Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69). / Partners in Health's (PIH) supply chain in Haiti has become strained over the past five years due to the organization's rapid growth. Under the current system, the majority of PIH's products are obtained through an annually placed order. All goods from this order are stored at the central warehouse in Cange, which acts as a hub, until those goods are needed at individual clinics. As annual orders increase in size to support PIH's expanding operations, the limited size of the central warehouse has become a constraint, making a change in current inventory policies necessary. In order to formulate revised inventory policies for PIH's Haiti operations, we developed a spreadsheet model that uses historical consumption data of drugs and medical supplies to forecast demand over the next three years. This demand data is then be used as input to run and compare the existing annual order policy with ordering policies with more frequent reviews. These inventory policies are then evaluated against the central warehouse size constraints to recommend an inventory policy better suited to meet PIH's needs. We find that more frequent orders drastically reduces warehouse space requirements while maintaining high service levels. It is hoped that PIH can continue to use this model to determine future inventory policy needs. / by Christine L. Heberley and Matthew F. Hoover. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-61). / Enterprises undergo transformation for more efficient and effective performance and growth. The Lean Enterprise Self Assessment Tool (LESAT) is a product of the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This tool is used by many enterprises to assess strengths, areas of improvement, and the enterprise's readiness to change. LESAT has been designed for enterprises that offer products only, not services. However, many of the principles and methodologies apply to servicing existing systems, which is a growing industry trend both in the private and public sector. Servicing existing systems accounts for 70% of the United States Department of Defense weapon system's total life-cycle cost. Many enterprises offer services to support, maintain, and upgrade their products. Many enterprises also rely on core internal systems that must be maintained and upgraded such as airline reservation systems or supply chain logistics tools. An extension of LESAT for Servicing Existing Systems is proposed as an assessment tool toward lean effectiveness for products and services. Collaborations with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) In- Service Systems Working Group; three aerospace and technology enterprises Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon; as well as review of the literature are used in capturing best practices for success in servicing existing systems. / by Tina Prabha Srivastava. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, June 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "December 2012." / Includes bibliographical references (page 89). / With the ramp up of commercial spaceflight over the last decade with the assistance of the US Government and NASA, commercial spaceflight companies such as Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences have taken significant strides in reducing the overall cost of space travel. The overall cost per launch goes far beyond the actual cost of the materials and labor associated with each launch vehicle, and must include all the political, environmental and social costs, which often amount to more than the actual cost of the vehicle itself. The main focus of my thesis is the Flight Termination System (FTS) which is the system used to terminate the flight of the launch vehicle in the event the vehicle veers off course or experiences any anomalies, which would impede its mission and cause a threat to human assets. Because of my work as the lead engineer of the FTS system at SpaceX, this thesis will mainly cover the system used at SpaceX. The FTS system is unique in that the approval of the system is as political and social as it is technical. Systems engineering is applied throughout the process of architecting, designing, testing, and manufacturing, where all stakeholders have a part in the success of each step of the product design. The key to the success of SpaceX lies in innovation, and as this thesis outlines, the FTS system has many innovative products and processes in place, including the establishment of many key relationships with stakeholders. / by Eugene Kwak. / S.M.in Engineering and Management

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-91). / Humanitarian relief supply chains are not well documented. This thesis describes humanitarian relief supply chains in general and those specifically utilized in the 2004 South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami relief effort. A survey, created in collaboration with the Fritz Institute and KPMG, informed the analysis and establishes baseline data for a sector with little formal measurement. It was found that relief organizations share common problems regardless of size, focus, or structure. While the survey determined that relief delivery was effective, the findings illuminated deficiencies in the following areas: initial assessment, collaboration, trained logistics experts, and supply chain analysis. Finally, the thesis suggests plans to address these issues and future research. / by Timothy Edward Russell. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2007. / 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. 176-189). / Limiting anthropogenic climate change over the next century will require controlling multiple substances. The Kyoto Protocol structure constrains the major greenhouse gases and allows trading among them, but there exist other possible regime architectures which may be more efficient. Tradeoffs between the market efficiency of all-inclusive policies and the benefits of policies targeted to the unique characteristics of each substance are investigated using an integrated assessment approach, using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model, the Integrated Global Systems Model, and political analysis methods. The thesis explores three cases. The first case addresses stabilization, the ultimate objective of Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We highlight the implications of imprecision in the definition of stabilization, the importance of non-CO2 substances, and the problems of excessive focus on long-term targets. The results of the stabilization analysis suggest that methane reduction will be especially valuable because of its importance in low-cost mitigation policies that are effective on timescales up to three centuries. Therefore in the second case we examine methane, demonstrating that methane constraints alone can account for a 15% reduction in temperature rise over the 21st century. / (cont.) In contrast to conventional wisdom, we show that Global Warming Potential based trading between methane reductions and fossil CO2 reductions is flawed because of the differences in their atmospheric characteristics, the uncertainty in methane inventories, the negative interactions of CO2 constraints with underlying taxes, and higher political barriers to constraining CO2. The third case examines the benefits of increased policy coordination between air pollution constraints and climate policies. We calculate the direct effects of air pollution constraints to be less than 8% of temperature rise over the century, but ancillary reductions of GHGs lead to an additional 17% decrease. Furthermore, current policies have not had success coordinating air pollution constraints and CO2 constraints, potentially leading to a 20% welfare cost penalty resulting from separate implementation. Our results lead us to recommend enacting near term multinational CH4 constraints independently from CO2 policies as well as supporting air pollution policies in developing nations that include an emphasis on climate friendly projects. / by Marcus C. Sarofim. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70). / Continuous increases in transportation costs on one hand and companies' desire to reduce inventories and receiving costs on the other hand, have been forcing shippers to come up with innovative ways in tackling these two conflicting goals. One of these innovations is horizontal transportation collaboration. Horizontal transportation collaboration is the act of consolidation of shipments across several firms. This collaboration opens up the opportunity for companies to take advantage of the synergies that may exist in their supply chain networks. Such collaborations can be orchestrated through a 3PL or by the companies themselves via a Do-It- Yourself (DIY) approach. Collaboration can be active or passive. Active collaboration is when shippers plan their shipments with the goal of consolidation. Passive collaboration is purely opportunistic and takes advantage of synergies if and when they occur. The focus of this thesis is passive DIY collaboration. This research provides a practical guideline for companies who intend to engage in DIY collaboration with other firms. It addresses how to qualify potential collaboration partners, how to evaluate the associated savings, and finally, how to make it work. As a part of this thesis the actual data from six shippers were analyzed and the potential savings were calculated. The analysis included multi-stop truckload (MSTL) consolidation and pool point distribution. / by Homayoun Taherian. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81). / The objective of this thesis is to define an optimal distribution network for Argentina using Cross Docking Centers. The products to be delivered are in a Central Warehouse in Buenos Aires, the main city and port of Argentina. These products have to be distributed to hundreds of locations in the interior of the country. These locations have lower levels of demand and are at great distance from Buenos Aires. In order to achieve efficient distribution, cross docking centers and a third party carrier distribution are utilized. To find the optimal number, size and location of cross docking centers and which cross docking center or carrier should supply each location, two models are developed. The first model is a location-allocation model in which capacities of the cross docking centers are not considered constraining. In this case, the model is complemented by a heuristic approach that is used to find a near-optimal feasible solution. The second model, a capacited location model, is more complex, taking into account the demands of each location and defining the optimal location of cross docking centers and their respective capacities. Both models are analyzed with the data representing the distribution of pharmaceutical products in Argentina in 1999. The models' solution generates savings of 5%, compared to the current network that was designed based on intuition and other external factors, without the use of an optimization tool. / by Fernando G. Dobrusky. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-234). / Under a charter from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the author participated in a study of the military's behavioral health system for the purpose of determining the means and effectiveness of that system for the treatment of PTSD and related conditions. This work focuses on the architecture and means of control over the existing arrangement of semi-independent enterprises, organized into functional work groups that necessarily collaborate to provide a full spectrum of behavioral health services to service members and their families. The author suggests a rearrangement of the system architecture to enable integrated work across organizational boundaries in order to reduce waste generated through structural inefficiencies. Implementation of network architecture and control relies heavily on the development of shared strategic objectives that direct network processes in supporting overall organizational goals. Further, performance measurement systems and stakeholder behavior change through use of incentives are used as the drivers of inter-enterprise process development. Finally, a governance structure, focused on development of integrative processes and outcomes is established to foster inter-organizational relationships, direct process improvement, and resolve system conflicts. / by Shane P. Scott. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 4, p. 698-745). / This dissertation contributes toward the building of a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems. In the process, it addresses a question that has been posed by evolutionary theorists in the economics and sociology literatures for decades: "Why do firms in the same industry vary systematically in performance over time?" Seeking a systematic explanation of a longitudinal phenomenon inevitably requires characterizing the evolution of the industrial ecosystem, as both the organization (firm) and its environment (industry, markets and institutions) are co-evolving. This question is therefore explored via a theoretical sample in three industrial ecosystems covering manufacturing and service sectors, with competitors from the US, Europe and Japan: commercial airplanes, motor vehicles and airlines. The research is based primarily on an in depth seven-year, multi-level, multi-method, field-based case study of both firms in the large commercial airplanes industry mixed duopoly as well as the key stakeholders in their extended enterprises (i.e. customers, suppliers, investors and employees). This field work is supplemented with historical comparative analysis in all three industries, as well as nonlinear dynamic simulation models developed to capture the essential mechanisms governing the evolution of business ecosystems. / (cont.) A theoretical framework is developed which endogenously traces the co-evolution of firms and their industrial environments using their highest-level system properties of form, function and fitness (as reflected in the system sciences of morphology, physiology and ecology), and which embraces the evolutionary processes of variation, selection and retention. The framework captures the path-dependent evolution of heterogeneous populations of enterprise architectures engaged in symbiotic inter-species competition and posits the evolution of dominant designs in enterprise architectures that oscillate deterministically and chaotically between modular and integral states throughout an industry's life-cycle. Architectural innovation - at the extended enterprise level - is demonstrated to contribute to the failure of established firms, with causal mechanisms developed to explain tipping points. / by Theodore F. Piepenbrock. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper investigates one specific portion of the supply chain between a semiconductor manufacturer and one of its major customers. The purpose is to dive deeply into one particular segment of the logistical process between these two entities--namely, the function of transport and storage of microprocessors after semiconductor fabrication facilities and before placement of those microprocessors into products at the customer site--to determine whether there exists a value proposition for implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in this process. Specifically, the current process was observed and recorded; then two possible amendments to that process are promulgated and discussed--one which implements box-level traceability (BLT) and one which implements unit-level traceability (ULT). The proposed processes attempt to maintain as strict an adherence as possible to the nature and needs of the current process since the purpose of the study is to determine whether RFID technology alone, independent of major software or process revision, can benefit this portion of the supply chain. Observations and learnings at both BLT and ULT are discussed as well as key learnings for the effectiveness of RFID within this particular process. / by Dennis Allen Duckworth. / M.Eng.in Logistics