Rapporten är resultatet av en studie som genomförts av RISE på uppdrag av Fortifikationsverket och MSB. Studien syftade till att stärka Sveriges förmåga till inhemsk produktion av kritiska produkter och komponenter vid kriser och höjd beredskap. Bakgrunden till projektet är det försämrade säkerhetsläget och erfarenheter från coronapandemin som visade på sårbarheter i globala leveranskedjor. Rapporten presenterar en strukturerad metod för produktionsomställning vid försörjningsbrister, där samverkan mellan myndigheter och näringsliv är central. Fokus ligger på alternativ produktion, snarare än traditionell lagerhållning, för att säkerställa tillgången på skyddsprodukter och reservdelar till samhällsviktig infrastruktur. Viktiga delar i processen är kartläggning av kritiska produkter, försörjningskedjor och svensk produktionskapacitet, samt utveckling av försörjningsstrategier som inkluderar återbruk och alternativa material. En tydlig metodik för nödproduktion redovisas, där målbild, kravspecifikation och produktionskapacitet analyseras systematiskt. Slutligen betonas vikten av säkerhetsskydd, scenarioplanering och samordnad styrning för att snabbt kunna skala upp produktion vid kriser. Rapporten är ett bidrag och verktyg för fortsatt utveckling av Sveriges försörjningsberedskap.

This work presents a Set-Based Design inspired approach for generation, evaluation and reduction of a solution space of alternative product concepts. Also, the aspect of how to implement the process in an industrial environment was investigated. The hypothesis, confirmed by case studies, is that it can be done using existing methods like Enhanced functional modelling, brainwriting, the Gallery method, Axiomatic Design, causal diagrams and Pugh matrices. The method can be successfully introduced in a timeframe of a few working days and support development engineers in the concept design phase. 

This paper presents an approach towards a set-based design-inspired concept development process for products with a solution space consisting principally of different solution alternatives and parameterised variants of these. The hypothesis is that such a concept development process can be based on traditional synthesis methods, an SBD-inspired elimination strategy, axiomatic design and interactive Evolutionary Algorithms (IEAs) for the synthesis of solution candidates and the successive reduction of the solution space. Axiomatic design and its axioms are used to evaluate and eliminate unfeasible alternatives, whereas IEAs, combined with human judgement, are employed for the evaluation and elimination of variants. Stated criteria specifying a design problem can be of different kinds with different ontologies described by different authors. This study focuses on functional, constraining and qualitative criteria. Results from performed industrial case studies show that the proposed method can reduce the lead time in design work. 

This document describes the Table & Swirl method, which is a quick visualization method for aspects of circular material streams. Use the method to structure and visualize information to understand and share aspects of material streams in a circular economy. It is a time efficient way to start interesting discussions on any topic related to a circular material stream. The method is built around the Table, a tool to in a structured way gather information and the Swirl, which provides quick visualization.

The feedback from our test workshops and end-users were: • ”An eye opener!” • ”First, I thought the model was too simple, then I realized how quickly we got into interesting discussions.”

This method was developed in the year 2023 by the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE) and Luleå University of Technology (LTU) in the joint project “Feasibility study: Five circular material streams for batteries“, which was financed by Energimyndigheten, the Swedish Energy Agency.

A local strain of Nannochloropsis granulata (Ng) has been reported as the most productive microalgal strain in terms of both biomass yield and lipid content when cultivated in photobioreactors that simulate the light and temperature conditions during the summer on the west coast of Sweden. To further increase the biomass and the biotechnological potential of this strain in these conditions, mixotrophic growth (i.e., the simultaneous use of photosynthesis and respiration) with glycerol as an external carbon source was investigated in this study and compared with phototrophic growth that made use of air enriched with 1–2% CO2 . The addition of either glycerol or CO2-enriched air stimulated the growth of Ng and theproduction of high-value long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (EPA) as well as the carotenoid canthaxanthin. Bioassays in human prostate cell lines indicated the highest antitumoral activity for Ng extracts and fractions from mixotrophic conditions. Metabolomics detected betaine lipids specifically in the bioactive fractions, suggesting their involvement in the observed antitumoral effect. Genes related to autophagy were found to be upregulated by the most bioactive fraction, suggesting a possible therapeutic target against prostate cancer progression. Taken together, our results suggest that the local Ng strain can be cultivated mixotrophically in summer conditions on the west coast of Sweden for the production of high-value biomass containing antiproliferative compounds, carotenoids, and EPA. © 2022 by the authors. 

In a time of change focusing on the application of technology, there is a high risk of underestimating the compliance of internal needs and adaption to context. The research study employs a qualitative approach using the case study methodology. The source of data comes from five different manufacturing companies categorized as Small to Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs). A multidisciplinary team performed semi-structured interviews and fieldwork at each site, along with regular online meetings with the partners. The study employs five dimensions of the information quality perspective to assess information utilized to support deviation handling and connects the information quality deficiencies to the digital tools' impact. The empirical findings indicate the need for the companies to perform a requirement analysis of information needs before the adoption of digital systems or digital tools, to assess their current state in terms of data and information. The paper discusses the impact digital tools may have on deviation management in SMEs and under which circumstances digital tools could improve deviation management. Lastly, this paper intends to shed light on the utilization of digital technologies for disturbance handling on the production shop floor. © 2020 The authors

In most development processes, there is an early phase dedicated to creative concept development aiming at finding solutions to the problem at hand. To arrive at a high-quality solution, several ideas may be conceived and evaluated. However, emerging information and knowledge about product concepts is often not shared on a corporate level since only the final result is documented. This can lead to a significant waste, especially in Set-based design. This paper presents a pragmatic way to structure emerging design information, transferring individual design knowledge to a corporate level. It introduces the Concept Dashboard to track the progress of the concept development and uses an industry standard project workflow system to store and retrieve emerging concept knowledge.

A simplified variant of Set-Based Design (SBD) was created. It was combined with the creative methods 6-3-5 and the Gallery method as well as the systematic method morphological matrix to generate solutions. This made it possible to introduce SBD in one day, which has been verified by tests on design problems at industrial firms. The methodology, Instant Set-Based Design (ISBD), was perceived easy to understand and was well received by the designers. The introduction of it was less cumbersome compared to the full version of SBD. The conclusion is that the developed methodology works as intended with good results.

Engineering change management causes many challenges in product development. For example, the impacts of a change can delay the whole product development project, and failed communication of changes can cause rework and scrap in production. Lean product development is one possibility to organize product development efficiently. We have conducted four case studies in heavy machinery, mechatronics and automotive industries in Finland and in Sweden to identify the current challenges in engineering change management. The challenges are categorized according to the lean product development principles they break. The results show that most challenges are related to processes and technology used in engineering change management. We suggest that implementing lean product development principles at the case companies could help in overcoming the challenges discovered.

Identification and clarification of relationships between product properties is fundamentally important in industrial product development. The process is however frequently perceived difficult. The presented research aims at clarifying if a visual tool can provide help in this work. The tool is a combination of previously known techniques and has so far been implemented at two product developing companies. Results and reactions from the tests are hitherto positive and the conclusion is therefore that this extended casual diagram can be a useful addition to the product developer’s toolbox.