Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53). / Novartis Technical Operations is considering a complete overhaul of their manufacturing processes. To date, all drugs have been made by using a batch process. In an attempt to lower costs, Novartis is evaluating moving some drug production to a continuous process. Novartis has instituted lean in their production plants and it has been very successful, but what is on the table now is a way to bring lean to the highest level, and a chance to make a seismic shift in manufacturing performance. The continuous manufacturing initiative between Novartis and MIT exists to pursue that idea. My task was to evaluate the economic impact and feasibility of spray drying on drug manufacturing. Spray drying is an advanced manufacturing technique that could allow Novartis to skip multiple steps in chemical & pharmaceutical operations. It is also a process that can be used continuously. I investigated the use of spray drying with X, one of the drugs in Novartis' product pipeline. The major results of this investigation are that drug solubility in the solvent is a critical variable and that X is stable after spray drying. All experiments in the scientific section were performed with the drug dissolved in Ethanol, and all experiments resulted in stable versions of X combined with various additives. The drug solubility directly affects the number of spray dryers necessary for production within an allocated time span. Using economic assumptions that are detailed later in this work, there is a breakeven point for most drug volumes at around 3% drug solubility, assuming additives poses no problems for dissolution. / (cont.) Despite economies of scale considerations and factory adjustments, this breakeven point is accurate for drug demands from 1 ton/year to 100 tons/year. Since my experiments were performed at 1.53% drug solubility (too low), I did not prove the economic viability of spray drying X in particular, but rather laid a framework for future studies. / by Adam Youngman. / S.M. / M.B.A.

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, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62). / This thesis recommends a China business and equipment strategy for the Controls Conveyor Robotics Welding (CCRW) group at General Motors. The current strategy is to use globally common equipment through predetermined global suppliers. The GM facilities in China, which are jointly owned with non-GM entities, believe that a local sourcing strategy would reduce lead times, transportation costs and increase the level of nearby service and support. These factors are catalyst for GM to reevaluate the current global common strategy. This thesis will provide an overview of the CCRW organization and discuss how the sourcing strategy has evolved through globalization. Due to the large variety of production tooling, this thesis will narrow the focus to two case studies: the first being a Main Control Panel (MCP) and the second being a weld controller. These case studies are used as a method to determine the pros and cons of the current sourcing strategy, where the MCP is a highly integrated design maintained by CCRW HQ and the weld controller is a "blackbox" which CCRW defines the functional specifications and procures "off the shelf' from a predetermined global supplier. Through local China visits, literature review and preliminary cost assessments, it was determined that while local sourcing may be a viable option for both the MCP and weld controller, there is not enough determinate information to commit to a sourcing change in the case of the Main Control Panel. From onsite visits to potential MCP option suppliers in China, it appears that likely "local" arrangements exists, however, further company analysis and validation will need to be conducted to adopt the change. / (cont.) As for the weld controller, the local product variation with the current global supplier (based locally) is recommended and was validated by CCRW weld engineers by the completion of this internship. I The term "Local" will be used throughout this thesis to refer to "China," meaning solutions that are derived from internal to China. / by Natalie Chouinard. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-53). / Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) has recently adopted Six Sigma as the main platform to drive quality improvements in its manufacturing operations. A key component of the improvement strategy is the ability to define appropriate manufacturing yield goals. Cisco's manufacturing operations can be divided, at a very high level, in two major steps: Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) and System Assembly and Test. The company has already deployed a global yield goal definition methodology for the PCBA operation, but the creation of a similar methodology for the System Assembly and Test operation proved difficult: Cisco lacked a universal methodology to determine the expected variation on manufacturing performance resulting from differences on product design and manufacturing processes attributes. This thesis addresses this gap by demonstrating a methodology to relate relevant design and process attributes to the System Assembly and Test manufacturing yield performance of all products. The methodology uses statistical analysis, in particular Artificial Neural Networks, to generate a yield prediction model that achieves excellent prediction accuracy (4.8% RMS error). Although this study was performed using Cisco Systems' product and manufacturing data, the general process outlined in this exercise should be applicable to solve similar problems in other companies and industries. The core components of the methodology outlined can be easily reproduced: 1) identify the key complexity attributes, 2) design and execute a data collection plan and 3) generate statistical models to test the validity and impact of the selected factors. / by Andres Olivella Sierra. / 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, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-100). / by Christopher Lance Durham. / 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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70). / by Anju Jaggi. / 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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66). / by Wesley D. Margeson. / 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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75). / by Vida A. Killian. / 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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-98). / by Jason E. Seay. / 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. 47). / by Joshua B. Miller. / 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, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84). / by Asoka Veeravagu. / S.M. / M.B.A.