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, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 93). / by William C. Jackson. / S.M.

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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77). / by Thomas C. Evans. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2017. / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 49-50). / Li & Fung is a supply chain leader in consumer goods specializing in apparel, beauty products, furnishings, household goods, health and toys. It employees more than 20,000 people and supplies material from 15,000 suppliers in more than 40 countries. Managing the environmental impact of products made by Li & Fung and its suppliers is a crucial part of LF's sustainability strategy. The objective of this internship based project is to assess product environmental footprint throughout multiple tiers of the garment supply chain. The approach to resolve the problem is to investigate of the current state of Li & Fung factories, create a mobile tool to collect and analyze data from factories and produce final environmental scores for factories and products. The mobile tool and the environmental scores will allow (1) factories to benchmark against each other in terms of their environmental performance, and (2) provide essential data to brands (Li & Fung customers) to make more conscious sourcing decisions. / by Hashim Alhamad. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental 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 49-51). / An automotive manufacturer facing decreasing average product volumes as a result of market fragmentation while simultaneously reducing its manufacturing plant footprint must adapt to the difficult challenge of increased product mix within its manufacturing system. The increase in complexity resulting from greater product mix is considered to be a significant driver in increasing plant investment cost and reducing plant operating effectiveness. Thus, the ability to fully understand and more effectively balance the complexity trade-offs associated with different product-to-manufacturing plant allocation scenarios is critically important, as the manufacturer formulates its strategy and analyzes the associated costs and benefits. The ultimate question to be addressed is whether there exists a "complexity threshold" in terms of the maximum number of differentiated body styles (unique vehicle models) to be produced inside a single assembly plant. This thesis analyzes the challenge of manufacturing system and plant complexity by first developing a competitive benchmark study of body-style complexity at the major North American OEMs' plants. Then, manufacturing and operations data is analyzed for evidence of a "complexity threshold" in one manufacturer's operations. / (cont.) Finally, a linear-program based optimization model is developed to enable a Manufacturing Planning group to better understand the company's tolerance for plant complexity by quantifying manufacturing costs associated with various product-to-manufacturing plant allocation scenarios. This tool enables the planner to simultaneously consider thousands of different possible combinations of which products to produce in which plants, by analyzing manufacturing investment and per-vehicle operating cost estimates for each combination. The ability to impose constraints on the maximum number of body styles produced at any one plant yields insight on the value of pursuing a higher-mix (in terms of body styles) manufacturing strategy in particular plants, or across the entire plant footprint. / by Matthew J. Hasik. / 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 Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95). / The need for continuous improvement within a value stream is very necessary in today's business environment and can be one of the key sources of competitive advantage. As a company learns and implements the tools and practices of a Lean system, the underlying management and leadership methods become critical to sustaining fundamental operational change. A Value Stream Manager provides this leadership and is responsible for increasing the ratio of value to non-value by eliminating waste in the overall value chain from start to finish. The scope of the responsibilities of a value stream manager should cover at least two domains. First is the plant domain, that improves the value stream between the four walls of the plant; including the inbound and outbound logistics to/from the plant. The second domain is to consider the value stream at the enterprise-level. At the enterprise-level, the value stream manager is responsible for eliminating waste throughout the extended value stream, including channel partners such as suppliers and customers. This thesis will examine the operations of the ABB Wessel Cable plant in Longford, Ireland and analyze the application of Value Stream Management principles during a six and a half month internship period. By involving all the employees at ABB Wessel we were able to reduce WIP and Finished good levels down to historic lows holding scrap below 4% and increase overall equipment effectiveness by almost 30%. By concentrating on velocity of flow through the factory with reduced overtime, the business stopped losing money. In the proposed future state, additional performance enhancing changes are identified and discussed as a going forward plan for the future. / Daniel J. Allison. / 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, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67). / In order to develop optimal inventory policies, it is essential to know the consequences of stockouts and the costs related to each kind of stockout; at Intel, however, such costs have not yet been quantified. The primary goal of this internship is to quantify the cost of stockouts, focusing in the microprocessor business. The first stage of this thesis consists of describing the different consequences of stockouts. In a stockout situation, customers may opt to buy alternate products at either higher or lower price (buy up or buy down), postpone the purchase until the product is available (postponed sales), buy the product from a non-authorized distributor (sales lost to the open market) or buy a non-Intel product (sales lost to the competition). Each of those consequences has a different financial impact, so we quantify stockout cost for different stockout situations and different service levels. This analysis is conducted at an aggregated level and also by product line. The results of this project show that stockouts have a high financial impact in the microprocessor business. / (cont.) Due to the high margins, each sale lost to the competition means losing a significant dollar amount, which may easily out weigh the inventory related costs of that product. The result is service levels that are higher than Intel had believed would be appropriate. The quantification of the financial impact of the different stockout situations will be a valuable input into further supply chain optimization analysis including adjustment of finished good inventory levels. / by Maria Claudia Sonnet. / 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. 48-50). / C&S Wholesale Grocers is a privately-held firm headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire. C&S is a leading low-cost, high-service procurement and distribution provider servicing grocery retailers, and is the second largest grocery wholesaler in the United States.' The firm has realized average annual revenue growth of nearly 20% since 1995, and projects nearly twenty billion dollars of revenue for 2006. C&S operations are mobilized to deliver over 53,000 grocery items to more than 4,000 corporate customers "at record speed."2 Historically, C&S Wholesale Grocers has relied upon process excellence to sustain profitable growth. An internal group, the Business Process Excellence group, is currently focusing on process improvements across all areas of the C&S value chain. In support of the "BPE" team, this project focuses on "Vendor Integration", or determining the most effective processes and programs by which C&S should collaborate with its vendors to drive out supply chain costs. The goal of this thesis is to present a framework for the determination of "best-in-class" programs relating to vendor integration, programs which contribute to sustainable growth. First, a presentation of the drivers of sustainable growth is defined. / (cont.) Then a framework is employed to generate a host of available programs to be considered. Two of the programs are selected for an in-depth evaluation: Lead-Time Reduction and Global Data Synchronization. Future internships will be able to draw upon the approach, analysis, and findings of this work to solve similar strategic supply chain challenges. / by Jeffrey C. Baer. / 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. 101-103). / As consumer products companies like P&G strive to achieve a consumer driven supply network, the value of forecast accuracy comes into question. Many companies push for faster cycle times and shorter supply chains, driving towards make-to-order production. These trends may appear to reduce the importance of forecasts. However, a closer look into P&G and their business reveals that sales forecasts are still very important and have a far reaching impact stretching from the supply network through to Wall Street. This thesis evaluates the forecasting process in a company like P&G. The thesis delves into the accountability around sales forecasts and proposes a top-down, statistical process for creating and tracking forecast accuracy which was implemented across P&G's global organization. Another analysis is conducted on the evaluation of a new demand planning system which provides more granular input data for generating forecasts, and the implications from this trial on the demand planning process. Finally, an assessment on the efficiency of current systems is also detailed. / by Christy A. Prilutski. / 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, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61). / The primary goal for this project was to help expand the existing capability of Sikorsky's main rotor blade business from raw material (titanium) through final assembly. The project helped to facilitate the ongoing lean transformation as the factory makes the journey to single-piece flow. During the internship, monthly kaizen events were used to help focus efforts on different areas of the value stream. These activities resulted in changes in the following areas: decrease in cycle times and lead times, reduction in inventory, procedural changes, and a future plan to physically change the factory floor to improve flow. / by Casey J. Phoenix. / 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. 89-91). / High fixed costs and the emergence of globalization have forced traditional domestic automotive mass producers to the brink of bankruptcy. This thesis focuses on the global growth strategy of a Tier 1 automotive supplier and examines causal relationships between that strategy and the system stakeholders who execute and support it. The literature review examines current research to illustrate the benefit of approaching globalization with a process-driven, systems-based mindset. Current literature offers insight into improved financial measures that traditional mass producing firms can employ to streamline decision making and shift the mindset of leaders to engage employees, suppliers, and customers around a long-term systems based operating strategy. The thesis is based upon three core experiences the author had at American Axle to illustrate the importance of systems-based operations innovation. The literature review in conjunction with the internship experience is used to illustrate opportunities for American Axle to improve its operating strategy. The paper highlights traditional approaches currently used inside the company and offers solutions to change employee behavior throughout American Axle's global manufacturing system. The thesis examines behaviors, metrics, and results often seen in an absorption cost environment where there are weak operational controls and non-standard corporate scorecards. Using current research and professional industry experience, I will argue robust operational controls and metrics, aligned with an overarching systems approach that considers the long term implications of today's decisions, are essential components to the viable, long term success of any global enterprise. / Andrew P. Storm. / S.M. / M.B.A.