Human Centered Hardware Modeling and Collaboration

In order to collaborate engineering designs among NASA Centers and customers, to in clude hardware and human activities from multiple remote locations, live human-centered modeling and collaboration across several sites has been successfully facilitated by Kennedy Space Center. The focus of this paper includes innovative a pproaches to engineering design analyses and training, along with research being conducted to apply new technologies for tracking, immersing, and evaluating humans as well as rocket, vehic le, component, or faci lity hardware utilizing high resolution cameras, motion tracking, ergonomic analysis, biomedical monitoring, wor k instruction integration, head-mounted displays, and other innovative human-system integration modeling, simulation, and collaboration applications

Knowledge Transfer Needs and Methods

INE/AUTC 12.3

Lessons Learned in a Complex Software Safety Program

Development of a system software safety program was required as part of an effort to secure government safety certification of a complex and intrinsically hazardous software-controlled system under development by several contributing companies. The author was part of a team of software safety support engineers reporting to one of the contributing companies. This paper summarizes some of the highlights of the lessons learned during development of this program

Quantity versus Quality in Project Based Learning Practices

In the midst of the turbulence wrought by the global economy, it has become common to see projects as an essential medium for achieving change. However, project based learning practices - as a subset of organizational learning practices- have not kept pace with this development. To explore this concern, we have carried out a study on practices adopted by organizations for learning through projects involving nineteen companies from across Europe and from a range of different industries. We use the concepts of variation, selection and retention in organizational learning to analyze our findings and report the challenges faced by project based organizations in each of the areas highlighted. We conclude that time pressures, centralization and deferral are the key characteristics of learning in project based firms and that these impede project based members in learning from and through projects.centralization;deferral;organizational learning;projects;reflection

Effective Utilization of Historical Data to Increase Organizational Performance: Focus on Sales/ Tendering and Projects

Master's thesis in Offshore technologyIn Oil and Gas industry there was not enough focus on this topic as cost was not a big factor in good olden days. But the sensational drop in oil prices below US$40 per barrel at the end of 2015 made the price more than 60 percent down compared to the one in previous years. It’s clear that the sector is going through one of the most transformative periods in its history. This situation has created more challenges to all O&G company leaders by forcing them to change their business strategies. The operating companies in the Oil and Gas industry have been focusing to reduce costs and increase organizational performance. Accordingly suppliers companies need to acknowledge their focus on the efficiency and optimization of resources to be able to sustain and grow in a competitive market. It demands better control of estimates and cost on future sales/tendering process. As quoted by one of the Operations Managers “An informed organization saves cost and wins faster”. The only way to get reliable information for any organization is by analyzing ‘what happened in the past’ and what we learned from it. In other words this is achieved through utilization of historical data from previous projects and by developing benchmarking metrics. Further, usage of the historical data can improve estimation and scheduling, support strategic planning, and improve the organizational processes. The historical project data or information can help in making strategic business decisions in any Organization. It can play a significant role in providing very distinct advantage over the competitors. Historical data can help the management to decide what projects are right for the future of the company and which projects can be avoided. Further, it can help to learn from past mistakes and win future bids by not repeating them. Most of the top management understands the importance of having and using historical project information or data. The problem is that very few companies have the methodologies, procedures, and systems in place to effectively use this information to improve their project processes and to support the estimation, scheduling, and control of future projects (opportunities). The present work focuses on historical data, estimation process and lessons learned for enhancing organizational performance. Further, the work includes a case study and number of expert interviews conducted at ABB. The work discusses how to collect, normalize, and analyze historical project data to develop practical information. Three models have been developed for project estimation process with a feedback loop, Lessons learned process model and Historical data utilization process. The recommendations have been made to use the historical data for establishing references for the sales/tendering department for future estimates, which can reduce the dependency on manual or a single person’s judgment and improve the estimation process. Some suggestions have also been made for establishing lessons learned process which can improve organizational performance. The results from analysis show that by applying the recommended processes, organizations can achieve efficiency through easy access and storage of historical database, easy access to lessons learned, measurable KPIs. Also use of key variables like project complexity and severity of requirements for estimation process and historical data process can form a better relation for data analysis and utilization.AB

Systems Engineering Analysis for Optimum Selection Protocol for Thermal Expansion Measurement of a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite Tube

A material’s Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) is a valuable physical property, particularly for structural fiber reinforced composites that are routinely used in satellite/aerospace applications. Satellite space structures are routinely designed with a high degree of dimensional and thermal stability. Designing and verifying for near zero CTE performance is a common design requirement. The CTE is routinely a physical property with known values for common materials. However, the strength, stiffness and CTE properties on a multi-ply graphite fiber reinforced laminate composite can be tailored to specific engineering requirements. Because of this, a method of verification (testing) is routinely performed to ensure these requirements are met

Development of an RFID-based traceability system : experiences and lessons learned from an aircraft engineering company

Author name used in this publication: E. W. T. NgaiAuthor name used in this publication: T. C. E. ChengAuthor name used in this publication: Kee-hung Lai2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Return on investment in the public sector

In an environment of scarce resources and rising federal deficits the people not only expect, but demand greater accountability for the spending of public funds. This demand has created a trend in the public sector, not only in the United States, but worldwide as well, towards the importation of private sector business practices to improve accountability-oriented analysis. One example is increased emphasis on return on investment (ROI) analysis in public sector organizations. Development and application of ROI analysis is challenging in the public sector since most government organizations do not generate profit necessary for calculation of ROI in the manner in which it is done in the private sector. This thesis develops the methodology necessary for use of ROI analysis in the public sector. ROI methodology is applied for test evaluation with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego. The test demonstrates that ROI can be applied successfully to assess the relative efficiency of value-added work and to improve the process of choosing between investment alternatives. Properly designed ROI analysis reveals how and for what goods and services money is spent and provides a means for comparing the value derived from investment and work performed.http://archive.org/details/returnoninvestme109451317Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited