Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-71). / Many successful companies have difficulty implementing large-scale change initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma, outsourcing or Advanced Process Control. This can often be due to the fact that they treat large-scale improvement efforts in the same way that they handle smaller improvement efforts. Instead the author suggests that companies should take a more systemic approach to implementing large-scale improvement efforts and handle them differently from other improvement efforts. The suggested systemic approach involves four major aspects. The first aspect is to subdivide the initiative into smaller more manageable phases. The next aspect is to analyze each of the individual steps independent of each other. From there the change agent should examine the interdependencies between different steps and assess the systemic relationships of the initiative. Finally the approach suggests ways to look at the financial impact of the large-scale effort and ways to ease its implementation. Specifically the research focused on a Fab-Wide Process Control improvement initiative at Intel's Fab 18 in Qiryat-Gat, Israel. / (cont.) The research is used to validate the suggested systemic approach as well as highlighting additional leadership challenges concerning the strategic design, cultural and political challenges an organization faces in implementing large-scale change. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to create a process by which companies can easily take a systemic approach to large-scale improvement initiatives. This should help companies with the implementation of future large-scale improvement efforts. / by Todd Andon Ruddick. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-91). / The Department of Defense has issued a mandate aimed at improving its capabilities in determining the location, value, quantity, and condition of government assets. The mandate requires marking specified assemblies and components with a unique identifier using two-dimensional data matrix technology. Item Unique Identification (IUID), comprised of data matrix technology and the Unique Item Identifier (UII) data construct, was chosen to create a global standard for identification and because it showed promise in providing lifetime tracking of assets. Currently, Raytheon's implementation strategy to address the mandate has focused solely on compliance and does not aim to extract value from the IUID mandate or the UII construct. However there are many potential benefits of these capabilities. This thesis attempts to identify potential usage scenarios, determine if they are a worthwhile investment, and develop a more deliberate IUID strategy for Raytheon as a corporation within the context of the existing tracking and information landscape. It was determined that company wide pre-tax net savings of $10.6 ( 5.4) Million annually are possible from leveraging IUID technology in repair operations alone. / (cont.) This study recommends a pilot program and if successful, to continue to leverage IUID in those repair programs with: more than 500 units processed annually, more than five workstations, and an IUID requirement in place. This study also recommends that Raytheon should not mark above contractual requirements but should encourage customers to implement IUID marking for high volume programs. This study led to additional recommendations for operations strategy at Raytheon. Automated rather than manual (keystrokes) data entry should be promoted in all operations; specifically in high volume applications. Raytheon should also make a practice of purchasing scanners that detect both bar codes and data matrices for all operations. Finally, the UII construct should be adopted in company wide operations independent of which technology (bar code, 2D Matrix, or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)) is used to read or deliver it. / by Alexey Salamini. / M.B.A. / S.M.

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, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 70). / This thesis explores a combined application of Supply Chain Management theory for centralized and decentralized distribution systems and Customer Relationship Management techniques in data mining to solve the challenges of supply allocations to individual customer entities at Intel Corporation. The relatively long manufacturing lead time compared to order lead time restricts Intel's supply flexibility from responding to rapid order changes by each customer. As a result, the individual customer service level is sacrificed. Therefore, the objective of the research project is to improve customer service level by global optimization for all customers as opposed to the local optimization that each customer currently operates on. Over-ordering occurs in the local optimization system. The proposed solution is to use a scientific and systematic methodology of data mining to guide operational strategies that will provide incentives to encourage customers to order more accurately with Intel. Through this exercise, the supplies can be virtually centralized at Intel instead of being committed out to each customer in a decentralized fashion. The hypothesis is that the new system with more accurate ordering from customers will result in increased supply flexibility and higher effective service level. / by Mindy H. Hsu. / 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, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79). / Manufacturing organizations around the world strive to improve processes with varying degrees of realization. There is no right way or latest and greatest process that can guarantee success, therefore the approach, and not necessarily the process, is critical. Since every process improvement project is different, using the systems thinking approach decreases the risk of failure as the implementer(s) is/are more aware of critical items on the fringe which might otherwise be neglected. Process metrics are vital for many reasons including motivating employees, determining the level of need for process improvement, and evaluating the outcome of a process improvement project. When evaluating whether a project should be pursued, the expected results on the subsystem and other subsystems should be estimated and tied to the highest level metric, which ultimately should equate to bottom line impact. This evaluation technique ensures a positive impact on the entire system, rather than producing only a subsystem optimum. A subsystem metric indicates a project's success through the use of a hypothesis test. This usage requires that the subsystem metric, which will be used to measure a process improvement, must be stable before initiating the project. / (cont.) The individual, team, and organization all play a vital role in a company embracing systems thinking. Individuals and teams need to keep an open mind to issues outside the focus department and accept and encourage involvement of cross-functional representatives on process improvement teams. An organization where systems thinking is integral becomes a learning organization and has a higher percentage of successful projects through a systematic evaluation and approach to projects. To maintain the systems thinking culture, an organization as a whole must encourage the hiring of individuals with varied experiences and who believe in systems thinking. / by Jessica Dolak. / 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, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-86). / Many manufacturing companies wrestle with managing in-house manufactured inventories especially in the climate of Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing and with constant pressure to reduce inventory levels. One popular self-managing approach to controlling inventory levels while being responsive to customer demand is implementing a 'Pull' system. A Pull system is one that takes production signals from the downstream process and is based on true customer demand. This is in contrast to a 'Push' system that takes the production signal from the upstream schedule. This thesis will explore inventory management strategies at 3WA Powertrain Operation (PTO) as they approach plant wide implementation of 'Pull-to-Assembly'. 3WA PTO is working to completely link each of their in-house component (parts) production processes to the scheduled Assembly process such that component production signals will each 'pull' from the following process step and ultimately from the Powertrain Assembly schedule. The tested hypotheses include: 1) For 'Pull-to-Assembly' to be successful, a highly synchronized and visible in-house inventory management structure must first be in-place. / (cont.) Successful inventory management requires that inventory levels for each component must be completely understood and tuned to the variety of the component, process lead time, demand and variability in both lead time and demand. 2) A Pull system, like any other manufacturing process or technology, requires effective integration of the human, organizational, and technical system features. 3) Transitioning from a primarily Push to a Pull system as well as implementing new inventory strategies requires effective management of change. This thesis leads with the analysis of technical features required to implement a Pull system at 3WA as well as to improve in-house inventory management methods. Included within this technical analysis is the presentation of a 'calculator' tool that allows the user to determine initial inventory levels appropriate for a given part based on the demand/lead time scenario. Following the more technical analysis, this thesis examines the organizational change and human elements needed to transition to and sustain a Pull system in this organization. The following overarching conclusions were developed based on observations, research and experimentation at 3WA PTO. / (cont.) More specific conclusions related to the topics of 'Pull-to-Assembly, inventory management, data driven decision making, 'pulling' change in a tribal knowledge culture and the "demographic cliff' are presented within the thesis. Standardized processes and system stability along with accurate, knowledgeable and visible inventory management must be in-place before an extensive 'Pull' system will be successful. / (cont.) There is no 'one-size fits all' for inventory management. Inventory management depends primarily on expected demand, lead time and the variability in both. Equally important to choosing an inventory strategy, however, is having a solid understanding of true customer needs including how they will signal demand, how often and how fast the product is needed. Change must be 'Pulled' from an organization for 'True Change' to happen. The 'demographic cliff' is approaching for many traditional manufacturing companies like 3WA and the right employee skills profiling, retirement policies, and knowledge retention/sharing strategies must be in place for both short-term and long-term company success. / by Aimee L. Vessell. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-82). / The Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research is the drug discovery arm of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Drug discovery is generally considered to be the primary driver for success in the pharmaceutical industry. Success in the early stages of drug discovery relies on dependable, innovative, disease related high-throughput screening of biological compounds and the creation of a screening deck of highly diverse, proprietary chemical compounds. In contrast with many of its peers, Novartis relies strongly on combinatorial chemistry to populate its screening deck. The Chemical Libraries (CLI) group is responsible for this approach at Novartis and delivers more than 100,000 compounds per year to the Novartis Compound Archive. Since the introduction of high-throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry techniques, the bottleneck in many drug discovery processes has shifted to the roles that support these high-volume techniques. The aim of this thesis is to provide a general collection of short and long-term suggestions for process improvement in the chemical supply process. This process includes compound search and ordering, order fulfillment, and compound delivery, was investigated. / (cont.) The chemical supply process is responsible for delivering compounds to chemists that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars per compound with a delay of between one and four weeks, or would require a multiple day synthesis procedure. Stockroom automation, content and process scope, and physical layout were all evaluated. The following major conclusions were developed as a result of the research. First, the procedures for using the compound archives and libraries must be clearly presented to the end user so that s/he is fully able to utilize and contribute to the libraries. Second, compound libraries should be conglomerated into one large library that is also responsible for compound acquisition. Third, compound metering for intermediates does not appear to be an effective use of resources and should be severely restricted following the successful implementation of the SciQuest compound management system. Finally, compound libraries should use automated pick and place systems but metering and dispensing systems should remain manual. / by Jordan M. Bedford. / M.B.A. / 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, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69). / All manufactured systems exhibit some degree of variation. Manufacturing organizations should be aware of those parameters whose variation will impact product performance and customer satisfaction. Such parameters are called Key Characteristics. Their variation plays a large part in the success of manufacturing programs; planning for too little variation can lead to low production yields, while planning for too much variation can lead to over-design. The chance for low yields or over-design is referred to as variation risk. Although most companies realize the importance of understanding variation, many still have difficulty implementing variation risk management programs. For some the challenge lies in changing the organizational culture to operate in a concurrent engineering environment that implements variation risk management. For others who are ready to make the change, the challenge is more technical in nature: even if Key Characteristics can be identified, their variation may not be known, especially if used in a new product whose sub-systems have never been through the production line. / (cont.) This thesis addresses the challenges of variation risk management encountered during an internship at Raytheon Company, and presents a unique solution for overcoming a lack of information regarding Key Characteristic variability. Once information is obtained, analysis is conducted to assist with identifying trade-offs and making program-level decisions. Although many problems presented are unique to Raytheon Company, the concepts can be applied across a wide range of manufacturing industries. / by Nicholas Padgalskas. / 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, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63). / Raytheon Company, a leader in aerospace and defense, has experienced tremendous growth through mergers and acquisitions. In particular, the company's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) business unit was largely formed through acquisitions of E-Systems and Texas Instruments and a merger with Hughes Aircraft Company. To assimilate the legacy organizations, Raytheon and SAS have undertaken great efforts to work as "One Company." One such example has been to strive for an enterprise sales and operations planning process. Five years ago, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) Operations leaders recognized the need to be more proactive in comprehending forecasted business and subsequent impacts to SAS' manufacturing network. As a result, Program Requirements and Operations Planning (PROP) was born to enable improved supply chain planning for factory labor and capital resources. Over time, the complexity of SAS' business has proven to be a challenge for PROP to achieve its intended objectives.- This thesis considers PROP as an enterprise rather than a process and proposes re-designing it using a holistic enterprise architecting framework including a thorough examination of the current state of PROP with respect to seven architectural views (strategy, policy/external factors, process, organization, knowledge, IT, and products/services). A future state PROP design is derived from the analysis and then validated against a detailed case study of the Army's Firefinder radar product line manufactured at Raytheon's Forest, Mississippi facility. / by Brandon B. Chu. / 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, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-92). / The semiconductor industry is characterized by a high cost of capital equipment and fast change in process technology. Therefore Intel ® Corporation as the world's largest semiconductor company has a significant advantage over its competitors in reusing its semiconductor equipments. Not only may the financial impact be considerable, but also Intel ® Corporation can see benefits in process development, equipment reliability, and training. However, demolishing and reusing tools do not go without major difficulties: complexity of the equipments, safety concerns because of the chemical used, reliability of the tool when reused. Consequently, in late 2004, the 6D Program was initiated to preserve Intel's assets during transfer from decontamination through deployment (reuse, resale, part harvesting, donation or scrap) using safe, effective procedure and business processes. In less than 3 years, the 6D Working Group has created procedures, checklists and trainings to assure "best-in-class" performances. This project was set up to support the 6D Working Group's improvement strategy by analyzing gaps that may exist in the system. Especially, the thesis analyzes the challenges faced by the 6D Working Group (a global team) to influence and standardize local practices. By using game theory analysis, recommendations are made to change incentive policy. A new set of metrics is proposed to drive accountability of the sites and foster process improvements. Finally, using a system dynamics approach, the thesis offers insights to answer the question of the adequate level of standardization of processes. / by Alain Communal. / 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, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [78]). / Information technology (IT), operational efficiency, and a strong relationship with customers are three critical components to Dell's success over the last twenty four years. Information technology throughout Dell's history has enabled strategic advantages such as the direct sales model. Operationally, Dell has continuously striven to be best in breed in terms of having an efficient supply chain and manufacturing facilities. Dell's customers were delighted because Dell dealt directly with them without a middle man, quickly translating their needs into products and solutions. These three factors are interdependent and have driven Dell to a sixty billion dollar Fortune 50 company in less than a quarter century. Over the last few years Dell has begun to embrace a lean culture within its manufacturing and supply chain operations. These initiatives are above and beyond other continuous improvement initiatives such as Business Process Improvement (BPI) which traditionally has focused on cost avoidance. To date the lean concepts have not progressed far beyond traditional operational boundaries or the proverbial four walls of manufacturing. This thesis looks to apply lean philosophical concepts and tools in customer service and IT environments. The analysis included consumer call center call drivers identification and value stream mapping of online self help environments. The analysis pointed to the order management process and proactive order status messaging in particular as a thesis focus area. The author convinced high level leaders across Dell's support, IT, and logistics organizations to sponsor a kaizen event to bring all of the key stakeholders together to design an ideal state, end-to-end proactive order status messaging process. / (cont.) Stakeholders analyzed communication channels (phone, internet, email channels, etc.) and messages delivered (order processed, order confirmed, order shipped messages, etc.). The team developed a coherent ideal state vision of what the processes and data systems should look like. Some short and long term successes were realized by the time this thesis was published. / by Kaine C. Gill. / S.M. / M.B.A.