Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 7102 Sloan School of Management. / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-106). / As automation continues to gain prevalence within the retail industry, informed decision-making by users of robotic systems is critical for management of throughput and operating expenditures. On robotic fulfillment floors, obstructions such as fallen product and deactivated robots can degrade robotic floor throughput by blocking access to product, forcing robots to re-route, and increasing worker idle time. Workers can walk onto the floor to address obstructions during operation, but such entry affects robot movement and can undermine the original intention of restoring throughput. This project aims to provide insight into the cost-benefit tradeoff of resolving obstructions to enable task prioritization and reduce unnecessary floor entry during operation, thereby improving system performance and reducing operating costs. We introduce a novel framework for modeling floor entry to determine the "value" of resolving an obstruction and apply an agile approach to rapidly develop and pilot a software tool for delivery of model recommendations in the field. During the treatment shifts, z-scores of measured pick work unavailability (our chosen performance metric, for which a reduction is indicative of improved throughput), were -0.72, -1.04, and -0.16 as compared with a control sample of similar shifts. The approximate fraction of obstructions resolved during non-operation increased by a factor of three, with recommendation adherence measurements indicating that the increase was driven by elimination of unnecessary (as determined by the model) floor entries during operation. While the sample size was not large enough to achieve a statistically significant outcome, these results offer useful insights regarding future analytical work, testing, and associated organizational changes. / by Ankur Amlani. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-62). / The Cell Line Development group at Amgen is responsible for manufacturing and optimizing the cell lines utilized in production of Amgen's biologic drug portfolio. Traditionally, these cell lines are produced from mammalian host organisms, primarily Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, due to their unique ability to secrete human-like glycosylated proteins. The CHO platform has undergone significant optimization throughout the industry over the past 30 years, however, productivity and efficiency improvements are now becoming harder to realize. Alternative hosts offer a unique opportunity to drive significant cost of goods improvements throughout the biologic drug manufacturing process. Microbial hosts benefit from low genomic complexity, fast doubling times, and can grow to high cell densities in low-cost media. The yeast strain, Pichia pastoris, combines these advantages with the ability to secrete glycosylated products at equivalent product quality levels as CHO-based processes. / The Alternative Host Consortium, an MIT-industry partnership, is focused on the advancement of Pichia and other alternative hosts to eventually drive broader commercial utilization and help curb the rising cost of biologic medicines. This project aimed to quantify the strategic advantage of the Pichia host in Amgen's pipeline, and determine when, why and how such a product would be manufactured. The first segment of the work presented here includes various bioprocess development experiments performed to establish proof-of-concept protein production data in Pichia. The results show successful production of two relatively simple proteins at concentrations similar to existing published results. Additionally, chemically defined media and controlled fed-batch fermentation experiments were run to better mimic manufacturing scale operations. The second segment of the project focused on quantifying the strategic cost advantage of the Pichia platform compared with CHO. / The business case analysis centered on potential raw material and plant time savings to determine the critical Pichia process features required to be cost competitive. / by Ellen Coleman. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / "May 2020." Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-135). / Reverse engineering has the potential to be a strategic advantage for many engineering companies. As companies continuously look for new ways to improve their business and technical expertise, reverse engineering facilitates detailed knowledge capture for many possible applications. These applications open new channels of revenue, create more options in the market, and drive value to customers. Although reverse engineering is nothing new to industry and has been actively researched, this thesis seeks to understand the key enablers that promote successful reverse engineering at scale in a modern corporation. Given that many large firms are set up with the forward engineering process in mind, what are the differentiated characteristics of an effective reverse engineering organization? By treating reverse engineering as a system of interconnected dependent events, an organization can be shaped to build a workflow with the necessary linkages for successful execution and scaling. / This "pull" more than "push" process that establishes clear communication between functions is key to preventing rework, shortening flow time, and increasing quality. Reverse engineering, like traditional forward engineering, must be organized as an integrated multifunctional process with organized information sharing, compromise, and iteration. Additionally, the teardown process itself is a central piece of the puzzle for successful reverse engineering. This is due to the multiple strategic linkages associated and interconnectedness required by key stakeholders for understanding the investigated component. A teardown is defined as an observant disassembly of a component for information gain. This thesis focuses more deeply into the teardown process. By showcasing challenges that lead to common errors, teardown process recommendations are made for a more efficient way to reverse engineer. / A lack of early stakeholder engagement prior to teardown frequently leads to inefficient knowledge sharing. More active stakeholder participation is recommended to improve the overall quality of teardown reports and serve as an additional opportunity to discover a component's hidden complexities. It is also recommended that formal design tools, such as functional analysis, be utilized for truly understanding a component's physical behavior. Implementing these recommendations and tools will increase the efficiency and output quality of reverse engineering teams, reducing rework. / by Casey Alex Boyle. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-67). / The use of wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) as fabrication method for Iron-Nickel 36 (Invar36) alloy aerospace tooling is a growing area of interest for many tooling companies and composite aircraft manufacturers. However, the full adoption and utilization of WAAM techniques is hindered due to lack of industry experience and end-part quality precedent. For some tool makers, the feasibility of utilizing additively manufactured Invar components is still under investigation because key material characteristics of end-parts are not well understood. Further, the impact of implementing additive manufacturing on a manufacturer's internal operations is not widely documented. While much academic research has been conducted on WAAM technologies, Invar, and change management for new technology introductions, much of the available literature does not provide the specificity needed to supplant an aerospace toolmakers' need for hands-on experience. This research will investigate both the technical feasibility of using WAAM Invar components (with respect to end-part quality and performance) in aerospace tool fabrication, as well as the organizational feasibility and impact of adopting the technology. This thesis will describe the series of testing completed to evaluate WAAM Invar in the context of an aerospace toolmaker and will outline some of the key organizational impacts that must be acknowledged for adoption of additive manufacturing within an aerospace tool making company. Because of this research, we hope to demonstrate the viability of utilizing WAAM Invar for aerospace tooling applications. / by Jeffrey B. Chu. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 69). / SHAPE Technologies is the world leader in ultra high pressure industrial waterjet systems for cutting and cleaning with applications from metal to food. Although SHAPE is the technological leader in this space, SHAPE must continuously look toward developing new capabilities to differentiate its products. SHAPE has historically outfitted its machines with a suite of sensors, however these systems in the field do not store the data, thereby losing the time series relationships and historical log of machine health. One opportunity is to create a connected platform that leverages this data to help SHAPE's customers move away from a break fix model to a predictive maintenance program. This project seeks to expand on a sensor connectivity proof of concept ("POC"), which the team successfully built on a prototype grade Raspberry Pi, and make the platform ready for customer beta trial. First, this project explores important infrastructure, legal, and supply chain challenges that impact the commercial business when connecting industrial equipment to the internet as well as the technological considerations to make the platform both backwards and forwards compatible. Second, this project helps define the minimum viable product requirements for industrial infrastructure and devices configuration. Third, this project merges the POC captured data and lab data to train and validate supervised machine learning models to predict failures several days in advance and demonstrates how such a system can help customers mitigate unplanned downtime. / by Jessica Madison Wu. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2018, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 63). / A key value stream for Company X is a manufacturing area dedicated to production of precision electro-mechanical systems, of which they are contracted to service during the complete lifecycle. Currently, the production system is dedicated to the refurbishment of these electro-mechanical systems; it could be characterized as a high-mix low volume production system with a-job-shop layout. The operations team is being pressured to increase both production volumes and the product mix, while maintaining a competitive cost structure in a highly constrained environment, in terms of both space and resources. This thesis proposes two distinct projects to address the challenges faced. First, develop a framework to analyze the value stream, utilizing a discrete event simulation (DES) tool to characterize the production system. / The method will validate the DES tool against the current state production system and key performance indicators (KPI's) then conduct what-if analyses and studies based upon anticipated contractual obligations. This effort will identify risks within the value stream related to the transition from current state to future state, while studying the impact of changes in shipment volumes, product mix, direct labor, and capital equipment. This model supported conclusions and recommendations drawn, based upon the results of the DES, to build confidence in the production system and enable the value stream to meet the requirements of the increased volumes and complexity through making informed operational decisions. Second, to improve a key subassembly within the value stream identified as problematic with respect to labor content, cycle time, and ergonomics. A project has been identified to develop a new process to join two components with a tightly controlled radial bond. / Currently, the components are bonded, and the bond material must cure for several days. Upon curing, the joint contains excess bond material that must be removed for several reasons. The excess material is removed through a manual cutting process that is physically taxing on operators. After cutting, a cleanup process is initiated where an operator fills the void left from cutting with additional material; this additional bond material needs several additional days to cure. The new process utilizes an inflatable vessel that will apply pressure during the bond process to direct excess material away from the joint, eliminating the need for secondary processing in the joint, favorably impacting labor content, cycle time, and the ergonomics of operators. To speed validation and adoption, this project leveraged the 3D printing capabilities of the manufacturer. / Both the testing fixture and test articles were 3D printed in order to accelerate development and reduce risk associated with investment in the development process. Testing of the new process has indicated that the new method produces bonds of acceptable quality with markedly reduced labor content, resulting in a projected annual savings of $950k. / by Clinton Lee Proctor. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 73-76). / Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) manages a large inventory of surgical equipment which must be delivered to operating rooms on-time, efficiently, and according to a set of quality standards. In recent years, flexible scope management has become a topic of interest for many hospitals, as they face pressure to both reduce costs and prevent infections that can result from mismanagement. This thesis proposes a novel method for surgical equipment management in a hospital. The proposed solution uses a real-time locating system to track flexible scopes, a semantic reasoning engine to determine the state of each scope, and a dashboard to inform staff about necessary interventions to avoid scope expirations while maximizing efficiency. This project aims to accomplish three primary goals. First, the project seeks to improve the hospital's compliance to quality standards in order to reduce risks of infection due to expired scopes. Second, the project aims to improve the cost-efficiency of scope disinfecting processes through more efficient inventory management. Finally, the project serves as an opportunity for the hospital to establish best practices for working with the newly installed real-time locating system. The system proposed in this work is piloted at MGH on a subset of the hospital's flexible scopes. The pilot results demonstrated a quality compliance increase from 88.9% to 94.5%. The implementation also resulted in an estimated $17,350 annual cost savings due to more efficient management of scopes. / by Jason Troutner. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 93-94). / Effective risk management is critical when manufacturing medical products to avoid any potential impact to patients due to supply disruptions or quality excursions. As Flex LTD, an end-to-end manufacturing solutions provider, continues to grow its medical device portfolio, they have a need to take a more proactive and systematic approach to managing project risks. This research applies several project risk management frameworks and interventions to one of Flex's medical device programs as a pilot study. First the current state of existing risk management practices is evaluated. The frameworks and interventions are then implemented over a period of 6 months and their effectiveness analyzed at the end of the study. The results found that the interventions and frameworks applied during the pilot study improved overall understanding of fundamental risk management concepts. / It also showed that key activities, such as training workshops and the intervention of a risk management "champion" impacted risk tracking activities and were effective for overcoming adoption barriers. In applying the Risk Driver framework to the data generated during the pilot study, it was determined that identifying commonalities and trends across risk drivers can be used to proactively inform risk management decision-making and establish new metrics. These results also show that useful insights can be derived from risk drivers without knowing the outcome of the risk event. The study concludes that while risk management has both cultural and structural components, changes to the structural aspects (tools and processes) enable cultural change. Additionally, it concludes that frameworks can be used facilitate proactive risk management if they are integrated into a robust overarching risk management process. / Recommendations for future work include improving training programs to educate team members about project risk management, as well as the development of simple frameworks that are integrated into the overall risk management process to enable more proactive risk management. Certain risk management interventions such as trainings and having an assigned "Champion" for risk management are effective in the near term, but further study is needed to evaluate their impact on long-term sustainability. / by Emily Templin Kehne. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 100-107). / On average, an airline starts to place orders or aircraft within 3 - 10 years before the expected delivery date. During this time, there could be changes given the natural response of the airlines to continuously refine their fleet plan. This behavior implies many possible scenarios that aircraft manufacturers would like to understand and predict in order to improve their backlog management initiatives. Furthermore, demand estimation is always a powerful lever in any production system because it allows the manufacturer to be prepared to address the customer's needs. An airline's network and fleet are dependent on each other. The network is highly dependent on the capabilities of the available fleet but also, the fleet is built considering the network strategy of an airline. Giving this relationship this project aims to develop a set of predictive models based on network-related variables that allow to forecast the RPK growth of an airline in the following 7 years. Most of the available forecast for air passenger traffic focus on economic variables such as fuel price, GDP of the countries, trade index and population among others. This project wanted to explore if network variables had any relationship with future RPKs for an airline. After the analysis of historical data of more than 400 carriers from 2010 to 2017, the results show that although mild, there is an influence of these variables and we could use the resulting forecast with a solid reliability. Furthermore, the final coefficients show more influence of these variables for short-haul (less than 2500 nautical miles) and Economy markets than long-haul and Business markets. For Boeing and its current backlog size of more than 5,800 aircraft [1], the resulting models represent another tool that will aid the company in making data driven decisions regarding aircraft production, new orders to come, evaluation of current and potential customers, and other business analysis. / by Norányeli Paola Molina Realpe. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019, In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 67). / As AstraZeneca's product portfolio becomes increasingly complex, its supply chains must evolve in parallel. These supply chains operate in an environment of ever-present external risks such as factory fires, geopolitical disruptions and natural disasters. Such risks might manifest as disruptions which could jeopardize the health of those who depend upon AstraZeneca's life-saving medicines. Accordingly, there is a need to improve proactive planning and reactive risk decisions to maintain service levels in such an environment. This thesis presents an approach which enhances both risk planning decisions and reaction to disruptive events. The approach consists of a third party software solution to provide better supply chain visibility, increased risk awareness, and faster disruptive event notification, as well as a stochastic nonlinear optimization model to support inventory reductions. Both approaches improve risk planning decisions, while the software approach also supports reactive decision-making as disruptive events unfold. For a single brand, this thesis model shows that current risk mitigation inventory sizes across its supply chain can be reduced by over 50% while maintaining the target service level. The cost savings estimated for a reduction of this magnitude are at least $20M for one brand alone. Simultaneously, the software uncovers previously unknown sub-tier suppliers and highlights tier one dependencies. Adoption of this thesis' recommendations can improve risk planning and decisionmaking within AstraZeneca's supply chains while greatly reducing mitigation inventory costs. / by Kenneth E. Hampshire. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering