Research - Magnus Löfstrand

Löfstrand has a background in product and production development for various types of value-added products. His research is mostly focused on approaches to support and improve industrial system availability and cost. Approaches include simulation of industrial system availability, and using data analytics to support industrial development of availability based industrial business offers, mainly in the process and production industry.

Research based methods and tools are for example demonstrated through support of industrial development of products and machines with high availability and with high efficiency. The methods and tools are also demonstrated through analysis of data generated during the product and production development and during product operation, to be used for avoidance of unplanned stops.

The technical focus is often on integrated machine systems involving mechanics, information technology, reliability and maintainability. The research aims to develop scientific methods and tools, and to demonstrate those in industrial applications.

In terms of the design process, the research facilitates improved concept generation and concept evaluation, and enables improving the basis for industrial decision-making. In this way, the studied industrial process can be realized more quickly and efficiently, resulting in improved industrial competitive advantage. For existing systems in operations, systems simulation models are meant to predict relevant operating parameters for appropriate availability and cost. For upgrades and new installations, simulation models have, in addition to the operating parameters, development-related parameters that can be controlled to find optimal solutions. As a result, environmental improvements also accrue in the form of reduced environmental impact: the production system does as much as possible using a minimum of resources. Löfstrands' research thus supports development of reliable production systems for sustainable and competitive production.

Furthermore, for industrial companies to be able to do business in a climate that is characterized by new demands, business models must be continually subjected to revision, which, in addition to existing engineering requirements, places further demands on collaboration within development teams. These demands create a need to be able to pursue development in a distributed global environment in which suppliers, subcontractors, customers, etc. with different nationalities, backgrounds and capabilities participate in different phases of the product development process. A global collaborative environment requires support in terms of both technology and working methods. In this context, some of Löfstrands' research deals with methods and tools for distributed collaboration, usually in a mechanical engineering context.