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. 83-84). / As multinational industrial goods companies (MNCs) selling low-volume high-complexity products move into markets across the globe, they develop an operations strategy to provide a product tailored to local markets, often also engineered and manufactured in that local market. As MNCs seek to provide more customization to their customers, they face issues with the resulting complexity of operations, leading them to pursue mass customization, i.e. providing variety at low cost through configurable products. An important step in this product strategy is the introduction of product configurators, i.e. software tools that permit the automatic or semiautomatic configuration and pricing of product variants. Through streamlining the specification and bidding process, product configurators lower process time and therefore also lower costs in both sales and engineering functions. However, difficulties arise in developing a product configurator for a global company operating in many different localized markets. This study develops a framework for multinational companies to first evaluate the needs of their overseas divisions for a product configurator and second identify the gaps between the global and local product configuration and pricing. The objective of the framework is to provide a unified, centrally managed product configurator that provides the ability to tailor product options to specific local needs. A case study of a power electronics multinational with 9 overseas locations is performed. Interviews of key stakeholders in the head office and in the overseas division provide preliminary indication of differing product configurator design requirements from country to country. A deep dive is performed using the framework into two of its oversea divisions, Canada and Brazil. The study reveals key differences in the product feature requirements, in costing products due to local labor costs, part costs and import taxes, in the pricing process due to margin structures and sales incentives and in usage patterns due to language, local technical terminology and collaboration modes between sales and engineering. Using survey techniques, prioritization of the configurator functionality requirements is determined. Combined with an organizational analysis of the company, an integrated implementation plan is developed to permit identification of solutions in conjunction with roll-out to the international organization. / by Alicia Lenis. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--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, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 58). / by Michael M. Vander Wel. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--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, 2002. / "June 2002." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-130). / by Eric P. Schmidlin. / 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 Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75). / by Gregory T. Webb. / 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, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Jason T. Chen. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental 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. [102]-103). / by Brianne L. Metzger. / 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, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-93). / by Garret J. Caterino. / 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. / 32 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-103). / There are several models for change available to modern organizations based on decades of research. This research tends to focus on broad changes, such as enterprise transformations. This thesis presents a model developed for changes of smaller scope. These smaller changes are typically localized to a specific process or department. The Tactical Change Model is derived from existing change management literature to address these localized change efforts. The phases of the model include: Name a Goal, Investigate the Current State, Develop and "Sell" a Future State, Plan to Get From Here to There, Enact the Plan, and Spread the Knowledge. A final phase, Reflection, is used throughout the change effort. This thesis presents two cases of change at the Aerospace Systems division of United Technologies Corporation. The first case is a change in how escalation in supply costs, or headwind, is forecasted. The goal in this case is a quick, top-down method for forecasting headwind to replace a time-intensive, bottom-up method. The second case is a change in the evaluation method of obsolescence risk mitigation options. This effort is intended to improve the evaluation of these options to develop a more holistic perspective. The Tactical Change Model is used in both of these cases and evaluated using a Three Lens Analysis. The analysis generates improvements to the Tactical Change Model, including explicitly accounting for the Three Lenses throughout the model; removing the Name a Goal phase; emphasizing frequency and structure in the Reflection phase; and allowing for feedback loops. / by Robert J. Harris, Jr. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-107). / This thesis provides a new framework for understanding how conditions, people, and environments of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) effect the likelihood the preventable harm will happen to a patient in the ICU. Two years of electronic medical records from seven adult ICUs totalling 77 beds at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) were analysed. Our approach is based on several new ideas. First, instead of measuring safety through frequency measurement of a few relatively rare harms, we leverage electronic databases in the hospital to measure Total Burden of Harm, which is an aggregated measure of a broad range of harms. We believe that this measure better reflects the true level of harm occurring in Intensive Care Units and also provides hope for more statistical power to understand underlying contributors to harm. Second, instead of analysing root causes of specific harms or risk factors of individual patients, we focus on what we call Risk Drivers, which are conditions of the ICU system, people (staff, patients, families) and environments that affect the likelihood of harms to occur, and potentially their outcomes. The underlying premise is that there is a relatively small number of risk drivers which are common to many harms. Moreover, our hope is that the analysis will lead to system level interventions that are not necessarily aiming at a specific harm, but change the quality and safety of the system. Third, using two years of data that includes measurements of harms and drivers values of each shift and each of seven ICUs at BIDMC, we develop an innovative statistical approach that identifies important drivers and High and Low Risky States. Risky States are defined through specific combinations of values of Risk Drivers. They define environmental characteristics of ICUs and shifts that are correlated with higher or lower risk level of harms. To develop a measurable set of Risk Drivers, a survey of current ICU quality metrics was conducted and augmented with the clinical experience of senior critical care providers at BIDMC. A robust machine learning algorithm with a series of validation techniques was developed to determine the importance of and interactions between multiple quality metrics. We believe that the method is adaptable to different hospital environments. Sixteen statistically significant Risky States (p < .02) where identified at BIDMC. The harm rates in the Risky States range over a factor of 10, with high risk states comprising more that 13.9% of the total operational time in the ICU, and low risk states comprise 38% of total operating shifts. The new methodology and validation technique was developed with the goal of providing a basic tools which are adaptable to different hospitals. The algorithm described within serves as the foundation for software under development by Aptima Human Engineering and the VA Hospital network with the goal of validation and implementation in over 150 hospitals. In the second part of this thesis, a new heuristic is developed to facilitate the optimal design of stochastic manufacturing systems. The heuristic converges to optimal, or near optimal results in all test cases in a reasonable length of time. The heuristic allows production system designers to better understand the balance between operating costs, inventory costs, and reliability. / by J Adam Traina. / S.M. / M.B.A.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2017. / Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2017. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 93-94). / An understanding of capacity utilization within any manufacturing system is critical in setting operational strategy. Production lines and machines must have their performance accurately tracked and available for reporting if a business is to continually improve their performance. With capacity utilization and manufacturing performance known, a business can provide short-term corrections and also adapt its manufacturing capabilities to meet long-term market requirements. Boston Scientific is a manufacturer of medical devices and is known for its ability to scale up new technologies through the use of an applied Lean Manufacturing framework in its final product assembly. The company also internally houses several component manufacturing groups that supply its assembly operations. While the company has a defined strategy for its assembly operations, strategy for its internal components suppliers is less clear. This thesis discusses building the foundation to transform the Spencer Components manufacturing group into a world class plastics operation. In particular, the ability to utilize manufacturing data to inform short and long term decisions is a critical foundation for any organization in its quest to become World Class. This thesis studies how Spencer Components, a Boston Scientific internal component manufacturer, utilizes newly acquired manufacturing data to improve its operations and begin its transformation into a world class high-mix low-volume plastic components manufacturer. Prior to this research internship, no electronic performance data systems were in use, and Boston Scientific was blind to the operational performance of Spencer Components. While the technology of the new data system is several decades old, a considerable amount of effort was required to successfully implement it within the well-established manufacturing system. Upon implementation equipment utilization improved and inventory targets that previously appeared unattainable were achieved. In addition, a continuous improvement environment was created and allowed Lean Manufacturing techniques such as Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) and operational improvements such as Economic Order Quantities (EOQ) to be implemented, tracked, and iteratively improved. A new capacity planning tool was created to identify long-term capital requirements associated with component demand. While Spencer Components is not yet a World Class manufacturer, it now has the tools to achieve its goal of becoming one. / by Stephen Edward Laskowski. / S.M. / M.B.A.