Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2017. / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 95). / Digital retailers are currently experiencing explosive growth and mounting pressure from consumers to provide faster and cheaper delivery of product. This project develops two strategies to improve delivery speed, reliability, and cost for digital retailers operating in key North American markets (i.e. New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago). Zone Skipping Transportation This project develops a zone skipping transportation model and associated business case for retailers with multiple consumer channels (i.e. digital and brick and mortar). Zone skipping pools digital and retail shipments, utilizing dedicated ground transportation of product from central distribution hubs to last-mile delivery hubs in key cities. For reasonable input parameters, zone skipping is shown to improve delivery speed by 20%, improve on-time delivery performance by 20%, and reduce costs by 10% over traditional carrier zone shipping. Multinodal Distribution (Ship-from-Store Simulation) Many multi-channel retailers employ multinodal distribution networks, but desire store fulfillment capabilities in key cities to improve key delivery metrics (speed and cost). To validate these capabilities, retailers can develop easily-tailorable analytical simulation models to test various hypotheses and distribution parameters. This project helps address two major ship-from-store questions: 1. What to Ship - A SKU stocking strategy that minimizes variability and ensures predictable and right-sized demand levels. The strategy needs to accurately predict future demand based on limited historical information. 2. How to Fulfill - The transformation of a store back room into a mini distribution center and all of the processes design to enable rapid fulfillment time given highly variable demand The SKU stocking strategy leverages advanced analytics, and the operational fulfillment processes are tested using simulation software that enables rapid manipulation of key variables to uncover optimal process flows. The resulting simulation model and SKU stocking framework can be leveraged by digital retailers to operationalize ship from store processes and accurately predict digital demand levels for future store fulfillment nodes. / by Jordan Daniel Charles. / 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 Chemical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-53). / Manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry is presently characterized as a batch production system, which has existed in its current form for decades. This structure is the result of historical regulatory policy as well as the conservative nature of the industry. Recent clarification by US and European regulatory bodies has opened the possibility to new approaches to the manufacturing process. This combined with changes in the market for the pharmaceutical industry has accelerated the rate at which new manufacturing technologies are explored. Continuous manufacturing is a paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical industry manufacturing structure, encompassing several new technologies and systems. The business impact of continuous manufacturing has not been well defined. This assessment aims to compare a continuous manufacturing process to a batch manufacturing process for a particular Novartis product. The product has an established batch production process. Cost estimates and the continuous process cost is estimated using a four-step process: defining the process flow, performing the material balance, estimating the capital costs, and estimating the operating costs. This analysis shows that for the particular Novartis product considered, a continuous process is an improvement over the batch process in four performance characteristics: capital investment, operating cost, throughput time, and working capital requirement. / by Kristopher Ray Wilburn. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2014. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2014. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / 20 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 59-60). / This project explores portfolio management and planning through effectively reducing complexity within operations. We apply this to a major healthcare company (referred to as Company X). The anticipated launch of new molecules and formulations into the existing high mix product portfolio presents significant challenges to contain cost and maintain the standard service level of Company X. Complexity costs associated with manufacturing and supply chain activities are not entirely accounted for in direct production costs. Having transparency to these costs at a brand or SKU level would allow significant improvements in strategic decision making throughout the life cycle of a product. The work outlined in this thesis describes the development of a quantification model to capture operational complexity costs as well as an analysis of potential impact for Company X associated with implementation of the model. This is accomplished through first, identifying and prioritizing complexity cost generators; second, quantifying the costs through application of activity based accounting; third, building and piloting a decision support tool and NPV model. Lastly, process for implementation and application of the model was defined. The findings from this project provide financial rationale for a 27% reduction in the total product portfolio size, which results in a potential savings of $75M over the next five years, and 50% human resource savings across the Technical Operations and key support functions at Company X. The model can be a powerful tool for optimizing product portfolios with attention to financial, operational, and strategic considerations. Reducing complexity creates the ability to become more discerning about the portfolio composition and enable Company X to focus even more on high growth and life-saving brands. / by Jan Ma. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2018. / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-109). / Warehouses and fulfillment centers have traditionally been designed to handle bulk orders of pallet and cases. The growth in e-commerce is demanding operational improvements for efficient storage of large selections and the ability to quickly pick, fill, pack and ship single items and small orders. Online grocery fulfillment presents a new gamut of challenges due to the unique storage and handling requirements of grocery products. As demand increases, storage space can quickly become a performance-limiting constraint. Operations managers must find creative ways to fit more products into the same amount of space, while maintaining or increasing throughput to meet the increased demand and efficiency targets. This thesis proposes that an optimum fulfillment center storage system can be achieved by strategically balancing trade-offs between labor productivity and space utilization and by minimizing the impacts of variation. This document evaluates the relationships between these trade-offs and highlights five guiding principles of great storage systems for high-rate fulfillment centers. Amazon Fresh will serve as a case-study to provide a real-world complex application for testing the claims presented in this thesis. Research findings and the five guiding principles are are used to develop data-supported recommendations to address storage-related challenges at Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers. The insights from this research can be used to improve storage capacity and efficiency with a well-balanced storage system. / by Becky Lou Smith. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018. / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 71). / A universal imperative of most manufacturing firms is to lower cost, increase production rate, and deliver exceptional quality for every product. The manufacturing firm that springs to mind as the standard bearer for all three is Toyota and the generalized lean manufacturing method known as the Toyota Production System. The literature on what lean manufacturing is and how to do it is vast. This thesis first contributes to that cache of lean literature an example of one aerospace company's interpretation of lean and how it is defined in assembly production design. In other words, this thesis tests the claim that lean principles can be incorporated in the design of an aircraft assembly process to achieve the lean goals of producing a perfect product with zero waste at the rate at which a customer demands it. The thesis covers a seven-month research period at an aircraft assembly factory and is broken into three phases. The first phase presents research on an existing lean transformation initiative in the factory and measures its success at achieving lean goals. This evaluation determines that the as-designed system does meet the goals of lean to continuously improve and eliminate waste but also exposes problems to other sub-systems in the factory. Phase I identified several improvement candidates for deeper study, and the rest of the thesis considers one of these opportunities, specifically on the material delivery system. The second part of the thesis focuses on a root cause analysis of the problems associated with the material delivery system at meeting lean goals. The resulting question is what changes to the material delivery system are required to further these goals. The company was already considering several solutions to answer this question; however, the proposed solutions would violate the original design requirements for the system. This hindered the ability to make improvements. The third part of this thesis examines the redefinition of the design requirements that embody lean principles as well as other requirements imposed on the system. This allows for new solutions to be evaluated against the design requirements and a final recommendation is proposed. / by Dora Leanne Aldama. / 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 Global Operations Program at MIT, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 68). / In 2008 Intel released a low-power and low-cost microprocessor that opened up a new market for smaller mobile computers, commonly known as netbooks. During the subsequent two years, netbooks have grown to be a substantial component of the mobile computer industry, capturing a major share of mobile computer sales in 2009. As Intel considers its growth opportunities, nothing attracts more attention than the processor for netbook computers. However, low-cost processors are a new undertaking for Intel, in contrast to an historically strong presence in the mainstream and high-end personal computer and server industries. In order to compete in the low-cost sector, the design of the microprocessor cannot include any unneeded capability. This is certainly true for aspects based heavily on customer usage characteristics, such as design for reliability. The package-level CPU design includes solder joints which mount the CPU to the computer motherboard. Most of these solder joints serve the dual function of an electronic bridge between the silicon microprocessor and the computer as well as providing structural stability for the connection between the two. In recent years, Intel has added additional solder joints for certain products that are solely meant to provide additional stability. This is required to meet stringent reliability standards based upon estimated customer use patterns. In the case of the netbook processor, the usage patterns were originally assumed to be the same as those used for notebooks, influencing package-level design and requiring additional solder joints. However, after being in the consumer market for only a short period, evidence points towards different usage patterns for netbooks, which in turn affect the reliability targets and overall package-level design. Through recent studies and analysis, it has become evident that consumer usage of netbooks is indeed different from notebooks and that Intel's existing set of assumptions may need to be revised. Specifically, the device lifetime, percentage of active time, power cycle frequency, and application use vary significantly between notebook and netbook devices. By leveraging Intel's extensive experience in relating usage patterns to reliability targets, it is possible to estimate the effect that such differences may have and conclude that additional solder joints are not required. These analyses estimate that by using more realistic usage assumptions, it is possible to avoid an additional $24 million in production costs over a two-year period for the upcoming microprocessor design to be released in 2011. / by Anuj Bhardwaj. / 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 Global Operations Program at MIT, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-78). / Manufacturing technology roadmaps align manufacturing capability development to product development and the driving business need. Roadmaps allow an executable business strategy to be communicated to all levels of an organization reducing the time and resources required to bring new technology to market. This thesis examines the creation and sustainment of manufacturing technology roadmaps at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS). It demonstrates how by using a stakeholder analysis and demonstrating a positive value proposition to all stakeholders agreement and adoption can be created across a large organization. / by Louis S. Grillon. / 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 Chemical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70). / 3M has had aggressive growth through acquisitions. Almost all of the acquisitions add new manufacturing sites to the existing manufacturing and distribution networks. 3M is composed of 38 divisions (as of 2011) with significant independence. There are corporate experts in the different functional areas of due diligence that bring consistency regardless of the division doing the acquisition. However, since manufacturing is not centralized and is managed by each division, there is no corporate expert neither for manufacturing due diligence or supply chain. The difference in the experience level of manufacturing managers in different divisions, and a division-centric view of the supply chain has lead sometimes to integration plans that don't fully take into account opportunities in supply chain rationalization and future manufacturing improvements. The goal of this study is to map the current process and tools across divisions, to identify gaps and to create a business process that can be used as a guideline for all the divisions engaging in acquisitions with a manufacturing component. In addition, a principal components analysis is proposed to find which parameters could predict the outcome of an acquisition. / by Jose Juan Cavazos Cavazos. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Engineering, May, 2020 / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 96-98). / by Nicole Ann Oliver. / S.M. / M.B.A. / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Engineering / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020 / Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020 / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-73). / Boeing is a ubiquitous name and prominent leader in the aerospace industry, maintaining dominance in part by continuously seeking to improve. Boeing is now embracing a charter to become a Global Industrial Champion in manufacturing by developing strategies to improve manufacturing quality, speed, and cost. As part of this effort Boeing is implementing Full Size Determinant Assembly (FSDA) on a new aircraft, Aircraft ABC. This document focuses specifically on Assembly A, a primary assembly in Aircraft ABC. FSDA is a process in which all piece part holes are drilled precisely and accurately upon manufacture and later assembled with no match-drilling necessary on the assembly line. This promises to significantly reduce cycle time while simultaneously improving assembly quality and speed. Accurate tolerance decisions for piece part hole diameters, hole positions, and hole patterns are imperative for FSDA success on Assembly A. As Assembly A is in the early design stages, no measurement data exists to aid in determining which tolerances will yield a successful assembly. To supplement this data gap, measurement and pass/fail data from other aircraft were used to simulate Assembly A pass/fail rates using Close Ream, Class 1, and Class 2A tolerance quality tiers. Results from this analysis indicate probable Assembly A FSDA success using Class 1 quality hole tolerances for non-complex parts and Class 2A hole tolerances for complex parts. It is also imperative to restructure Assembly A organizational architecture to accommodate the radical innovation required to implement FSDA. The existing organizational model invites many improvement opportunities in communication, collaboration, and shortened learning cycles. A high velocity learning approach is used to examine the current organizational structure and offer adaptation strategies. It is recommended that the current Agile team structure be adapted to include more diverse job functions and to include other Boeing aircraft organizations as well as strategic suppliers as partners. It is additionally recommended that a larger emphasis be placed on data distribution across business units. The implementation of these organizational changes and the aforementioned engineering strategies will vastly improve the efficiency of FSDA implementation in Assembly A. / by Lea Daigle. / M.B.A. / S.M. / M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management / S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering