Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014. / Some pages printed landscape. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-114). / A new approach for analyzing multiple control systems within the STPA framework has been developed and demonstrated. The new approach meets the growing need of system engineers to analyze integrated control systems, that may or may not have been developed in a coordinated manner, and assess them for safety and performance. This need comes from the increasing proliferation of embedded control systems across domains including defense, energy, healthcare, automotive, aerospace, and consumer products. When multiple embedded control systems are integrated together, they have the potential to operate in uncoordinated and conflicting ways which might hinder their performance and lead to unsafe behavior. This new approach provides a means for engineers to analyze the integration of control systems, beginning during concept development and continuing through the design process. The approach leverages the results of STPA Step 1 and guides the analyst in identifying instances of potential conflict between controllers. The method is demonstrated through a case study from the automotive domain, the integration of three driver assistance systems. The first application of the new approach identified instances of conflict amongst the three systems that would prohibit their successful operation in the field. Following the presentation of the case study, suggestions for future work and use in practice are provided. / by Matthew Seth Placke. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-202). / As technology improves, traditional systems are being interconnected into larger systems of systems (SoS) that operate in diverse contexts, where numerous perturbations exist that threaten the ability of the SoS to deliver acceptable value to its diverse set of stakeholders. Furthermore, the systems of systems themselves can change form voluntarily or involuntarily in response to contextual variability or stakeholder whims. Various system properties, or "-ilities" have been defined that may help traditional systems provide value to stakeholders in spite of change, but they have not specifically addressed the issue of systems operating within larger systems of systems. This dissertation defines the concept of viability for engineered systems, as a likelihood that systems will satisfy their stakeholder needs over the system's expected lifetime, and identifies and develops strategies that system architects can use to create viable systems. The concept of viability helps system architects design systems that can survive contextual perturbations, whether they are from entities outside the traditional system boundary, or from other constituent systems within a SoS. In addition to external perturbations, this dissertation addresses the need to ensure that endogenous changes made to improve value delivery, do not inadvertently cause unintended interactions that harm the system overall. This is particularly a concern with the proliferation of systems of systems, and the recent drive towards making systems more changeable as a mechanism for value sustainment in dynamic environments. A new "ility", pliability, is introduced that specifies the limits on how a system can change, without "breaking" or violating an architecture that was intended and validated. Like changeability, pliability increases robustness by allowing systems to voluntarily change in response to dynamic contexts, and increases survivability and robustness by increasing the likelihood that unintentional changes are still within the set of allowable instances. It also distinguishes allowable changes from those that would require validation, reducing the effort required to get those changes approved by a diverse set of stakeholders. / by Brian Mekdeci. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-60). / In the retail industry, consumer package goods (CPG) manufacturers have been working with retailers to use Vendor-managed Inventory (VMI) to improve the overall supply chain inventory turns and finished product velocity. This thesis explores those opportunities where a consumer packaged goods company can benefit from using VMI information to improve forecasting. First, this thesis discusses a novel way to compare those forecasts at downstream and upstream demand planning levels. Forecast errors are calculated in relation to the forecast data aggregation levels. Second, a causal model is used to analyze the contributing factors of high demand planning forecast. Finally, recommendations are provided on how to use VMI information and thus incorporate VMI forecasts into the upstream supply chain planning process. / by Xihang Kou. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-72). / (cont.) Lastly, we visited SemiCo, a leading global supplier of high performance semiconductor products, to gain first-hand insight into the S&OP process of a large multinational company and complete a brief case study about how risk management is currently being utilized within this company's S&OP process. Finally, we synthesized these four sources of information in order to develop a common framework and recommendations that companies can use for understanding the best practices for incorporating risk management into the S&OP process. / The objective of this thesis project is to analyze how companies can utilize risk management techniques in their sales and operations planning process (S&OP). S&OP is a strategy used to integrate planning and processes across functional groups within a company, such as sales, operations, and finance. A large body of academic and industry literature already exits, proving that S&OP can integrate people, processes, and technology leading to improved operational performance for a business. However, little research has been done in the area of applying risk management techniques to the S&OP process. When companies use S&OP in order to align their demand, supply, capacity, and production, based on various factors such as history, pricing, promotions, competition, and technology, they rarely factor in uncertainty and risk into the S&OP process. Furthermore, for those companies that do implement risk management in the S&OP process, there is no consensus in the business community about how to do this accurately and effectively. Our basic approach to understanding risk management and its place in the S&OP process will be four-fold. First, we conducted a literature review in order to gain basic S&OP process understanding and current risk management strategies. Next, we conducted thirteen hour-long phone interviews with practitioners and thought leaders in the field of sales and operations planning in order to gain insight into how companies currently discuss, assess, and act upon uncertainty within the S&OP process. Third, we conducted an online survey of various companies and consultants working in the field of S&OP to see how they currently discuss and incorporate uncertainty into their S&OP work. / by Yanika Daniels and Timothy Kenny. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-132). / This thesis explores supply chain management practices that have been implemented, and have improved supply chains in industries outside of healthcare. The presented supply chain practices have been selected because they have the potential to improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve patient safety within hospitals. Due to the diverse nature of hospitals and a unique product profile, there is no "one size fits all" supply chain solution that can be implemented. Therefore, product specific characteristics are discussed that can be used by hospitals in order to develop segmentation policies. Supply chain best practices from outside of the healthcare industry are presented for each category of segmented products. The culmination of this thesis is the presentation of a supply chain that will enable the hospital to significantly reduce inventory storage space, on hand inventory value, and time spent by nurses managing inventory. The proposed supply chain model is patient specific and involves the delivery of items from an offsite warehouse directly to the patient's bedside. In order to successfully implement a new supply chain solution in a hospital setting, change management is a critical part of the process. Methods are presented that have resulted in successful implementations of complex systems within hospitals. Three areas must be considered when managing change in this type of setting, the healthcare environment, the hospital's internal management and operational aspects of the hospital supply chain. Using simulation models, we show that implementation of the proposed supply chain for appropriately segmented products will result in significant supply chain cost savings and boost the revenue. / by Scott Hsiang-Jen Cheng and Graham J. Whittemore. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 59). / In this thesis, an analysis of the existing order based fulfillment process for one product line of a specialty chemicals manufacturer is made and the potential benefits from the implementation of a vendor managed inventory (VMI) system are quantified. A single facility is considered and our focus is on the possible reductions in transportation effort. Initially, a set of criteria are defined for classifying which storage tanks will be served under the VMI system and which under the existing order based process. Subsequently, a cluster first-route second approach is implemented, where customer locations are first separated into clusters based on geographical proximity and routes are then designed for each of the clusters. A mathematical model is constructed that aids in the design of delivery routes that minimize the total number of delivery trips. Finally, the total transportation effort that would be required for replenishing the VMI and non-VMI tanks is estimated and a comparison is made with the current system. Key performance indicators are compared between the existing order based fulfillment process and the potential VMI implementation. Limitations of the proposed approach are discussed and directions for future research are highlighted. / by Dimitrios Andritsos and Anthony Craig. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-68). / The Internet is a communications network that connects computers around the world. It has been around since 1960's. The Internet Phenomena - the recent upsurge in business use of the Internet can be attributed to the World Wide Web or the web. The web uses universally accepted communication protocol and presentation language (i.e. Internet Protocol and Hyper Text Markup Language) that makes it a standard interface - a ubiquitous interface. Businesses are leveraging the Internet to obtain a variety of business benefits. Based on an extensive literature review, this thesis presents a catalogue of 35 distinct business benefits. To obtain these benefits, businesses are undertaking a variety of projects and initiatives. The projects and initiatives, termed as E-business apply the Internet technologies for improving existing business processes, removing barriers within a business, and or among businesses in the supply chain. This thesis organized E-business projects into eight different areas. This thesis explores the Internet Phenomena - it attempts to understand the potential Impacts of the Internet on the supply chain, and proposes some guidelines for management teams interested in choosing E-business projects. By mapping E-business benefits along a typical supply chain, this thesis observes that the Internet is creating structural and operational impacts in the supply chain. The structural impacts appear to result from (a) the growth of a direct channel (b) the presence of new economic agents and (c) new marketplaces. The operational impacts appear to be that (a) the scope of supply chain operations change (b) the scale of supply chain operations are enhanced and (c) the speed of supply chain operations increase. The thesis suggests ten perspectives that may help a management team choose E-business projects. It examines one perspective in detail - the Industry perspective. The industry perspective suggests that differences in industry structures should lead to differences in business needs and requirements, and therefore lead to different e-business opportunities. A hypothesis, based on an industry classification system (proposed by Charles Fine of MIT), was developed. The Internet is a communications network that connects computers around the world. It has been around since 1960's. The Internet Phenomena - the recent upsurge in business use of the Internet can be attributed to the World Wide Web or the web. The web uses universally accepted communication protocol and presentation language (i.e. Internet Protocol and Hyper Text Markup Language) that makes it a standard interface - a ubiquitous interface. Businesses are leveraging the Internet to obtain a variety of business benefits. Based on an extensive literature review, this thesis presents a catalogue of 35 distinct business benefits. To obtain these benefits, businesses are undertaking a variety of projects and initiatives. The projects and initiatives, termed as E-business apply the Internet technologies for improving existing business processes, removing barriers within a business, and or among businesses in the supply chain. This thesis organized E-business projects into eight different areas. This thesis explores the Internet Phenomena - it attempts to understand the potential Impacts of the Internet on the supply chain, and proposes some guidelines for management teams interested in choosing E-business projects. By mapping E-business benefits along a typical supply chain, this thesis observes that the Internet is creating structural and operational impacts in the supply chain. The structural impacts appear to result from (a) the growth of a direct channel (b) the presence of new economic agents and (c) new marketplaces. The operational impacts appear to be that (a) the scope of supply chain operations change (b) the scale of supply chain operations are enhanced and (c) the speed of supply chain operations increase. The thesis suggests ten perspectives that may help a management team choose E-business projects. It examines one perspective in detail - the Industry perspective. The industry perspective suggests that differences in industry structures should lead to differences in business needs and requirements, and therefore lead to different e-business opportunities. A hypothesis, based on an industry classification system (proposed by Charles Fine of MIT), was developed. / by Sanjeev Kalanidhi. / M.Eng.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83). / How can financial tools like real options and hedging mitigate and create value from uncertainty in transportation? This paper describes these concepts and identifies research on them that has relevance to transportation. It then gives historical background of the containerized ocean transportation industry, uses Porter's five forces to explain its dynamics, and explains how contracts are set up and managed. It identifies areas within containerized ocean transportation that could benefit from real options and hedging, claiming that recent deregulation is creating opportunities for innovative thought. It gives examples of how real options are already being used in the industry to create flexibility without having any price attached to them and then comes up with new ideas of using them. It concludes by, first, stating that both shippers and carriers can benefit from managing uncertainty together and, second, suggesting future areas of research. / by Sigurjón Pálsson. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2004. / "June 2004." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). / (cont.) are suggested to help future online grocers avoid the mistakes made by the earlier attempt, align their business strategy with the growing consumer interest in specialty foods and wellness services and find the niche market that is best for their business. Finally, a vision of future online grocery store is conceptualized based upon the latest Semantic web technologies and a successful supply chain management practice in the retail industry--Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). / The e-commerce boom has led to a major shift in business paradigm from the traditional brick-and-mortar store to the direct sale click-and-mortar model across the business world. Amazon and Dell pioneered the direct sale concept and fundamentally changed the way of doing business in their industries. Since then, many traditional industries have experienced similar transformations. Online grocery business, for example, has seen many failed endeavors to emulate Amazon and Dell's success in the past few years. The most famous one was Webvan--a 7.8 billion dollar roller coaster ride that in two years burned through all its cash reserve and produced zero profits. Webvan epitomized one of the classic mistakes during the dotcom era--the "Get-big-fast" doctrine that infatuated the e-commerce world at that time. On the other hand, other online store such as Tesco and Peapod cautiously laid out their operations that strategically aligned with their original vision of the online grocery business--not as a revolutionary new business model but as a value-added convenience service provider that exists on top of the existing structure. That strategy not only helped them survive the turmoil of e-commerce downturn but also turned them into successful players in the markets they are serving. This thesis will analyze these three online grocers' business models and explore the underlying reasons that contributed to their failure and success, respectively. A recent trend in online grocery business is to positions online grocery store as a premium food and service provider that delivers high quality food products to the upper-income group. A representative case--FreshDirect--is analyzed to bring insights to this new niche market. From these findings, a list of recommendations / by Kang Xie. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-110). / Effective use of data is believed to be the key to address systemic inefficiencies in health innovation and delivery, and to significantly enhance value creation for patients and all stakeholders. However, there is no definition for health data. Rather, data in health is an assortment of observations and reports varying from science to clinical notes and reimbursement claims that emerge from practice rather than design. What is health data? In this thesis we try to answer that question by looking at the system of health almost exclusively as a system that generates, transforms, and interprets data. We overview the different meanings data has throughout the health system, we analyze systematically the inefficiencies and trends as they emerge from data, and propose a new architecture for the system of health in which data is not present by accident. The result of this thesis is a new architecture for the system of health that is consistent with its present state but also consistent with a future learning system and a redefinition of value in health care that is patient and information centric. / by Melissa Beth Rosen Ceruolo. / S.M.