Scheduling and shop floor control in commercial airplane manufacturing

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, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75).Boeing is the premier manufacturer of commercial jetliners and a leader in defense and space systems. Competition in commercial aircraft production is increasing and in order to retain their competitive position, Boeing must strive to improve their operations by reducing costs. Boeing factories today still schedule and monitor the shop floor much as they have for the past 100 years. This thesis compares and contrasts several different methods for shop floor control and scheduling including Boeing's barcharts, Toyota production system, critical chain, and dynamic scheduling. Each system is will be analyzed with respect to how it handles variability in labor output required and how that affects which products are typically made under each system. In additional to qualitative comparisons, discrete event simulations comparing the various strategies will be presented. Areas for future simulation study are also discussed. The recommended approach for commercial airplane assembly is critical chain. A suggested implementation plan is presented along with methods to ease acceptance.by Vikram Neal Sahney.S.M.M.B.A

Application of lean scheduling and production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems using intelligent agent decision support

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Lean Manufacturing (LM) is widely accepted as a world-class manufacturing paradigm, its currency and superiority are manifested in numerous recent success stories. Most lean tools including Just-in-Time (JIT) were designed for repetitive serial production systems. This resulted in a substantial stream of research which dismissed a priori the suitability of LM for non-repetitive non-serial job-shops. The extension of LM into non-repetitive production systems is opposed on the basis of the sheer complexity of applying JIT pull production control in non-repetitive systems fabricating a high variety of products. However, the application of LM in job-shops is not unexplored. Studies proposing the extension of leanness into non-repetitive production systems have promoted the modification of pull control mechanisms or reconfiguration of job-shops into cellular manufacturing systems. This thesis sought to address the shortcomings of the aforementioned approaches. The contribution of this thesis to knowledge in the field of production and operations management is threefold: Firstly, a Multi-Agent System (MAS) is designed to directly apply pull production control to a good approximation of a real-life job-shop. The scale and complexity of the developed MAS prove that the application of pull production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems is challenging, perplex and laborious. Secondly, the thesis examines three pull production control mechanisms namely, Kanban, Base Stock and Constant Work-in-Process (CONWIP) which it enhances so as to prevent system deadlocks, an issue largely unaddressed in the relevant literature. Having successfully tested the transferability of pull production control to non-repetitive manufacturing, the third contribution of this thesis is that it uses experimental and empirical data to examine the impact of pull production control on job-shop performance. The thesis identifies issues resulting from the application of pull control in job-shops which have implications for industry practice and concludes by outlining further research that can be undertaken in this direction

Implementing cellular manufacturing methodologies to improve the performance of a manufacturing operation

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 62).Many traditional high-mix, low-volume manufacturing facilities utilize process villages, whereby similar operations are grouped together in an effort to gain efficiencies. While process villages can improve certain metrics and increase capacity utilization, many wastes can be created that outweigh most benefits. In many cases process villages operate with large batch sizes, which result in longer lead-times and increased inventories. A different approach, for an appropriate range of product mixes and volumes, is to form production cells for common products that group different processes together to form complete value streams. The manufacturing cells focus on completely finishing products before handing them off and result in reduced lead-times and inventories. This thesis presents a methodology for implementing such production cells in a manufacturing environment. The author spent six months at a leading aerospace company implementing cellular manufacturing principles in designing several production cells for a transmission component manufacturing department as part of a lean transformation effort. The cell design methodology implemented consisted of several key processes such as process flow design, material handling design, workplace organization, and staffing. The process flow design consisted of activities such as grouping products into families, designing value streams, and performing capacity analysis. Material handling design developed solutions for how products physically flow through the cell and managing work-in-process. Workplace organization focused on utilizing visual factory and 5S principles to ensure strong communication and information flow as well as first class equipment organization and housekeeping. Finally, workload analyses were performed to appropriately staff the cells to minimize costs and ensure efficient operations. Ultimately, the goal of any transformation effort is to reduce waste and add value, which would not be possible if the culture of the organization did not support the physical and operational design changes. Hence the final, and arguably most important piece of the transformation, which the author participated in, was engaging the workforce to drive the culture change.by Manuel Correa.S.M.M.B.A

A hierarchical approach to multi-project planning under uncertainty

We survey several viewpoints on the management of the planning complexity of multi-project organisations under uncertainty. A positioning framework is proposed to distinguish between different types of project-driven organisations, which is meant to aid project management in the choice between the various existing planning approaches. We discuss the current state of the art of hierarchical planning approaches both for traditional manufacturing and for project environments. We introduce a generic hierarchical project planning and control framework that serves to position planning methods for multi-project planning under uncertainty. We discuss multiple techniques for dealing with the uncertainty inherent to the different hierarchical stages in a multi-project organisation. In the last part of this paper we discuss two cases from practice and we relate these practical cases to the positioning framework that is put forward in the paper

Just-In-Time in high variety / low volume manufacturing environments.

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN049763 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

E-POLCA to control multi-product, multi-machine job shops.

Control; Job; University; Research;

A hierarchical approach to multi-project planning under uncertainty.

We survey several viewpoints on the management of the planning complexity of multi-project organisations under uncertainty. A positioning framework is proposed to distinguish between different types of project-driven organisations, which is meant to aid project management in the choice between the various existing planning approaches. We discuss the current state of the art of hierarchical planning approaches both for traditional manufacturing and for project environments. We introduce a generic hierarchical project planning and control framework that serves to position planning methods for multi-project planning under uncertainty. We discuss multiple techniques for dealing with the uncertainty inherent to the different hierarchical stages in a multi-project organisation. In the last part of this paper we discuss two cases from practice and we relate these practical cases to the positioning framework that is put forward in the paper.Choice; Complexity; Framework; Hierarchical models; Management; Manufacturing; Methods; Multi-project organisations; Planning; Project management; Project planning; Uncertainty;

Identifying and eliminating the root causes of the undesirable effects present in small manufacturing business production systems

Includes bibliographical references.The manufacturing industry in South Africa is presently experiencing severe competition from cheap imports from the east. Furthermore, the present high interest rate and newly legislated business and labour laws have created unfavourable conditions for small manufacturing businesses. For small manufacturing businesses to survive in this competitive market and under unfavourable conditions, they require increased performance in lead times, product innovation, product and service quality, manufacturing flexibility and responsiveness and, reduced manufacturing costs. To attain sustainable improvements requires a comprehensive understanding of problematic situations present in small business manufacturing systems. The aim of this project was to identify the major problems present in small business manufacturing systems, to highlight the difference between, and show the causality relationships between, "symptoms" of problems and their root causes, and to propose ways of eliminating the problems

Lean Implementation Considerations in Factory Operations of Low Volume/High Complexity Production Systems

The researchers of the Lean Aircraft Initiative developed a hypothesized lean implementation model seeking to provide its members guidance on implementing lean transitions in factory operations of low volume/high complexity production systems. The model features four phases: (1) building a lean infrastructure to support lean behavior, (2) redesigning the flow of products in the factory, (3) revamping the operations management and (4) fostering process improvement. An order of implementation is discussed and each phase has implementation steps as well. Following the development of the hypothesized lean implementation model, twelve case studies were used to test the model. This report details the model and analyzes the case studies using the model as a framework