Jennie Andersson Schaeffer

The main concern of the licentiate thesis is to discuss how built space is used for communication in the manufacturing industry from a visual communication perspective. The thesis presents and develops the notion of 'communication space' and presents a model to describe the relation between different factors in the communication space.
In a multiple case study, six different cases from the manufacturing industry are described and analyzed to highlight how built space is used for communication in a lean production context. Research results on how built spaces such as improvement places, meeting places and a development workshop affect improvement processes and communication is presented. What the studied improvement areas, meeting places and workshop can be said to communicate about the improvement processes is analyzed.
The research results show that the built spaces in manufacturing industry are used for communication on two levels, both as places for interaction between employees and as an element in a communication process. The study also shows a relation between architecture from a specific time and the impact on the improvement work in the industrial context.
How the results can be used to improve the design of the built spaces used for improvement work in manufacturing industry is suggested in the thesis.