction theory, to customer loyalty and retention. This thesis utilizes knowledge of marketing and customer relationships to contribute to the existing body of knowledge concerning information and communication technology for after-sales service recovery of mobile terminals. The established models in the thesis contribute to the existing knowledge of the after-sales process of dealing with customer issues in the field of mobile phones. The findings suggest that process managers could focus more on communication and training provided to the staff as new technology evolves rapidly. The study also suggest the managers formulate strategies for how customers can be kept informed on a regular basis of the status of issues that have been escalated for corrective action. The findings also lay the foundation for the comprehensive objective to control the entire product development process, starting with conceptualization. This implies that robust design should be applied to the new products so that problems affecting customer service quality are not repeated. The objective will be achieved when the entire service chain from product development to the final user can be modeled and this model can be used to support the organization at all levels.

PDM system functions and utilizations analysis to improve efficiency of sheet metal product design and manufacturing

This study will concentrate on Product Data Management (PDM) systems, and sheet metal design features and classification. In this thesis, PDM is seen as an individual system which handles all product-related data and information. The meaning of relevant data is to take the manufacturing process further with fewer errors. The features of sheet metals are giving more information and value to the designed models. The possibility of implementing PDM and sheet metal features recognition are the core of this study. Their integration should make the design process faster and manufacturing-friendly products easier to design. The triangulation method is the basis for this research. The sections of this triangle are: scientific literature review, interview using the Delphi method and the author’s experience and observations. The main key findings of this study are: (1) the area of focus in triangle (the triangle of three different point of views: business, information exchange and technical) depends on the person’s background and their role in the company, (2) the classification in the PDM system (and also in the CAD system) should be done using the materials, tools and machines that are in use in the company and (3) the design process has to be more effective because of the increase of industrial production, sheet metal blank production and the designer’s time spent on actual design and (4) because Design For Manufacture (DFM) integration can be done with CAD-programs, DFM integration with the PDM system should also be possible.

How can we agree on some product agnostic repository function fundamentals?

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Software product line for power converters

Työn tilaajana toimi Visedo Oy. Työn tavoitteina oli tutkia Visedo Oy:n ohjelmistokehityksen nykytila, tunnistaa seuraavat parannuskohteet ja antaa ohjeita havaittujen parannuskohteiden korjaamiseksi. Visedo Oy:n tehonmuokkain ohjelmistokehityksen nykytilaa käsiteltiin neljän valitun osa-alueen näkökulmasta: ohjelmistoarkkitehtuurityyli, komponenttipohjainen ohjelmistokehitys, ohjelmistotuotelinjojen kehitysmenetelmät ja ohjelmistovariaatioiden hallinta. Valituilla osa-alueilla havaittujen parannuskohteiden perusteella annettiin korjausehdotuksia: ohjelmistoarkkitehtuurin rakenteeseen, komponenttien jakautumiselle, komponenttien koostamiselle ja komponenttien versioinnille. Lisäksi ehdotettiin uudenlaista ohjelmistotuotelinja rakennetta, joka yhdistää kerros- ja komponenttipohjaiset arkkitehtuurityylit mahdollistaen ominaisuuksiltaan eroavien tehonmuokkain ohjelmistojen hallinnan.

Service paradox in a product oriented company: A service business development case

The master´s thesis had three aims; to develop a service portfolio, to support the management of services through the developed portfolio, and evaluate effects of service differentiation strategy on the future selection of services. The product oriented case company in service paradox is Hilti (Suomi) Oy, which is entering systematic service management era, supported by the late strategic change. Low return on service business investments is referred as service paradox. The project was carried out as a case study, where the primary information source was twenty-one conducted interviews. The theory part focuses on marketing logics, service strategies, and categorization of services. The empirical part contributes in solving the aim related research questions. As a result of the case study a service portfolio was created, next further steps in service management were suggested, and the effect on selection of services by service differentiation strategy was evaluated. The main goal of creating service portfolio contributes to systematic management of services, which required revising at the case company.

Lasivillatehtaan energiatehokkuus

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli tuottaa toimenpidesuunnitelma energiatehokkuuden parantamiseksi sekä tilannekatsaus tehtaan energiankäytöstä Saint-Gobain Raken-nustuotteet Oy:n Hyvinkään lasivillatehtaalla. Diplomityön ensisijaiseksi tutki-mustavoitteeksi asetettiin energiankäytön tehostamisen tutkiminen sekä energian-käytön analysointi ja jatkotoimenpidesuunnitelman laatiminen. Diplomityössä osoitettiin että lämmöntalteenotolla poistoilmasta voidaan saavut-taa 2000 MWh lämpöenergiansäästö. Yhteensä hyödynnettävää lämpöenergiaa selvitettiin syntyvän vuodessa 10 600 MWh. WCM- konseptilla, eli tuotannonte-hostamisohjelmalla pyritään energiankäytön systemaattiseen pienentämiseen. Täs-sä diplomityössä on esitetty energiankäytön tehostamisratkaisuja sekä energiate-hokkuuden liittämistä WCM- konseptiin. Diplomityön tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää järjestelmällisen energiatehokkuuden parantamisohjelman kehittämisessä sekä konkreettisten energiansäästötoimenpiteiden toteuttamisessa.

Value-based Reference Marketing in a Small Process Industry Software and Service Company

This master’s thesis was done for a small company, Vipetec Oy, which offers specialized technological services for companies mainly in forest industry. The study was initiated partly because the company wants to expand its customer base to a new industry. There were two goals connected to each other. First was to find out how much and what kind of value current customers have realized from ATA Process Event Library, one of the products that the company offers. Second was to determine the best way to present this value and its implications for future value potential to both current and potential customers. ATA helps to make grade and product changes, starting after machine downtime, and recovery from production break faster for customers. All three events sometimes occur in production line. The faster operation results to savings in time and material. In addition to ATA Vipetec also offers other services related to development of automation and optimization of controls. Theoretical part concentrates on the concept of value, how it can be delivered to customers, and what kind of risk customer faces in industrial purchasing. Also the function of reference marketing towards customers is discussed. In the empirical part the realized value for existing customers is evaluated based on both numerical data and interviews. There’s also a brief case study about one customer. After that the value-based reference marketing for a target industry is examined through interviews of these potential customers. Finally answers to the research questions are stated and compared also to the theoretical knowledge about the subject. Results show that those customers’ machines which use the full service concept of ATA usually are able to save more time and material than the machines which use only some features of the product. Interviews indicated that sales arguments which focus on improved competitive status are not as effective as current arguments which focus on numerical improvements. In the case of potential customers in the new industry, current sales arguments likely work best for those whose irregular production situations are caused mainly by fault situations. When the actions of Vipetec were compared to ten key elements of creating customer references, it was seen that many of them the company has either already included in its strategy or has good chances to include them with the help of the results of this study.