KPI definition for measuring customer extranet benefits for a forest company

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli määrittää hyötyjä, joita Stora Enso on saavuttanut ottamalla käyttöön extranet-järjestelmän, jonka avulla asiakkaat voivat seurata toimitusketjuaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskityttiin taloudellisten hyötyjen määrittämiseen ja aineettomien hyötyjen tutkiminen rajattiintyön ulkopuolelle. Samalla tuli kehittää mittarit itsepalveluasteiden laskemiseksi tietyille toiminnoille, joita asiakkaat voivat hyödyntää järjestelmässä. Myös toiminnot, joita järjestelmässä pääasiassa käytetään, tuli määrittää kvantitatiivisen tutkimuksen avulla. Myyntihenkilöstön haastattelut toimivat apuna laskettaessa taloudellisia hyötyjä. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään yleisesti sähköisiä palveluita erityisesti yritysten välistä kaupankäyntiä koskevalla alueella. Myös toimitusketjua ja tunnusluku mittareiden rakentamista on esitelty yleisellä tasolla teoriaosassa. Työn keskeisimmät tulokset ovat itsepalveluasteiden mittarit, niiden avulla lasketut itsepalveluasteet sekä taloudelliset hyödyt, joita yrityson saavuttanut järjestelmän käyttöönoton jälkeen.

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.

[Joseph] Guinchard, CGT [secrétaire de la Fédération nationale des moyens de transport, le 26/4/20, près de la Maison des syndicats] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 59067

Sediment budget monitoring of debris-flow and bedload transport in the Manival Torrent, SE France

Steep mountain catchments typically experience large sediment pulses from hillslopes which are stored in headwater channels and remobilized by debris-flows or bedload transport. Event-based sediment budget monitoring in the active Manival debris-flow torrent in the French Alps during a two-year period gave insights into the catchment-scale sediment routing during moderate rainfall intensities which occur several times each year. The monitoring was based on intensive topographic resurveys of low- and high-order channels using different techniques (cross-section surveys with total station and high-resolution channel surveys with terrestrial and airborne laser scanning). Data on sediment output volumes from the main channel were obtained by a sediment trap. Two debris-flows were observed, as well as several bedload transport flow events. Sediment budget analysis of the two debris-flows revealed that most of the debris-flow volumes were supplied by channel scouring (more than 92%). Bedload transport during autumn contributed to the sediment recharge of high-order channels by the deposition of large gravel wedges. This process is recognized as being fundamental for debris-flow occurrence during the subsequent spring and summer. A time shift of scour-and-fill sequences was observed between low- and high-order channels, revealing the discontinuous sediment transfer in the catchment during common flow events. A conceptual model of sediment routing for different event magnitude is proposed.

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.

Estudi d'un model de transport turístic en zona d'alta muntanya

El projecte consisteix en fer un estudi de viabilitat en funció de les limitacions que ofereixen unes instal·lacions de funicular i carrilet situades a la Vall Fosca i dels requeriments marcats per la seva història i la seva ubicació. Un cop finalitzat l'estudi, es procedeix al disseny d'un tren apte per les instal·lacions existents. El tren es compon bàsicament per una locomotora d'acumuladors, quatre bogis i quatre cotxes de passatgers. També es consideren els treballs de recuperació de la via malmesa pel pas dels anys.

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.

Particle transport method for convection-diffusion-reaction problems

Convective transport, both pure and combined with diffusion and reaction, can be observed in a wide range of physical and industrial applications, such as heat and mass transfer, crystal growth or biomechanics. The numerical approximation of this class of problemscan present substantial difficulties clue to regions of high gradients (steep fronts) of the solution, where generation of spurious oscillations or smearing should be precluded. This work is devoted to the development of an efficient numerical technique to deal with pure linear convection and convection-dominated problems in the frame-work of convection-diffusion-reaction systems. The particle transport method, developed in this study, is based on using rneshless numerical particles which carry out the solution along the characteristics defining the convective transport. The resolution of steep fronts of the solution is controlled by a special spacial adaptivity procedure. The serni-Lagrangian particle transport method uses an Eulerian fixed grid to represent the solution. In the case of convection-diffusion-reaction problems, the method is combined with diffusion and reaction solvers within an operator splitting approach. To transfer the solution from the particle set onto the grid, a fast monotone projection technique is designed. Our numerical results confirm that the method has a spacial accuracy of the second order and can be faster than typical grid-based methods of the same order; for pure linear convection problems the method demonstrates optimal linear complexity. The method works on structured and unstructured meshes, demonstrating a high-resolution property in the regions of steep fronts of the solution. Moreover, the particle transport method can be successfully used for the numerical simulation of the real-life problems in, for example, chemical engineering.

Logging residues from regeneration fellings for biofuel production - a GIS-based availability and supply cost analysis

Finland has large forest fuel resources. However, the use of forest fuels for energy production has been low, except for small-scale use in heating. According to national action plans and programs related to wood energy promotion, the utilization of such resources will be multiplied over the next few years. The most significant part of this growth will be based on the utilization of forest fuels, produced from logging residues of regeneration fellings, in industrial and municipal power and heating plants. Availability of logging residues was analyzed by means of resource and demand approaches in order to identify the most suitable regions with focus on increasing the forest fuel usage. The analysis included availability and supply cost comparisons between power plant sites and resource allocation in a least cost manner, and between a predefined power plant structure under demand and supply constraints. Spatial analysis of worksite factors and regional geographies were carried out using the GIS-model environment via geoprocessing and cartographic modeling tools. According to the results of analyses, the cost competitiveness of forest fuel supply should be improved in order to achieve the designed objectives in the near future. Availability and supply costs of forest fuels varied spatially and were very sensitive to worksite factors and transport distances. According to the site-specific analysis the supply potential between differentlocations can be multifold. However, due to technical and economical reasons ofthe fuel supply and dense power plant infrastructure, the supply potential is limited at plant level. Therefore, the potential and supply cost calculations aredepending on site-specific matters, where regional characteristics of resourcesand infrastructure should be taken into consideration, for example by using a GIS-modeling approach constructed in this study.

Transport i emmagatzematge de les àmfores en l'antiguitat:l'aportació de les ciències dels materials

[spa]Las ánforas son ejemplos claros de cerámicas utilitarias que requieren de unas características técnicas necesarias para cumplir su funcionalidad: servir de envase de almacenamiento y transporte. En este trabajo se propone el estudio del comportamiento funcional de estos envases a través de la evaluación de las propiedades mecánicas de resistencia y tenacidad a la fractura. Propiedades mecánicas, ámforas ibéricas, ámforas romanas, tecnología, funcionalidad.