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. 111-113). / The aerospace industry is increasingly outsourcing and offshoring their supply chains in order to maintain profitability in the face of increasing competition and globalization. This strategy for value creation inevitably increases the inherent risks and complexity in the supply chain. This in turn makes capturing the value created extremely challenging as the organization, processes, relationships and operating models require change. Firms that do not focus on value capture risk failing to effectively unlock value and increase profitability despite having outsourced and offshored a significant portion of their value-add. This thesis introduces a framework that helps firms execute value capture in their global supply chains more effectively. The framework consists of four levers that directly and indirectly influence the ability to impact a firm's bottomline. These levers are: effective organizational structure to manage the supply chain, effective supplier management processes to avoid cost of failure, integrated supply chain and operational excellence to unlock value, and business continuity planning to protect value. This framework is analyzed in the context of Spirit Europe, which is a division of Spirit Aerosystems, Inc. as a case study to understand the specific challenges, practical realities and opportunities to applying this framework in industry. Spirit Europe has recently encountered various supply chain issues like poor supplier quality, high inventory holdings, material shortages and project cost overruns which have impacted their profitability. A series of analytical models and optimization methods is also introduced to specifically address the challenges and opportunities identified via the framework. / by Chan Yuin Lee. / 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. 83-84). / Amazon.com, one of the largest and most profitable online retailers, has been experiencing such dramatic growth rates that it must continually update and modify its fulfillment process in order to meet customer demand for its products. As the volume of customer orders increases, management at the different fulfillment centers must determine the optimal way to increase the throughput through their facility. Many times the answer lies in improving the primary process, but occasionally it makes better sense if an auxiliary process is built or expanded to meet the increased demand.This thesis analyzes the decision criteria necessary to determine when an auxiliary process should be designed in addition to an established primary process. The author's internship project will be presented as an example of how to implement such a secondary method. The six-month LFM project focused on increasing the Fernley, Nevada fulfillment center's capacity by making improvements to its manual sortation/packaging. This process, nicknamed BIGS, was originally built to offload large and troublesome orders from the primary, automated process path. The unique labor-intensive procedures used in this process held several advantages that justified its existence and the investments necessary to expand its capacity / by Zachary R. Smith. / 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, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59). / Customer requirements for efficiency in the gas turbine industry are driving designs that require increasingly complex and precise manufacturing processes. One such process employed at Alstom Power is the laser drilling holes in gas turbine blades and vanes. The complexity of such advanced manufacturing techniques requires a disciplined approach toward process improvement. In addition, manufacturing knowledge management systems must be put in place to provide the foundation for improvement initiatives. This thesis attempts to advance the understanding of laser-drilling variation sources on gas turbine nickel-based alloy blades and vanes. It also illustrates the importance of a disciplined approach to reducing variation in advanced manufacturing processes. For illustrative purposes, this thesis consists of two main sections. The first focuses on efforts to reduce laser drilling variation. A historical view of the process highlights the need for a rigorous improvement plan. A disciplined approach is then proposed, incorporating a variety of tools to focus on key issues. Finally, testing and analysis provide the quantitative insights for improving the process. Rigorous test data showed the drilling process to be significantly impacted by energy and focus variations. The sensitivity was greater than anticipated and highlights the need for improved setup techniques and instrumentation for successful production runs. The second section of the thesis takes an organizational perspective of managing process improvement knowledge. The historical perspective shows that there were not sufficient systems in place to facilitate the necessary learning. The three key elements of a knowledge management system (creation, capture, and transfer) and the implementation of such a system are discussed. / by Jeffrey J. Bornheim. / 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. 82-83). / The rapid growth of the digital communications market has prompted several large semiconductor manufacturers, including Intel Corporation, to begin the design and manufacture of communication ICs. The communications ICs are currently produced in much lower volumes than products such as microprocessors and memory. These low-volume products have been reported to cause operational problems, such as excessive cost, slow throughput time, and low yield when manufactured in semiconductor fabs designed for high volume manufacturing. This thesis examines the operational problems caused by the manufacture of low-volume semiconductor products and explores potential improvements. A financial model was developed to compare the cost of manufacturing low-volume products using several different strategies in existing high-volume fabs. The model results demonstrated that mask set cost, a fixed cost, becomes a very large component of total production cost as the product volume is reduced. Further, this model identified multi-product wafers, a scheme of fabricating several products on a single wafer, as a strategy with potential for savings up to approximately 75% of the manufacturing cost of low-volume products. A second financial model was developed to consider more detailed aspects of fabricating products on multi-product wafers. This model considered the sensitivity of the potential cost savings to changes in demand and changes to the design of multi-product wafers. This model also demonstrated that significant savings are possible with the multi-product wafer strategy, especially if the products are carefully matched (by die size and demand) with other products on the multi-product wafer. Finally, a brief organizational study was conducted to analyze the implementation of a multi-product wafer manufacturing process for the production of low-volume CMOS ICs at Intel Corporation. / by Robert L. Scholtz, III. / 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. 114-115). / Raytheon produces a diverse range of defense products using a wide range of business systems and tools that are not currently integrated. To achieve the corporate vision of "one company", in 2005, Raytheon began to deploy its SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, called "PRISM", focused on planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery processes. After a few single-site PRISM deployments, in 2009, Raytheon launched its biggest deployment yet, to 7,000 users and two business units in California and Texas. This thesis explores effective governance models and post-deployment governance processes necessary to mitigate the anticipated performance dip and accelerate return on investment (ROI) of the SAP system. The desired governance model for multi-business unit SAP ERP system includes comprehensive representation of stakeholders from business functional areas, information technology (IT) areas, user support groups, and SAP system experts. The governance structure consists of integration points among users, system experts, process owners, management, and corporate leadership team to ensure development of corporate system and solutions to address business unit needs. The governance process involves reviewing change requests, assessing changes needed, and deciding on final resolution. The governance structure and its linkages among different groups facilitate the process by involving the stakeholders with the appropriate knowledge and experience to contribute to decision making. The result is a governance structure capable of making just-in-time decisions to implement the "one-company" vision. / by Ting-Chih Shih. / 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. / Page 67 blank. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66). / Sikorsky's recently begun program to manufacture the S-76 helicopter airframe at a supplier in China is examined as a case study of supplier relationship management. Best practices and key principles from the literature and other industry case studies are identified. Key concepts covered include: importance of product architecture and supplier strategic role on the appropriate type of supplier relationship to develop; the different stages of relationship management; the concept of making investments in a supplier relationship as a way of achieving desired relationship closeness; the importance of geography and culture on foreign supplier relationships. The best practices and principles are then used to analyze Sikorsky's performance in the China S- 76 airframe program to date. It is found that while Sikorsky is engaged in several key supplier relationship management activities, significant improvement could be made by more carefully considering how to overcome geographic and cultural distance and by making decisions about relationship investments in a more analytical way, with a focus on bottom-line financial impact. Finally, a generalized process for managing supplier relationships is developed. The six steps are: * Determine the appropriate relationship to develop with the supplier * Determine current supply chain proximity with the supplier * Determine stage of supplier relationship management and appropriate type of investments * Develop menu of relationship investment options * Determine the attractiveness of investment options * Select, prioritize and make investments. / R. Jon King. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-180). / by David B. Stagney. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2001. / "June 2001." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31). / by David H. Campos. / 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. 97-98). / by Aaron D. Fyke. / 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, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-76). / by Clinton J. Rockwell. / S.M.