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 Global Operations Program at MIT, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79). / Energy management has always been an issue for facility managers, but is now coming under increased scrutiny as businesses become more concerned with greenhouse gas emissions and their environmental footprint. Contemporary research suggests that simply feeding back information on energy use can result in a reduction of consumption between 5 and 20%. The building block of this feedback loop is the energy meter, which is typically standard equipment in homes, but not always installed in commercial buildings, particularly large corporate campuses. Since energy meters have been treated as an added cost in the past, they are not as widely deployed as energy managers would like. However, an analysis of electricity rate structures and hourly electricity use patterns can help identify which buildings provide the shortest payback period for electric meter installation. Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona was able to identify five buildings with a simple payback of under one year, 19 buildings with a positive NPV over two years, and 48 buildings with a positive NPV over 10 years for electric meter installations. Energy meters also provide immediate feedback on usage, verification of utility bills, and the ability to understand peak demand. As a part of an energy conservation program, energy meters are often overlooked, but are a critical building block for data gathering, monitoring, and feedback. / by David J. Follette. / 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 Global Operations Program at MIT, 2012. / Page 99 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-98). / A static capacity planning model was developed and tested following a four-phased framework. This model was developed for the purposes of capital planning for capacity requirements at a large aerospace parts manufacturing plant. Implications for capacity planning of the nature of the aerospace industry, as well as the company and plant being studied are discussed, as well as the current state of capacity planning. In phase I of model development, an appropriate modeling solution is selected. In phase II, information is collected from the user base as to the desired user experience and functionality of the model, as well as the parameters that should be considered in it. Phase III involves assessment of the parameters' impact on capacity, and identification of appropriate data sources to feed the model. Additionally, phase III recommends changes to current data structures in order to optimize the balance of model accuracy with minimal incremental resource allocation. In phase IV, the mathematical model is explained, and the user interface is developed. With a working model, the results are validated with the shop floor, identifying gaps in data sources previously unobservable. Following model development and validation, the model is applied to a subset of the shop, and used to develop recommendations for addressing predicted future capacity constraints. Application of the model reveals a blind spot in current heuristics-based planning, where high development loads can lead to immediate capacity constraints, but effects of the experience curve can actually cause this constraint to disappear on its own, without the need for excess equipment purchases. Finally, extensions of the research and lessons learned are discussed, suggesting future project work within the plant studied, as well as elsewhere in the company and in other companies or plants. / by Matthew A. Reveley. / 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, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-83). / Each aircraft on the final assembly line inevitably has minor build errors and deviations from the intended design. Errors, like these, that can be corrected on the line are called reworkable discrepancies. Because hundreds of reworkable discrepancies can occur on each aircraft it is a huge opportunity for improvement and cost reduction. It would be impossible to analyze each one that occurs on the line. However, last year at X Aerospace another researcher created a tool to categorize discrepancies by key words based on free form text describing them. Root cause analysis and corrective action teams were put in place for the highest driving discrepancies but a more exhaustive analysis was not conducted. In this research, to continue the root cause analysis, and gain a more detailed understanding of why discrepancies occur, a single aircraft was followed through final assembly and each discrepancy reviewed. Some key findings of this review were confirmation that the tool created previously was accurate, that there is a time lag between creation of a discrepancy and its discovery upon inspection, and that there is lack of access to specifications and data on the floor. To address the issues with late discovery of discrepancies, more specific and guided inspection instructions are needed. Standard work has been developed for writing inspection instructions that are clearer. They include features such as guided and general tasks, references to specs for all directive instructions, specific locations on the assembly and drawings, and symbols and wording to indicate instruction versus reference information and which contain only instructions relevant for the particular inspection. Changes in management have halted the implementation of the standard work for writing inspection instruction. However, this standard work became the basis for changes being made to improve work instructions. To address the lack of access to data, a tool which collects data and displays a cross Pareto heat map of the highest driving issues on each line, position, and work order has been developed. The line managers have been trained on how to use the tool to determine high driving issues in almost real time and implement corrective actions more quickly. In addition the tool is in use by quality engineers to help guide reduction efforts. / by Jessica Bashkoff. / 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 Global Operations Program at MIT, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-77). / Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) is home to Circuit Card Assembly, the department responsible for the production of circuit card assemblies from across all of Raytheon's businesses. Circuit Card Assembly includes manufacturing, test, quality, finance and other groups, functioning as its own business within Raytheon IDS. Circuit Card Assembly competes with external vendors for contracts from Raytheon businesses outside of IDS, thus the pursuit of competitive advantage in the form of technology, quality and throughput is a continuous activity. Circuit Card Assembly spends upwards of a million dollars each year on troubleshooting circuit card assemblies that fail first pass testing, in labor alone, with additional costs associated with reprocessing and material replacement. This thesis describes the creation of a design tool that improves electrical design for test, reducing wasteful troubleshooting on hundreds of products each year, saving tens of thousands of dollars on high cost programs, with incremental yearly savings totaling in the hundreds of thousands, and a net present value of over 2.5 million in labor savings. The tool provides designers with real time feedback regarding the impact their design decisions have on expected troubleshooting activity, and provides guidance to improve troubleshoot ability. The tool reduces spending on non-value added activity buy an average of 50%, while at the same time helping fulfill Circuit Card Assembly's mission to engage design teams at the earliest stages of product development, before potentially costly decisions are finalized and beyond Circuit Card Assembly's ability to influence. The subject of interaction between groups in different functional silos, between independent Raytheon businesses and with seemingly disparate incentives is investigated as it pertains to the development of the design for test tool. The method of action of the design tool at a personal or organizational level is to raise awareness of total product cost and allow disparate teams to communicate in the same language with a more complete understanding of how to achieve corporate level goals. Communicating effectively across business and functional barriers is the greatest achievement of the new tool, but also the greatest roll out and developmental challenge. The tool is part of a suite of similar activities driving towards operational excellence within CCA. / by Glenn Bergevin. / M.B.A. / S.M.

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. / 15 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-67). / Amazon.com is the world's largest online retailer, and continues to grow its business by expanding into new markets and new product lines that have not traditionally been sold online. These product categories create new challenges to inventory and operations management. One example of this new type of products sold online includes the category of perishable goods. Perishable goods provide a unique inventory challenge due to the fact that products may expire at unknown times while in stock, making them unavailable for the customer to purchase. This thesis discusses a method for managing perishable goods inventory by characterizing the key variables into empirical probability distributions and developing a computational model for determining the key inventory attribute: the reorder point. This model captures both the demand and loss due to shrinkage based on the age of the product in inventory. The resulting model results in a 25% improvement in simulated inventory levels with more accurate results than current methods. This improvement is shown to come from accounting for the known variability in lead time, as well as survival rate of the product. / by Nicola Tan. / M.B.A. / S.M.

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. / 5 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 64). / The need to improve risk assessment methods for automation projects within United States manufacturers exists due to a shift toward increased in factory automation stemming from industry pressure to reduce manufacturing costs and increase production rates. This study explores the hypothesis that a risk assessment method, based on technology maturity analysis, can be used to reduce the time to decision, reduce the influence of personal bias, and improve the estimation of risk impact when evaluating proposed automation systems. The risk assessment method is based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework, coupled with a mathematical simulation of the manufacturing process. During the pilot implementation, a team of evaluators gathered data to create a process simulation, assessed the TRLs of automation proposals, and analyzed the risk of each proposal. After concluding the pilot, the evaluation team was interviewed to determine the success of the risk assessment method. The interviews revealed that the method resulted in a faster time to decision and improved estimations of risk, but failed to significantly reduce the influence of personal bias during the evaluation process. / by Conor J. Frackleton. / M.B.A. / S.M.

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 Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2014. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / 38 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-72). / Companies take different approaches, and achieve different degrees of implementation, in designing products for cost. This thesis discusses Target Costing and its application at The Boeing Company. Target Costing is a design for cost framework that is widely used by auto manufacturers, but is still less widely used in the aerospace industry. This thesis observes the current state at The Boeing Company and provides recommendations for full implementation of Target Costing. Through research into best practices at companies that have implemented Target Costing, this thesis identifies five key enablers: culture, organizations involved, process, tools, and market. Additionally, this thesis discusses a potential barrier to implementation: organizational politics. Based on a project to implement a price visibility tool and on three value engineering case studies, this thesis identifies The Boeing Company's state relative to full scale Target Costing and provides recommendations for The Boeing Company to achieve full implementation of Target Costing through the use of the five key enablers. / by Elizabeth Hammar. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 51-56). / Gene therapy is a promising modality for the potential treatment of rare Mendelian diseases. To date a number of high profile proof-of-concept studies within the industry have demonstrated the significant disease-correcting promise of this therapeutic strategy. One of the major hurdles that remains for the commercialization of gene therapies is the lack of efficient manufacturing capabilities for the production of clinical-grade drug substance/drug product. The primary goals for this project were to decrease the biological contamination and cross-contamination risk associated with the biologic manufacturing process for viral gene therapy vectors and to adjust the process in order to optimize commercial profit. The project also included documenting the different existing processes for AAV production and developing a competitive analysis using information from ongoing clinical trials in the industry pipeline. The following process design steps were followed in order to fulfill the project objectives: (1) Define product specifications, analytical needs and market size, (2) Select production platform/process, (3) Collect data and create process flow diagram, (4) Perform material and energy balances, (5) Calculate costs: equipment and consumables, (6) Model the process in a spreadsheet, (7) Carry out sensitivity analyses, (8) Assess cost-effectiveness and risk, and (9) Develop recommendations. Five different AAV production platforms were identified and an AAV gene therapy landscape was generated. Also, the current process that Pfizer is planning to use was documented and an initial market sizing was performed. Finally, all the data necessary to model the process was collected and the cost-effectiveness and biological contamination and cross-contamination risk assessment were completed. This project confirmed that the use of a scalable line of single-use high cell density bioreactors for the production of AAV is cost-effective. This implies that sufficient AAV quantities can be manufactured for preclinical and clinical trials, using the process developed by Pfizer. / by Diego Rodríguez Pinhao Miessner. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Thesis: S.M. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 49-50). / This project addressed challenges within the quality management process of one of the operating groups of Li & Fung. The primary goals were improved product quality and reduced quality control costs. The operating group works with thousands of factories across the world, producing a large variety of apparel and textile products. The industry trend of fast fashion, with small order sizes and shorter lead times, has placed considerable burden on the limited quality control resources. Understanding the current state of the quality management process was the first project step, and this was accomplished through factory visits and interviewing workers. The current inspection process was designed for large orders and performs sub-optimally with smaller orders. Second, the project took a broad view of the supplier base, performing statistical analysis of inspection and factory data. This revealed problems with the process that lead to high inspection costs and inaccurate inspection results. Next, the project identified technological solutions and process improvements to address the root causes of these issues and to increase the accuracy and efficiency of inspectors. Three specific technology solutions were developed: measurement digitization, label scanners, and improved management metrics. Each solution was prototyped and the critical functionality was tested to demonstrate the value of implementation. Business analysis of the solutions revealed time savings of 60,000 inspector hours/year and cost savings of more than $1 million. At the conclusion of the project, integration of the solutions within the current inspection mobile app was ongoing and expected to be rolled out across the quality organization in the first half of 2016. Finally, recommendations beyond the scope of the technology solutions are provided for further improvement of the quality management process. / by Michael Lindsey Heath. / M.B.A. / S.M. in Engineering Systems

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Thesis: S.M. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 88-89). / The Widget' industry has changed significantly over the last 20 years. Although Company A benefited from their historically strong market position for a long time, the market share of widgets has, at this point, been evenly divided between Company A and Company B. There is therefore market pressure for Company A to reassess the way it does business to be more competitive. Automation initiatives in the Widget industry have historically been slow to be implemented, and there has been hesitation to change the way widgets and their parts are designed and manufactured due to the complexity of the widget product. But in order to work in a more competitive global market, companies must question many of the established assumptions regarding their products in order to achieve efficiency gains and improve safety standards in their production system. The ultimate goal of the project was to align the design, manufacturing, and business processes with new technology capabilities and the goals of the company. By doing this, the cost of producing a widget would be decreased, while increasing in-process quality and repeatability. This thesis focuses on ways in which to show the value of improving the design of a widget to enable more efficient production systems, while ensuring the risk of injury to the mechanics is continuously lowered through increased process control and standardization. In order to understand what it means for engineers across the company to design parts and assemblies with automated manufacturing processes in mind, a list of high-level technical design principles needed to be developed. A group of 17 design and production engineers was assembled for a workshop, representing all of the widget programs, R&D, Product Development, Fabrication, Engineering Operations, Manufacturing Operations, and IT. Through two days of activities, a list of ten principles was developed that could be applied to any widget part or assembly that was intended to be manufactured through automation. After the Design for Automation (DfA) principles were established and agreed-upon, it was necessary to find ways to effectively implement new tools and methodologies into the established design process. / by Juan Stefano Ezolino. / M.B.A. / S.M. in Engineering Systems