Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-77). / Selecting and deploying an IT tool can be very complicated and expensive. This paper studies a particular approach to choosing project, program and portfolio management software at one large and geographically diverse company in the Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, Voltaform. Though there are many ways to approach this task, significant thought should go into which one is chosen for each particular company and its situation. This document addresses the approach taken at VoltaForm as well as the reasoning behind it. It describes developing a business case focused on end user needs for the new software, including the detailed data analysis techniques used to evaluate the end user needs. It also describes certain aspects of the deployment of the software once chosen. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance and examples for anyone faced with a similar task. / by Missy M. Brost. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66). / Drug Discovery is a race to be the first to patent a drug that meets a significant medical need in the world. Many pharmaceutical companies are now using automation extensively to improve consistency and aid personnel in testing the millions of potential drug candidates within their labs. Because these machines play an important role in drug discovery, there is significant interest in managing their maintenance. The concern is that downtime is hampering the efforts of drug discovery. This project has sought to reduce that downtime and manage maintenance costs by working with the Technical Operations Group, Novartis' in-house maintenance team. The main objectives have been to devise a better way for evaluating maintenance contracts, improve the availability of the equipment, and instill a culture of continuous improvement in the group. This study shows that maximizing equipment utilization should be a higher priority than reducing downtime. The data show that the high throughput systems are only used an average of three days a week. Reducing downtime, which is most often measured on the scale of minutes, is unlikely to bring about the gains that would be realized by improving capacity utilization. Current metrics and data collection procedures are ineffective for determining automation needs and performance as well as engineer performance. A new system for data collection was implemented along with improvement projects as an introduction to lean principles, with the primary objective being a self-sustaining system of finding process improvements. / (cont.) Contracts were evaluated along four criteria: the indispensability of the equipment under contract, the adjusted replacement cost, the level of customization, and the age of equipment. The end results of the internships include a metric gathering system that more closely monitors engineer activity as opposed to equipment activity, completed improvement projects such as the complete overhaul of the tool room including inventory management as well as an automated error log system, and a way of evaluating contracts that will reduce costs without sacrificing performance. / by Jared Butts. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 48). / Selecting and executing the optimal strategy for developing new products is a non trivial task, especially for low volume, high complexity products in a highly volatile global industry such as Fluid Management. At Fluid Management Corporation (FMC), Trucks and Equipment (T&E) that are used to deliver services both onshore and offshore currently follow a single product development model: In-house design; Outsourced prototyping, testing, and manufacturing. The objective of this research work is to challenge the status quo and to provide FMC with a practical framework that helps to determine the optimal development strategy. Rather than following a single development strategy for the entire portfolio of trucks and equipment products, the new methodology recommends a development strategy at a product functionality level and product feature level. Product development strategy is defined here using three dimensions: Design strategy; Manufacturing strategy; and Supply Chain strategy. Each functionality or feature is evaluated using a set of six criteria which then maps that functionality or feature to a specific recommended location on a three dimensional strategy cube. The set of evaluation criteria were derived from exploring and analyzing the current product development process, and from benchmarking world class companies from a wide range of different industries. The results show that for functionalities and features that differentiate FMC from its competitors and are viewed as core competencies, FMC should consider in sourcing the design, prototyping, and testing processes. / (cont.) These functionalities include blending, pumping, software development, and system integration. Similarly, for functionalities and features that are not viewed as core competencies such as transport units, storage, and power generation, FMC should consider outsourcing the development process including design. / by Ghassan Awwad. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 50). / When a customer calls or e-mails customer service, a customer service agent will diagnose the issue, render a solution, and then wrap-up the call or e-mail. For many customer service departments, this wrap-up process requires the agent to classify the reason the customer contacted customer service. Typically, this classification is done by assigning a code that describes the reason for a contact. Additionally, if a contact requires a concession, the agent will classify the reason the customer requires a concession, and select an appropriate code. These codes are used by the various business teams within the company to identify and correct failures in their processes. Therefore, these codes should drive down to the root cause for a contact or concession to allow for efficient correction. Possessing codes that do not clearly identify the root cause for a contact are of little or no use for the company. Additionally, the codes must be developed in such a way that they can be accurately chosen by either the agent or the customer. Having agents select the wrong code not only obscures the true cause for a contact, but also creates additional work due to the process involved in determining the correct code. This thesis looks at the challenges inherent in developing a list of codes that both provides clear insight into the root cause for customer contacts, and can be accurately selected by the customer service agent or the customer. / by Grant Stephen Elliott. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-61). / This paper outlines areas for improvement within the outbound fulfillment network of an emerging online grocery ("e-grocery") company offering home delivery to the customer. In particular, the research focuses on developing an efficient, scalable home delivery network, as a result of the known challenges and relatively high fulfillment costs associated with this business model. Last-mile home delivery accounts for a substantial portion of total e-grocery fulfillment costs. The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), a well-known NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, is examined in the context of e-grocery and its impact on last-mile delivery costs. The paper emphasizes an integration of scalable vehicle routing systems with efficient order fulfillment operations. Practical analytical approaches, as well as new case experiments, serve as a framework of recommendations for an emerging e-grocer or similar last-mile delivery provider. The paper presents analysis using a real case study, serving as a basis for example, as well as more broad recommendations in the field. Moreover, it directs the reader to a wealth of literature in the fields of logistics, grocery fulfillment operations and the VRP class. / by Nicholas Barker. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-90). / In this paper we examine a challenge that many companies are facing: how to respond to increased variation within their manufacturing operations. I posit that the challenges posed here are addressable with tools managers have within the four walls of their factory. Our goal is to better ensure that managers can keep their costs under control in times of turbulent change. Using Dell as an example of Configure-to-order (CTO) manufacturing at its extreme, and see how they are adapting their capabilities in order to become more flexible in this highly volatile marketplace. Variation is inevitable, and a key driver for companies to move to configure-to-order manufacturing. Variation can take on many forms, but in most cases variation degrades the performance of an optimized system. Depending on the source of the variation (either predictable or not) and the firm's ability to react to the variation, the tools with which we address this variation change. Put another way, in order to do customization well, a firm must be adept at using flexibility to its advantage. "How effectively firms can use the flexible technologies that do exist, create new, more responsive processes and management methods, and use the inherent flexibility of workers to more quickly develop and produce new products and services that more closely match individual tastes is the key to the new paradigm." (Pine, 1992) In order to be responsive to ever-changing customer demands, the modem firm must (1) understand the variation that confronts them and (2) have a strong grasp of how they provide value to their customers. / (cont.) Using the framework outlined in this thesis, the practitioner should be able to identify the type of variation they wish to address, and the price they are willing to pay in order to achieve a flexible result. / by Laurel Hoffman. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-83). / by Maribel Sierra. / S.M.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86). / by David Gerez. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-73). / by Quang Nguyen. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70). / by Gavin J DeNyse. / S.M.