Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-218). / Automotive industry is facing a tough period. Production overcapacity and high fixed costs constrain companies' profits and challenge the very same existence of some corporations. Strangulated by the reduced cash availability and petrified by the organizational and products' complexity, companies find themselves more and more inadequate to stay in synch with the pace and the rate of change of consumers' and regulations' demands. To boost profits, nearly everyone pursue cost cutting. However, aggressive cost cutting as the sole approach to fattening margins results invariably in a reduction of operational capabilities which is likely to result in a decline in sales volume that leads to further cost reductions in a continuous death spiral. Long-term profitable growth requires, instead, a continuous flow of innovative products and processes. The focus should be, therefore, shifted from cost reduction to increased throughput. Automotive companies need to change their business model, morphing into new organizational entities based on systems thinking and change, which are agile and can swiftly adapt to the new business environment. The advancement of technology and the relentless increase in computing power will provide the necessary means for this radical transformation. This transformation cannot happen if the Product Development Process (PDP) does not break the iron gate of cycle time-product cost-development expenses-reduced product performance that constrains it. A new approach to PD should be applied to the early phases, where the leverage is higher, and should be targeted to dramatic reduction of the time taken to perform design iterations, which, by taking 50-70% of the total development time, are a burden of today's practice. Multi-disciplinary Design / (cont.) Analysis and Optimization, enabled by an Integrated Concurrent Engineering virtual product development framework has the required characteristics and the potential to respond to today's and tomorrow's automotive challenges. In this new framework, the product or system is not defined by a rigid CAD model which is then manipulated by product team engineers, but by a parametric flexible architecture handled by optimization and analysis software, with limited user interaction. In this environment, design engineers govern computer programs, which automatically select appropriately combinations of geometry parameters and drive seamlessly the analyses software programs (structural, fluid dynamic, costing, etc) to compute the system's performance attributes. Optimization algorithms explore the design space, identifying the Pareto optimal set of designs that satisfy the multiple simultaneous objectives they are given and at the same time the problem's constraints. Examples of application of the MDO approach to automotive systems are multiplying. However, the number of disciplines and engineering aspects considered is still limited to few (two or three) thus not exploiting the full potential the approach deriving from multi-disciplinarity. In the present work, a prototype of an Enhanced Development Framework has been set up for a particular automotive subsystem: a maniverter (a combination of exhaust manifold and catalytic converter) for internal combustion engines ... / by Massimo Usan. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 46). / by Steve P. Sides. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-99). / United States health care costs are rising and demand is increasing as the population ages. An already overburdened system is being squeezed more each year. Process improvements are urgently needed, and some health care professionals are looking to lean production principles for answers. Past lean health care initiatives have resulted in islands of success with limited overall impact. A lean enterprise approach that delivers value to all stakeholders and challenges current operational models can result in efficiency improvements and cost reduction while delivering a high quality of care. This study examines a single primary care practice. It is shown that an enterprise level perspective assisted health care professionals in evaluating the goals and metrics that influence their behavior. The practice was analyzed through first hand observations and data collection over a four month period. Physicians and staff were shadowed throughout their daily activities to identify waste and evaluate the impact of lean improvements. This data was supplemented with information captured via work sampling, analysis of monthly reports and metrics, and interviews and meetings with key stakeholders. It was determined that the physician productivity goal was driving dysfunctional behavior, resulting in a deteriorating work-life balance throughout the practice. The potential of this behavior to negatively impact patient satisfaction and quality care delivery also created a reason to change. Lean improvement efforts to address these issues resulted in a redesign of the patient visit schedule to allow more adequate time to address patient care, while also reducing the demand on the overworked physicians and staff. Success with the process led to the realization that medical professionals employ an approach to patient care that emulates lean enterprise principles. / (cont.) Diagnosing a patient complaint is analogous to investigating the cause and effect associated with wasteful processes. This characteristic of the industry, along with the short cycle times of patient care relative to lengthy processes in other industries, suggests the strong potential of health care to achieve swift improvements based on rapid experimentation, thus offering a possible proving ground for new lean enterprise approaches. / by James Casey. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79). / by William Weller Phillips, Jr. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2000. / "February 2000." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 65). / by Anil Kumar Sahai. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-214). / Continually declining Navy surface combatant acquisitions, the war on terror, shifting Congressional priorities and a consolidated shipbuilding industrial base are forcing fundamental changes in the defense shipbuilding market. Shipbuilding in the United States is a mature industry that requires an experienced workforce and a predictable workload to design and construct an extremely complex product. However, naval planning and Congressional appropriations are volatile and discontinuous processes governed by a broad array of exogenous forces. Substantial changes will be required at Bath Iron Works (BIW) to enable the company to more nimbly and flexibly support the U.S. Navy customer as the environment continues to change and new threats emerge. There is no one, integrated, approach for implementing enterprise-level change from conception through implementation. Large-scale change must be tailored to the requirements of the individual organization and executed in a manner that is acceptable to the prevailing culture, even if the culture itself is an objective of the change. Successfully changing the processes and culture of an enterprise takes time, significant planning, technical and business acumen and must employ elements of organizational behavior and processes, project management, and system design, to name a few. BIW's change effort, known internally as BIW 2011, will be a substantial, complex endeavor requiring a rigorous, systematic approach to design, integration and planning before any implementation begins. This thesis explores the exogenous and endogenous elements affecting BIW and applies the principles of change management and systems-thinking to design an integrated, systematic plan for approaching enterprise-level change. / by Andrew S. Bond. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, February 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-62). / Innovation has been long known to be difficult to accomplish in large companies that have well structured processes. Structured processes (such as the use of Six Sigma) can provide significant benefits in terms of efficiency and productivity. However, it can also hinder innovation in that it zones in on local, incremental solutions too quickly. This thesis explores different strategies corporations may take in incorporating innovation at their organizations. First, background and theory are presented to guide the discussion, grounded on ecological psychology. Second, a case study (VisionPRO Thermostat) is presented that provides insight in how innovation can work in large structured organizations; in this case, outsourcing and the use of common tools were used as the innovation strategy and transfer mechanism. Third, the discussion is expanded to broader corporate strategies that can inject innovation in product development processes. Innovation and structured processes are at odds with each other and need to be managed with different approaches. Innovation processes require creative isolation from high structure to open degrees of freedom and the design space; this can be accomplished through multiple strategies such as outsourcing, buying, injecting, incubating, co- locating, spinning-off, and distributing. Structured processes should rely on a high level of constraints that are highly predictable to push productivity and efficiency; this can be accomplished through Six Sigma and lean processes. Interfaces between the two sets of processes are critical to mediate effective transfer and insertion in product lines; in the case of the VisionPRO, common language (i.e., the common use of certain Six Sigma tools) and people played the interface role. Finally, conclusions, contributions, limitations, and future research are presented. / by John Roman Hajdukiewicz. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-78). / Project Management is an essential function in most software companies today. With increasing complexity and inter connectivity between software projects, it is not surprising that managing such large scale development projects can be expensive and extremely time consuming for the sponsoring organization. In large scale complex software projects the project manager has to ensure that enough resources are allocated to the project and foster an environment of communication and teamwork, but accomplish all this with little authority over the project team. This traditional approach to managing project relies on the skills and experience of a project manager but is fraught with pitfalls that can lead the project in the wrong direction if corrective action is not taken in a timely fashion. Any misstep during the project lifecycle due to scope creep or miscommunication can ultimately push the project to miss deadlines or be over budget. Another alternative approach to software development is using self organizing teams. Free/Open Source software development approach uses the concept of self organizing teams to collaborate at a global scale using communities of developers. The F/OSS paradigm, based on cooperation and collaboration among developers from all over the world, introduces methodologies and development models different from those usually utilized within the proprietary software industry. / (cont.) In it, communities of developers and users share a common interest in a project and interact regularly with one another to share knowledge collaboratively solve a common problem. This approach reduces the overhead required in communication and coordination by sharing information with all members of the project and relies on automating some of the essential elements of the project. The thesis synthesizes the use of automated tools as it applies to the project toolkit and uses case studies to understand how F/OSS development approach can be used in organizations to reduce project's dependence on a project manager. / by Praveen Mathur. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2002. / "June 2002." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143). / by Venu R. Siddapureddy. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-187). / by Steven A. Daleiden. / S.M.