During the week we have been working on experiments and factorial experiments. Factorial is a technique to optimize a design with respect to one or more parameters by varying a number of factors. The technique is very simple:

1. Choose a number of factors that you believe affect your design parameter.
2. Figure out what other factors that could possibly affect the experiment. These must be kept constant in order to minimize the impact of noise and maximize the impact of the factors we want to test.
3. Create a design for how you should vary your factors and we what order. Often ranges to each factor between two modes, a high and a low, and thus 2 ^ number of factors possible combinations. Four factors give for example 16 different combinations to be tested. It is also possible to make a so-called reduced-factorial: more on this later.
4. Run all experiments according to the schedule in a random order. Make a number of repetitions of each experimental setup in order to estimate the variance in what we call the random noise.
5. Measuring the effect of each factor and determine through this which factors are significant and explain the variation in design parameter. That is, what factors will significantly impact against the variance of the noise? A t-test can be performed to determine this numerically; graphically, a normal plot made.
6. Determine the regression curve that explains your output. The factors that are active / significant shall be included in the curve.

Experimental Design

A paper helicopter manufactured by the following drawing:

Paper Helicopter

We decided to test five factors and vary these two levels. All other factors must be kept constant. Here are the factors we wanted to test:

The levels of the factors set after we built some prototypes and seen what works.

In addition to these factors, so we did a fishbone analysis on the noise factors that could potentially affect the trial. This is partly for manufacture of helicopters, as well as during the execution of the experiment. Fishbone diagrams are based on the 7M: one, man, measurement, environment, materials, management, method and machine. The most important thing is to try to be consistent in all steps of the process. Allow the same person to measure the time the same person making the helicopters to minimize noise caused by various methodologies.

Fishbone on noise effects factorial

We decided to do a so-called reduced-factorial. Since the interaction between A, B, C and D are very rare so you can let E vary with this and thus only make 2 ^ 4 combinations. The following design was chosen:

Note that E = A * B * C * D, and all the columns are orthogonal, i.e. column Column X * Y = 0. A total of 15 effects can be tested in 16 runs as it goes to form (2 ^ n) -1 orthogonal vectors on 2 ^ n runs.

Fixtures

Here's a short film on a flying paper helicopter! We maximized the distance that the helicopter was in the air as best we could and tried to find a place indoors without wind.

Results

We did three repetitions for each experiment and got the following values ​​Y1, Y2 and Y3, on each trial. The total standard deviation was estimated using data to 0.16 seconds. Depending on the effect you choose to include in the estimate of the variance becomes something different. The software JMP had a standard deviation of 0.1 seconds.

After that the standard deviation is estimated, a p-value for each effect can be calculated. P-value is a measure of the probability that exists for that effect to be explained by chance, which is assumed to be normally distributed (t-distributed in this case because the variance is estimated by data and unknown) and have the estimated variance. The table below shows that the factors A, D and C together with the interactions AC, AD and ABC are significant with alpha <0.004.

QQ-plot illustrates this graphically.

Normal plot for factors

Conclusion

With the help of the active factors, a regression curve of flight time in seconds constructed.

Y = 5.38 -0.57 / 2 * ABC + 0.55 / 2 * C + 0.97 / 2 * AC + 1.05 / 2 * D + 1.32 / 2 * AD + 2.16 / 2 * A

This curve has its maximum value when B has its minimum value and the A, C, and D their limit. This means that the design number 5 is the most optimal design with a flight time of 8.8 seconds on average. The wings should be as wide and long as possible, your body should be as narrow as possible and the weight at the bottom of the helicopter as long as possible. Further factorial experiments can be done to investigate the area ikring this design.Faktor number E, the length of the body, did not affect the flight. Therefore, this length is set to its most economical mode; suggested as short as possible!

The second week of lessons in the course Operations Management at Chalmers has been a week with a focus on quality. During the week, we made a study described in SKF and solved a case. Quality is the core of the Total Quality Management movement looks at a company. According to Operations Management theories, there are five performance metrics that a company competes. These are price, speed, reliability, flexibility and quality. Quality is here seen as the key to lower costs and a better functioning organization. The cost of not caring about its quality is huge. By placing quality at the center, a business must constantly improve themselves in order to eliminate waste and therefore will always evolve. Key were the good-quality Total Quality Management in the principles presented in the cornerstone model (English Cornerstone model). The principles are:

• working with processes,
• continuous improvement,
• basing decisions on facts,
• Involving everyone in the company,
• have a dedicated leadership and
• focus on the customer

Customer focus is important here to emphasize because quality is defined as "meeting or exceeding customer needs and expectations" (Bergman and Klefsjö, 2010). These are not the only external customers but to all processes in a company to see its next process customer.

Visit at SKF in Gothenburg

There is infinitely more to discuss when it comes to quality substance: From the principles / values ​​that the topic is based on (you can also divide them into three main elements teamwork, customer focus and continuous improvement: etc etc) to the methodologies (Six Sigma, Lean, Zero Defects, Policy Deployment) used to fulfill the principles using various tools (control plots, the quality house, ...). Because there are so many different tools, techniques and principles to work with, it is interesting is how companies choose to apply all this in their strategy. What we are seeing more and more is that an approach to manufacturing is becoming the essential if a business is to survive and be able to produce products that consumers demand in an increasingly competitive.

SKF has 10 thousands of products in its catalog, and in addition more customized projects. To make all these variations, it is impossible to have a process where you like Volvo produced on an assembly line. All layers have different sizes, materials, weight and so on. To totally factories specialize in a warehouse is also difficult because customers are worldwide. However, the groups to any products by size. Stocks with similar size are produced in the same factory. The process is fairly automated and bearings produced in series on small areas of production. Transitions are made all the time and average time for this is 9 hours. In order to create a flexible production process that contains so little work in process as possible is the challenge to reduce set-up times. This is where SKF is working with Total Quality Management?

The first improvement they had made was to start working with orderliness (Japanese 5S method). Previously, all the tools and parts for the conversion was toss in a drawer haphazardly. It has taken time to look for tools and sometimes parts come off. All the time when machines lie idle is non-value added. By keeping track of stuff and create a structured system has a lot of time saved. SKF made the comparison of building a replica of a house in Lego. If you have a drawing and Lego pieces are sorted by type and color, it is much easier than if everything is helter buns. This exercise in orderliness running man with operators right now for training purposes.

Lego to illustrate 5S

Another improvement has been made is to start with continuous improvement and standardized work. By having devised processes for how the machines will be reset and maintain these can reduce wastage. The workers are free to work on improvement and standardized work which increases their sense of ownership.

Total Quality Management is a very powerful tool. We see example after example of companies that apply the principles and reaches new record levels. SKF is no exception. According to me, however, now a whole lot to do before they become as efficient as Volvo or Toyota. However, there are great opportunities because the competition is by SKF in terms of technology, breadth and quality.

My idea

I think that many manufacturing companies are extremely efficient factories. Sweden also move continuously production abroad. It's in office, design, product development and healthcare as the major improvement opportunities exist. I think there are many terrific office that could benefit greatly defined processes, continuous improvement, and some of the other principles of Total Quality Management advocates. What will I run in my thesis and in my future career.

Malcom Baldrige Quality Award Case

The week also included a case. This was to comment on an application that a company had to Malcom Baldrige Quality Award, awarded by the American president. The evaluation would be done by the theory and the criteria found in Casettina. This was a good exercise because it gave me insight into how an application for a quality award / certification can be made. By making such an application, an enterprise ponder carefully over how they work with quality. This is great because it offers several suggestions on areas where companies can improve.

References

Bergman. B. & Klefsjö. B. (2010). Quality - from Customer Needs to Customer Satisfaction. Lund: Sage.

> A political push

Yesterday I commented on the Red-Green proposal for a new railway line: what I think will be a flop. Today I intend to comment on another flop. The proposal is that the Liberal Party is talking about when it comes to school, to take away the power to seek to college for some programs. The proposal in itself might not be so bad, not everyone has the motivation to study. However, I think it sends the wrong message and is a step in the wrong direction. Whether you are researching grades or you are illiterate, I think you should go through certain stages of the school. All of our systems need to be competent to Sweden to be able to keep their high competence and competitive advantage. That we are both smart workers and employees is a huge advantage compared to Indonesia and China. This is where we can compete to continue to be a country with a strong industry, many innovations and a high standard of living.

I am now home from Australia and read my second year of Master Quality and Operations Management. To be more precise, I do the courses for the first and last six months since I finished reading six months two and three in Australia. The course I'm reading now called Operations Management and is an introduction to the subject. This means that I have heard everything that is in the course previously, which might not make it very exciting. On the other hand, I think the course is exciting, repetition is necessary for learning.

Since it's raining in Gothenburg, today's workout is finished, the food is eaten, the Chernobyl disaster is listened to by P3 documentary, there is not much left to do but to write an interesting post. Operations Management course at Chalmers have an arrangement with seven themed weeks that introduces all aspects of the subject. A new professor holding the levers every week. Competition is good, each professor would be able to boast of having had the best week for next year's coffee breaks. The implication of this is that it is written every Friday which frees up the weekend for other activities such as employment, training or party.

Strategy Week with Mats Winroth

First week of classes has been about business strategy (business strategy). We have had a number of articles to read, a literature seminar where I presented the article "Managing process technology - further empirical evidence from manufacturing plants" and a small case where we would write about the strategy of a company.

The main lessons to be learned from the week is the importance of having a strategy that everyone is involved and how to design such a strategy.

Strategy involves focus and balances (trade-offs)

Traditionally, scientists believe that company management has not taken that one strategy is to focus and balances. If you choose what you will do well as it also means that you will do a lot of other things poorly. This is about doing the right things well. If you choose to focus on a low price, as many companies do, then it will mean large volumes and will be difficult: in short an impaired flexibility. Skinner (1969) writes, among other things, that companies too often fail to do so. After the war, all goods sold but today it is not possible to make strategic mistakes, but companies have to produce exactly what the customer wants!

HR - Technology

Technology investments must be made in line with the human skills development. GM tried in the 70s invest into a competitive advantage through increased automation. Since no one knew how the technology GM dropped rather market share from 60% to 33% in the U.S.. Investment in automation is all about the trade-offs. An automated system is not flexible and require high volume for profitability, which has been shown to be contrary to what the customer wants. Automating for the right reasons: for jobs that are repetitive and standardized.

Tools for setting strategy

There are a lot of tools to work with strategy. Some of these are:

• "Strategy Model"
• Operations strategy matrix
• Importance performance matrix

Strategy The model says that the four different perspectives should be considered when the strategy should be formulated question. The best strategy is obtained when all perspectives are in harmony (English alignment). The perspectives are:

• "Top down" - the strategy is to be the management team and pushed down on the rest of the company.
• "Bottom up" - The strategy must come from the business and the daily lessons that are available in the meeting with customers.
• "Operations Resources" - A company has some resources in the form of machinery, established process and human skills. These resources are difficult to change as the strategy should be set according to what the company is good at.
• "Market Perspective" - ​​2010 Customers are picky and will not buy anything. You have to listen to them and just make what they want. Everything we produce must have a customer. This perspective is increasingly important today. Many, including me, agree that the customer must be the core of any business.

It is important therefore that all perspectives have their space and not overlooked. Involvement of the entire company in strategy creation is another important aspect. A guest speaker said that he had seen various business lines within themselves to create their own strategies in two ways.

1. Through the involvement of all
2. By the head of the business area writing strategy a Wednesday night on the couch

Guest lecturer said that it is impossible to physically see the difference between the plans from the various managers. What is remarkable is that when it comes to implementation of the strategy is the first approach to strategy formulation significantly more successful.

Introduction

During my third year at Chalmers, I made a choice that I can see in retrospect as very successful. I decided to spend a year as an exchange student. After careful consideration, I chose to apply to the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. It has been a fantastic year that I will never ever forget. Every day has been interesting and instructive, and it is hard not to love Australia!

Have I not already convinced you, I hope that this report will get you thinking in the right path. To begin with, I will give three reasons for choosing sun, surfing and high-quality studies before rain, running in Skatås and exam-plug at Chalmers.

Change of scenery
After three years and bachelor's degree at Chalmers can hallways, know how the coffee tastes and tired of everything. So it was all the same to me. I figured out that I had been studying for 15 years (in a row!) After my bachelor's degree. So it is 68% of my life. In Australia's Barrier Reef which, unlike the Irish Rock is well worth a visit and something quite unique for a Swedish only caught pike and seen the Disney movie Finding Nemo.

New friends
A new environment means new friends. In Australia, studying people from all continents of the world. Education is by mining the largest (correct me if I'm wrong) industry / income source. I have friends from America, China, Norway, ..., Australia and England. Over half of all students at UNSW are international which is probably high in this context.

Personal Development
This can be seen as a cliché, which it is. One thing is certain in any case that it is true. I can guarantee that you will develop 8x more in an exchange environment relative to stay a year at Chalmers. The quality of the courses is a factor that plays into personal development. Although many may not be the biggest reason I can reveal that all the courses I've read have been very good and that most outside studies also fantastic development!

The Sydney Opera House

Preparation

To get into Australia require a visa. As an exchange student you are traveling with a student visa. It takes a year and gives you the right to work 20 hours a week during the semester and full time during holidays. The visa will cost about 400 AUD and booked online in advance before you get on the airplane!

I chose to travel with the Australian Qantas. They fly via London or Frankfurt with fast stop in Singapore and has okay size of their seats and good food. Book your ticket early and count by 15 000 for a round-trip ticket. I booked both there and return home before I went and got help from Tour Pacific to find the cheapest ticket.

The food is also slightly more expensive in Sydney when it comes to dairy products, vegetables and salad. A steak is relatively inexpensive. Are you, like me, a carnivore that is the Australian menu perfectly. (The opposite is true enough for a non-meat eaters).

An Australian dollar costs about seven crowns in writing. This is historically very high and almost twice

David Gustafsson

against the same period the year before I went (see wolframalpha.com - search for "1 Australian dollar to USD"). I came in at Chalmers exchange places with my girlfriend which imposes certain cost advantages. After surviving three years at Chalmers without student loans, I gave up and took the loan. The loan has been spent along with scholarships and grants, I have not taken the extra loan that you are eligible for an exchange student. When searching for scholarships and generally planning your trip is a reasonable budget for the year from 100 to 200,000 kr. I applied for scholarships through the database at the University of Gothenburg, all were fruitless. If you are not a member of the Swedish Engineers then you should be sure to get it. They have some scholarships aimed at exchange students going to get! Because Australia is part of the World Wide program each student will be SEK 30 000 in travel grants from Adler Bergska Foundation. In retrospect, my tip to take at least a week and do your best to find scholarships and formulate serious applications. Some of my classmates managed to get their entire budget covered with scholarship funds, which probably makes the year even a little better!

When you submit your application to UNSW requires no language test because you, unlike Mr.. Wong from China, is a Swedish citizen. It is an advantage to search for Australia compared to for example the U.S. where schools requires both intelligence and language tests. I have no memory of any proof were needed of the application and were difficult to arrange (which was an issue I would raise in this report).

Insurance must be purchased before you travel into Australia. Other countries accept Kammarkollegiets student out insurance. It is free and provided by the state. I was told that this was not accepted in Australia and got therefore CSN foreign policy (in collaboration with IF) that is approved. It cost 4000 and findable via www.csn.se . It should be added that I met one per Swedes at UNSW who had only Kammarkollegiets free insurance so I'm not sure what that really applies. I played at least a tooth down there and am glad I had my insurance covering the works. When you come into the UNSW so make sure to check if Kammarkollegiets insurance is okay.

Finally, I want to advertise ICA bank that offers free competitions abroad. You get your money at the current exchange rate and do not have, for example, the surcharge fee and lower exchange rate, such as Swedbank, SEB and most other banks.

Living

I was "lucky" enough to get one of the two sites in Australia with my girlfriend Sofia Karlsson. Sofia became a natural roommate. The first semester we had a room at 3 Botany Street, Randwick 2031 to 280 AUD per week. This was small and not so good. The second semester, we shared a third with an Irishman (Carrington Road Coogee 2031). This was much better in standard with a rent of 320 AUD per week. Spare yourself and do not want to share a bed so expect at least 200 AUD (1400kr) a week. Expect also with cockroaches and significantly lower standard compared to what you are used to in Sweden. Without insulation, it becomes the same temperature indoors and outdoors which means warm clothes are needed in winter.

All our homes contain washing machine. Friends of mine lived, however, in apartments where there were and many washes in the laundry shop is usually found in every neighborhood.

One of my top ten tips are to be in place at least two weeks before the semester starts. More than 50,000 students will have housing around the school and the sooner you arrive the better able you are to (i) get away with a fine rent and (ii) find a home where you feel comfortable. I arrived a week before and had arranged housing tentatively before I went through www.gumtree.com.au (like www.blocket.se ). It went well but I probably would subsequently recommend to be on site and choose. Spend the first week of the hostel (hostel) and use the school's search to find roommates and housing. UNSW provides telephone and an ad for housing targeted at students.

When you select the area to live, it is important to consider how often you will be in school than on the beach. Do you live in Randwick or Kensington is within walking distance of the school. Coogee Beach is the nearest beach and from here you can also walk in about 20 minutes. Just be aware that Sydney is a hilly city (even backigare than Gothenburg). I enjoyed working in Randwick and Coogee with a slight preponderance of Coogee. Many people also choose to stay at Bondi Beach as it is possible to surf where unlike at Coogee Beach. In traffic, it takes 45 minutes to safely get to school from Bondi Beach with bus replacement in Bondi Junction. This is in my opinion too much.

Public transport in Sydney is quite poor. "Metro" is poorly developed and there is bus that apply. If you are lucky the bus goes directly to your destination, unless you change. Do not forget that you, unlike Gothenburg must stamp again with every change.

Language

The language of Australia is English or if you want Australian English. In my opinion, dialect absolutely right! If you meet someone for the first time, it is common to greet with "godday mate" which illustrates a part of the culture. As a Northern European you have an edge over the many Asians who you will study alongside. Especially when it comes to expressing themselves in writing. Since UNSW is so multi-cultural, language tolerance high and there is no need to worry (or as they say in Australia "no worries mate").

Language courses are obviously reading at UNSW but in my case it was not an option because they do not count as electives in the Master's program. You must not read more courses than full-time (four per semester) without paying for you.

Social activities

UNSW has like a Chalmers student union called the Arc. It has a variety of compounds that one can engage in. UNSW also has lots of sports associations. I was in the Australian football team for the school. Australian football is not the same as ordinary Swedish soccer but is played with an oval ball on a circular plane where the goal is four vertical posts. The sport is similar to rugby but is faster and requires more stamina than muscle. Dykklubben (the under water club) is another popular sport club offering diving courses at an affordable money. This may be an option if you want to dive in the Barrier Reef. To have a diving certificate means you can dive without an instructor but are you to the Barrier Reef, you can of course still dive with an instructor.

One question I must answer is whether there are any student union fees. Want to become a member it costs a little bit, around 100 AUD I think, but membership is optional. Are you in the Corps have discounts at various places, such as the library. The corps organize parties in the round house (roundhouse) located on campus.

Surfing in Queensland

The campus is also a gym where I trained. It has a swimming pool, tennis and badminton courts. Between school and Bondi Junction is Centennial Park where it is possible to go for a jog. In the summer it will be about 40 degrees in Sydney so then it might be nice to run in the shadow of all large trees.

Travel and Holidays

In Australia, there is a lot to see; too much for a year with only a student budget. At UNSW, four courses in parallel for 13 weeks during a semester. Exam period is usually about a month. In the middle of the semester, it is a break for a week for permission. The school year in Australia starts in March with a winter break in June-July, the year ended in November. I can definitely recommend starting your exchange in July and end in June. Advantages:

• It fits with the Swedish school year.
• You will experience three summers and no winter.
• You get three to four months of summer to use to travel around the gorgeous Australia, the world's most beautiful and most amazing country!

We came to Australia during their winter at the beginning of July. It was then quite cold in Sydney but after a month started spring. After a month, the school was the perfect time to take a week off. We flew with budget airline JetStar (cf. Ryan Air) to Cairns. From there we took a bus to Port Douglas where we stayed at the hotel. Check resesiterna for great deals! Cairns is a great city on the edge of the barrier reef / rainforest. Port Douglas is a few mil north and offers unlike Cairns a stunning beach. We took two tour boats and snorkeling in the barrier reef (cost about 200 AUD for a full day). This is probably the best trip I have been on so far.

After school ended, we decided to see more of Australia. We bought a car [1] and went south. Since summer vacation was so long we did not have money to cope with us all the time. We therefore decided to get a job in a month. The options available to find a job as a foreigner is often cafes or restaurants. We chose to work in "agriculture industry." Agriculture is also a very big industry in Australia (as well as mining and education). Many seasonal workers to pick fruit: bananas, apples, kiwi, grapefruit and mango are some examples of fruits that thrive in different regions from Melbourne up to Cairns. Sofia and I worked at a winery in the little alcove Penula. Penula located in the Coonawarra wine regions in the state of South Australia 150 mil west of Melbourne. It takes about two days to get there from Sydney. Our work consisted of trimming vine trunks. This is called "pruning" and must be done one month before the berries to be harvested (just as they start to grow out). Unless the trees "prunas" will all the fruit on the trunk instead of the foliage giving a bad wine. The work was tough, especially for Sofia that has a little pain in my back sometimes. The first day we worked in 43 degree heat for eight hours. The pay was about 100 AUD a day which was enough for food, shelter, and a few weeks' holiday after the month was over.

Australia has stunning beaches

Working on the vineyard is absolutely nothing I would recommend. It's slavery. I am confident that you will find much better job if you need to and want to work. Australia has low unemployment! Want to work in agriculture (harvesting), call "the harvest trail" which is a service farms use to call in staff when it is time to harvest in their region. One thing is certain: the job at the winery in Penula I will never forget. You will meet people from all over the world!

After Penula we traveled along the south coast back towards Melbourne. I can really recommend Southend which has a stunning beach and national park. The coastline is incredibly beautiful. We stayed at a campground itself (it was a few weeks before the Australians got holiday) and sunbathed, swam and caught an occasional fish.

The ride then went to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road is another attraction that I would recommend. Beautiful landscape of sandstone interspersed with beaches during high rock walls is what it is all about.

Working on the vineyard in Australia

The last month we took the car north from Sydney. There hittars towns such as Byron Bay, Noosa, Fraser Island and Brisbane. Brisbane is nothing to visit but Byron Bay, however, vehemently. The surfers start far out and surf along the beach giving a long rides. My surfing experience in Byron Bay is memorable, next to me in the wave showed up a bunch of dolphins who wanted to play! It seems not every day in Sweden. In Byron Bay, I recommend visiting the Balcony restaurant that serves good food in a nice environment.

Sydney

I also thought a few words about Sydney. Sydney is famous for its harbor with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. As you might imagine, it is also a very nice port! There is much else to do after you looked at the Opera House during the afternoon. Take the ferry to Manly is a good option. Manly is located on the northern peninsula at the entrance to Sydney Harbour. From the port, take a ferry, which takes about 30 minutes. Manly offers great shopping and surfing at one of Sydney's best beaches.

Coogee and Bondi Beach are two other beaches you will visit in Sydney. It takes about an hour to get from the beaches on foot along the coast. When you come to Sydney in July to look for whales. They walk up to Queensland to give birth to their calves in warmer waters. Australia no longer has any whaling as thousands of whales passing the coast. The day before I went home, I saw a whale in Coogee Bay! Besides whales Bondi is famous for its surfing. You rent a wetsuit with BARDA for about 20 AUD depending on demand and then you just have to start paddling. I met a friend who was able to surf and gave some good lessons, otherwise you can take surf lessons by different companies on the beach. Surfing is hard so be patient! My advice is to not buy any short surfboard before you can surf, and it is difficult to surf on a short surfboard.

Skyline of Sydney

I would recommend Thi-food in Randwick (block between school and Coogee). Approximately six restaurants compete by giving customers great value and good food. Tapas bar area is too cruel! Another tapas restaurant that is cruel is Kika's located on Victoria Street near Kings Cross. Try It Before Your Race night out at Kings Cross (along with Ivy on George Street and Oxford Street is where you go out in Sydney).

Tennis can also play in Coogee at good price. I have defended Sweden's honor against a Norwegian, a couple times a week during the last semester. It went well at first but worse towards the end. Norwegian Axel ( www.axeljuul.com ) would go another year at UNSW and need a game companion!

General comments on the stay abroad

After a year in Sydney, I am a better person in many ways. My language has improved along with my confidence. Australia is in many ways similar to Sweden. People are friendly and as an exchange student, I have always felt welcome.

Australia is incredibly hot in the summer. Think of sunscreen and buy a hat with brim. Leave the suit at home and pack your flip-flop (Australian thoungs, which also translates to thong in Swedish).

To see as much as possible of Australia for a reasonable price, I recommend that as I buy a car. Team up with a friend and buy one yourself. Think of what I have previously written about registration (footnote 1). Also remember not to do like me and buy a Ford, they are useless crap cars fails [2] . Because it breaks so exceptionally well, many people know how to cook them, which is the only advantage the brand offers. Example: When we stopped the car on the Vineyard two days from Sydney did not start (which was corrected by replacing the ignition coil). Once you bought your car, you can visit the Blue Mountains (see the Grand Canyon) and Hunter Valley (great wine regions north of Sydney) for free. Trips there otherwise cost over 100AUD. South of Sydney is Australia National Park which is also worth visiting with fine deserted beaches.

Australia is also the world's most dangerous country. Spiders, sharks and Jellyfish, I've seen it all up close! With common sense, you will almost certainly survive one year.

Expression of selected courses

A difference that is worth mentioning is how the studies conducted in Australia in comparison to Chalmers. As in previous trip reports have described, it is important to work continuously during the study period. I do not think it's possible to just exam study to cope with high scores. The reason is that most courses have group projects, labs and assignments, which usually provides about 50% of the grade. This can be good and bad depending on your attitude. I take everything I do very seriously and have a need for control. This I had to work out during my year in Australia, which I think in retrospect is very good. In group work, it is always different motivation and knowledge. My experience is that Chinese people are motivated but may not be as good at expressing themselves in English. Americans and Norwegians are better able to express themselves to have poor motivation. Best of all for the grade is working with the Australians, who are in school to study. Best work I left, however, in conjunction with a group of Chinese people in a research course in which we succeeded in 99 out of 100!

All the courses I have chosen has kept good quality, it really feels like I've learned twice as much as at Chalmers and at the same time had plenty of time for a lot of fun outside of school. This is awesome. Many may think that how much you learn and how much they believe is inversely correlated, but that is not the case in Australia!

Semester 1

I chose to read the corresponding term two and three at Chalmers during my exchange at UNSW. That means 45 Hp (6 courses) elective courses in my field of study, and 15 Hp required courses. Coming in at Chalmers should I read first semester and four (ex-work) and then be finished with my Master and Master.

Applied Marketing Research (post grad)

Applied Marketing Research given by Professor Gary Gregory marketing department. The course responds as a substitute for research, which is a required course in Qom. As it should be is the course about how to do research. It goes through quantitative and qualitative methods (eg fukusgrupper and various types of surveys) with quite a lot of detail about how to practically do. All steps in the research process are reviewed (define problems, set goals, figure out an approach to solve the problem, complete the survey and then analyze the results to draw conclusions). During the course, you work practically on a project at a company. I worked with Bell Shakespeare performing theater in the Opera House. The organization is known as non-profit and live on donations and grants. We examined what motivates people to donate to the organization and the various means to improve the meeting with donors in order to increase revenue. I held a focus group with people that give millions to the company which was a challenge! In retrospect, the process and outcome of the stallion far better than my graduate work.

This is not a course I would recommend if you want a simple score with a little work. Gary demand a lot from their students: my report was over 100 pages and it should be a planning report and two labbinlämningar. This course is for those who want to learn something. I imagine that it should be suitable for management consultants who (probably?) Are working on similar problems and approaches.

Web Applications Engineering (post grad)

During my degree, I have read Industrial Economics with IT orientation. I like IT because it gives me an actual / actual (English tangible) knowledge. Although I read the industrial economy, I share the view that management much is common sense. This can be congenital but can also plug into.

IT today is very much about web development and mobile applications. WAE teaches web development from scratch in Java J2EE. This means servlets and JSP. The exam is at 50%. Second half is lab work and a great project that aims to develop a web application. This is educational but takes much time. Once again, read this course if you want to learn something, not if you want to have time for anything else! This was undoubtedly the most time-consuming course I've ever read. In addition to the basic techniques in J2EE, I also learned to use Hibernate framework for object relational mapping (ORM) and Spring Security, and web stream. WEA I read as an elective course.

Business Process Improvement and Quality Management (post grad)

BPI & QM I read as a substitute for a required course in Qom called something similar. UNSW is not as good as Chalmers on production and the course is in virtually everything it offers. The course addresses the Six-sigma is a key technology in quality management. This interests me because I like statistics! Lean, queuing theory and Little's Law is no other "concepts" that you work with in the jars. Ogre has two "case" (Harvard), solved in group, two individual assignments and a business venture in a group. All projects are small with reports on five sides. The course is not as heavy workload as the two I have previously described. However, it is well worth reading. The lecturer, Mr. Tong, is pleasant and well-read. Many find him boring because he uses a lot of power point. Try to ask a lot of questions so it will be fun!

I have learned that the theory behind the Operations Management is terribly simple. The difficult thing is to dare to apply!

International Project Management (post grad)

International project management, I read also as an elective course. The course was given by a project manager from the industry. Interestingly, the focus on culture that was, even though I may not agree with everything that Hofstede (guru of culture) say about Swedes, Americans and Chinese.

This is a course you should read if you do not want to put so much energy. There was no exam and the examination consisted of a few small assignments. A group project was conducted which was also small. Group size of eight were too large. I worked with people from Pakistan, China, Thiland, Australia and Sweden. My understanding is that the score was a lot on how involved and interested you were to follow the discussion on the lesson; which can be seen as a lottery. In my view, therefore, this is not a good course!

I read two courses held by Civil Engineering (Swedish road and water). Generally speaking, none of the speakers use PowerPoint and the courses were more unstructured with poorer course PM. The workload and the quality was a little lower than the institutions marketing, Business and Computer Science.

Semester 2

Computer Networks (post grad)

Rate was about computer network with a focus on the Internet. All parts of the network stack discussed beginning with the application layer and terminated in the physical transmission layer (+ security). I had good overall track of this before but the course went on to a great level of detail in all protocols. A packet sniffer (Wireshark) was used to study protocols in labs.

The focus of the submissions was on the application and transmission layer (TCP / IP). The first lab was to set up an overlay network (as used in, for example, Skype or BitTorrent). Other labs were about to implement TCP in a simpler form.

Management of Risk (post grad)

Risk management was about how risks should be tackled in a systematic way. Several standards specify risk management, including the well-known PMBooK (project management). It is about defining risks, set goals for their risk management, assess risks, develop alternatives and act. The focus was very much on risk assessment / analysis, which can be done both qualitatively and quantitatively. The teacher liked to count, so it was a lot of statistics. Probability, Regression, interference, Monte-Carlo simulation and a lot of other techniques were used. Read the course if you like this: in my opinion the perfect course for the engineer.

Negotiation Skills (postgrad)

Negotiation Learning about learning to negotiate. This is not simply a person who is accustomed to not haggle. There are two different schools of negotiation learning; competitive and cooperative bargining. The first is to grab the cake while the other is to enlarge the pie. This insight is extremely important in negotiation methodology is not to underestimate his opponent who never is dumber than you! A variety of techniques exist to work with and the course's approach is to apply the techniques in the simulations. A simulation is held each week with a different theme where you work in a group against the other students. Roles and requirements will be assigned as homework. Every week there is also 3-6 articles to read, and a little from a course book (which I bought in vain).

The course is incredibly interesting, perhaps the most interesting I've read. However, it is difficult to get good grades; competition is very tough at the Australian School of Business. Two short essays determines your score which I think is difficult. It involves subjective quality instead of more measurable quantity!

Stretegy and Entrepreneurship (undergrad)

This was the only course I read on below degree level (ie not at masters level). We get to read two such courses to master (according to what I've heard). It was noticed that the course was undergrad because it was a little less to do. When you read the four courses in parallel, it is smart to have someone to take it easy in.

The purpose of the course was in all cases to go through what you need thought about when starting a business and writing a business plan. Every week there was a guest speaker from a start-up company and held for 1.5 hours. Usual lesson was also held for 1.5 hours per week.

I have already started a business in high school and was very inspired by the course. My goal is to make another start shortly and the course definitely helped me to think in the right way, and to develop one of my best ideas!

Finally, on the subject courses

I chose the Masters Programme Quality and Operations Management because it can be combined with study abroad. All master's programs do not accept the substitution rates in an exchange against those who read at Chalmers. This is horrible and wrong, and I really hope it will change in the future. By MEI program managers got the explanation that Chalmers is as high quality as compared to other universities so whether you are reading the exact same thing abroad, you need to read about it when you get back to Chalmers. My experience of UNSW and all the world university rankings, however, proves the contrary, most exchange university is better than Chalmers! In Qom has however the right attitude;'s the same courses at your exchange university so they can respond as a substitute for the courses offered in the program at Chalmers. Therefore, I urge you to choose Qom and say no thank you to everyone proud program managers!

Starting from the courses provided by the exchange is finished in three copies. The rating is not included in your rate at Chalmers.

Resources

Trip report in pdf format!

www.davidgustafasson.com / blog - My blog from Sydney.

http://sofiakarlssons.se/ - Sofia's blog from Sydney. Very well written and funny!

http://sofiakarlssons.se/2009/07/ - A little bit about how the first month can be when you come to Sydney!

www.davidgustafsson.com / photos / on-flickr - Nice pictures. Worth seeing if you want to know what awaits you in amazing Australia, the world's most beautiful country!

www.flickr.com / techonomics - Nice pictures from Sydney and our adventures!

www.techonomics.se - My Swedish site; little information on scholarships, etc..

www.handbook.unsw.com.au - Courses at UNSW.

Penula, the center of Coonawarras Wine

http://www.balcony.com.au/ - The Balcony in Byron Bay.

http://southcoogeebowls.com/ - Lawn bowling in Coogee: In Australia bowling man on grass instead!

www.briskis.se

[2] Cracked radiator = 1000 AUD, Ignition coil = 200 AUD, Oil = 200 AUD, broken AC = Fixed yourself.

It's been a while since I wrote on techonomics.se. Here, however, an attempt at a post worth reading. My friend Karl Wackerberg have discussed his views on "To get yourself go, the dreams and happiness" . Karl makes a point where that happiness means to burn to accomplish something is what true happiness means. I agree with Charles on this.

The psychologist Abraham Maslow has classified the different degrees of need and desire people have in a very famous hierarchy of needs (Maslow's hierarchy of needs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow% 27s_hierarchy_of_needs ). Maslov's hierarchy of needs rate our needs by:

• Physical: Sleep and food
• Security
• Love and group membership
• Confirmation (esteem)
• Self-realization

The Karl Wackerberg talking about, to let yourself go and fulfill dreams, means according to Maslov's approach to step up the stairs. Going from food on the table for shelter or to go from confirmation by others for fulfillment.

The last time in my life has included many challenges that have put me to the test. Those of you who know me know that I am on student exchange in Sydney. Australia is a new country, to which I arrived with no accommodation and expectations. Finding accommodation and food for the day is not very difficult. Since my girlfriend Sofia also is on the trip has not been any love problems. Sofia is the world's best and together we have done it all! The least trivial point, the tip of the iceberg, is self-realization. Self-realization for me means to reach and surpass my goals (continious improvement as it is known in operations management). Since I came to Sydney without expectations, my goals consisted of coping with today's challenges, which largely consisted of school work. I am now in the middle of a semester in which the exam period has just started. The week that has passed has consisted of submissions by two huge projects. A research project in the course Applied Marketing Research and web development projects in the course Web Applications Engineering. These projects have really set me on the entire sample and been true challenges.

Research work on an Australian theater company

X is a theater company in Australia. Operations for X consists of theater across the country (including the Sydney Opera House), and educational programs for youth. The business is classified as a "non-profit" and our mission was to generate more donations to the company by exploring the motives, characteristics, knowledge (etc.) of the organization's private donors. This was done in different ways by different groups in the course. My group was one of two groups that did qualitative research. Our method consisted of a focus group on current donors. I was the moderator of the group, which consisted of a donor of between $ 250 and $ 10 000. The challenge inherent to dialogue with the group and try to answer our research objectives by following an interview guide formulated. This was a big challenge for me because English is my second language. Other factors that influenced was that Australians are not the easiest dialect to interpret, theater is not my major and that participants in the group were older and more authoritative than me, and very important for X. Despite this focus group went very well. We have managed to answer all the research objectives and in particular concluded that the company should use volunteers as well as expand to improve its relationship with donors by giving them greater involvement (involvement).

An additional challenge of the project was to bring together the work of the research group. The group has been very multicultural. I have represented Europe and my peers have come from different parts of Asia. Group morale was very high and I have learned a lot about how other cultures view work. Compared with the other groups I've had my experience is that Asian group members are safeguarding team and working hard (but may not have the same high quality of English). This is also something we have looked great on another course I read in parallel, international project management.

The report, a total of 92 pages, which is much more extensive than my graduate work in Industrial Engineering. In relation to this I would say that the most recent research work (X) held an incredibly much better level that I'm very happy with! Notably, the work was done by fewer people, in half the time and gave a better result. The explanation is spelled organization and guidance that has been incredibly good at UNSW! (For reasons of confidentiality, I can not publish the report on techonomics.se).

MovieDB

MovieDB web application project

Overall, I have read four courses in parallel during my six months in Australia. Away from this research, I have taken a course in web development. This course was at Masters level as the other courses I've read. My background as an engineer is in the field of Industrial Engineering that includes much economy and business. However, I have a lot of experience in computer science and programming.

The project MovieDB within Web applications-engineering was to develop a movie database. MovieDB contains the login of the four different types of users (administrators, spectators, cinema owners and production companies). Spectators can just as on Facebook acquire other onlookers as friends, chat with them and create a network. Friends can recommend movies between one another, comment and rate. Spectators can also make appointments tickets to performances at movie theaters. The system plots the nearest cinema to viewers using Google maps which allows the user to quickly decide. Production can see the statistics of how different users rank the company's movies, add movies to the system, and so on.

The task has been incredibly time consuming and tedious. My group and I have studied 7-22 every day for the last 5 weeks and just finished in time. We have learned new techniques busfärska the market. These techniques include Hibernate, Spring, Spring Security, Google Maps, Statisic charting, etc.. I've got two new friends from Denmark and France who have been fantastic to work with.

Interested in our project? The project report was written by me on a day before the filing (first time I've written a report on the day before submission) and can be found here: final-project-report-moviedb-group-13-eu . The application is not on the internet yet but will soon. Looking for someone to the latest technologies in web development? Send an email!

IS IT WORTH IT?

I went to Australia in order to take it easy. Everywhere I've read that the pace is slow and that Australians take each day as it comes. This is wrong, incredibly wrong. In all cases with the courses I have ever read! The past six months have been incredibly challenging and probably the richest event in my life. I have played Australian football, snorkeling in the barrier reef, met incredible people from different cultures and learned a great lot more than the corresponding six months had given me in Sweden! I talked to my father last week when it was the toughest and moaned at our project. I got a comment like:

"Why are you bitching, that's exactly what you want '

Yes, he's right. There are challenges that make us stronger. I love challenges.

My next challenge

1. Quit my courses in a good way

2nd Learning to surf properly (not just stand in one second)

3rd Buying a car and make a road-trip in Australia that include finding full-time jobs in order to survive (the plan is to pick fruit).