Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162). / The research contributes to the uncertainty management of engineering systems by proposing and demonstrating a way to implement flexible platform strategy to respond to future uncertainties. In today's competitive market, where market segments are becoming more fragmented, pressure to develop and market diverse sets of products is increasing. To meet such market needs and reduce production cost at the same time, product platform strategy has been implemented in several different industries. Using a core set of common platform elements and variant-specific unique elements, a family of products can be produced to satisfy various market segments. However, the growing cost of platform development and undesired side effects of the strategy (e.g. performance tradeoff, cannibalization) is forcing companies to design their platforms with flexibility, so they can accommodate product variants, differentiate these variants, and be economically flexible to respond to specified future uncertainties. This thesis introduces a design process to architect flexible product platforms. The proposed process is demonstrated in two automotive application case studies. / (cont.) In the first case study, a vehicle floor pan is designed to satisfy two different length requirements, while being economically robust to future specification change and component demand. The second case study investigates a vehicle platform, where the flexible body in white (BIW) platform is designed for a family of three vehicle variants through identification of critical elements subset. Results showed that the flexible BIW platform is less profitable than the inflexible BIW platform, but when the degree of future uncertainty increases, the flexible design eventually becomes more profitable. This research provides additional examples that yet again confirms the general proposition "flexibility gains value as the degree of uncertainty increases." / by Eun Suk Suh. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-116). / Freight transportation is a complex large scale system that operates under a highly dynamic and uncertain environment. Due to the scale and complexity of the system, a highly interdependent set of decisions are made across multiple planning levels. The interaction between tactical level decisions and execution level decisions largely determines the overall effectiveness of the system. This thesis aims to provide an analysis of how the interaction between the degree of robustness of a tactical plan and the flexibility level of an execution policy affects the performance of freight transportation systems in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Such analysis is conducted under two types of transportation systems, including a generalized distribution system and a military logistic system, that operate under demand uncertainty. Execution policies with different levels of flexibility - defined as the degree of freedom to which decisions can be adjusted at the executional level - are obtained by controlling the stickiness level of the different decisions as the decision maker transitions from the tactical plan to the executional plan. Robustness is used as a metric to measure the ability of a system to withstand random changes. Tactical plans with various degrees of robustness are obtained through the use of robust optimization. The performances of tactical plans with various degrees of robustness and execution policies with different levels of flexibility are evaluated through simulation. Results from the analysis on the distribution system show that the optimal level of robustness required from a tactical plan to achieve the lowest expected total cost decreases as the flexibility level of the system increases. Finally, the analysis on the military logistics system shows that the effect of increasing the flexibility level of the execution policy on the performance of the system depends on the uncertainty level of the demand. / by Atikhun Unahalekhaka. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-70). / The objective of this thesis is to develop a supply chain segmentation model for Company X, which is in the chemical and construction materials industry. The company sells products in an expanding Southeast Asia market. At the same time, it innovates and launches new products to these markets. A major issue for the company to consider is services offered to its customers. The company has to address customer needs, analyze them, and design the products and services that will fulfill those selective demands. This thesis leverages this concern for the company by developing a model to segment the company's supply chain based upon customer services. Company Y, a subsidiary company of Company X, is selected to be a case study for the model developed in this thesis. Quantitatively, the thesis examines collected data such as customer including portions of revenue and margin from each customer; and a customer's profile potential from the size of the firm. Qualitatively, the data and information collected from interviewing relevant people, such as sales and marketing personnel, is used to characterize the company's future customer prospects. Furthermore, some selected current practices in the industry will be reviewed and benchmarked for formulating the model. / by Prakit Worawattananon. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-175). / This dissertation refines the understanding of economic performance of firms, using data and practical insights from the automotive supplier industry. Firms in this industry are characterized as either product or process firms, reflecting the importance of technological capabilities in manufacturing industries. Specialized capabilities in product markets define product firms, whereas capabilities in materials processing and manufacturing technologies define process firms. A measure of technological coherence is introduced, which expresses the relatedness of capabilities of a firm. The measure is based on a concentration index and a hierarchical classification of products and processes in the automotive supplier industry. Using this measure of coherence, analysis shows that firms with stronger coherence are able to better exploit corporate synergies and therefore achieve superior economic performance. That is, firms focusing on a specialized and related set of capabilities are able to outperform less coherent firms. Analysis further reveals a significant difference in performance between product and process firms. Product firms in the automotive supplier industry exhibit negative returns to scale, whereas process firms exhibit positive returns to scale. These differences are attributed to the underlying corporate logic of product and process firms, supported with studies of value creation in corporate acquisitions and interviews with corporate executives. The findings have implications for strategic choices of firms, such as choosing between product and process focus, and choosing between focus and diversification. The dissertation contributes to strategic management theory with a framework of product and process firms that is based on a technological view of the firm, and with a measure of technological coherence that facilitates empirical research of corporate coherence. / by Patrick P. Steinemann. / Ph.D.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014. / 19 / "June 2014." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-127). / This paper highlights the issues associated with and presents a modeling framework for long-term capacity planning problems constrained in a similar fashion to satellite capacity acquisition. Although ambiguities exist, the satellite capacity planning problem also contains many clearly defined constraints. In the immediate time horizon, universal satellite capacity is fixed, as satellite launches are rare, and each incremental satellite launch only marginally increases capacity. In the world of Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM), satellites have fixed coverage areas as they are typically in geo-synchronous orbit. Other military applications such as observation and satellite phone require, low-earth orbit and medium-earth orbit satellites. The contracts used to acquire satellite capacity from the commercial sector also clearly define constraints, such as start and end date, bandwidth, price per unit bandwidth and allocated satellite system, which also implies frequency and available capacity. The paper first reviews the issues involved with planning capacity acquisition, and then presents a modeling framework for developing strategies to meet criteria and minimize cost. A simulation environment is developed for testing contracts and satellites of different parameters against varying demand distributions. A dynamic program is used to solve the integer program associated with selecting satellite capacity levels to cover demand. / by John M. Lydiard, IV. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006. / Vitae. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-115). / This research investigates the order promising and fulfillment and customer and channel collaboration functions of a company. In addition to presenting more precise definitions, we identify and analyze current and emerging innovative practices in these two functions implemented by leading companies across nine industries, namely aerospace, apparel, automobile, computer, consumer packaged goods, petroleum, pharmaceutical, retail, and telecommunication. Based on our analysis, we propose a framework for categorizing order promising/fulfillment and customer/channel collaboration business models and strategies as well as future trends. Significance of integration of these two functions is also analyzed. Finally, we present guidelines for companies to optimize their operations vis-à-vis Customer and Demand management and prepare themselves for business success as far as into the year 2020. / by Yimin An and Samuel Srethapakdi. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, June 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "February 2015." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-241). / According the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2008 marked the first year in which the majority of the planet's population lived in cities. Urbanization, already over 80% in many western regions, is increasing rapidly as migration into cities continue. The density of cities provides residents access to places, people, and goods, but also gives rise to problems related to health, congestion, and safety. In parallel to rapid urbanization, ubiquitous mobile computing, namely the pervasive use of cellular phones, has generated a wealth of data that can be analyzed to understand and improve urban systems. These devices and the applications that run on them passively record social, mobility, and a variety of other behaviors of their users with extremely high spatial and temporal resolution. This thesis presents a variety of novel methods and analyses to leverage the data generated from these devices to understand human behavior within cities. It details new ways to measure and quantify human behaviors related to mobility, social influence, and economic outcomes. / by Jameson Lawrence Toole. / Ph. D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, February 2013. / "October 2012." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-92). / The demand for Saudi oil is increasing locally and internationally, and being one of the major oil exporters in the world, the government of Saudi Arabia needs to balance between local consumption and international demand. To address this challenge, Saudi Arabia is adopting an aggressive strategy to use solar energy instead of oil to generate electricity. This strategy creates an opportunity to diversify the country's GDP by building solar manufacturing industry. This thesis uses the Enterprise Architecture Framework, developed by Nightingale and Rhodes, to propose the optimal architecture for the Saudi solar manufacturing in terms of organization, policy, strategy, product, services, infrastructure, and R&D. The first stage of the framework identifies the landscape and the major stakeholders in the solar manufacturing, and then studies the current situation of the Saudi solar manufacturing. The second stage analyzes the different proposed architectures. The third stage evaluates the different architectures, and the fourth stage selects and validates the winning architectures. The evaluation criteria for the different proposed architectures are based on three angles: "Attractiveness", which measures the level of compatibility between the architecture and the needs of the Saudi government. The "Effort", measures the human and financial effort required to deploy the architecture. The "Risk", which measures the different risks associated with the architecture. The winning architecture encourages Saudi businessmen to acquire international companies along with building local manufacturing for products in the lower end of the solar manufacturing value chain. The strategy in this architecture is to build fast capabilities in the technology and process side by acquiring international companies and steady capabilities in the production side by gradually moving up in the value chain. Also, the architecture proposes focusing and building the local R&D capabilities to improve the productivity, and profitability of the solar manufacturing companies. / by Bassel F. Alsultan. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-48). / The purpose of the thesis is to identify practical challenges that are being addressed by companies implementing RFID related technologies in a variety of supply chain management applications. The test engagements undertaken by companies are intended to investigate the economic, functional and process related benefits that might be derived from adoption of this emerging technology. Field research will uncover both challenges and possible solutions being developed by companies, in addition to understanding the impact of challenges may have on wide spread adoption of RFID technologies. The challenges observed in this research project will be evaluated using a simple analytical framework, and field case studies are to be developed to provide summaries of current RFID pilot project activities. / by Nathan Christopher Roost. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 60). / Truckload (TL) is the principle mode of freight transportation in the United Sates. Buyers of TL services are shippers with significant amount of shipments throughout a year. Due to the complexity of their network and the large expenditure on transportation, shippers select their carriers through auctions and using optimization methods, and enter into long-term contracts with winners with the best prices. Shippers subsequently request their carriers to fulfill shipment every time there's a load, a procedure called 'tender'. Despite the sophisticated selection and the existence of contracts, shippers' tenders are frequently rejected by their carriers, a phenomenon called tender rejection. When this happens, the shipper has to find alternative carriers and most of the time the price for the load increases. With weekly rejection rate as a dependent variable, and with variability of volume, length of haul, or the differential in prices as independent variables, this research mainly used the linear regression method to examine how well these independent variables account for rejections for a given lane. The analysis used the data including TL shipment and tender records of 17 shippers for five years. This research also attempted to discover any geographic patterns of frequent rejections. The analysis of the relationship between truckload rates and rejection rates suggested a potential trade-off between price and rejection, which questions the generally accepted strategy of shippers minimizing truckload expenditures by unconditionally reducing rejections. / by Yoo Joon Kim. / M.Eng.in Logistics