To Sell and to Provide? The Economic and Environmental Implications of the Auto Manufacturer's Involvement in the Car Sharing Business

Motivated by the involvement of Daimler and BMW in the car sharing business we consider an OEM who contemplates introducing a car sharing program. The OEM designs its product line by accounting for the trade-off between driving performance and fuel efficiency. Customers have different valuations of driving performance and decide whether to buy, join car sharing, or rely on their outside option. Car sharing can increase the profit from selling. This happens when the OEM prefers to serve the lower-end customers through car sharing and the higher-end through selling. In this case, car sharing increases the efficiency of the vehicles used for the lower-end, and the price charged to the higher-end customers. This is more pronounced for higher-end OEMs, which may help explain Daimler's and BMW's involvement in car sharing. Despite the higher efficiency, car sharing may lower the OEM's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) level even when it increases profit and decreases environmental impact. CAFE levels better reflect the environmental benefits of car sharing when they are based on the number of customers served and not the production volume. Finally, if anticipating aggressive CAFE standards, OEMs may include car sharing to better absorb the increase in the production cost

Forecasting Flying Hour Costs of the B-1, B-2, and B-52 Bomber Aircraft

This thesis both evaluates, and presents improvements to, the current method of forecasting flying costs of Air Force aircraft. It uses depot level repairable (DLR) and consumable (CONS) data for the Air Force\u27s bomber platforms: B-1B, B-2, and B-52H. The current forecasting method assumes a proportional relationship between costs and flying hours such that 1) when no hours are flown costs are zero, and 2) a 1% increase in flying hours will increase costs by 1%. The findings of this research indicate that applying log-linear ordinary least squares regression techniques may be an improved fit of flying cost data over the current proportional model; the actual data indicate a non-zero intercept and a less than proportional relationship between costs and flying hours. This research also found that models including factors other than flying hours as independent variables, such as sorties, lagged costs, and fiscal trends, may be more useful than models based solely on flying hours. Finally, this research found that estimating quarterly costs at the base-level may yield more accurate estimates than estimating at the monthly level, or mission design series level

Identification of Reverse Engineering Candidates utilizing Machine Learning and Aircraft Cannibalization Data

As military aircraft continue to remain in service and age, cannibalization of parts is increasing. Proactive identification of parts that are at high risk for cannibalization will inform engineering processes such as reverse engineering, thus allowing potentially reducing lead time to develop new parts. The research objective was to develop a causal structure that can be used for prediction of when cannibalization actions may occur. Bayesian networks allow encoding of causality between various descriptive features given a data set. The method utilized a tabu search algorithm, identified the underlying causal structure and the associated node probabilities. The method is then applied to an aircraft case study. The analysis resulted in a predictive algorithm with a true positive rate of 73 – 96 percent depending on the target feature. The results indicate high precision and recall for all target features. Additional research is needed in order to validate the causal structure with military personal, incorporate domain expertise, and reduce the high false alarm rate

Evaluation of Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Metrics for Integration into the Expeditionary Combat Support System

All organizations face the continuous challenge of a dynamic and ever-changing operations environment. They must adapt to new paradigms quickly or end up on the road to obsolescence. Never has this been truer for the U.S. Air Force than in the 21st century. The logistics organization of the Air Force supports a worldwide, 24/7 operation, executing the national directive of US Policy. Past logistics operation policies have now been proven to no longer be sufficient to meet the needs of the war-fighter. Shrinking budgets, aging equipment, and the austere, disparate operating locations demand sweeping changes in how the logistic machine operates. The Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) is the Air Force wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed to tackle these very challenges. An ERP implementation endeavor consists of a large number of critical areas that have to be addressed. Management Support, Business Process Reengineering, Strategy and Governance modeling, and Legacy Systems Evaluation and Conversion are just a few of the key areas that need to be managed successfully for effective ERP implementation. This study focuses on one area, Legacy Systems Evaluation and Conversion. This study explores the transition of 28 current Air Force Maintenance metrics into the Oracle ERP software platform. Evaluation of these metrics by operational maintenance managers provides insight into the importance and effectiveness of the current metrics as well as the clarity and potential success for translating the proposed new metrics for the ECSS program

A development of logistics management models for the Space Transportation System

A new analytic queueing approach was described which relates stockage levels, repair level decisions, and the project network schedule of prelaunch operations directly to the probability distribution of the space transportation system launch delay. Finite source population and limited repair capability were additional factors included in this logistics management model developed specifically for STS maintenance requirements. Data presently available to support logistics decisions were based on a comparability study of heavy aircraft components. A two-phase program is recommended by which NASA would implement an integrated data collection system, assemble logistics data from previous STS flights, revise extant logistics planning and resource requirement parameters using Bayes-Lin techniques, and adjust for uncertainty surrounding logistics systems performance parameters. The implementation of these recommendations can be expected to deliver more cost-effective logistics support

An Analysis into the Effectiveness of Aircraft Maintenance under the Combat Wing Structure

Organizational structure builds the foundation from which organizations operate. To gain full potential of structural efficiencies in the current operating environment, public and private firms are continually modifying their organizational structure. The U.S. Air Force is no different and underwent its most recent reorganization in the fall of 2002 replacing the post-Gulf War format of the previous decade. Air Force leadership needs to understand how well the current structure is performing at achieving its intended objectives. This research investigates the effectiveness of the recent change to Air Force organizational structure on aircraft maintenance performance through an analysis of aircraft maintenance metrics. To observe effects both within and across the Air Force, four years of data were analyzed from three F-16 units and three KC-135 units representing two of the significant Air Force Major Commands. The analytical methods used for this research include testing assumptions of normality and variance of sample data, homogeneity of variance and comparison of means, weighted factoring, and trend analysis using linear regression to determine the overall effectiveness of the combat wing structure. Results of this analysis allowed the researcher to postulate an answer to the overall research question. This answer and other associated findings can assist Air Force leaders in understanding how to enhance operational performance

From manufacturer to mobility provider : BMW’s response to the disruption in the automotive industry

The dissertation is written in a teaching case format to illustrate how established companies balance out addressing the need of established consumers as well as reacting on current consumer trends. Changing market environments tempt manufacturers to offer access services as an alternative consumption mode to ownership. Companies need to understand the impact of those business model innovations on the parent brand and its current customers. The selected company is BMW, which is confronted with digitization, resulting new technologies and emerging competitors disrupting the traditional business. By concentrating on meeting customers’ needs rather than focusing too much on selling products, the company has taken the right path in becoming a mobility provider. The introduction of an own car sharing service paves the way to address new targets and is a positive communication tool. This study analyzes the impact of car sharing on purchase behavior of consumers. By consulting secondary research and collecting quantitative data via an online survey can be concluded that both, owners and non-owners of the brand, positively evaluate the mobility service. Additionally, the received responses indicate that car sharing usage cannot fully substitute car ownership and that DriveNow usage influences consumers purchase preferences for a BMW.A dissertação foi escrita acompanhada por um caso para ilustrar como as empresas poderão se equilibrar, atendendo às necessidades dos consumidores estabelecidos e reagindo às tendências atuais. Mercados voláteis fazem com que os fabricantes ofereçam serviços de acesso como um modo de consumo alternativo ao de titulo de propriedade. As empresas beneficiariam de saber o impacto dessas inovações nos modelos de negócios da marca original e nos seus clientes atuais. A empresa selecionada é a BMW, que é confrontada com a digitalização, resultando em novas tecnologias e distintos concorrentes que mudaram os negócios tradicionais. Ao se concentrar em atender às necessidades dos clientes em vez de se focar em demasia na venda de produtos, a empresa tomou o caminho certo ao se tornar um fornecedor de mobilidade. A introdução de um serviço próprio de partilha de carros abre caminho para novos alvos e é uma ferramenta de comunicação positiva. Este estudo analisa o impacto da partilha de carros nos padrões de compra dos consumidores. Ao consultar a pesquisa secundária e dados quantitativos através de uma pesquisa online, pode-se concluir que os proprietários e não-proprietários da marca avaliam positivamente o serviço de mobilidade. Além disso, as respostas recebidas indicam que o uso do serviço não pode substituir totalmente a posse de um carro e que o uso do DriveNow influencia as preferências de compra do consumidor para um BMW

Factors and Interactions That Affect Air Force C-17 Aircraft Mission Capable Rates

Given the high demand for mission capable airlift aircraft and considering increasing budget pressures, Air Mobility Command decision makers need a better understanding of mission capable (MC) rate-related factors and their interactions for mobility aircraft. This is needed to comprehend how issues such as airlift funding, current and future force reductions, and manning and experience levels may impact future MC rates for air mobility assets. Existing tools do not incorporate several key variables that the literature suggests are related to MC rates. Using a longitudinal approach, this thesis combines C-17 aircraft data with a structural equations modeling approach to evaluate relationships between MC rates and selected variables. The research addresses linkages between several areas not addressed in prior research and currently used models, and provides recommendations for both existing tools and for further research