Textile Engineering - Masters Thesis Handbook

7/21/2019 Textile Engineering - Masters Thesis Handbook

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TEXTILE ENGINEERING,

MASTERS THESIS HANDBOOK

30CREDITS

ANDERS PERSSON

VINCENT NIERSTRASZ


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FOREWORDThis handbook is intended to help students complete their Masters thesis work in

Textile Engineering at the Swedish School of Textiles. In electronic format (a Mi-

crosoft Word document) it also provides a general template, in which the headingof this section (Foreword) could be replaced by the students Abstract.The hand-

book outlines the thesis process, including important dates, and it explains the de-

partmentsrequirements on format and writing as well as the grading system, su-

pervision and other important parts of the thesis process.

This handbook is based on its equivalent developed by Jonas Stray and Hkan Tor-

stensson for the Applied Textile Management Programme, which is also offered at

the Swedish School of Textiles.


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TABLE OF CONTENTSForeword .................................................................................................................... i

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... iii

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1

2. Topic and Project ................................................................................................ 1

3. Thesis Project Overview..................................................................................... 1

4. Registration ........................................................................................................ 3

5. Project proposal .................................................................................................. 3

6. Supervision ......................................................................................................... 4

7. Thesis Report Structure ...................................................................................... 4

8. Format and Writing Requirements ..................................................................... 6

Format Requirements ............................................................................................ 6

Page Size and Margins ...................................................................................... 6

Font ................................................................................................................... 6

Headings and Table of Contents ....................................................................... 6

Lists of Figures, Tables, Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................... 7

Figures, tables and other floating environments ............................................... 7

Footnotes ........................................................................................................... 7

References ......................................................................................................... 7

Writing Requirements ......................................................................................... 10

9. Start up and mid-term presentations ................................................................. 10

10. Oral Presentation and Opposition ..................................................................... 11

11. Evaluation and Examination ............................................................................. 11

Appendix I. ............................................................................................................. 13

Appendix II. ............................................................................................................ 15

Appendix III. ........................................................................................................... 17


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1.

INTRODUCTIONThe Swedish School of Textiles has one Masters Programme in Textile Engineer-

ing, which is scheduled for two years with a one semester full time thesis project,

i.e. 30 credits. This programme also offers a possibility to settle for one year wherethe student makes half a semester thesis project, i.e. 15 credits. There are two dif-

ferent handbooks that cover the thesis courses individually. The thesis projects

require independent scientific work, academic writing and oral presentation at an

international level. As students are expected to produce reports and presentations

of a quality level set by the international peer-review principles, it is useful to have

a manual that outlines the administrative process and thesis project flow, describes

the report format requirements and the student-supervisor relationship, provides

language guidelines and explains the grading system and process. This manual is

intended to assist the student in completing the project on time and in designing

and writing up the outcome of his or her work according to the set standards.

2.

TOPIC AND PROJECTUltimately the thesis project validates the quality of the programme. This means

that students who master their tools acquired before and during the programme to

such a degree that the thesis project touches the science frontier in a specific textile

engineering domain. A student who is able to synthesize his knowledge, under-

standing, skills, abilities and judgement during the thesis course can be called a

Master of Textile Engineering. Complete learning objectives are stated in the study

programme syllabus. The project should address the scientific aspects of a profes-

sional textile engineering issue or problem. In order to assure proper scientific level

the project is preferably conducted in the proximity of research areas where the

Swedish School of Textiles is enrolled. Alternatively enterprises, institutes or other

academic organizations with research focus can host the project.

With the stressed scientific focus of the project the independence of the student is

jeopardized. To assure that the student manages the project it is mandatory that

students take the initiative to and articulate a topic. The thesis coordinator will not

keep a stock of ready-made research questions to the students.

3.

THESIS PROJECT OVERVIEWThe thesis project comprises the following activities in more or less the mentioned

order:


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1.

The student works on finding a suitable project by contacting departmental

staff or scholars in their networks.

2.

The student makes sure that enough credits are completed to register for

the project.

3.

Registration steps:

a.

The student decides on the title of the thesisand fills in the regis-

tration form attached in this handbook.

b.

The registration form is handed or e-mailed no later than 9 No-

vember to the thesis coordinator for assignment of supervisor and

examiner.

4.

A clearance process that involves student, supervisor candidate, examiner

and thesis coordinator takes place.

5.

Examiner and thesis coordinator approves of the project no later than 14

December.

6. Now, actual work on the project has definitely started. The relationship be-

tween the student and supervisor should be well established.

7.

The student participates in a start-up seminar 24 January where the re-

search question and scope are put into their context and presented together

with draft outlines of methods and time plan.

8.

The student participates in a mid-project seminar 25 March where the in-

troduction, results from literature searches, methods section and detailed

plan of project closure are presented and reviewed by peers and staff.

9.

By the beginning of May, the students should start working on their pres-entations. At this time the thesis coordinator provides the time of day and

Presentation

Opp

osition

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venue of each teams presentation.Allocate 20 minutes for the presentation

and five minutes for questions from the opponents and the audience.

10.Submission approval is initiated by providing an electronic or printed copy

of the thesis to the supervisor 23 May.

11.

Upon approval by the supervisor, no later than 27 May the student now:

a.

Provides two printed and one electronic copy (in Word format) ofthe thesis to the supervisor.

b.

Provides one printed copy to their peer opponent.

c.

Obtains a thesis number from the school expedition.

12.

The supervisor sends one printed copy to the examiner. By sending the

thesis, the supervisor approves the thesis for presentation.

13.

The theses are presented 29 May AM with opposition PM in a joint event

for both 15 and 30 credit Master theses.

14.

Oral peer review comments during the opposition session are followed by

the opponents written comments and a grade report from the examiner.

15.

After feedback consideration the student provides the examiner with a oneprinted and electronic copy (in Word format) of the report for final grading

3 June.

16.No later than 7 June the examiner notices the student if the report did not

receive format approval or in the case of the grade Fx, the students have

until 11 June to make corrections and resubmit to the examiner for consid-

eration for a grade. If Fx was graded no other grade than F is considered.

17.The final grade is reported in the students LADOK accounts no later than

21 June.

A student that fails to deliver a manuscript by 23 May or is stopped from presenta-

tion in the 29 May seminar is handled individually. Still the student should be pre-

pared for the peer review part 29 May. Next available opportunity for presentation

is in August 2013.

4.

REGISTRATIONIn order to register for the 30-credit thesis project (from now on just thesis), the

student must have earned at least 52.5 credits and 7.5 credits from the course Sci-

entific Methodology and Communicationunder the programme in LADOK by the

end of week 4.

The registration form is included inAppendix I of this document. It may be filled

in electronically and emailed to the thesis coordinator.

5.PROJECT PROPOSALThe project proposal should be handed to your designated supervisor, or the thesis

coordinator if you have not been assigned a supervisor. It should outline the things

you intend to do during your project and when you plan on doing them. This type

of document is common when communicating research projects for interested par-

ties to understand what activities are needed and how long they will take in order


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for the project to be successful. Use Gantt charts or other illustration tools accord-

ing to your own judgement. A sample proposal is given inAppendix III.

6.SUPERVISIONThe role of the supervisor is to help the student complete the project on time and to

produce a report of high quality. The student and supervisor first agree on a time-

line for the project, and adherence to this timeline becomes part of the final grade.

The student and supervisor should meet or talk directly several times over the

course of the project. The student should submit written work several times as well,

especially while working on the problem description. Each student are entitled to at

least twelve hours of direct communication with their supervisor and the supervisor

has the right to the same amount, upon failure on part of the supervisor up until two

weeks before the deadline to hand in the report the student is entitled to be assigned

another supervisor. Upon failure on part of the students up until two weeks beforethe deadline to hand in the report the supervisor has the right to disallow examina-

tion. In order for this right to disallow examination to come into effect, there must

be evidence of written requests (letters or electronic mail) for direct communica-

tion sessions from the supervisor detailing the time and form of these sessions.

Furthermore, under the same consequences as described in the case of direct com-

munication, the students have the right to adequate supervision in terms of the con-

tents of the report and the supervisor has the right to a printed, or, in the case of

long geographical distances between the student and supervisor, electronic, copy of

the report within two weeks notice as the report stands at any moment during the

thesis project. The total supervision time available for each student is 30 hoursincluding reading time.

The supervisor should make sure that the student is fully aware of the requirements

to get the thesis accepted for presentation. If this issue arises the course manage-

ment should be noticed asap.

Ping-pong should be used for communication.

7.

THESIS REPORT STRUCTUREA thesis can be structured in many different ways. You must ensure that the flowof your scientific argument is unbroken and solid throughout the document. To be

well prepared for structuring your document, you should ask your supervisor to

help you find some good examples of theses or papers which you then read and

reflect upon. However, some of the common headings are mentioned here. Use

them to reflect on what is to be included and where in your thesis it should go.

AbstractPresent in a condensed way whats been done, why it was done, how it

was done, most important results and their implications on science and society.

Popular abstract Write a popular version of the abstract that can be used as

press release. Make sure that lay men are able to understand this section. It should

not be longer than the abstract.


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IntroductionIntroduce the topic and make the reader interested. Important con-

cepts may be briefly introduced and should be maintained exactly throughout the

document.

Problem descriptiondescribe your problem in as much detail as you possibly

can. Tell us why it is an important problem; tell us how solving it may change theworld. Every term you use not described in the dictionary must be properly defined

or referenced. If it is used several times in your document it can be helpful if you

place a referenced definition in a footnote.

Research questions if you are not tackling a specific problem it might make

sense to outline your goals by means of a research question or more. The question

should guide your research and can be more or less specific, but the answer you

provide must rest on your method, results and on the literature review. It is impor-

tant to discuss the research questions with the supervisor.

Literature review explore the literature to convince the reader that you haveread everything that may actually contain a solution to your problem, but does not.

Refer to the literature for definitions of concepts that you have not invented your-

self. Do not include several paragraphs describing common knowledge or even

cutting-edge research unless you are describing the method that you used.

Theoretical frame of reference this is more or less the same as a literature re-

view and is more often used in doctoral dissertations. It should constitute a set of

ideas that you want the reader to presuppose when interpreting your work. It

should also contain a number of definitions of concepts that might otherwise be

interpreted in a vastly different way than you would like. These definitions and

ideas should mostly be based (if not all) on accepted literature in the research field

of your thesis.

Methoddescribe your method in such a way as to make it possible to repeat your

work. If you have developed a new method, you must provide reliability and valid-

ity tests and discussions. If it is a well-known, accepted scientific method, find a

good book or paper that describes the method properly and follow the method to

the letter. Reference the book or paper you use and describe what you did, dont

repeat the text of the book or paper. If you suspect that your choice of method

might be questioned, provide a discussion on each of the alternative methods that

conceivably might have been applied to solve your problem, and end this with amotivation for your particular choice. This is not always relevant; in the case of

mathematics, for example, if you have proven a solution to a problem, the way you

did it might not matter as long as it holds.

Results this section or chapter usually contains tables and graphs depicting the

numerical or other output produced by your method. Present the results in well-

designed graphs and carefully described tables so that they may actually be read

and understood without having to read the next section or chapter.

Analysis complicated result may require further analysis to become useful

knowledge. Use this section to interpret graphs, explaining to the reader what theyare telling us. As an example, in the results section a table might contain the values


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12, 15, 18 and 21 under the headings January, February, March and April, respec-

tively. In the analysis section you might want to say The value increased by 3

units per month over a four-month period. In the analysis section, you should

draw on the literature review and weave it together with your results and come up

with an answer to your problem.

Conclusionshere you simply state the solution to your problem and perhaps say

something about its implications on the rest of us.

Future researchduring your project you should collect the ideas that cant be

investigated and write them up in a future research section. This may be of benefit

to other people or yourself for future research projects.

8.

FORMAT AND WRITING REQUIREMENTSThe format and the writing quality are crucial in scientific reporting. Without them

scientific work becomes harder to compare and more difficult to understand for a

wider audience than the authors immediate colleagues. The requirements laid out

in this handbook for our subject area are general in character, but are designed to

ensure consistency, clarity and unambiguity. English skills may be improved at

HBs Language Lab, which you can read more about at: hb.se/Current Stu-

dent/Support/Language & Speech/The Language Lab.

FORMAT REQUIREMENTSThe report must contain a title page, abstract, table of contents, list of figures, list

of tables, list of abbreviations, list of acronyms, the main document, references and

appendix. The list of figures, list of tables and appendix are necessary only if there

are respective figures, tables or material suitable for inclusion in an appendix in the

report.

PAGE SIZE ANDMARGINSPrint the report on A4 paper. The A4 is 210 mm wide and 297 mm high. The top

and bottom margins should be 25 mm. The text width should be 130 mm if you are

using Times New Roman or Courier fonts of size 11, while size 12 warrants a text

width of 140 mm. If you are using other fonts, check the letter width of the font

and choose an appropriate text width of either 130 or 140 mm. A text width of 130

mm corresponds to 40 mm right and left margins while a text width of 140 mmcorresponds to 35 mm left and right margins. The edges of tables, figures or other

floats may not appear outside the margins.

FONT

There may generally only be a single font (Times New Roman, Arial etc.) in the

document. The only exception is that you may use a serif font in the text while

using a sans serif in the headings. The font size of the main text should be 11 or 12

(never mixed). Headings should be larger than 11 or 12, but must be the same for

the same heading level across the document. Never use fantasy fonts.

HEADINGS AND TABLE OF CONTENTS

Headings should be numbered at least to the third level.


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The table of contents should contain headings down to at least the third level.

LISTS OFFIGURES,TABLES,ACRONYMS ANDABBREVIATIONS

Use the same style for the lists of figures, tables, acronyms, abbreviations and simi-

lar lists as for the table of contents. Place these lists directly after the table of con-

tents.

FIGURES,TABLES AND OTHER FLOATING ENVIRONMENTSThe quality of images in the report should be good. Figures, tables and other floats

should be numbered consistently. Figures should follow their own numbering se-

quence (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, ,Fig. n) and tables follow their own numbering sequence

(Table 1, Table 2, , Table n). If you include other types of floats, such as algo-

rithms, give them their own numbering sequence.

FOOTNOTES

In scientific texts it is occasionally good for the readability to refrain from clarify-

ing terms directly in the text. As an example, consider the flow of the following

sentence: the subjects all had to have prior experience of asphyxiation, which

is defined here as the subject having being deprived of oxygen during a near-

drowning experience, which entailed a large search and recruitment effort before

the study could start. In this case the word asphyxiation1is given a slightly more

precise definition than that found in dictionaries, and the flow would have been

improved if this definition had been placed in a footnote. It is, however, sometimes

crucial to present the definition directly in the text, so exercise judgement when

using footnotes.

REFERENCESReferences play an important role in scientific texts. By referencing clearly and

unambiguously, the reader can determine who says what, when they said it and

where the source of each fact or statement is located. The quality of the research

presented in the text is dependent on the extent and range of the body of literature

and other sources that have been used in supporting the background, problem for-

mulation, frame of reference, methods, results, analysis, conclusions and future

work. The referencing has to be clear and provide enough information to identify

the sources precisely. Primary sources should be used if available.

The reference in the textThe reference in the text to the source contains the name(s) of the author(s) and the

year of publication of the source, in parentheses. This system is based on the well-

known Harvard referencing system, which you can read more about if you open:

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

If your sentence uses the name of the author(s), just use the year of publication in

parentheses as the reference. This is called direct use of the author name(s).

If your sentence does not use the name, put the author(s) and year in parentheses as

the reference. This is called indirect use of author name.

1Asphyxiation is here defined as oxygen depravation induced by drowning.
http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htmhttp://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htmhttp://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm


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If the source has a single author, include the surname of the author, if there are two

authors, include both authors surnames separated by the word and. If there are

three authors or more, use the surname of the first author followed by etal. (an

abbreviation of the Latin expression et alia, meaning with others).

The following sentence exemplifies the reference rules and how to write more thanone reference for each statement: Smith and Johnson (1977), Tomlinson et al.

(1978) and Bergerand (1980) showed that books become larger by adding words,

while current research indicates that the number of words decreases as more work

is put into writing the text (Cobbleberg et al., 2011) and that the length and com-

plexity of words also decreases with effort (Ardent and Dumanoir, 2009; Stein-

beard, 2010).

When referencing or quoting a specific claim in the source, indicate this by includ-

ing the page numbers: Ardent and Dumanoir (2011, pp. 23-24) argue that nothing

can substitute a well chosen word.You could alternatively write this in your own

words: The authors argue that the criteria for a judging whether a word has been

well chosen is that it is hard to replace the word with a better word (Ardent and

Dumanoir, 2009, pp. 23-24).

If a quote is longer than 50 words, place it in an indented paragraph, with quotation

marks: Hardy (1882, p. 330) tells us

There were so many lions around us that we could

have walked on their backs across the river, if only they

had been of a more benign species and had been stand-

ing in the river. As it was, their benevolence was lim-

ited to ignoring us, for which we thanked them, so we

quietly waded across.

Perhaps you are wondering about the usage and placement of quotation marks,

commas and full stops (.)? Put the full stops and commas inside the quotation

marks when they are part of the word or quote you are referring to. Put the commas

and full stops outside of the quotation marks when they are not part of the word or

quote (this is called logical punctuation as opposed to aesthetic punctuation). Use

single quotation marks () as inner quotation delimiters.

If a statement refers to several works of the same author, include the author nameonce, followed by a list of the years of publication: Direct use: Cobbleberg (2010;

2011)and indirect use: (Cobbleberg, 2010; 2011). If the works were published

in the same year, use a, b, , etc. to distinguish them: Smith (1974a; b) was first

contradicted by Tomlinson (1980a), but Tomlinson (1980b) later retracted the con-

tradiction.

Compilations of work by several authors, such as encyclopaedias, usually name the

editor or publishing company of the compiled work. The reference to work in such

a compilation should be specified by using the author of the work, not the editor of

the compilation. Reference to the compilation as a whole should be specified by

the name of the editor.


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References to work by organisations is similar to that of authors but if the organisa-

tion is mentioned more than once, an acronym should be introduced: The Swedish

Royal Book Preservation Society (SRBPS) has performed research on the size of

books and conclude that books are getting shorter (SRBPS, 2009).If the organisa-

tion is well known by an acronym, use that one: SIDA (2010) states

If you cant establish the name of the author (which should always be done), use

Anonymous or Anon. instead of the name: Books are good (Anon., 2010).

If the year of publication cannot be established, use n.d. (no date): (Tomlinson,

n.d.).

The list of references

Use References as the heading for the list of references and place it directly after

the main document, before any Appendix. List the references in alphabetical order

by the first letter of the reference work as it appears in the list. The following list

illustrates some of the common types of references. Each example is followed byits anatomy.

Single author article in peer-reviewed journal (often called journal paper):

Cobbleberg, J.P., 2010. Decreasing the number of words by working on ones text.

The Internal Journal on Book Science, 21(2), pp. 331-346.

Author surname, punctuated initials, publication year. Article title.Full journal

title in italics, volume(issue), page numbers.

Multiple author article in peer reviewed journal:

Cobbleberg, J.P., Dumanoir, P.Y. and Smith, J., 2010. Decreasing the number of

words by working on ones text. The Internal Journal on Book Science, 21(2), pp.

331-346.

Author surname, punctuated initials (last author preceded by and), publication

year. Article title.Full journal title in italics, volume(issue), page numbers.

Book:

Smith, J., 1976. The length of sentences. 2nd

ed. New York, Readers Publishing

Company.

Author name, year.Book title in italics (Look at the title page, not the book cover

for the correct title). Edition (only if second edition or more). Place of publication

(city, not just country), publisher.

For books with more than a single author, follow the same rules as for journal arti-

cles. If the books have an editor or editors, add a field with ed. or eds. after their

names, before the year of publication.

Distinguish references to multiple books of the same author and same year by us-

ing letters:

Smith, J., 1976a


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Smith, J., 1976b

Book chapter in edited book:

Cobbleberg, J.P., 1974. The number of words in sentences. In: J. Smith, ed. 1976.

The length of sentences.2nd

ed.New York, Readers Publishing Company, pp. 32-

41. (or ch. 3. instead of pp. 32-41.)

Dissertation or thesis:

Author name, year.Dissertation/thesis title. Level. Full name of University.

Reports by organisations:

Authorship/Organisation, Year. Full title of report. [type of medium] Place: Pub-

lisher: Available at: include web address/URL [Accessed on date] (If non-

electronic, leave out: medium type, available at url and access date).

Electronic books freely available:

Author name, Year. Title of book. [type of medium] City, Publisher. Available at:

web address or URL for the e-book [Date when you accessed the book].

Electronic books not freely available:

Author name, Year. Title of book. [type of medium] City, Publisher. Available

through: web address or URL through which it may be accessed [Date when you

accessed the book].

If you come across problems regarding the correct way to reference your text, talk

to your supervisor.

WRITING REQUIREMENTSThe examiner will grade your writing style and language. The report should be

written in American or British English, not a mix of the two. Try to write in active

form, but be clear about the usage of I and we. The authors of this handbook

recommend using the author(s) instead of I or we. There are numerous lan-

guage and style guides available, and it is a good idea to select a guide for writers

of research papers, dissertations, theses or reports, or combinations thereof, and to

follow the rules laid out in the style guide carefully.

As far as formal requirements are concerned, sentences must be complete, unambi-

guous and devoid of slang or expressions. Should this not be the case, the report

may be returned to you before grading (format disapproval).

9.

START UP AND MID-TERM PRESENTATIONSTo present the research question, its context, the measures to address it and later on

results gives excellent learning opportunities for the presenter when faced by the

task to clarify in a concise way. In this way the students become more confident on


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where they are in their project and it becomes much clearer where they are head-

ing. Hence, the 30 credit thesis project includes two such presentations.

It is compulsory for peers to attend and it is strongly recommended that supervi-

sors, examiners and thesis coordinators attend.

During the start-up seminar the students put their research question and scope into

context and also present draft outlines of methods and time plan. The time limit is

10 minutes, plus an additional 5 minutes for discussion.

At the mid-term seminar the students should make sure that relevant literature is

digested, further work is planned in detail and the validity of the research question

has become reinforced or modified. The time limit is 15 minutes, plus an additional

5 minutes for discussion.

10.

ORAL PRESENTATION AND OPPOSITIONPresentations should be concise and clearly communicate the problem, chosen

method, results, analysis, conclusions and future research. Avoid irrelevant mate-

rial, but include as much detail as you expect your audience to be able to absorb.

The time limit is 20 minutes, plus an additional 5 minutes for questions.

During opposition the reviewing students should question and criticise another

thesis report and presentation, and the presenting students will defend their find-

ings and statements. The opposition must also be documented in writing, consist-

ing of a paper of approximately one page, containing the main critical issues and

questions. The thesis coordinator will inform each student on whom to review.

11.

EVALUATION AND EXAMINATIONExaminer and supervisor are assigned during mid-December. The examiner exam-

ines the report between the submission date and the oral presentation and opposi-

tion date, and is present at the oral presentation and opposition. After all of the

presentations for the day are completed, there is a short recess and the student

teams are then called back and given their grade reports.

The thesis will be assessed according to the ECTS grade scale. A is given for ex-

cellent work, B is given for very good work, C is given for good work, D is given

for satisfactory work and E is given for sufficient work. Even though the examiner

considers the work to be of A, B, C, D or E quality, the work may contain format-

ting errors. This is reflected by an incomplete grade report (an example of the

grade report is included in Appendix II) with the tick-box labelled No ticked

under Thesisformat approved. The grade Fx is given when the thesis is insuffi-

cient, but a better grade can be achieved by resubmitting a corrected report. The

grade F cannot be improved by resubmitting, the student has to register for the

thesis again and start over.


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Appendix I.


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REGISTRATIONTTTHESIS

Filled in by the student and emailed to thesis coordinator:

Project title

Short descriptionReport number (Obtained from school expedition)

Student name

Programme

E-mail

Proposed project starting date

Affiliation

Name of company, organization

Company supervisor

Address

Phone, fax, e-mail

Filled in by the thesis coordinatorThesis coordinator

Name

Phone, fax, e-mail

Received project proposal, date

Project approved for starting, date

Supervisor at Swedish School of Textile in Bors

Name

Phone, fax, e-mail

Examiner

Name

Phone, fax, e-mail


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Appendix II.


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GRADE REPORTTTTHESIS

This grade report is filled in solely by the examiner and presented to the student

upon completion of the course. It is not valid without the examiners name and

signature. If the thesis report requires formatting changes, this report will not con-tain the grade or the examiners signature.

Thesis and grade

StudentsFirst and last name

Thesis informationTitle Number

SupervisorFirst and last name Supervisor approved

Yes No

ExaminerFirst and last name Thesis received date Thesis format approved

Yes No

Grade/signature

Grade Signature Date

Remarks and score

Remarks and scores are the examiners voluntary notes on the strengths and quali-

ties of the thesis. A score of 7 indicates excellence and a score of 1 indicates insuf-

ficiency.

Area Remark Score

Relevance and level 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Problem formulation 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Literature review 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Sources and references 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Methods and materials 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Results 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Analysis 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Conclusions 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Future work 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Thesis consistency 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Originality 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Independency 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Language and struc-

ture

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Oral presentation 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Opposition 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


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Appendix III.Wet-to-dry Initiative: E-Mass Customization reflected from a Sustainable

Point of View

This master thesis is a part of an initiative at the Swedish School of Textiles that

aims to develop and test applications within mass customization businesses for

digital printing on textiles. The initiative is interdisciplinary between design, tech-

nology, business and supply chain management.

Theoretical assumptions

Since recent years mass customization is a widely used paradigm in the textile

industry which offers several opportunities, like coming closer to customers

needs, withstand market volatility and being able to gain economies of scope

through a different manufacturing approach compared to mass production. Hence,

it becomes more and more attractive for unique start-ups to apply this efficient and

effective strategy. Since nowadays corporations cannot any longer sustain a com-

petitive advantage with a one-sided view on the economic development, a new

paradigm-shift is constantly being discussed by academia and entrepreneurs. These

debates include social and ecological aspects into business reality to foster a triple

bottom line approach; consisting of people, planet, profit that sets the foundation

for a sustainable development in future.

Choice of topic

The wettodry initiative provides a vision for a cleaner future that encompasses the

evolution of digital clothing supply chains, from design to distribution and an end-of-life supply chain focus. It is aimed to minimize returns and in turn reduce waste.

This web-based supply chain is the new approach to realize a more sustainable and

efficient apparel industry and global trade by focusing on e-configurations, digital

design and manufacturing toolkits, online dressing facilities and the development

of a virtual shopping market. Different types of waste can be controlled as part of a

lean manufacturing within an agile chain, or sustainable project. Also technology

plays a role in developing a more sustainable supply chain including computerized

sketching, CAD pattern design, digital grading and marker-making, digital direct

on textile printing and computer numerical control (CAM) single-ply cutting.

Objectives and goals

The objective of this master thesis is to reflect e-mass customization from a sus-

tainable perspective. Although sustainability always covers the three aspects of

people-planet-profit, this thesis highlights only the ecological and economical rele-

vancies that are crystallized from this business strategy. Moreover, it will be ana-

lysed how far the integration of a digital textile printing machine contributes to a

more ecological aspiration for the textile industry, besides focusing only on the

economic outcomes by increasing profit margins.

Key topics: Mass customization, Longtail economy, e-commerce, Sustainability,

digital textile printer, digital supply chain network, supply and demand chain man-

agement


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Problem and Research question

The textile industry contains severe current problems that increase worldwide de-

pletion. Besides belonging to an industry that contributes significantly to environ-

mental degradation, regarding water usages, soil degradation, CO2emissions or

long transportation distances based on global production, the textile industry ismore and more confronted with increasing labor costs in former low developed

countries. Furthermore, a change within our consumption society can be observed

that shifts towards a more conscious buying behaviour where customers demand

unique, personalized, meaningful and qualitative products which are produced

under fair conditions. Regarding all these issues with which the textile and fashion

industry is confronted, the pressure for a paradigm shift increases. Still, most com-

panies hold tight on these old business-as-usual frameworks which decrease costs

through mass production in low labor cost countries with loose or unclear social

and environmental regulations. Without understanding todays need to see the big

holistic picture of corporate wealth, that goes beyond the bottom line and considers

social and environmental aspects, our world might never experience real, sustain-

able prosperity. Therefore this thesis is constructed which claims to solve the fol-

lowing research question:

Is the concept of e-mass-customization with the use of digital technologies an ecol-

ogically sustainable solution for the fashion industry?

Methodology

The research for this thesis will be mainly performed with an emphasis on a deduc-

tive approach to clarify the literature foundation of mass customization, sustaina-

bility, digital supply chain management and surrounding theory. This theory is

worked through separately and at the end set into relation to each other to recog-

nize a new opportunity for the textile industry. Secondary data is collected through

a profound desk research of the main literature, scientific articles, research journals

as well as reliable internet data bases within each theoretical field; mass customiza-

tion, demand chain management, digital supply chain management, sustainability

and digital technology. This secondary data provides a basis for the primary inves-

tigation. Therefore, an inductive approach through qualitative research is held to

test given theory with real life examples. For that reason, it will be tried to contact

a state of the art e-mass customization company located in Belgium, called

Bivolino which produces fashionable shirts with a digital textile printer. Also dia-

logues with teachers and professors from the School of Textiles in Bors, Sweden

who are involved in the wettodry initiative will help to bring the research to a suc-

cessful outcome. Through the combination of both research methods a gradual

growth of understanding should be possible for the reader, as well as the author

itself which is a perfect combination and known under abductive reasoning.

Expected Results and their relevance

The result should give a scientific proof to the assumption that it is more sustain-

able to create and buy a garment in a digital form. Moreover, the possibility for the

next future trend of going back to local or national production with a local supply

chain set up will be considered. It is aimed to verify that marrying ecology and


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economy in business leads to a win-win situation for companies, the society and

the eco-system; simply for everybody taking part in the supply chain. Moreover, it

will be expected that the best realization potentials for this approach lie within

mass customization concepts. Consequently, this thesis is of great relevance for

any textile and fashion corporation that is already involved in customizing products

to individual needs, or wants to change its current business strategy and processesin a more sustainable and profitable manner in order to maintain a competitive

advantage in future. Also, it aims to point out the flexibility of a digital supply

chain management reinforced through a digital printing machine that eases cost,

location and risk advantages.

Time and work plan

12.3-16.3

19.3-23.3

26.3-30.3

2.4-6.4

9.4-13.4

16.4-20.4

23.4-27.4

30.4-4.5

7.5-11.5

14.5-

18.

5

21.5-25.5

29.5

Lecture Art

of Business

Trying to

contact

companies

and experts

of interest

Proposal

Research

Introduction

Methodology

Theoretical

Framework /

Literature

Review

Practical

Framework

Analysis

Discussion

Conclusion

Further

Research

Proofreading

Preparation

for Presenta-

tion


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Opposition

Final Presen-

tation &

Celebration

Documents

Textile Engineering - Masters Thesis Handbook